Broken Strings

C H A P T E R T H I R T Y - T H R E E

"Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?
Will you still love me when I've got nothing but my aching soul?"

- Lana Del Rey

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Anisha closed her eyes, letting the silence surround her.

It was as though she really couldn't be bothered no more. She had finally dulled. As though she had finally given up and accepted her fate.

The slight pain in her stomach was sharp. Her throat was still a little scratchy, too dry.

"I don't even know what to say." She blinked a few times, clearing the tears and allowing her eyes to focus. "My parents were happy together. Not the perfect kind of happy but like just enough. The kind of happy that's just enough. That's what they were, together."

Every single insecurity she had, it stemmed from her mother. Yet, her parents' marriage, it had been perfectly fine.

"It was the kind of happy that I always wanted. It was the kind of happy I wanted with you." Anisha glanced at him, quickly looking away. His brows were drawn together, almost as if he was listening attentively. Almost as though he cared. "But never got. And that I guess is where our story fell apart."

Anisha turned a little, glancing at her cold hand placed on top of his. She bit down on her lips, furrowing her eyebrows together, wondering if she should pull her hand away or leave it on top of his.

She was delusional. She quickly pulled her hand away just as he reached out for her. She was delusional.

Because right now, right now he most certainly did not love her.

"Maybe it was easy because we were young, you know. Everything was carefree and just easy. Maybe love is just easier when you're young."

"And it was, wasn't it? It was so easy, so perfect."

She stared at him, empty brown eyes staring at him. "Once we got married, everything fell apart. Everything fell apart, far too easily."

Anisha tried to hold the heartbreak in. It was no longer possible. She simply lay there, shaking, trembling with heartbreak. Her eyes filled with heavy tears, falling onto the pillow.

In a sense, her tears were the rain, raindrops cleansing her of the pain. Telling her that she had been enough and now, it was okay for her to let go.

"When we got engaged, you...you said wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of your life with me. Y...you said you loved me. And that you always would."

"You'd get so excited when you'd talk about getting married. It was, I don't know." Anisha shook her head, her eyes filled with torrent tears, again. "It was as though you couldn't wait for us to start a life together. It was as if you couldn't wait to spend the rest of your life with me. That...that you wanted nothing more than to be with me."

"We had all these dreams and hopes. Of a life together."

She shook her head, looking around the room with glossy eyes. She squirmed in place a little more, moving around before wanting to sit up.

"I want to sit up."

She didn't say anything as Andrew reached for her, gently, helping her sit up. Placing the pillow behind her for support, he sat back down on his chair. Parted lips, as if he wanted to say something more.

But she longer cared.

There was nothing he needed to say or do. Nothing left. He'd done absolutely nothing. Nothing but continue to let her suffer.