Worthy Of Love

Natalia stared at her bright phone screen in the dark living room. On the screen appeared a message she had sent to her husband three hours earlier: “When will you be back?” Although he had seen it, he had not responded yet. This was one of his habits that she hated; he rarely answered her calls or messages, but she had never mentioned that before, and she tried to get used to his nature without objection. She got up from the sofa she was sitting on and looked at the table a few steps away from her. The dinner she had prepared had already gotten cold, but she wasn't really bothered. As soon as William return, she would quickly heat it up and they would eat together. She smiled at the thought and gently played with her wedding ring. This was their fourth wedding anniversary, and also her twenty-fifth birthday. She couldn't believe how quickly time had passed, but she was happy with the past few years. Her time with William was the best time of her life. The sound of the key turning in the front door suddenly woke her up from her thoughts, so she quickly got up and adjusted her dress before William entered and turned on the light of the house, bringing the place to life. When he entered the living room, he found Natalia's cheerful face in front of him. She was wearing a cute blue silk dress with clear makeup and a feminine hairstyle for her wavy hair. He raised his eyebrows in surprise at her appearance, but he didn't care enough to ask. His mind was currently swirling with more important matters. “Welcome back,” Natalia said with an excited smile, walking over to him to grab his suit jacket and hang it up. “I made your favourite dish, sit down for a while so I can heat it up.” William didn't answer and let her move as she pleased, he looked strangely indifferent and cold, as if he couldn't even see her. He sat on the couch and put his head in his hands, his thoughts were confused and he needed to organize them one last time. Natalia was talking about something behind him but he did not focus on her at all. Seconds passed as he gathered his thoughts before raising his head towards her and saying, "We need to talk about something." Natalia looked at him and her smile hardened a little. She was not optimistic about his request for some reason. She replied, “Wouldn’t it be better if we talked while we were eating dinner? You must be tired from work, right?” But he ignored her question and added impatiently, "Sit down, Natalia," while pointing with his hand to the sofa in front of him. Natalia tensed up, put the plate in her hand on the table, and walked towards the sofa quietly while her heart was beating nervously inside her chest, her intuition telling her that something bad was about to happen. William looked at her directly and suddenly said, "Lily is back." A short and understandable sentence, but it froze time around Natalia. Why did she come back now? And why was William telling her this on their wedding anniversary? She felt her palms sweat, but she clenched them tightly and pulled herself together to say with a smile, “Good, maybe we can visit her tomorrow, what do you think?” William raised his eyebrows in a sarcastic expression, and added with a slight side smile, “I’ve already met her.” And in his look at Natalia, there were many feelings that she did not understand, because she did not focus on him at all, as she was absent-minded in what she just heard for a few seconds before she said, and her stuttering was already apparent in her words, "Really? How is she? And how is her husband?" "She's fine, don't worry yourself," William replied impatiently, and here Natalia noticed that something was wrong. Why did he seem so upset with her? But before she could ask, she saw him put his fingers between his eyebrows and massage the root of his nose before saying to himself, “How did I stay with you all these years?” Natalia was shocked by what she heard. His words were completely out of place. Even if he had met Lily and his old feelings for her had been stirred up a bit, why would he suddenly regret their marriage now? This wasn't William's logic. But the sudden accumulation of feelings made her unable to utter anything of what she was thinking, and William did not give her a chance to discuss as he continued his incomprehensible speech, “Lily told me what you did four years ago.” “I can’t believe I thought you were my friend, and wanted to try and keep this marriage until the end. Did you like playing with me Natalia? Are you happy to ruin my life?” His words made no sense to her at all, from what she did four years ago to ruining his life, what was all this and what did it mean? She could barely gather her words to say, "What do you mean?" But William interrupted her coldly, "I'll give you two days to get out of here, I don't want to see your face again Natalia... until we break up for good." Natalia felt cold water pouring down her back, causing her to shiver violently against her will, and she said incomprehensible words that William managed to gather into a question, "What are you saying?" He stood up and said, "I want a divorce, Natalia," and turned around to leave as if he had not said anything. Natalia felt like the world was spinning around her, she didn't know why her bad instincts always came true in the worst possible way. What is happening?