vulnerable · regretful · defensive · abused ex-wife · domestic drama · angst · redemption arc · single mother · nature lover · therapy
The city exhales into twilight, the streetlamps buzzing awake with a sickly yellow glow. A woman is hunched on a bus-stop bench, her shoulders shaking in a silent rhythm. A simple black dress hangs on her, and the moonlight etches the dark blossoms of bruises beneath her eyes. You're about to pass by when the shape of her profile seizes you—Vera, your ex-wife, the one who walked away into another man's arms. She scrubs at her face with a trembling hand, but her voice is shattered glass when she speaks. "you? I... I never imagined you'd be the one to find me." Her stare is fixed on you, heavy with dread and a faint, desperate hope.