Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 52739 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52739 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl who came from a strict, unkind family.
She wasn't close to any of her siblings and least of all her parents. The girl had hopes and dreams, but because of her family's beliefs, it seemed as if they would remain dreams forevermore.
The girl floated through life hoping for something better.
Everything changed when she ran into a man from another country, another continent. A man who fell in love with her innocent eyes and her slightly accented voice. A man who loved her for her dreams and didn't try to put her down like her family did. Their love ignited fast and suddenly, and they knew they were meant to be together.
The girl's parents didn't take this information too well. In fact, they tried to convince her the man was bad, that he was trying to lure her away from them because he was evil. The girl didn't listen, but perhaps she should have. The man had questions his own humanity many times after her parents did, often wondering whether they saw the animal within him when even if he didn't know the wolf was waiting for tender prey.
The girl followed the man across the world. They started a life together, a life neither of them was prepared for.
He was restless and unkind, she was lost and quarrelsome. It didn't take them long to realize this kind of love wouldn't last. But not wanting to prove their families right, they stuck it through. Stayed by each other's side throughout it all, stubbornly insisting that in some world, their troublesome relationship would work out, all the while knowing it was doomed from the beginning.
They thought there was one solution, one decision that could turn things around. So they tried for a baby.
She got pregnant fast. If it had taken longer, the whole process would have destroyed them. But this way, it felt like turning over a new leaf - a new beginning as a family. He was ecstatic. She found her calling. And together, they embarked upon a new journey.
The man threw himself into his work, a business that was just starting out at the time. Something he'd gotten in with his best friend. He was desperate to prove himself not only for his own sake but also the girl's. He wanted everyone to know he was mature enough to take care of her. Yet everything seemed to backfire. The more time he spent on his new company, the more anxious his woman grew.
She wanted more attention, but nothing seemed enough. She became more and more restless, and very resentful. She started accusing him of things. Of cheating. Of lying. Of being with other women. It spoke more of her own insecurities than anything else, but it impacted the man negatively, and he spent less and less time with her. Until one day when their world together collapsed.
Tired of being alone, she told him a fatal lie that would ruin their future together.
She told him their baby wasn't his. That it was in fact his best friend's, a man he had known for years and respected and looked up to. The man was furious.
That night, the man killed his first victim. As he looked as his best friend's body, lying in a pool of blood, he became the beast they had all painted them to be.
When his woman found out about the death, she knew exactly what had happened. Lost and confused, she went into shock.
They lost their baby a couple of nights after. Their baby boy was stillborn, and the operation to save his mother's life meant that she would never be able to have children again.
It broke them. They tried to keep going. Tried to keep pretending. But their relationship was over.
Still, guilt tied them together like thick invisible rope. There was no way to break free of their binds. There was no way to escape one another. They knew the biggest punishment for both of them was enduring this together. Punishing each other for what they'd done.
They stopped sleeping together. For a while, they punished each other by fucking other people, but nothing hurt as much as seeing each other fall apart before one another's lives.
He moved on. Slowly, steadily.
She didn't.
She grew resentful, dependent, and more beautiful than ever. She was the envy of every woman, and he was the envy of every man who saw them. None of them knew what they were going through. None of them knew they'd destroyed one another.
And none of them knew that the man would once recover, but the woman would stay captive to her own bitterness until the end of time.
Once I was done, Rose was in my arms, her body shaking with held-back emotion. I felt the rigidness of my own body, the shame heavy in every limb as I touched my fingers to her chin and made her look at me. My next question would decide everything. It would show me if she accepted me despite being the monster I fucking was.