Ariel slowly caressed Mia's wound with his trembling fingers, while she watched him with eyes illuminated by tears. The soft sunset light filtering through the window made her eyes shine like broken crystals, reflecting all the pain she felt in her heart.
Why was he behaving like this? Why did he keep showing that he cared when his requests said otherwise? His gestures of concern only served to confuse her more, to deepen the abyss that was opening between them with each passing second.
"Don't continue," Mia asked, her voice broken by painful emotion, as her hands clung tightly to the white cotton sheets that covered the bed they had shared for so long.
He was supposed to have just asked her for a divorce, which meant that he no longer loved her and didn't care in the slightest what might happen to her. Why did he keep behaving in such a contradictory way? He was confusing her more than she already was, making her heart waver between hope and resignation.
"Silly, let me heal you," he replied in a sweet voice, as he continued to apply the ointment delicately to the injured skin, "you are very clumsy, you should watch where you walk. Remember that I won't be here to take care of you when this is all over." His words, although spoken sweetly, pierced Mia's heart like daggers.
That saddened Mia even more, who felt tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to overflow at any moment. She felt like crying, crying very hard until she was out of breath, until the pain in her chest became so intense that it left her numb.
"I don't want you to heal me! Just go. Get out of here, Ariel," she exclaimed with all the strength she could muster, although her voice sounded more like a desperate plea than an order.
Ariel frowned, as his hands stopped dead on Mia's injured skin. How dare she kick him out so abruptly? This was also his room, his house, the home they had built together during two years of marriage, had she forgotten that he was her husband and that they had shared the same bed for so long?
Mia turned abruptly, turning her back to Ariel, in a desperate attempt to hide the tears she could no longer contain. As she turned, she complained involuntarily, because the blow to her thigh had been stronger than she thought, and had left a large purple bruise that, when touched, hurt seriously, as if a thousand needles were piercing her skin.
A pained moan escaped from Mia, she was crying uncontrollably, and Ariel immediately noticed it, clenching his fists in helplessness as he watched her suffer in that way.
He left the room without saying a word, his footsteps echoing in the silence of the house, and Mia cried even harder, muffling her sobs in the pillow that still retained their scent, mixed with the salty taste of her tears.
At another time, in happier days, Ariel would not have left her like this, even if she asked him a thousand times to leave, he would have stubbornly stayed by her side until she was completely healed. But now he had left without further ado, leaving her alone with her pain, not caring about anything. He definitely no longer loved her as before, and that thought hurt her more than any physical wound.
Ariel returned after a minute that seemed eternal, he had hurriedly gone for medicine downstairs, crossing the corridor and going down the stairs two at a time. Mia's heart skipped a beat of joy when she heard his footsteps returning.
In reality, he had not abandoned her as she feared, he had gone for medicine, he wanted to give her a pill so that she would not suffer more pain. That small gesture of concern made her heart swell with hope again.
Remembering the results of her pregnancy test that she had seen that morning, Mia's joy at Ariel's return dissipated as quickly as it had come. She couldn't take pills, she was six weeks pregnant, carrying in her womb a secret that would change everything.
Ariel didn't know, and if he did, he certainly wouldn't think of giving her medication that could harm the baby. The irony of the situation hit her hard: she was about to divorce her child's father, and he didn't even know it.
"This pill will help you get better, drink it," he said, extending his hand with the medicine and a glass of water that he had brought from the kitchen.
"I don't want to," she replied, turning her face away to avoid looking him in the eyes, fearing that he might read the truth in her gaze.
"Mia, are you going to be rude to me in these last moments?" he asked with a hint of sadness in his voice that did not go unnoticed.
She shouldn't behave that way with him, she knew it perfectly well. He had been a good husband to her throughout their marriage, he had cared for her with devotion in those two years, protecting her from everything and everyone. Shouldn't she be grateful to him for being so good to her, even now that everything was ending?
"You shouldn't worry about me anymore, you should leave and leave me alone with my pain. What's more, we should discuss the terms of the divorce once and for all, to sign it and end this agony," she said almost with her voice breaking, while her hands unconsciously rested on her belly, protecting the secret she was guarding.
"Discuss the terms?" he inquired with a frown, the confusion evident on his face, "Aren't they enough?" Did she want more than he had offered? He wondered to himself, without understanding that all Mia wanted was his love, not his material possessions.
Mia was going to tell him that she didn't need anything from him, that his money and his properties would never compensate for his absence in her life, but Ariel's cell phone rang interrupting her thoughts, and at his evident nervousness, which was noticeable since he never behaved so anxiously for a call, Mia's words choked in her throat as if they were heavy stones.
"I'll go out for a moment, but before I leave I want to make sure you take the pain pill," he declared firmly, holding the bottle in his hand as if it were a weapon.
"I won't take it," she replied with determination.
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