Walking Fragile Lines

Feeling So Broken

*Several Hours Earlier*

The next morning, Liv awoke feeling awful, as she expected. She felt drained of all energy, as she always did recently, but she also felt guilty. Brian had been in the wrong when he asked her to go to the club and spent the night with his friends instead, but she didn't mean to cause a scene. She didn't mean to yell. And Bessy was right; she loved him and she was going to continue to fight for him.

After getting dressed and thanking Bessy for letting her stay over, Liv caught a cab back to the house. Her heart swelled in her chest during the journey back home as she thought about how much she loved him. They were going to work things out, they just had to, and Liv was willing to do whatever it took. Letting herself in, the house was deathly quiet and she immediately guessed that Brian was still sleeping. Making her way up to their bedroom, she found him exactly where she had expected; laying in bed sound asleep. She took a moment to watch him, as she smiled down at him lovingly. His hair was a tangled mess and you could see that he had definitely had one too many drinks the night before. But suddenly, something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. On the floor at the foot of the bed was some sort of bright red fabric that had been carelessly tossed aside. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to pick up the fabric, preparing to put it in the laundry basket before becoming a little confused. As she picked it up, she discovered that they were a lacey pair of lingerie. Liv herself very rarely wore lingerie of this fashion and as she inspected the tag on the inside, she quickly realised that these didn't belong to her and she soon was hit at full force with the painful truth. Brian had had another woman in their home. And the fact that her underwear had been left carelessly on their bedroom floor further lead her to believe that he had cheated on her. Liv's heart sunk as her eyes quickly welled up with tears. She felt dizzy, and nauseous, and angry, and heartbroken all at once. Taking a deep breath, Liv balled the underwear up in her hand before silently heading downstairs and sat down at the dining room table.

Liv sat silently staring into space. The underwear still held tightly in her hand as she allowed silent tears to stream down her face. She wasn't sure how long she had been sat there but she didn't really care. How could he do this to her? She ached from head to toe. Her whole body felt like mush as she imagined her husband, the father of her children, the love of her life, bringing some random woman back to the home he shared with her and their son and daughter and doing things with her Liv couldn't bare to think about. And then she started to wonder whether she was better than her; prettier, younger, funnier. Maybe she struggled to spend time with him because he simply didn't want to share his time with her anymore. Maybe this was exactly what he wanted all along. Liv could physically feel her heart shattering in her chest as her imagination went wild. And then, she heard the floorboards above her begin to creak, and she knew that he had woken up. She quickly wiped her eyes with her free hand, waiting expectantly as he rushed down the stairs upon the sight of her. Her heart aching as she looked at him. She just wanted to scream.

After Brian had left, Liv smashed her empty glass on the floor as she cried out in anguish, her knees giving way as she slid down against the counter and onto the floor, sobbing violently as she ran her fingers through her hair. And as much as she couldn't stand to be around him in that moment? She wished she could. She wished she wasn't alone. Taking her cell phone out of her pocket, Liv dialled Bessy's number, shakily pressing the phone to her ear as she continued to sob.

"Hey!", Bessy answered cheerily before hearing her sobs. "Liv? What's wrong? What happened?", she asked.

"B-Brian slept with someone else. Last night", Liv tried her best to explain as she struggled to catch her breath. She continued to sob, unable to say much more as she pressed the phone weakly against her face.