Broken Strings

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y

Soft drops slowly slid down her face.

No matter how she willed herself not to cry, she just couldn't help it.

It was her broken heart. She was the one who was suffering.

She understood that Andrew had his own pain. But unlike him, she didn't know how to hide her feelings. She didn't know how to cut the negativity out of her life and act like she didn't care.

Because she did. She cared a lot. And she cried a lot.

"Maybe I should've left. I think about it every day. I could've left. But I didn't. Instead, I stayed. I refused to punish Ryan and Mira for your mistakes. I stayed for them. But now, they're old enough. We've given them enough. They're old enough now to understand. I just, I'm tired of pretending. I'm sick of having to act like I'm happy. I'm not." Miserable. Anisha's days were filled with misery.

"But this Andrew, this is it for us." She smiled softly at him and turned around.

And this, this was it for Anisha.

Andrew would be fine without her. He would find someone else perhaps. She hoped he would find someone else.

She hoped he would find someone else, fall in love and spend the rest of his life being happy. Maybe that someone else would heal his broken heart. And she would fill that void of Anisha in his life. Soon, he would get over his failed marriage to Anisha. He would move on, because that was what Anisha wanted.

Andrew would be okay, he would be happy without her.

And so would her kids.

All she could do was hope they could forgive her.

She hoped Ryan and Mira would forgive her for missing out on their lives. Their graduations, their birthdays, their weddings, everything.

She hoped they could all forgive her for giving up too soon. For giving up too easily.

She just wanted to sleep. And be free of the pain.

She wanted to take a nice long nap. In the evening, she would spend some time with Mira and Ryan. They were all that mattered.

She stopped and turned around to face Andrew again.

This time, her voice was gentle and caring. "I'm sorry Andrew. I'm really sorry. I just can't take it anymore. I just can't fight."

And she really couldn't. She couldn't fight to save their marriage anymore. She couldn't fight to save their love. And she most definitely couldn't fight to save herself.

Her smile, it was fake. But it was all that she could offer him.

She watched as he took in a deep breath, looking everywhere but at her. He awkwardly ran his hand over his face.

And before he could stop himself, he proved to her that he still didn't trust her.

"Is it Sebastian?"

"What?" And for the first time, Anisha paled with fear. Sebastian wouldn't dare tell Andrew about her sickness. He wouldn't. He had promised. It wasn't his place to tell.

"Sebastian. Is he why you don't want to try to fix things between us?" If Anisha said yes, Andrew would let her go.

If she wanted to leave him for Sebastian, he wouldn't stop her this time.

Last time, he had convinced her to stay because they had a three-year old son to take care of. But now, he had fucked up. He already knew his mistakes were far from forgivable.

Maybe Sebastian could love her better than Andrew ever had.

But still, he couldn't help but hope that it was just a small doubt.

He wanted to trust Anisha. But then he wouldn't blame her for cheating on him. It would all be a result of his mistakes anyway.

"What does Sebastian have anything to do with this?" Andrew noticed the hint of desperation in her voice.

But he just wanted an answer. An answer about Sebastian. And an answer about Mira.

Because as much as he wanted to believe that Mira was his, he couldn't find any similarity between him and Mira.

Mira looked like Anisha, yes. But him, he just wasn't sure if Mira looked anything like him.

And for the last few days, it was all he could think about. Was Mira even his daughter? She had to be. Mira was his bundle of joy. More than anything, he loved Mira. Mira was his daughter.

But Mira didn't look like him. And he couldn't help but wonder.

"Is there anything going on between you and Sebastian?" His eyes softened as he watched her flinch from his cold and accusing tone.

"Where are you getting this from?" Anisha grabbed the side of her stomach with one hand and placed another hand on the counter for support. She was dizzy. She was tired. The pain in her stomach was getting worse.

"Sebastian, Anisha. He has everything to do with this." He was losing his patience now. He just needed an answer.

His eyes darkened in anger as he watched her shake her head, still confused as to what he was asking of her.

"For fucks sake Anisha, is Mira even mine?"

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Hi, I just wanted to say thank you so much for reading! I usually reply to individual comments and thank people for reading but I've just been super busy with school. So thank you all so much for reading.

Also as a side note, when I first started writing, whenever someone read my story I would always read one of their stories in return. I haven't been able to do that lately but if you want me to read your story just let me know and I promise to get to it whenever I can! :)

Now as for this story, there are only maybe 15 chapters left or maybe a few more than that. I understand that this story is slow and it's all over the place but I lowkey don't know what I'm doing here and I just write whenever I feel like. I didn't think that people would actually be able to relate to Anisha and how she feels.