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It felt more like a trap than a sign of love because I had worn it for so long.
I put something fresh on my social media for the first time in three years.
“Put yourself first and give others the freedom they want.”
After that, I looked over my past posts.  The last one was a photo from our wedding day.
I smiled brightly and my eyes were full of love for Coley, but I had no idea that his were angry.
I went to bed early that night.
I didn’t call Coley this time, and I didn’t leave a light on for him either.
When we initially got married, Coley was often working and coming home late.
I would make dinner and wait for him at the table.
I would run to welcome him as soon as I heard the door open, thinking he would brush my hair and tell me how good my dinner was, like a normal husband would.
Instead, Coley would stroll by me with a frown on his face and a frown on the food I had made.
“Do I have to deal with you after dealing with clients all day?” he once said.
His remarks shocked me.  I never thought he would say it to me.
Even though I was sad, I preserved my smile.
“I just wanted to have dinner with you. I thought you’d be tired from working late.”
“Don’t assume,” he had said sharply.
I had never waited for Coley to come home before.
At the time, I believed he was just tired.  Now that I think about it, I realise he just didn’t like me.
He thought it was unnecessary to leave even one lamp on for him in the living room.
Coley came home all of a sudden in the middle of the night.
He was on top of me before I could do anything.  I could see the anger on his face in the thin moonlight.
Before I could even react, he started kissing me hard.
He snarled, “You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”  “Are you so desperate to have my child that you used Grandpa to pressure me? Well, congratulations. You got what you wanted.”
I couldn’t get Coley off me no matter how hard I pushed. He was too strong.
That night, I felt like a puppet with no life, forced to do everything he said.  His kisses and touches made my skin crawl.
He quickly broke the stillness, saying through gritted teeth, “Don’t you like it? Didn’t Grandpa make me come back for this exact moment? Why are you acting like you’re disgusted now?”
I put my face in the pillow to stop my tears.
I felt bad about everything.
Since we were kids, Coley had always been polite to me.
But as soon as my parents told the Gabbs that Coley and I should be together, he transformed.
He wasn’t the same person all of a sudden.
He never smiled at me, cared for me, or stroked my hair softly again.
He didn’t care about my gastritis and gave me a glass of red wine at his grandfather’s birthday party.  He made me drink it all by pretending to toast Sam, his grandfather.
That night, Coley drank too much, and Sam urged me to take him home.
Outside, the lights were brilliant, but inside they weren’t.  I could only see Coley’s shape in the dark.
“You really want to be with me?”
When Coley asked me that, my heart almost stopped.  I didn’t even notice how frigid he sounded.
When I woke up the next morning, my whole body hurt.
The blanket lay on the floor, and the room was a mess.  There wasn’t even a sheet over me, and Coley was already gone.  I was so ashamed that I hurled myself at him without thinking.
I was foolish to imagine that being married would make us what we used to be.  I never thought he would hate me this much.
“Why can’t we just be like other couples?” I asked in a quiet voice.
Coley stopped for a second and then laughed bitterly.
His quiet gave me all the answers I needed.
Coley wiped my face as I fell asleep, and when I woke up the next morning, there was a blanket over me.  But he was nowhere to be seen.
Jessica, the housekeeper, stopped me as I was going downstairs.
“I went grocery shopping today, Mrs. Gabbs. What do you want to make for Mr. Gabbs’s lunch? I can help you with the ingredients.”
Coley was quite fussy about what he ate.  He would rather go without food than touch anything he didn’t like.
Since we got married, I had been making his lunch, but he constantly threw it away in disgust.
I had his aide bring him meals without informing him I had made them so that he would eat them.
When Jessica asked me something, I shook my head and stated, “I’m not going to do that anymore.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Coley said last night.
Sam wanted me to bring Coley back, but I hadn’t even told him why.  So, Coley thought I was using Grandpa to coerce him the same way I did when we got married.
I couldn’t figure out why Coley, who was always so stubborn, suddenly agreed to our engagement.  After that, he even married me.
My parents assured me that Coley would be the next Gabbs and that he would never go against Sam’s wishes.  He had to marry me since Sam had picked me.
A beep from my phone brought me back to reality.
I asked my lawyer to provide me the divorce agreement, and they did.
This kind of marriage should have ended a long time ago.
I had to go to the Gabbs’ estate first.
In his study, Sam was frowning deeply.