It was a Friday, 6 in the evening. She had gotten home earlier than usual. Normally she would get home just an hour or two before her boyfriend, but this Friday she got home 4 hours early. After opening the door she placed the keys in the usual bowl on the coffee table in the living room in front of the tv, before producing two sheets of paper from her purse. Walking to the kitchen she crumpled the papers before throwing them out.
Back in the living room, sitting on the sofa, stretched out her left hand in front of her, looking at the engagement ring on her finger. She removed the ring and placed it on the coffee table. She switched the tv on and browse through channels hoping that something will catch her fancy.
Engrossed with the news of a brutal killing in her neighboring province, the sound of he boyfriend unlocking the door made her jump. She took a deep breath to steady herself. He didn’t even get to closing the door before she spoke.
“I can’t marry you.” she crossed her arms. He just looked at her incredulously. She was growing impatient for him to speak, but tried not to show it.
“You can’t marry me?” was his eventual reaction, he sounded quite doubtful.
“No.”
“What? Why? I don’t understand. Where is this coming from?”
“I just can’t marry you.”
There was another pause. He was stunned, she nervous. She looked down. Not knowing what to do with her hands, she started to fiddle with the engagement ring on the top of the coffee table , pushing it around on the polished surface. Timidly she pushed it towards him with her fingertips while looking pleadingly at him.
“Is there someone else?” He was going from baffled to angry rather quickly. She just pushed the ring even further towards him.
“So you have done something and now you are hoping that I’ll make it easy on you. Well I will.” He stomped past her. She didn’t move from the living room. A couple of minutes later he returned with a bag.
“I’ll be at my parents’ if you decide to give me a proper explanation.” He said before slamming the door behind him.
He left the ring on the table
After he left, she let out the air in her lungs with a sigh. She hadn’t realized that she had been holding her breath. Picking up the ring she sighed again, she left the living room carrying it on an outstretched palm before her like it had suddenly become dangerous. She went into the living room and got an envelope out of her desk, poured the ring into it and sealed it. Holding the envelope between two fingers she walked back into the living room where she propped it up against the bowl.
The phone rang, it startled her deep as she was in thought. She went to pick it up. It was one of her closest friends.
“Hey sweetheart, how are you? Have you already told him? Do you want me to go there?”
“Thank you, but there’s no need to”
“So I guess the tests didn’t go well. Why don’t you give the doctor’s alternative a shot. Because if you change your later, I hope it will not be too late.”
“Thank you, but I won’t change my mind.”
“Sweetie, I’ll try to catch a flight tomorrow.”
“That won’t be necessary. Goodnight.”
“It’s easier this way,” she told herself while putting down the phone.
