James is sitting in a restaurant. He is waiting for his lover. His phone rings. It is his wife.
“Honey, we have to talk,” she says.
“What happened darling?”
“I don’t want to talk about it on the phone. Where are you?”
“I am in the Italian restaurant near my office,” he says truthfully.
“Good. I am coming…”
“But…,” he doesn’t finish his sentence. The line breaks up.
His lover comes. She sits down and takes out a piece of paper from her bag. James reads the text on the paper. A doctor wrote it. The text says his lover is pregnant. James and his lover talk about the child. Time flies and James forgets about his wife. In ten minutes, he spots his wife through the window. James stands up and walks fast towards his wife.
“Who is she?” the wife asks.
“Just a colleague.”
“Good. Then, she will be interested in this.”
She walks towards his lover and puts a piece of paper on the table. The lover reads the paper.
“Cancer” she reads. “Who is this woman?”
“My wife.”
James’s wife picks up the paper his lover brought.
“Pregnant,” she says and sits down next to the woman.
They are quiet. James sits down opposite the women. He picks up both papers and reads them. ‘Pregnant… cancer… pregnant… cancer…’ He cannot look at the women. He looks at the papers for a long time. The women start crying. After about two minutes they hug each other and they cry on each other’s shoulders. James is just looking at them. They are the women he loves and they are the ones who used to love him.
Originally posted 2020-05-18 20:39:00.