"Hey, it's me. I'm sorry if I can't answer your call right now. But no matter what the reason, I promise I'll call you back as soon as I'm free, okay? Leave a message after the beep!"
I slammed the phone down in its receiver even before the ‘beep’. I’ve heard that message far too often for my own liking. It’s not like he even returned my calls.
It was a day before our fifth anniversary together, and I don’t know how I have been putting up with his false apologies since our marriage. It wasn’t so bad when we first got married; he was a work-centric guy in an office doing who knows what and me, I was an accountant in a business firm who worked regular hours. Even though he was busy, we used to spend most of our evenings together. I don’t know when, but he started coming back later every day until we never met each other anymore. He came back, of course, because he ate the food I prepared for him and left before I woke up to go to work. I even brought the matter up with him once but he only said, “I’m sorry dear, and I promise I will spend more time with you,” before rushing out again after scuffling down his food. When he said it like that, I knew there was no point in pursuing the case. “Promises”, I wonder how many he has broken so far. Every conversation we seemed to have began with him apologizing, and we didn’t have that many conversations together either. Naturally, I was very upset and unhappy. I filed for divorce because I wasn’t the satisfied party in that marriage. I even marvelled at myself for holding on for five years.
It was the morning of our anniversary. I woke up alone in my bed, like every other morning before that. There was a note on the table saying, “Happy anniversary darling! Love you lots. I will come back tonight.” I scoffed at the piece of paper, but I didn’t throw it away. Just under it, in a drawer, were the divorce papers I wanted him to sign that day. Despite all my complaints against him, I still loved him. However, I knew that the marriage wouldn’t work out if it continued to stay this way, and he didn’t seem to be changing at all. I dialled his mobile phone number, only to be greeted by the same voice mail as always. I got changed and left for work thinking about how I should tell him that I wanted a divorce. No matter what I did, it probably didn’t matter to him at any rate.
I got back from work in the evening to be greeted by an empty house as always. What about children? I didn’t have any. I immediately got about to preparing dinner. I was going to make his favourite chicken pie and vegetable stew. They were some of my own recipes.
The food was laid out on the table, all hot and fresh, by 8pm. Of course, I knew he wouldn’t be back anytime soon. I just sat at the table looking at the mountain of food that was impossible for two people to finish and occasionally looking at the time. An hour, and then two hours passed but he was still not back home. When I got restless, I got up and walked around the room. On a shelf, a small metal box caught my eye. It was a music box that he bought for me in place of a wedding ring when he asked for my hand in marriage because he couldn’t afford a proper ring. It held a special place in my heart, and I realized I haven’t listened to it in a long time. I picked it up and turned the winding key a few times. Immediately, beautiful and soothing music started playing and filled the whole house. I stood transfixed to its music, and before I knew it tears were rolling down my eyes.
I heard a car pull up the driveway, and then hurried footsteps towards the door. My husband burst into the house with an ear to ear smile. He ran up to me, hugged me from behind and whispered in my ear, “Oh, how I’ve missed doing this.” I didn’t say anything; I didn’t know how or what to say, and yet the divorce papers were still in my hand. He probably saw them, but he paid them no heed. He hugged me tighter still and whispered again, “I know I’ve disappointed you many times, but I want to let you know that it won’t ever happen again. I really mean it this time.” He turned me around to face him and looked straight into eyes. “I quit my job and got another one with more regular working hours,” he said matter-of-factly. “And...” he said and knelt down before taking a small box out of his pocket. “Will you marry me?” In it was the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen; the same one he said he would have bought for me five years ago. I started to sob as I crumpled up all the papers in my hand and threw them away. I took the ring and slid my ring finger into it. “Yes, I will,” I replied and embraced him and we stayed like that for the rest of the night.
I slammed the phone down in its receiver even before the ‘beep’. I’ve heard that message far too often for my own liking. It’s not like he even returned my calls.
It was a day before our fifth anniversary together, and I don’t know how I have been putting up with his false apologies since our marriage. It wasn’t so bad when we first got married; he was a work-centric guy in an office doing who knows what and me, I was an accountant in a business firm who worked regular hours. Even though he was busy, we used to spend most of our evenings together. I don’t know when, but he started coming back later every day until we never met each other anymore. He came back, of course, because he ate the food I prepared for him and left before I woke up to go to work. I even brought the matter up with him once but he only said, “I’m sorry dear, and I promise I will spend more time with you,” before rushing out again after scuffling down his food. When he said it like that, I knew there was no point in pursuing the case. “Promises”, I wonder how many he has broken so far. Every conversation we seemed to have began with him apologizing, and we didn’t have that many conversations together either. Naturally, I was very upset and unhappy. I filed for divorce because I wasn’t the satisfied party in that marriage. I even marvelled at myself for holding on for five years.
It was the morning of our anniversary. I woke up alone in my bed, like every other morning before that. There was a note on the table saying, “Happy anniversary darling! Love you lots. I will come back tonight.” I scoffed at the piece of paper, but I didn’t throw it away. Just under it, in a drawer, were the divorce papers I wanted him to sign that day. Despite all my complaints against him, I still loved him. However, I knew that the marriage wouldn’t work out if it continued to stay this way, and he didn’t seem to be changing at all. I dialled his mobile phone number, only to be greeted by the same voice mail as always. I got changed and left for work thinking about how I should tell him that I wanted a divorce. No matter what I did, it probably didn’t matter to him at any rate.
I got back from work in the evening to be greeted by an empty house as always. What about children? I didn’t have any. I immediately got about to preparing dinner. I was going to make his favourite chicken pie and vegetable stew. They were some of my own recipes.
The food was laid out on the table, all hot and fresh, by 8pm. Of course, I knew he wouldn’t be back anytime soon. I just sat at the table looking at the mountain of food that was impossible for two people to finish and occasionally looking at the time. An hour, and then two hours passed but he was still not back home. When I got restless, I got up and walked around the room. On a shelf, a small metal box caught my eye. It was a music box that he bought for me in place of a wedding ring when he asked for my hand in marriage because he couldn’t afford a proper ring. It held a special place in my heart, and I realized I haven’t listened to it in a long time. I picked it up and turned the winding key a few times. Immediately, beautiful and soothing music started playing and filled the whole house. I stood transfixed to its music, and before I knew it tears were rolling down my eyes.
I heard a car pull up the driveway, and then hurried footsteps towards the door. My husband burst into the house with an ear to ear smile. He ran up to me, hugged me from behind and whispered in my ear, “Oh, how I’ve missed doing this.” I didn’t say anything; I didn’t know how or what to say, and yet the divorce papers were still in my hand. He probably saw them, but he paid them no heed. He hugged me tighter still and whispered again, “I know I’ve disappointed you many times, but I want to let you know that it won’t ever happen again. I really mean it this time.” He turned me around to face him and looked straight into eyes. “I quit my job and got another one with more regular working hours,” he said matter-of-factly. “And...” he said and knelt down before taking a small box out of his pocket. “Will you marry me?” In it was the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen; the same one he said he would have bought for me five years ago. I started to sob as I crumpled up all the papers in my hand and threw them away. I took the ring and slid my ring finger into it. “Yes, I will,” I replied and embraced him and we stayed like that for the rest of the night.
Written by,
Terence
Terence
