Chapter 62

NOAH This was the first time I had ever heard Olivia speak her husband’s name. She didn’t need to explain who the man was; it was obvious it was her husband. My expression shifted immediately, a wave of something cold rushing through me. I watched as Olivia hurried downstairs, grabbed the key, and unlocked the door to her mother-in-law’s house. The sound of the door creaking open seemed to echo through the hollow silence between us. A deep sense of melancholy clouded my thoughts. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it would be far better to die drunk than to continue existing in this painful, half-drunken, half-awake state I found myself trapped in now. When Olivia’s husband called, it felt like a bucket of ice water splashing over me. It snapped me back to harsh reality, forcing my senses to sharpen, though not without a heavy weight pressing on my chest. I rested my back against Olivia’s door, the cool wood pressing against me. I lit a cigarette, the brief warmth of the flame offering