The moment I finished speaking, she hung up without another word. I decided to go back to the house we once shared. I had left in a hurry last night and had forgotten some small things. The wedding photos in the master bedroom also needed to be dealt with.
As I stepped into the bedroom, my eyes were drawn to the chaotic mess inside. The quilt lay crumpled on the floor, the sheets were wrinkled beyond recognition, the single-seater sofa had been shifted out of place and to my disgust, a pair of men's pants were carelessly tossed onto it. The trash can overflowed with crumpled tissues and as I stepped closer, I noticed a familiar dark-colored box tucked inside. It was then that the unpleasant smell in the air hit me fully. I was instantly nauseated, clutching the wall as I dry-heaved uncontrollably.
Alice, is this the 'work' you were talking about? What kind of job is this?! At that moment, my disappointment in her reached its peak.
Expressionless, I pulled out my phone and recorded everything. Then, I turned to the wedding photo on the wall. In it, we were hugging, smiling sweetly. Looking back now, this was the only photo we had taken together in the past two years. Since then, she had refused to even be in the same frame with me. I took it down, ripped it to shreds and tossed it—along with the frame—into the trash bin downstairs.
On my way back to the old house, I called my boss. "Boss, doesn't the country branch always need extra manpower? Can you send me there?"
He sounded surprised. "I thought you didn’t want to leave the City? Why the sudden change? Did you two fight?"
I forced a smile. "Thinking about it, my career matters more."
The boss agreed to my request. In two months, I would leave for the country. That was enough time to finalize my divorce from Alice. Just as I returned to the old house, Alice called again.
"Adam, what do you mean? It’s so late—where are you fooling around? Mike just moved in and as the man of the house, is this how you treat a guest? Do you have any manners?"
It seemed she hadn’t even noticed the missing wedding photo—or that I had moved out altogether. I didn’t bother pointing it out and simply replied, "I’m busy. I won’t disturb your two-person world."
"Why are you being so nasty? Mike was living in terrible conditions, so I just wanted to help him out a little. Where do you think—"