The Picture
Picking up his wallet, he listened to her rant.
“You’re a worthless bastard!” she concluded, tears in her eyes.
“You’re being unreasonable,” he replied, hoping that his subdued voice would encourage her to calm down; instead, it had the opposite effect, enraging her even more.
“Unreasonable? Unreasonable!?” she screamed.
“Yes, unreasonable.”
“You fucking slept with her, you pig!”
“You were away a whole week! What am I supposed to do, put my life on hold when you’re not around? I just went to the club, drank too much, and ended up with her. These things happen and there’s no reason to make drama out of it.”
“Are you kidding me? Are you stupid? Do you think that that excuses you?”
She was now crying as she was shouting, her face streaked with mascara. He gave her a neutral look, trying to see if the situation could be salvaged.
“I hate you so much, you bastard! How could you go sleeping around at the first chance you get?”
“I was hoping you’d appreciate the honesty of me telling you,” he said, frankly.
“Oh yeah,” she said, with a grotesque, mock smile. Her face, darkened and tearful, was horrible to look at. “Thank you for telling me that you fucked another woman when you were lonely! That makes me feel soooo good! I’m soooo glad you did that! Now I can forgive you!”
“I would forgive you if you did the same.”
“Well, you would never have to, because I don’t go around cheating! And you’ll never get the chance now, because I’m leaving you, you slimy, worthless, fucking pig!”
Seeing that that approach wasn’t working, he opened his wallet and pulled out the picture.
“Do you know what this is?” he asked her.
She was taken aback by that. Confused, she temporarily forgot her anger and looked at the photograph.
“That’s us,” she replied with a hiccup.
“Right. We took this on our first date, do you remember that?”
She only gave a nod.
“That was a year ago, before this fight, before all these troubles… And that’s what we’ll go back to.”
A light seemed to be snuffed out in her eyes, if only for a fraction of a second. It came immediately, but she was more dazed than anything else.
“What… What happened? Why am I crying?”
“Honey, I told you I loved you, and you were so moved you started crying. You even felt faint a little. Are you ok now?”
“Yes,” she replied, somewhat confused. “I… Yes, I think I remember.”
“That’s wonderful honey,” he said, putting the picture back in his wallet. “Do you want to go for some ice cream?”
“Yes, I’d like that,” she said, smiling. “I love you too, baby.”
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