Her Wasted Love

The laughter in the living room grew louder with every passing moment, mingling with the clinking of glasses and the relatives' endless compliments.

Tobias Bullock sat at the center of it all, his smile never leaving his face. He reached over and ruffled Allison Bullock's hair, his tone full of pride. "Our girl's worked hard. She earned this."

Allison smiled sweetly, as docile as a kitten. "That's because you taught me so well, Dad."

I stood quietly in the corner of the room, a dishcloth clenched in my hand. My fingertips were cold from soaking in water.

Everyone in the room talked about Tobias's accomplishments and praised Allison for being such an outstanding student.

Not a single person mentioned everything I'd done. It was as if I were the most unnecessary person in the house.

"Sofia, why are you still standing there?" My sister-in-law, Tessa Bullock, interrupted my thoughts. "The stew's getting cold. Go heat it up."

She ordered me around as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I lowered my head and answered softly, "Okay."

Carrying the pot, I headed for the kitchen.

However, my elbow accidentally bumped the storage shelf beside me.

Crash!

The sharp sound instantly silenced the laughter in the living room.

It was the vase Allison kept on the shelf. Her mother, Alyvia Livingston, had bought it for her after she'd been accepted into Willow Creek High, one of the city's top high schools. Allison treasured it like her most prized possession and never even allowed me to touch it.

Now it lay shattered across the floor.

My heart sank. I quickly set the pot down and crouched to pick up the broken pieces.

Before my fingers could reach them, someone slammed into me from behind. I stumbled forward, my stomach crashing into the sharp corner of the coffee table. A gasp escaped my lips as pain shot through my body.

"Are you blind?!" Allison glared at me, her eyes red with fury. "My mom gave that to me! Can you even afford to replace it? Keep your filthy hands off it!"

Tobias barked a second later, his face filled with disgust, "You can't do a single thing right. All you ever do is make more trouble."

His words were like an icy blade driven straight into my heart.

The pain in my stomach mixed with the ache in my chest until my whole body trembled.

As I instinctively pulled my hand back, one of the porcelain shards sliced across my fingertip. A bead of blood welled up, mingling with the water on the floor.

It hurt.

Not my finger but my heart.

It felt as though an invisible hand had clenched around it and was squeezing tighter and tighter until I could barely breathe.

The laughter in the living room soon resumed. To everyone else, it had been nothing more than a trivial interruption.

Tobias simply turned to Allison and smiled. "It's okay. If it's broken, it's broken. I will buy you an even nicer one."

Tessa clicked her tongue as she looked at the shattered vase. "Sofia, honestly, you're so clumsy."

I said nothing and quietly wrapped up the broken porcelain. Then I picked up the mop and slowly wiped away the water from the floor, one stroke at a time.

When I looked up, the living room was warm, lively, and filled with laughter.

But none of that warmth had ever belonged to me.

In this family, I was the maid, my husband's accessory, and the woman his daughter dismissed as someone who couldn't do anything right.

For seven years, I'd played my part in this absurd farce.

I'd had enough of being the Bullocks' maid. And today, I was done.

…

I didn't go back to the living room.

Instead, I returned to the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind me, shutting out every last trace of laughter on the other side.

I was Tobias' second wife.

Allison was the daughter he shared with his ex-wife, Alyvia. They divorced when Allison was three years old.

When I met Tobias, he was a single father raising a young daughter by himself, and his life was a complete mess.

Back then, Allison had just started elementary school. She was always dressed in dirty clothes.