YES… RUIN ME BROTHER-IN-LAW

Elara’s Pov “Open marriage.” The words had been a steady drumbeat in my head for fourteen days. For two weeks, Elias had mentioned it over breakfast, whispering it before bed, and dropped it into my sentences like a heavy stone. But I kept telling myself that he was only telling an unfunny joke. I stood in the kitchen, my hands were covered in batter. I could have simply ordered a cake from the best bakery in the city—Elias had the money for it— more than enough, but I wanted to bake it myself. I wanted to feel like his wife again, not a stranger living inside his house. Mixing the batter felt like trying to repair a broken marriage with bare hands. Especially one I didn't break myself. Our first five months of marriage had been a pleasant dream . Elias was the man I thought I’d only find in books—kind, attentive, and so gentle that I finally felt safe. For the first time in my life, I felt seen. There were late-night kisses and playful midnight cooking in the dark kitchen. But he stopped looking at me like i meant anything to him. The kindness faded into silence, and silence into distance. We became strangers sharing a roof, no screaming or fights, just a quiet, suffocating emptiness. Still, I hoped. I set the dining table for two, though it felt like I was setting a stage. I scattered rose petals and centered the cake like I was offering a peace offering. I adjusted the chairs thrice, making sure they were perfectly aligned. Everything had to be in its best look. I walked toward the bar area to grab the wine and two crystal glasses. My heart was thumping, a nervous rhythm of hope and fear. A sound cut through the silence, a muffled skin against skin, breath catching in low moans. I froze. Every instinct told me to turn around, to run back to the kitchen and pretend I heard nothing. But my feet moved on their own. I reached the edge of the living room, and my world stopped. The crystal glasses slipped from my numb fingers and hit the hardwood floor and shattered into a thousand jagged pieces. Elias was tangled with a woman I didn’t recognize, his hands on her waist, his mouth on her chest on the couch. He was touching her with a hunger I hadn't seen in over a year. He was acting like I didn't exist, like he didn't know I was home, like this house didn't belong to us both. The woman gasped, scrambling to pull her dress up, her face flushing with a mix of shock and embarrassment, immediately she saw me. But Elias? He didn't even flinch. He sat back slowly, his eyes meeting mine. There was no shame there…only irritation. "Elias?" My voice broke out like a thin, trembling thread. "What... what is this?" He sighed, running a hand through his hair as if I were a telemarketer interrupting his dinner. "You could have knocked,"he said calmly., "You're cheating," I whispered, the words tasting like acid. "In our home. On our anniversary and you are not even sorry." He rolled his eyes. "I told you I wanted an open marriage. That was clear. You’re being dramatic." "It’s our anniversary," I choked out. "Doesn't that mean anything to you? Does this mean anything?" Elias stared at me for a second and suddenly let out a sharp, mocking laugh that cut deeper than the glass at my feet. "There is no 'us,' Elara. Let me refresh your memory, this marriage was never about love, It was a transaction, remember?" He stood up, looking me up and down with total disgust. "You’ve become predictable,” he said, glancing at the cake. “Comfort isn’t enough for me anymore.” "You’re useless in the bedroom, you have no spark, and you’re honestly not even that pleasant to look at anymore." The air left my lungs. My mind flashed back to the day I agreed to this marriage. I could still remember my brother's life machine almost plugged out when Elias appeared like a guardian angel and stopped the doctor. He paid the pending hospital bills and Leo's treatment fee for the month with only an offer to marry him, to sort out his family issues. I didn't want to agree at first, so I initiated dating. He was the best during dating, he not only paid up all our debt but also showed me what it meant to be loved and to have someone to rely on. So, when he proposed a few months later I agreed and we got married not quite long. "Why?" I asked, my voice breaking. "Why her over me? What does she have that I don't?" Elias looked at the woman on the couch and gave a cruel smirk. "Usefulness. She's useful and knows how to satisfy a man. Beauty is a waste of space if the woman is a corpse between the sheets, not like a chore you seen to be this days" "I cook for you," I said, desperate, grasping at straws. "I clean, I manage your life, I…" "And I can hire a maid for that!" he snapped. "I want a woman, not a housekeeper. I want freedom." To drive the point home, he leaned down and kissed the woman deeply, right in front of me. I stared at their affectionate form, my head spinning and suddenly, something inside me that had been stretching thinner and thinner for two years, finally snapped. "I want a divorce," I said, my heart aching so much I could barely stand. The room went silent for a heartbeat, then Elias burst out laughing. The woman joined him, a high-pitched, mocking sound. "With what money?" Elias asked, stepping toward me. "Think about Leo, Elara. Think about his treatments. Without me, you lose access to everything." “I married you because you were naive and desperate for money. No one else would ever want a broken, boring little thing like you." Desperate for money? Was I just a slut to him? Was our five years of marriage just a joke to him? My fist balled at my side as my tears dried up. He wanted an open marriage? He wanted to play games with other people because I wasn't enough? Fine. "You're right, Elias," I said, my voice steadier than it had been in years. "I'm just a burden you shouldn't shelter. You want an open marriage right? Then an open marriage you shall get!"