The Doormat Wife Walked Away

"I'm done. I have never once enjoyed it." I didn't curl into Desmond's chest the way I always did. The warm air in the bedroom froze solid.

Any day before today, I'd already be apologizing with my voice shaking. But the comments floating over his shoulder had told me the truth.

I'm the sidecharacter wife. [No matter how obedient she is, it won't matter. The male lead ends up loving the endgame girl, the one who fights him on everything.] So I get dumped.

And on the way out, I'm a prop in their love story. No thanks. Desmond looked down at me. "You've never once enjoyed it." "Then why do you shake at the end.

Every time." Chapter 1 The heat in the bedroom drained out in about two seconds. Total silence. Desmond looked down at me. The old me would already be shaking.

I'd bite my lip and slide into his arms. Then I'd say, quietly, "Babe, I was kidding." But today was not like other days. I had to change. No more doing what Desmond said.

No more letting him manage me. His mouth opened. "You've never once enjoyed it." My eyes went wide.

He watched me, calm, nothing moving in his voice. "Then why do you shake at the end. Every time." Me: … Damn it. That pressure. I know that pressure.

I cleared my throat. "I was faking." His brows pulled together, barely. I doubled down. "Look at you. You had to dig, and now you don't like what you found.

I was protecting your ego. I performed for you every single time. And I am tired." I got it all out in one breath, then let the rest of the air go. Provoking him like that.

That had to count as leadinglady behavior, the kind the comments kept talking about. The air stopped moving. Nothing changed in Desmond's face.

He just lifted his eyelids, and the weight of his attention landed on me. "Is that right." A long stretch of nothing. Then he said, "All that time.

That must have been hard on you." I looked down, guilty. "It wasn't that hard—" A second later I caught myself and snapped my head back up. "It was extremely hard on me.

Things need to change." Then I kept going. "One more thing. Daybright Tech offered me a position. I'm taking the job." Desmond looked at me and said nothing.

I let the pause sit, then added, "I can't be a stayathome wife forever." His voice stayed flat. "If I remember correctly, that's your exboyfriend's company." "Uh. I think so.

But we probably won't even cross paths. Right. My job is my business anyway." Desmond's long fingers moved. He unbuttoned his collar. My heart stuttered and my back went cold.

I knew that move. He did it every time he was about to take a subordinate apart. Me too, historically. I held my own mouth shut before it could apologize. Thank God.

In the end he said, "Fine." I lay on the soft mattress. The space beside me had already gone cold. Desmond had moved to the study to work.

The comments surfaced in front of me again.

Chapter 2 [Why is the side character suddenly fighting back?] [Doormat is waking up…] [Say what you want, this pretty much proves the male lead doesn't love her.] [Right.

She's going to work at her ex's company and he just says fine.

Meanwhile later in the story, once he falls for the endgame girl, that girl can do literally anything and this ice cube loses it.] [Yeah!

The endgame girl says one sentence to another guy and he's jealous enough to break.] I stared at them. Every bit of sleepiness burned off. I got more awake by the second.

I rolled over. Then back. AAAAAAAAH. I have never been so angry in my life. Desmond is six years older than me.

Our families were close, so we grew up side by side, and he was the older boy in every room I grew up in. Top of his class, cold, severe. The kid every parent held up as an example.

My grades were bad, so from the time I was small, he was the one who tutored me. And he took my phone away whenever I drifted off. To me he was an older brother. He was a teacher.

So when he became my husband, some part of me was still a little afraid of him. But Desmond is undeniably impressive.

He took over his family's company and ran it hard and clean, and it kept getting bigger. So I got used to doing what he said.

And all that obedience earned me a husband who was going to cheat on me. Great. … The next morning. I came down for breakfast with dark circles down to my chin and no will to live.

The cook had already laid out a beautiful spread. Desmond was in his seat in a suit that fit him like it had opinions. The cook looked startled. "Mrs.

Vane, you're up—" I waved a hand. "Anything is fine." I used to sleep until noon and eat lunch instead. So breakfast had always been just him. No wonder the man was shocked.

Desmond set down his knife and fork. His black eyes came up to me. I said nothing and kept looking tired. The old me would already be beaming at him. Good morning, babe.

I did not have it in me. "Starting today?" He spoke first. I made a noise. The quiet closed back over the table.

It wasn't until we got into two separate cars and drove in two separate directions. That it landed on me.

If I didn't start a conversation, there was no conversation between Desmond and me. I used to be too dense to notice.

Every day, like an idiot, calling him babe, babe, wringing my brain out for something to talk about. I thought about that with no expression on my face. Then I sighed, hard.

I reported in at the company. I was still learning what my job even was when they pulled me into a department meeting.

A bright, pretty girl with a high ponytail stood at the front presenting a proposal, easy and sharp about it. I sat in the back yawning and taking notes.

Somebody beside me murmured, "Isn't she a college intern? She's good." "Really good. Knows her material. Has a mind of her own." That last phrase snagged on something. I let it go.

Then she hit the best part of her presentation. And the door of that huge office swung open. The manager was bowing and scraping. "Mr. Vane, right this way." My head came up.

The man who'd driven off in the other direction that morning walked in, unhurried. Tall, straight, expensive, cold. He said he was going to the office. So what is he doing here?

Chapter 3 The comments went off like a bottle rocket. [YOOO the parents are meeting!!] [This is the butterfly effect.

If the side character hadn't randomly decided to get a job, the two leads wouldn't have met this early.] [Honestly we owe her.

We get to start shipping them way ahead of schedule.] [Poor thing is out here making a scene today, no clue she's just speeding up her own expiration date.] [Right.

If she'd stayed a doormat, he might have felt a little bad about it.] Me: … I had nothing. No moves left. Being the side character was a nightmare.

My eyes stuck on the second comment. But by that logic. Desmond came here because of me? I rubbed my chin and thought about it. And walked straight into a pair of very black eyes.

The seat across from me happened to be open. Desmond took it. His attention landed on me for exactly one second and then withdrew.

The manager was talking beside him. "Everything on these slides is our current strategy, and it lines up with your company's approach." Desmond looked over, calm. I looked at him.

Then I looked at the girl walking through her slides. And I thought, quietly: Of course. A perfect match, straight out of a magazine. The more I thought about it.

The tighter I gripped my pen. I wanted to take that pen and put a hole in Desmond with it. When I came back to myself, the office had gone quiet.

I looked up, lost, and hit those black eyes again. The manager snapped at me. "This is not the time to be daydreaming." Desmond raised one finger, barely. "It's fine." He paused.

Then, mild: "Although if she can't keep up with a workday, she's welcome to stay home." The manager fell over himself agreeing. "Yes. Yes.

Of course." I set my pen down and ground my teeth. When the presentation ended, I stayed in my seat. Desmond stayed too. He sent his assistant off to handle the partnership details.

Which left the two of us. "What was that?" I stared at him. "Was that aimed at me?" His brow lifted a little. "No." I pressed my lips together and changed subjects. "I never heard anything about you working with this company.

Why now, and why did you come yourself? Is it because—" Of me? I didn't get the last two words out. Desmond cut in, flat. "You've never cared about any of this.

So of course you wouldn't know." I sat there with nothing to say. Right then. The girl who'd given the presentation came back in. The one the comments call the endgame girl.

She saw the two of us and stopped short. "Are you—" Desmond took a step back and put a safe distance between us. She handled it well. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt.

I left my USB drive in here." Desmond nodded. "It's fine." I opened my mouth, closed it, and settled for nodding too. So that was that. The plot did not care what I did.

I didn't get to sit in that for long. Somebody called me away. It was Deb, assigned to walk me through the systems. She had no idea.

What I was going to do with the first thing she taught me. Chapter 4 She clicked through it patiently, explaining. "This folder has templates for our standard company agreements.

Get familiar with it so you can pull one whenever you need. Anything else you don't get, just holler." Then she turned and left.

I clicked out of the folder and opened the state court's website. My eyes stopped on one link. My finger moved, and I opened the blank divorce forms.

I saved them to my own USB drive. Carefully. Then I turned around. I have no idea how long the man behind me had been standing there.

His eyes moved off the screen and onto my face, calm the whole way. My heart stalled. "Desmond—" The air congealed.

It was quiet enough to make my stomach drop. "It's just, I have a friend, she's fighting with her husband about a divorce." The excuse came out on its own, and my voice thinned no matter what I did. "So I figured I'd look into it for her." The second it was out I wanted to slap my own mouth.

Why did I reach for a lie on reflex? And such a bad one? Although, knowing Desmond, he wouldn't ask. That thought let me breathe.

Then he asked, with nothing in his voice at all, "Which friend? Why haven't I heard about her?" Me: … Since when does he dig.

I let a beat pass. "You've never cared about any of this. So of course you wouldn't know." Desmond looked down at me. His lashes moved. After a while, he turned and walked away.

After that, Desmond and I went cold on each other for two solid weeks. He moved into a guest room. Some nights he didn't come home at all. I had a lawyer drafting the agreement.

The Vanes and the Lockes had spent years doing business together, and pulling one thread would move all of it. A divorce meant a property fight. It had to be done slowly.

Then one night I came home late from work. The lights were low. There was a long shape sitting on the couch in the front room. I stopped. "Desmond?" I noticed something else too.

I could no longer do the thing where I sang out babe in that soft little voice. Desmond raised his eyes to me. I hesitated. "Were you waiting for me?" Nothing came back.

The house stayed silent. Fine. Flattering myself again. I'd started up the stairs when his voice came, level. "The business dinner, day after tomorrow.

We go together." I was about to say no. Then I thought about it. The divorce wasn't finished. If somebody decided to talk, our parents would end up worried.

In the low light, Desmond and I looked at each other. I made a tired noise of agreement and went straight up. Halfway up, I looked back.

The lights downstairs were still on, and Desmond was still on the couch, exactly where he'd been. The night of the dinner. I had my arm through Desmond's. And it felt wrong.

Whatever used to make me want to be close to him was gone. I spotted a friend and let go of him fast, grateful for the excuse to escape the contact.

Two steps away, I looked back without thinking about it. Desmond hadn't moved. His fingers stopped on the crook of his own arm. I figured he just wasn't used to it being empty.

Chapter 5 My friend grabbed my hand and started talking, thrilled about all of it. "Okay so, my husband and I went to see a volcano last week, it was unreal.

Next up we're doing an island somewhere. What about you and your Mr. Vane?" I pressed my lips together and let that one go.

Her eyes were bright and looking right at me, and I asked, out of nowhere, "Do you two actually talk?

Like, a lot?" "Obviously." She gave me a look like I'd asked whether water was wet, then frowned. "We also fight constantly! He gets me so mad I could see red, I want to deck him.

And then he's the one who comes and fixes it. Every time." Somewhere in there I drifted off. Desmond and I had never fought. If we disagreed, I did what he said.

If I did something that annoyed him, even when I didn't think I was wrong, I was the one who folded and apologized. After that, nothing she said made it into my head.

She saw my face and got gentle about it. "Want to sit in the lounge for a bit? It's stuffy in here." I shook my head and got up to find the restroom.

Champagne kept circling the room on trays. A lot of people had flown in from overseas for this. I passed faces I used to know. Desmond had presumably gone off to his own people.

My head was a mess the entire walk. Then I heard that low voice I'd know anywhere. "It's fine." My feet stopped. Somebody answered him right away. "We all told you.

If you didn't want her, you shouldn't have agreed to a match both families pushed. And look where it got you." "Right. You didn't want it either, at the time. We said it then.

You should have gone with your gut." "See what happens. You weren't firm enough and it turned into a mistake." A mistake.

I stood very still with my head down, looking at my own shoes. I'd always assumed Desmond had at least some feeling for me. We'd known each other since we were kids.

That had to count for something. And that what the comments described came later. He got pulled toward a bright girl with a mind of her own, and that's when he changed. But no.

He never had any feeling for me at all. This marriage was a mistake he made. Somebody kept going. "At least you're getting out early.

The divorce is the right call." I turned around and walked. The pressure in my chest kept climbing. Getting out?

For years I coaxed him, went along with him, arranged myself around him. And he needed to get out? Then why didn't he ask for the divorce sooner? Oh, right. She hadn't shown up yet.

Now she has, and he's done settling. I was furious about it, and I walked directly into somebody's chest.

I stepped back and apologized fast. "Sorry, are you okay?" "…Rowena?" The voice came out uncertain. I looked up into a pair of very surprised eyes. I fumbled it. "Oh. Oh, hi.

It's been a while." He laughed. "You started at my company recently, didn't you? I've been out of the country. First night back and here you are.

What are the odds." I scratched my cheek. "Yeah." He kept looking at me. "What made you decide to work?

Are you—" He picked his words carefully. "Your husband—" Chapter 6 Our wedding had been an event. Everybody in Boston knew about it. So of course Nolan remembered.

I pulled my mouth into something like a smile. "Not for much longer." That stopped him.

I repeated it in the same tone. "I said, I'm not going to have a husband much longer." To be clear. I was not wishing death on Desmond. I was calmly stating an upcoming fact.

Nolan didn't say anything for a long time. I followed his eyes and turned around