The moonlight spilled into the room, cold and pale, illuminating Lin Yueyao's face as she lay curled up on the edge of the king-sized bed.
She didn't know what time it was. Her eyes burned from crying, but the tears had dried up hours ago, leaving only an empty hollowness in her chest.
The silence pressed down on her like a suffocating blanket. It was so quiet she could hear the faint ticking of the antique clock on the wall and the lonely echo of her own breathing.
The space beside her was untouched. The sheets were smooth and cold, his pillow pristine and unwrinkled.
Shen Xiao hadn't come home again tonight and it was becoming his norm! She was in this marriage all alone.....
Her hand reached out to that side of the bed, trembling as her fingertips brushed against the crisp linen.
She closed her eyes, imagining his warmth there. For a moment, she let herself pretend he was lying next to her, that his arms were wrapped around her, that he was whispering her name softly in the darkness.
But when she opened her eyes, there was only emptiness. Only her in the huge master bedroom and no one else...
She curled her fingers into the sheets and pulled them close to her chest, pressing her face against the fabric as silent sobs racked her body.
Her tears soaked through the pillow, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. She could only bite down on her lip so hard that she ended up tasting blood, trying to stifle the sounds of her broken cries.
The moonlight flickered as clouds passed overhead, casting shifting shadows across the room.
In that dim silver light, Yueyao felt like she was lying inside a graveyard, an endlessly dark hole that she would never be able to get out, she couldn't even blame anyone, she brought all these unto herself.
No, not lying, but buried. Buried deeply buried in the grounds and suffocating.
She had long been buried in this marriage from the moment she had married Shen Xiao.
Her heart had been buried under his coldness, her dignity buried under his cruelty, her hope buried under the suffocating reality that no matter how much she loved him, he would never love her back.
The wind howled outside, rattling the window panes. It sounded like a woman's wail in the night, lonely and desperate, just like a ghost.
Yueyao clutched the sheets tighter, curling into a smaller ball as her body trembled violently.
Her phone lay on the nightstand beside her, its screen dark and silent.
She reached for it with shaking hands, unlocking it to stare at their wedding photo, which she had secretly taken on their registration day because he hadn't allowed an official photographer.
In the photo, she was smiling shyly at the camera, dressed simply with her hair tied back. Shen Xiao stood beside her, his gaze indifferent and his posture stiff. He didn't even look at her.
A tear slid down her cheek, dripping onto the screen and blurring his face.
She wiped it away with her thumb, but the blur remained. The more she wiped, the more his face disappeared under her tears until all she could see was herself, alone, pathetic, and broken.
She put the phone back down on the bedside table, covering her mouth with her hand as another sob threatened to escape.
Her stomach twisted painfully again, nausea rising to her throat, but she swallowed it down. She had no strength left to even get out of bed.
Above her, the chandelier swung slightly with the wind blowing through a crack in the window. Its crystal pendants tinkled softly like a funeral chime.
Yueyao closed her eyes, tears slipping through her lashes as she whispered into the darkness:
"Why… why can't you just love me back… just a little…?"
But only silence answered her.
The darkness felt endless.
And in that moment, Lin Yueyao realised something she had never allowed herself to admit before.
She was completely, utterly alone.
This was how her life has been, all alone, she didn't have anyone by her side, sadness was swallowing her wholly and the man she wished could love her, didn't pay attention to her existence...
— — — — — —
The next morning, pale dawn light streamed through the sheer curtains, casting soft golden hues across the large master bedroom.
Yueyao slowly opened her eyes, her lashes fluttering against the pillow. The space beside her was cold and empty, the pristine sheets untouched. Shen Xiao hadn't come to bed last night.
A familiar ache pressed against her chest as she lay there in silence, staring at the empty pillow where his head never rested.
She exhaled shakily, forcing herself to sit up. The house was quiet, save for the faint chirping of morning birds in the garden outside. After a moment of stillness, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and slipped her feet into her slippers.