She ought have been happy, but she hated her life. And the reason was her husband. She felt like pushing him off the Terrace as he stood there, pontificating.
He didn’t talk to her, he told her. She could argue, she could put forward reasons, and he’d look at her with that depreciating face, a small smile on his lips. And when she finished he would enlarge that ugly smile, tip his head to the side, kiss her on the cheek, and say something in the vein; “that is why I love you. You are the embodiment of irrational,” and he’d chuckle.
When Liva married Emil she believed his hype. He was nice looking, but thought he was handsome, and she believed him. He was intelligent, but thought he was brilliant, and she believed him. He held a good job, but believed himself on the way up, and she believed him.
She believed in the myth of Emil Jensen, and she married that myth.
Overtime, after all the fables she told herself no longer stuck, she found herself stuck with an overgrown spoiled brat who had to have everything his way.
It was not that they argued over anything. It was not that he got angry or threatened. Now, that would be reserved for an equal. And Emil did not consider Liva an equal.
He would make a statement or a decision, and if she objected he gave her his condescending smile, as if she were a maladroit six year old. He looked at her as if she was a mindless doll, with whom debating anything was pointless as she was too stupid to understand.
Emil did what Emil wanted. If Liva didn’t want to go somewhere, Emil went without her. He did it with a shrug, a smile, and kiss on the cheek, because Emil going out was important to Emil. Being with or without Liva was insignificant.
The first few years of their marriage, with all the traveling, for Emil worked for a multi-national and was deployed all over the world, and her two pregnancies, partially obliterated the character of Emil. Liva, caught up in daily life so she never had time to see if Liva still existed.
It was when Emil’s company transferred him to that tropical paradise, where his salary was so high in local standards that they were suddenly rich, that she had time to look at her life and realise she didn’t have one.
Liva had never had big dreams or desires. She was a happy and contented child who grew into a comfortable woman who had everything she wanted. She met Emil and he dazzled her and she felt she dazzled him.
They jumped into love and marriage and she was very happy.