Chapter 4
The years I spent with Nicola almost made me forget.
I endured for his pitiful self–esteem for so many years.
After marriage, Nicola not only repeatedly abandoned me to fool around with Angela, but he also wouldn’t even take my calls, leaving me always on the sidelines.
His excuses for disappearing grew more outrageous by the day–vanishing for an
to return
entire night only a fent morning,
Added to the library throwing outs
use, as if I
had never meant anything to him, even when I was carrying his child.
Throughout my entire pregnancy, I walked
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+ 5 Points
the lonely halls of the hospital alone–each visit, each check–up, each test–he was never there.
It wasn’t until one day, when I opened his phone, that I woke up as if struck by lightning–he had been with someone else all this time.
Even as I lay on that sterile hospital bed, in the excruciating pain of labor, bringing our child into this world, he was out there, beyond the hospital walls, in the arms of Angela.
Our argument escalated uncontrollably. I collapsed on the floor, crying so hard I could hardly
eathe.
And he coldly told me I had violated his privacy, then started a cold war, ignoring me for two weeks.
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He knew how much I loved him, yet he hurt me again and again without a trace of guilt.
I took my child and returned to my parents‘ house. They had never supported my marriage to Nicola, but I was blind, determined to stay with him. Now, after everything had fallen apart, I finally understood their pain. They had seen the cracks I refused to acknowledge.
Nicola called me relentlessly, a hundred times a day, but I refused to answer. I packed up everything–my things, my child’s–and left, determined to never look back. Then, one day, a call from an unfamiliar number echoed through the silence.
“Sara, this is Angela, Nicola’s colleague. He’s in the hospital.”
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5 Points
Without a second of hesitation, I shot back, “Then you should be the one to take care of him.”
“Nicola’s been crying, calling your name… He’s falling apart.”
“Oh? Is he now? Well, that’s a shame. Nicola and I are done.”
With that, I hung up the phone. To my surprise, the phone rang again.
“Sara! How can you be so heartless?
Nicola’s dying and you won’t even give him a
glance!!
“Is he dying? Aren’t you his lover? Shouldn’t you take care of him?”
The word “lover” seemed to strike Angela
hard.
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- Pants
“Who’s the lover? Let me tell you, Sara, Nicola and I were together first, and you’re the one who came later! What right do you have to say anything about me?”
“I never imagined a mistress could be so shameless.”
Then Nicola grabbed the phone.
“Hurry up! Apologize to Angela!”
“Apologize to Angela!”
“Get out! Just get out!!” I screamed, my voice cracking with rage. “Nicola, I never want to see your face again for the rest of my life! GLUST!”
I slammed the phone down, and the loud argument woke my parents from their sleep.
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They rushed to me, my mother’s arms enveloping me in a moment of fragile comfort. My father, his fury evident, crouched beside me, pressing an ice pack to my skin, his cigarette trembling in his hand as the smoke curled like a cloud of anger.
“Sara,” he muttered, regret thick in his voice. “I knew he was never worth it.”
He lit another cigarette, his hands unsteady as the smoke clouded the air between us.
Then came the knock.
I rose slowly, numb, and opened the door.
Nicola was there, kneeling, his face pale, eyes swollen, desperate.
“Dad, I’m sorry,” he said, voice quivering. “I
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want to see Sara.”
5 Points
7/7
