Chapter Four

Sophia sat on the soft gray couch in the living room of Ethan's big mansion. The couch was comfortable, but it didn't make her feel better. The whole room smelt of fresh flowers, But even though everything looked so nice, the house felt cool and empty.

She pulled at the edge of her dress, twisting the fabric with her fingers while her thoughts spun around in her head. The mansion was huge, but it felt like a cage. Every room she walked through only reminded her how alone she felt.

"How did I end up here?" she whispered to herself. Her voice sounded strange in the quiet room, as if it were an echo.

Her eyes landed on the big family picture hanging on the wall. She got up and walked closer to it. Ethan was in the picture. He looked younger, like he was in his early twenties. He stood between his mom and dad, smiling a happy smile. His dad looked proud, and his mom was holding his arm like she wanted to keep him safe forever.

Sophia stared at Ethan's face in the picture, looking for something familiar. That smile, where had it gone? That spark in his eyes, was it still somewhere deep inside him? Because the Ethan she now lived with wasn't like the man in the photo. The Ethan she lived with felt very distant, unfriendly and quiet.

She let out a weak sigh and stepped back from the picture. The calmness in the mansion was so loud it was almost too much. Every time the clock ticked, it felt like it lasted forever. She looked at her phone. It was past ten in the morning, and Ethan still wasn't home. He hadn't come back last night, and her stomach twisted with worry.

Sophia sat back down on the couch, pulling her knees to her chest. Her thoughts spun in circles. Was this her life now? An empty house with only the housekeepers. A husband who acted like she wasn't even there. And a contract she had signed, hoping for something better. She didn't even know what anymore.

She clenched her fists. "I thought I could fix things," she whispered to herself. Her voice broken as she spoke. "I thought I could bring him back."

Her shoulders sagged as tears tried to come out of her eyes. She turned her head and looked at the photo on the wall again. It seemed to mock her, as if it was saying, Look at the man you thought you could save.

She couldn't sit still anymore. Sophia stood up and started walking through the mansion. Her footsteps made gentle sounds in the big and empty hallways. Each step reminded her how empty the house was. She passed room after room, each one more beautiful than the next. But no matter how beautiful everything looked, the house felt still felt empty.

She stopped by a window that looked out over the garden. The view was amazing. The garden was full of bright flowers, all lined up in perfect arrangements.

Sophia put her hand on the cold glass and looked outside. The garden was so different from how she felt. It was bursting with life, but she felt like she was slowly fading away.

Her phone vibrated on the coffee table, bringing her back from her thoughts. She walked over and picked it up. It was a text from Rachel, her best friend.

"Are you okay, Soph? Call me if you need anything."

Sophia looked at the message, her thumb hanging over the screen. She wanted to reply, but her fingers wouldn't move. How could she explain how she felt? How could she tell Rachel about the emptiness growing inside her? The words just wouldn't come.

She put the phone down. Her mind went back to Ethan. Where was he? Was he at work? Was he with someone else? The thought made her stomach coil in agony.

Sophia shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the calmness in the house was getting to her. She started pacing, walking back and forth. Her bare feet made gentle sounds on the floor.

Suddenly, the front door creaked open. Sophia stood at a spot frozen, her heart beating fast. She finally turned toward the door, and there he was. Ethan just stood.

He walked in, his tie hanging loose around his neck and his dark hair looking messy. His jacket was wet, as though it had rained outside. His face showed no emotion at all.

"You're back," Sophia said quietly, taking a small step toward him.

Ethan didn't look at her. He didn't even act like he heard her. Instead, he walked past her and headed toward the stairs.

Sophia's heart dropped. "Ethan," she said again, this time a little louder.

He stopped walking, but he didn't turn around. "Don't wait up next time," he said in an emotionless voice. Then, without another word, he walked up the stairs, leaving Sophia standing there. She felt like all the air had been knocked out of her.

She looked at the empty staircase for a long time, her hands gripped at her sides. She wanted to scream. She wanted to ask him why he was like this. Why did he treat her like she wasn't even there?

But the words stayed put in her throat, and the house became silent once more.

Two days later, Sophia couldn't take it anymore. Ethan had been avoiding her, coming home late every night, and barely saying a word to her. She was tired of the silence, tired of feeling invisible, and tired of pretending everything was fine. She needed answers. She needed to understand why things had gone so wrong between them.

That evening, when Ethan walked into the house, Sophia was waiting for him in the sitting room. She sat firmly on the couch, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her eyes were red from all the crying she had done earlier, but she wiped her face, determined not to cry in front of him.

As soon as Ethan stepped into the room, he noticed her sitting there. He paused for some minutes, his eyes meeting hers. She could see the tiredness on his face, but she didn't care. She had waited long enough.

"We need to talk," Sophia said finally, her voice calm even though her heart was racing.

Ethan stopped in his path and let out a deep sigh. "Sophia, I'm tired," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. His tone was emotionless, as if he had no strength for this conversation.

Sophia's jaw became tight. "I'm tired too," Sophia spoke roughly, her voice louder this time. "But you don't care about that, do you? You've been ignoring me ever since we moved in together! I'm not invisible, Ethan!"

Ethan's shoulders became weak, and he rubbed his forehead as if her words were giving him a headache. "I didn't ask for a wife who would demand my attention," he said in an abrupt manner, his voice mixed with irritation.

The words hurt Sophia deeply. But instead of backing down, she stood her ground. She wasn't going to let him brush her off so easily.

"And I didn't agree to this marriage just to be treated like a ghost!" she screamed back, her voice trembling with emotion. "I thought" She stopped and swallowed hard, trying to calm herself. "I thought we could at least try to make this work. I thought you wanted this too."

Ethan's face became angry and he took a step closer to her. His presence felt oppressive, but she refused to look away. "Make what work, Sophia?" he asked angrily "This isn't some fairy tale where everything magically gets better. You knew what this was,a contract. Nothing more."

His words were harsh, cutting straight through her. Tears swelled in Sophia's eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She had cried enough already, and she wasn't about to let him see how much he was hurting her.

"You used to care, Ethan," she said, her voice calmer now. It trembled as she spoke, but she pressed on. "I know you did. What happened to the man I knew? What happened to the man who smiled and laughed? The man who wasn't so" She paused, searching for the right word. "…empty?"

At that point, she thought she saw something lighten in Ethan's eyes. It was so quick that she almost missed it, a brief gentleness, a crack in his harsh expression. But just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. He turned away from her, his face getting angry once more.

"That man is gone," he said, his voice full of anger and final. "And he's not coming back."

Sophia felt her heart break into a thousand pieces. The weight of his words pressed down on her chest, making it hard to breathe. But she refused to let him see her cry. Not now. Not like this.

"Maybe I made a mistake," she whispered, her voice hard to hear. It shook with the pain she was trying so hard to hold back.

Ethan stopped at the bottom of the staircase, his back still turned to her. For just a little while, he stood there in silence, as if he was thinking about what to say. Then, without looking at her, he spoke.

"Maybe you did," he said quietly, his sounded without any emotion.

And with that, he walked up the stairs, leaving her alone in the sitting room.

As soon as he was out of sight, Sophia collapsed onto the couch. She felt like all the strength had been drained from her body. Her hands held onto the light fabric of the couch as she struggled to breath, the pain in her chest was too much to bear.

His words sounded in her mind, over and over again. That man is gone. Maybe you did.

She had tried so hard to reach him, to pull him out of whatever darkness he had fallen into. She had thought that if she just loved him enough, if she just stayed patient, he would come back to her. But now it felt like all her efforts had been for nothing.

The room was so quiet that she could hear the light ticking of the clock on the wall. Every second felt like an eternity. She looked at the family portrait hanging on the wall, the same one she had stared at so many times before. Ethan's younger self smiled back at her, carefree and full of life.

"Where did you go?" she whispered to the picture, her voice breaking. "What happened to you?"

The tears she had been holding back finally spilled over. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she cried. The emptiness in the house felt even bigger now, swallowing her completely.

Hours passed, but Sophia didn't move from the couch. She was in a whole lot of thought. She thought about the first day she met Ethan as a young child, about the way he used to look at her like she was the most important person in the world. She thought about the quiet moments they had shared before life took them to different places.

But those memories felt so far away now, like they belonged to someone else's life.

By the time Sophia finally pulled herself off the couch, it was late at night. The house was dark and silent. She walked through the halls.

She stopped at the door to Ethan's office. It was a bit open and she could see the little light of his desk lamp inside. Just for a few seconds she thought about going in, about trying one last time to talk to him. But then she remembered the way he had looked at her earlier, like she was nothing more than a burden.

With a heavy sigh, Sophia turned away from the door and headed back to the sitting room. She wrapped up herself on the couch, pulling a blanket she brought from her room to cover herself.

As she closed her eyes, her mind kept going back to Ethan's words. That man is gone.

Sophia didn't know if she had the strength to keep fighting for someone who didn't want to be saved. But even as her heart ached, a small part of her refused to give up hope.

Maybe, just maybe, there was still a way to reach him. But for now, all she could do was wait.