We had been together for so many years, yet we had no children. Vanessa had only recently met him and now she got pregnant so easily.

After receiving a confirmation from Jeremy, Vanessa happily hummed a tune, clacking her high heels, not even sparing me a glance as she left.

The entire day after, Jeremy stayed in the study.

My things were nearly packed and in two days, I would leave this city.

After all these years as partners, I wanted to say a proper goodbye to Jeremy.

I made a table full of his favorite dishes. When Jeremy left the study, he barely looked at the food before heading out.

I stopped him and gestured. "Eat first, then go to work. Just have this meal with me."

Yes, just this one meal. After this, I would no longer be in his world.

Jeremy gestured impatiently, "The company is waiting for me. I'll eat later."

Without waiting for my response, he rushed out.

He wasn’t going to the company. I heard clearly the voice message from Vanessa inviting him to dinner.

I sat alone at the dining table, pouring myself a glass of wine, as if to say goodbye to the past.

In the next two days, I would not see Jeremy again.

He sent a message saying he was working overtime at the company. I had people I trusted in the company, so how could I not know if he was there?

I never expected that we wouldn’t even have a proper goodbye. From now on, we would never meet again.

Two days later, I boarded the plane to another city. During the few hours I had my phone off, Jeremy sent me several messages.

"Gracie, where did you go? Why haven’t you come back so late?"

"Did your phone die? Why aren’t you answering my calls?"

***

Just after I got off the plane, Jeremy’s call came through again. Without any hint of composure, he scolded me on the phone.

"Gracie! Where did you go? Why aren’t you answering your calls or messages?"

I was about to say something, but then he seemed to remember something. "Forget it, you can’t hear, I’ll just send you a message."

"I can hear."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. Jeremy’s voice trembled as he spoke, "Gracie, you can hear now? That’s great! Did you just regain your hearing?"

His heavy breaths were so clear through the phone and I could feel how desperately he wanted to hear my confirmation. "I’ve been able to hear since the day my hearing aid broke."

"What?"