Faithful, but not whole: a story about addiction, love, desire, and distance.
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"I realized these people were not my family and I needed to find out the truth about them. So I began to think smart. I did not argue. I followed blindly while planning and waiting for my chance."
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"Everything added up together and I was stabbed by the familiar feeling of betrayal, of being taken for a fool."
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"Why do you people keep choosing other women over me? Am I ugly? Too thin? Not smart enough?"
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"I was just tired, and I constantly felt like I was going to waste my time again. How many more strikes were we going to have? The career I was chasing? I felt like I failed at it. The course I was studying? Failed at that, too. My CGPA was nothing to write home about, and I just felt like I had no future."
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"A part of me wished I did all those things. Maybe then, they would have had a reason to treat me like this. But the kindness in me would not allow it."
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"Still, I stayed, hoping he’d choose me."
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"All we had was ‘our song’. God knows I played it nonstop, swaying slowly in my room, eyes locked with an invisible man who had captured my heart."
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Content Warning: This story contains descriptions of physical abuse, emotional manipulation, and familial violence. Please read with care.
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"After betrayal and heartbreak, I left my marriage and started over; filming in my sister’s kitchen and learning how to breathe through the pain of being a single mother."