Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I'm heading off to work, Salt!"

"Bye dear, I'll see you tomorrow!"

OJ slammed the door shut. He left his partner staring at the brown hinged rectangle, its shiny golden door knob reflecting back at her.

This was their marriage. This was how they ended up. No matter how much she loved him, she always felt that lingering thought in her chest and brain, that painful feeling. She loved him. He wouldn't have married her if he didn't love her back, right?

"𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘺-𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴!! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵?"

The woman never listened. Her parents always acted like how her and her husband did. Isn't that what love is? Pepper was wrong, she'd convince herself. It doesn't matter what anyone else says. What her and OJ had was way better than whatever they saw on TV. The movie stars always said that!

Ever since that day, she buried herself in those movies, surrounding herself in the fantasy called living her dream lifestyle. She already is, at least she thought she was.

There was no such thing as a mistake, especially when marrying the love of her life! He was smart, charming, rich and looked very good. He even ran a hotel with his business partner. It was deadly obvious, Salt knew there was something going on between them. Something way more than just business partners running a hotel. It ticked her off just thinking of it.

But she knew that this whole marriage ordeal was about their inheritance, their family run businesses, their image, the money. It was always about the money. That's why her parents agreed in the first place. That's why OJ's parents agreed, despite his constant disapproval. Why did he even disapprove initially? It's not like Salt was annoying or bratty, right?

Her phone buzzed with notifications. Messages from Pepper and Balloon were talking about some "plan arranging" with other annoying people but that doesn't matter. She adjusted her necklace and walked over to her vanity, examining her appearance as usual. It was always funny how she felt as if there was always something wrong with her appearance. Her hair was too messy, her eyeliner was wonky, her jacket was lopsided.

She looked down at the table to where her hands were. One hand had a shiny, sparkling ring that fit perfectly on her ring finger. When it was presented to her, she was told it was real diamond and cherished it like it was her greatest possession. But beside her ring was a golden wedding band on the table. Salt frowned. He forgot his ring, yet again.

She shook her head, chuckling unsurprisingly. Oh, what a man he was.

Hm, a day off work and nothing else to do.

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵.

The sound of heels skipped down the stairs. Their mansion was what people described as huge, modern, 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵. Chandeliers hung off ceilings and spiral staircases led up to hidden rooms from white marble floors. Everything she had always dreamed for in a house, was right in front of her. A question often bugged her. Why was she always watching her TV shows if she already had what she wanted? She worked her hardest to push that especially out of her mind.

A loud creak broke the silence. Standing before her were two flowers. One glowing in the darkness and one she could hardly see. OJ's daisy was blooming with a bright light radiating out of it, so it wasn't her flower that was glowing. It wasn't 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, she thought. Her golden flower. Salt felt tears in her eyes. Her love wasn't equal. Her yellow carnation was darkening.

Chapter Text

Salt couldn't get that image out of her head. Her once beautiful yellow carnation having darkened at the petals. She knew who she loved. Did he not like her back?

She looked at her phone, opening it to her messages app. Some texts from her mother discussing her next visits, messages from her father about business, messages from Pepper for a night out. Only one actually caught her attention.

𝘖𝘑 ❤
➥ 𝘠𝘰𝘶: Wanna go see that movie tonight?

She opened the message. A huge essay of just text upon text from her. Only to receive a thumbs up, one word answers, or simply messages of being busy. He even left her on read!

𝘠𝘰𝘶:
How are you?
𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 12:04𝘱𝘮

Salt sits on her king sized bed, staring at the TV screen in front of her. She's gotten really into romance movies, ones with happy relationships and white smiles. Ones where he proposes at the end and she squeals of joy. Half of them are filled to the brim with cliches, and half of them feel so low quality, yet Salt can't help but feel drawn to the acting, the way these movies make her think of the actors that are putting up excellent smiles for the viewers.

"𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘗𝘦𝘱𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘚𝘖 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮!" she once exclaimed to her friend while on movie night. Pepper just rolled her eyes and continued watching.

Now that she thinks about it, she sees why they were as such. Only for all the wrong reasons.

She switches on the TV and scrolls for a cheesy, corny movie. Maybe the next one she swipes on will actually be good. The acting's good enough that she'll think it's her standing at the altar instead of a brilliant actress. She'll think it's OJ doing all these otherworldly things for her instead of going on constant worktrips with his partner Paper. Paper ticks her off. He's taking up all of OJ's attention when it should be her he's spending time with.

The man in the movie sits with his guitar, playing a mesmerizing melody that the girl listens to. He sings about how much she means to him. How much he cared. Salt imagines it's her husband playing this song, that it's her he's singing about, using his voice for music instead of speeches.

Her phone buzzes.

𝘔𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮: 𝘉𝘊𝘍𝘍 🖤
➦ 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦:
𝘐𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥.

Salt pauses the movie.

𝘉𝘊𝘍𝘍 🖤
➦ 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥: I wish he would sing for me.
➦ if he could, he would.

𝘠𝘰𝘶:
➥ I don't think he can, he's so busy.

𝘉𝘊𝘍𝘍 🖤
➦ don't lie to me. he can.

Her hand hovers over her screen. She eventually types.

𝘠𝘰𝘶:
➥ I mean it. He's so busy with work recently, I don't think he'll be able to make up time.

𝘉𝘊𝘍𝘍 🖤
➦ if you really expressed the fact you wanted him to sing for you, you could've just said so. and then if he really wanted to make you feel nice by singing, he'd find a time.

𝘠𝘰𝘶:
➥ I guess you're right. He's always working very hard, though, I don't want to disrupt it. I just know he's planning something, and I know it'll make me melt just as many times as it did before.

𝘉𝘊𝘍𝘍 🖤
➦ if that's what you really want to believe, then fine.

Salt didn't know what Pepper meant by that. But before she could start typing again, she heard a knob turning and keys jingling. She put her feet into her slippers and walked down the stairs.

"Hi, OJ! How was your day?"

But it wasn't OJ who stood at the door.