2 The Real Surprise

He can see movement in his room. Was it some sort of struggle? Or was it someone in a hurry? He moved closer to have a look. Suddenly, his wife appeared out of the room. She was a mess, and her facial expression clarifies it. Now, Alex was getting an overall idea of what was happening.

"Hi Alex, you... you showed up early?!", Catherine asked in confusion. "Well, I thought you would be happy", Alex replied coldly. Catherine seemed restless. "No, it's not like that. I was just wondering...", she stopped for Alex to speak. "Wondering, why I came home early?", asked Alex. "Yeah...", she replied in tension. "It's just that I planned to give you a surprise", Alex responded.

A man, then suddenly stepped out of the room, nearby his wife and came to Alex. "Steve, Steve Rivon", he stretched out his hands for a shake. Alex just stared into his brown eyes with no intention for a handshake.

Steve just smiled and said "Seems like, you two are having a misunderstanding here", he looked back and forth at Alex and Catherine.

"I am Cat's colleague. Just had a lot of doubts regarding her last work. So, I was here for a discussion", Steve replied smiling. Nobody spoke anything for a minute. Alex can see his wife sweating all over and the anxious expression on her face.

"OK then, I gotta go", Steve broke the silence. "Thanks for having me", he waved at Catherine and moved to the front door. Alex followed him with no expression on his face. Steve stepped out and turned around. Alex was going to close the door, when Steve stopped it. "We had fun", he said with a dark smile and went off.

Alex closed his eyes and stood at the door for a while. Catherine came to him. He just banged the door shut, startling Catherine as he did. There were a lot of things going on in her mind. 'Will Alex get into a fight?' 'Why was he here so early?' 'What's going to happen?' 'Did he knew about...' Alex broke her chain of thoughts and said "I just want to say only one thing. One single thing".

Catherine was amazed as she could see no elements of anger or rage on Alex as he speaks. "Whatever you do, Whomever you make out with, JUST DON'T LEAVE ME", Alex said emphasizing the last words.

Catherine could feel the despair in his words. She was absolutely overwhelmed with guilt as she exploded out her emotions in the form of a loud cry. Alex moved to keep the penstand in place, and sat down on the sofa nearby. He sat their with no expressions or emotions over his face. He just stared at his wife crying, as if he was measuring the intensity of pain she was experiencing.