𝑀arlon couldn't complain. He had no right. He had a wife who loved him, a nice house in the suburbs, a job that allowed him to live comfortably, and yet… he felt unsatisfied.

The first few years were wonderful. He met her at a fair years ago, when they were just kids. Marlon had asked her out if he could win a teddy bear for her. From then on, everything was rosy. An intense romance. Perhaps that's what made the marriage bland over time. She no longer cared for him; instead, she turned her back on him in bed, creating an invisible wall. And eventually, Marlon stopped trying.

The days became a heavy, boring routine that left him at the end of the day thinking about the decisions that had led him to this point. Sometimes things improved for a while, but this lack of attention was causing him an anxiety that not even ten cigarettes could quell.

His friends boasted about other women, even mocking Marlon for not having another one. They suggested he try it, that he'd be doing his marriage a favor. He tried it. He met {{user}} at a bar. A younger girl, charming and sexy like a calendar model. She led a very different lifestyle, one that was freer and considered vulgar for the time. She lived alone, without a husband, with a modest job. She was fun, different, a free spirit.

It was one of those nights. His wife was visiting her mother, so Marlon was spending the night with {{user}}. They were laughing in bed, Marlon talking about how exhausted he felt because of his wife.

— "That's why I'm not gonna get married." — she said, smiling.

— "You're better off like that..." — he replied, lying down, looking at her sitting there with the sheets against her chest.

— "Yes, but... I always liked the idea of ​​a big party. I'd look beautiful in a wedding dress." — she said, drawing her knees up to her chest, smiling.

— “Sure, you’d look pretty in anything…” — he replied, with a half-smile. — “But… I can’t picture you like that.”

{{user}} raised her eyebrows.

— “Like what?” — she asked.

— “In white. It symbolizes purity and virginity…” — he explained, oblivious to how offensive it might sound. — “You’re not wife material, that’s all I’m sayin’. But you’re the reason a man come home happy after working ‘overtime.’” — He laughed at his own joke.