Alone

The dimly lit cafe provided a warm backdrop to the conversation as her date stared at Anita with wide eyes, reflecting her concerned expression through his glinty blue eyes.

Breaking the silence, he cleared his throat and forced a fake smile on his face.

"Law..? That's quite interesting..", he said with a nervous undertone.

Anita brushed a strand of brown hair falling on her forehead backwards, and drank coffee from her straw as she leaned back into her seat with a dejected sigh.

She was getting used to these kinds of reactions from her dates. Hell, she'd rarely get matches on her dating app. It was only after she replaced her occupation from "'Law Student" to "University Student", her phone started flooding with matches and messages.

This night too, was no different. After bidding her goodbye, the man disappeared into the indifferent crowd of the busy street with his tail between his legs. He too, ghosted her after a single date. It wouldn't take a detective to figure out if it was because she told him that she was going to become a lawyer.

Anita crashed on her bed, with an annoyed grunt. She took a few deep breaths before screaming in loudly into the pillow. Anita's anger crept even deeper as she opened her mouth and took in a large chunk of the poor pillow, biting down on it, and shaking it relentlessly side to side, like a dog would, playing with a chewing toy.

-

Staring the ceiling fan go in circles, she couldn't fathom the fact that she was brutally single.

'Nobody wants a lawyer as his wife', she thought to herself.

' I guess most men didn't want their wives to have a lot of power AND money in her hands. That she would work with other men as well.'

On the rare occasions that she'd get a match, she'd agree to meet at a local Cafe for coffee. Only to hit with the brutal reality that most of them would be rancidly misogynistic, or say certain things that would make a red flag pop up in her head.

'Oh. You'll quit your job and take care of the house though, right?'

'You know, my best friend, Emily said tha-'

'Me personally, I would never hire a female lawyer. No offense.'

These were some responses that she'd heard these past dates. Anita was seething. Not because someone wouldn't hire someone just because they were a different gender, no, it was how her date called her a 'female', almost using it like a derogatory slur. Clenching her teeth, her anger finally hit it's limit.

"Grr…MEN, THEY'RE ALL THE FUCKING SAME!!", Anita yelled out, only to cover her mouth with a hand with a scared expression a split second later.

She crossed her fingers,praying noone in her building heard her embarrassing outbreak. Tossing her bitten pillow across the room, she laid still, almost rotting in her gloomy bed all alone.

"I..I need someone..", she cried, her voice cracking as she covered her teary eyes with her forearm.

"I wanna hold someone...hug him..hold hands with him..cuddle with him..", she whispered as a single tear made it's way down the side of her face, melting into the sheets.

'M-Maybe have kids', she giggled while a sorrowful smile crept upon her face

"Mh. Yeah. Kids aren't too bad. I wish to have them someday..."

Anita sighed and tried to get some rest, falling deep in her dreams, imagining a caring husband. A calm and cheerful halo surrounded the faceless being as she imagined going on dates, eating lunch, dinner, even cuddling on an imaginary couch, watching an imaginary T.V. It was pretty pathetic, but this was all she could do to satiate her need for another human's touch. Anita didn't care at this point.

A sticky, cold yet rough lick at her ankles startled her out of her delusion, revealing a meek tuxedo cat near her feet. It was taken aback, from all the noise coming from her room and seemed to found his favorite human. Anita's eyes lit up with excitement as she held up the cat in the air.

"Cuddles? You're here to check up on me, yes?", she cooed to the animal in a squeaky voice. Cuddles was a black and white furred cat that roamed the building, and after enough treats, Anita had adopted her.

The cat jumped into her belly, smelling vigorously. It inspected long enough before finding a cozy spot and tucking its small legs to his sides, curling up and sleeping on Anita.

Anita's grim mood had vanished, as she waited for a moment to take in this adorable sight, before finally petting him.

"You, Mom, and Dad...", she whispered to it.

"You're all I have in my life."

Even that didn't last too long. Anita, on her vacation was back at her Dad's luxurious mansion, only for him to drop a bombshell on her.

Her Dad, with a stern expression delivered the earth shattering news, while her Mom sat meekly on a chair at the back, a helpless spectator to the ordeal.

"You..You can't be serious, right?!", Anita said with a weak voice. She thought it was a joke for a moment, but her father's expression didn't change.

"No. My brand got a deal, and I think this is the perfect moment for me.", he cleared his throat before resuming.

"Your Mom and I are leaving behind this country. There's a particular nation in the European Union that would cater to our lives. See, we wanna live life, like the old fashioned way. Unlike this new generation...", he scoffed with annoyance.

"Anyways. With that, we obviously have to advice you to refrain from taking a stupid flight only to be met with glares and silence from me and her", he said, pointing a finger at his partner.

She immediately looked away, avoiding any eye contact with her poor daughter. Anita stared at her, with tears welling up in her eyes, knowing she too, didn't have a choice. Anita knew that if her Mom had gone against him, the poor mother would end up living with her, ultimately burdening her with the responsibility of taking care of her. It was either that, or even worse, she would end up on the streets. In the matter of a few seconds, Anita had figured out her Mother was only acting rationally, not being a hindrance to anyone at all. Her hands were tied with a difficult dilemma presented to her.

"You hearing me?!", a grumpy voice startled Anita, as her gaze matched that of her father's.

"I don't want nothing to do with you! You've always been a disgrace to the family!"

The woman in the back now, was clasping her mouth closed, shedding tears silently as the conversation unfolded.

"We didn't want you to be like this, after all. Why couldn't you just do what we said? At this age, we wanted you to be married. Have kids, live a happy life. But no. You had to get an education, and be a smart ass about it!!"

Her heart sank. Anita stood tall, a couple centimeters over the person standing in front of her feeling a mix of hurt and anger.

"I..", he mumbled, looking down, his voice soft now,

'I hope you understand.'

Mother was in hysterics, wrapping her arms around herself as she bent over, looming over her lap with all the guilt.

Sorrow filled Anita's heart. She couldn't bear this sight any longer. Feeling the weight of abandonment, she immediately turned around and left the mansion in tears. Her Mom, the only loving parent got up, and tried to run behind her daughter to bid her goodbyes. But a burly hand stopped her. He shot her a nasty look, to which she retreated.

-

Anita heaved a sigh, signing off a document. The air conditioning kept the office cool, while warm sunrays penetrated the slits between the windows. Taking a small break from work, she crossed her hands, and observed a photo frame laying dormant on her desk. It wasn't too long before she took it in her hands, moving her fingers over the persons face.

'Taking him to my cabin was a nice vacation..', Anita thought to herself.

'I'm glad we aren't apart.'

It had been weeks since the couple had 'made up'. Anita redeemed the retreat to be successful, seeing how good their relationship had been going these couple weeks. Although..there was a slight hiccup in the process, but that didn't matter to her. They were together. And most importantly, they loved each other.

The sun shone to reveal a joyful Adrian on the photograph. Anita's face lit up with a radiant smile, as she rubbed on the glass with her thumb, almost imagining the touch of his face. Her heart fluttered like a butterfly at the mere thought of him. After enduring these stressful years all alone, she had finally accepted her emotions, giving into them.

'I've finally found someone', she sighed

'My husband'