Chapter 1 Lone Tear

Vanessa was sitting on the couch in the living room as she waited for her husband to arrive from work. He had always liked coming home late but today's own was getting out of hand. She was fidgeting with the hem of her dress. She was getting really worried it was already 11:30, almost midnight.

She had already prepared his dinner even though she knew that he might not eat the food she prepared. Vanessa had no trouble performing her wifely duties and she always did it with so much Enthusiasm.

She came back from her place of work earlier in the evening but she hasn't rested since then, she had prepared dinner and now she was waiting for her husband to return. She loved him dearly and always wished that he could feel the same way towards her, but his actions everyday tells her that he doesn't feel the same way. Still, she wasn't giving up.

She had met Riccardo during her college days, for her it was love at first sight. She once confessed her feelings to him during college but he had turned her down.

After graduating from college she decided to focus on her life and let her feelings for him die down.

But three years ago when she had saved his grand father and was offered the chance to get married to him, she agreed after realizing that the feelings she had for him was still there. The sad part was that he already had a girlfriend he loved dearly and he wasn't interested in getting married to her. Even when he had told her, her heart shattered and she decided to let him go. She loved him and she wanted him to be happy.

A month later, Riccardo requested to meet her and said that he now wants to marry her. She didn't think about it and immediately said yes. She was ready to marry him and make him love her back.

Two months into the marriage she realized that Riccardo was still seeing his girlfriend. She was hurt and had confronted him, but his words were "you're my wife only on paper and nothing more" The words had hurt her deeply. Yes, they had signed a contract marriage.

Vanessa had to live with the pain of sharing her husband with another woman. There was even a time she attended a social function with Riccardo but she later regretted it because Riccardo had embarrassed her there that day in order to support his girlfriend Tiffany.

A year into the marriage Vanessa told Riccardo how much she loved him. In reply he made it clear to her that he didn't love her. But Vanessa wasn't ready to give up on her love for him and their marriage.

After their one year of marriage, Riccardo's attitude towards her was getting worse and one day she found out that his girlfriend had ended things with him, and he had blamed her for being the reason behind their break up.

Her parents were never in support of the Marriage, but her dad just let her get married since that was what made her happy, but her mother had been furious and had not spoken to her since then. It was the first time her Mom was being so mad at her all because she chose to be with Riccardo. She was the only daughter of her parents, they were the richest in the country, but they didn't reside here, they always travelled far and wide.

Vanessa was supposed to inherit some of their companies but she chose to get married to Riccardo and her mom had said that till she comes back to her senses she won't inherit any dime. So she learned to work for her own money and not rely on her parent's.

The sound of the living room door opening and closing made Vanessa jump up from the couch. She looked up and saw Riccardo, still dressed in his fine tuxedo suit and looking as handsome as ever. His haven black hair stood out greatly.

"You're back" she muttered, her body itched to hug him but she knew better than to do that.

He didn't reply as he walked past her heading towards their bedroom and she followed him closely.

Inside the room, he began to take off his clothes and Vanessa stood by the door as she watched him.

"You came home extremely late today. What happened?" She asked.

"It's none of your business Vanessa. When did I need to start reporting my whereabouts to you?" He asked coldly not sparing her a glance. Vanessa gulped down nothing at his tone.

"I'm your wife, I deserve to know" she stated calmly, her face a mixture of hurt and sadness.

"I don't remember wedding you at the altar" he retorted.

"I'm tired and I don't want to argue with you. I've prepared dinner, after taking your bath let's eat together" Vanessa said. She always wanted to have meals with Riccardo beside her, but that was only possible a few times in a year.

"Eat whatever you prepared yourself!" with that he walked into the bathroom and shut the door loudly.

Vanessa sighed sadly. She closed the room door and headed towards the dinning. Settling down in the chair, she uncovered one of the meal and began eating alone, she was hungry but the amount of sadness she felt made her leave the food halfway. She brought out her phone from her skirt's pocket and switched it on. Her lock screen wallpaper was a picture of Riccardo. Just staring at the picture a tear drop slipped down her eyes, but she quickly wiped it off and kept her phone back.

Inside their room, she met Riccardo already dressed in a black pants and a vest, working on his laptop. She walked towards him.

"You're always busy, you don't even ask me about how my day went" She muttered as she stood before him. He looked up and his eyes met hers, those eyes that always made her feel weak. There was silence for while.

"Do I need to? I've told you times without numbers, I can't give you what you want from me" he stated coldly, his words cutting through the silence like a very sharp knife.

"That doesn't mean you won't ask about how my day went" she replied.

"You want me to start acting like we are close." He narrowed his eyes as he rose from his chair. "Those little tricks won't work on me woman!" He yelled out furiously. The tears that Vanessa had been trying to keep in came falling down her cheeks.

Why does anything she do or say make him angry? She was getting tired of their arguments each day. She quickly wiped her tears. Riccardo didn't like them, he had warned her about crying and how it made her look weak. She wiped it, she didn't want to get him more angry than he was already.

"I'm sorry Rick. I didn't mean it that way" she apologized and he scoffed in return.

Her head was already banging with a serious headache.

She held his hands. "I'm tired of this. Let's stop all the arguments. I won't do anything you don't like anymore" she said calmly, but inwardly her heart was shattering into pieces. She didn't do anything wrong but yet she was apologizing because she didn't want them to argue further.

"It's our third wedding anniversary tomorrow. I have prepared a gift for you" she let out a small smile as she let go of his hands.

"Hmmm. Go to bed, I'm tired of looking at your face" he took his laptop and walked out of the room and Vanessa stared at his retreating figure. This was another night that she'd have to sleep alone.

"Oh my god, I'm burning up" Vanessa muttered to herself as she touched her forehead.

"I'll just take a shower" she murmured.

Entering the bathroom, Vanessa decided to use the bathtub. As she relaxed inside the bathtub filled with water, her mind replayed the events that had just occurred and that only intensified the headache.

Why couldn't Riccardo just love her back?

She was just becoming more miserable each passing day, this was so unlike her.

Did she make a wrong decision marrying him? She wondered. "No, I didn't" she tried to reassure herself.

A lone tear slipped down her eyes. And slowly sleep began to engulf her, and she found herself falling asleep right inside the bathtub filled with water.