a tiny little secret
1216 Words
Sophia thought John wouldn’t come anymore, but she thought wrong. He came that very afternoon, and he brought fruits with him too.
When he arrived, Sophia was playing blackjack with Zack.
John stopped at the doorstep. The door was ajar, and he could hear what they were talking about. From the sound of it, Sophia was fine now; she could even laugh.
“I don’t need a caretaker. I’ve been in the doctor’s office because of this condition more times than I care to remember. It’ll take me a couple of days, but I’ll be fine.”
Zack had a strip of paper on his face, and it dangled around when he talked.
“That’s because you don’t take care of it. The doctor told me so. Can you take this seriously?”
Sophia smiled.
“I’m winning this.”
Zack looked at his cards and tossed them away.
“Yeah, I give up.” He continued, “Say, the boss doesn’t know about this, does he? I don’t think he knew about your condition until last night.”
Sophia tossed her cards onto the bed.
“Yep. He knows nothing about this at all.”
“You’ve been married to him for a year, and he knows nothing about this?” Zack mumbled.
Sophia chuckled.
“It’s normal. He doesn’t know much about me anyway.”
“So how did you get through all those days anyway?” Zack looked at her.
Sophia tidied all the cards.
“Maybe because I let everything slide.” She looked down. “If I have to dwell on every little thing he did or didn’t do, I’d have a heart attack on top of my gastric problems, so yeah.”
John stared at Sophia from outside. He had always seen this smile of hers before this; it looked fake, but also helpless.
John went inside quietly. When Zack looked back, he was shocked. He and Sophia were sitting on the bed together, but when he saw John, Zack quickly jumped down, looking awkward.
“Boss, you should have called before you came.”
John put the fruits he brought on the sofa, not looking at Zack.
“If I did, you wouldn’t have gossiped about me behind my back.”
Zack looked at Sophia and smiled awkwardly, but Sophia didn’t return it. After seeing John, she couldn’t even smile, but John didn’t mind.
“The partner has run into some problems. Maybe they’re trying to change the terms, so we’ll be staying here for a few days longer.”
Zack arched his eyebrow.
“We’re staying?” He looked at Sophia.
Sophia didn’t look at them, nor did she hear what John said. All she did was look outside the window. She was petite to begin with, and with her wearing the patient’s clothes, she looked pitiful.
“Oh, that’s nice.” Zack meant for Sophia to hear that. “Mrs.… I mean, Sophia has to stay here for a while, so we can take care of her.”
Sophia looked back at Zack and chuckled, while Zack winked at her.
“Um, it’s getting late, so I’ll be buying us some dinner. You guys carry on.”
There were a few hours away from dinnertime, so Sophia knew Zack was trying to give them some space. John should know that too, but none of them talked.
Zack took his phone and quickly left the room. After closing the door, he looked inside through the window. John was sitting on the sofa, while Sophia leaned back against the bed and covered herself.
At this, Zack sighed. What are they doing? They don’t have to be so awkward even if they’re divorced.
After Zack’s departure, the room fell into silence for a while. Sophia didn’t feel like talking, while John was a man of few words. She tried to read some entertainment news on her phone, but it was impossible.
She felt skittish when John didn’t appear, but when he did, for some reason, she got more nervous.
This was a frustrating feeling, for it was just like when they were married. She would long for his return, but when he did, she pretended not to care. This is one annoying feeling.
After turning things over in her mind, she put her phone down.
“Thank you for what you did last night,” she said.
“I would have done it no matter who it was.” John glanced at her.
Sophia nodded.
“I still want to thank you. I—”
Before she could finish, his phone rang. John looked at it and stood up.
“Rest up. I’ll need to take this.”
Sophia grunted and looked outside, but after he left the room, she looked back. A moment later, she went to the room’s doorstep. The door was ajar, and John was taking the call right outside.
She couldn’t hear who the caller was, but John’s voice was audible.
“Yeah. I need to stay here for a bit. Something came up.”
The caller then said something, much to John’s curiosity.
“Isabelle? I’ll handle it once I return.”
Sophia froze.
She might not have seen who Isabelle was, but she’d heard mention of her name frequently. All of the naysayers in the Constance household would mention this name every time they gossiped about Sophia.
Sophia knew if she hadn’t married John, he would have married Isabelle, for she was his fiancée. In other words, Sophia took John away from her. Old Mr. Constance insisted on this marriage, so John canceled his wedding with Isabelle and married her instead.
Sophia lowered her gaze and, after some contemplation, went back to the bed. Ward was a superstition anyway, and she couldn’t keep someone who married her against his own will.
Now she lost him, and he started contacting Isabelle again.
Funny, really. I’m a clown in the grand scheme of things.
It ended up being a long call, and when John came back in, she was already lying on the bed, her eyes closed, her breathing stable.
John thought she was asleep, so he walked to the sofa quietly.
Only, Sophia wasn’t asleep actually, for she wasn’t tired. She merely thought there was nothing to say between them anymore. If it was in the past, she would have been delighted at the chance to be in the same room as him.
He was busy, and he didn’t care about her, so he never spent time with her. Now that they were divorced, she had this chance to be alone with him, but alas, everything changed.
Sophia sighed silently, then she turned her back on John.
Oblivious to what she was thinking, John scrolled through the itinerary on his phone. After skimming through it, he looked up at Sophia and frowned.
John waited for a long time, but eventually Zack came back, and with dinner. He wasn’t lying, but when he saw them being so distant, Zack’s face fell.
He put their food on the coffee table and pointed at Sophia, asking softly,
“When did she fall asleep?”
John leaned back on the sofa, resting his eyes.
“Since you went out.”
Hearing that, Zack looked back at Sophia with disappointment.
- Writer
