Just a short story I wrote quite a while ago. It's a fiction. Please do comment and let me know what you think. Is marriage as simple as saying 'I do'? The marriage life after the wedding bliss.


A Half of the Pie

James woke up to the cry of his baby son, Andrew. In the dark he could feel his wife, Anita, stirring and getting up to tend to Andrew. "Why does he have to cry every single night?" he groaned. As any other night Anita would ignore him and focused her attention on 5 month-old Andrew.

Morning came, James reluctantly dragged himself out of bed. He woke up to a quiet and peaceful house as his wife and two children would have left for his parents' house. Breakfast would have been set on the table together with his newspaper.

That's how James has come to live since the birth of his children. Every morning he would leave the house at 8 O'clock for work and would only arrive home at 8 in the evening. By which time, his children would be fast asleep. Dinner, usually take-away meals or microwave food, would be on the table ready for him. His wife would be busy with the house chores. Since she had a full time job, she could only do them in the evening.

Over the weekend they would either visit the James' parents or Anita's. If that's not the case, James would be busy at the office and Anita would be running her errands. No matter how much time James sets apart, Anita would always be busy doing one thing or another. It seemed she could never have the time for him.

Anita, being both a career woman and a mother, was struggling in managing both her family and job. Lucky for her, her mother in-law is willing to look after the children while she's at work. Her eldest, Jade, is only 2 years old and both Jade and Andrew needed constant care from their mother. The best arrangement she could make was to have their grandmother looking after them.

Once upon a time, James and Anita were the most romantic couple you could have ever met. They were the envy of their acquaintances. It went downhill after Anita gave birth to Andrew. When she only had Jade she could manage properly between her work, James and Jade. Then their relationship started growing apart.

James could never blame Anita. She was still the love of his life and now both of them had children as a symbol of their love. He could never be more grateful for that than ever.

Even so, coming to Andrew's tenth month birthday, James felt more depressed than ever. He overcame his depression and loneliness by going out with his friends. He started to lie about his whereabouts. He would hang around his friends during the day and you would find him at bars by night time.
That's where he met Tasha, a lonely girl whose broken heart was still sore. They met by chance one night. He was abandoned by his friends and so was she. They got talking and one thing led to another. By the end of the night they close friends and had arranged another meeting.

Day by day, they would find the time to meet each other. Eventually her broken heart was mended and his loneliness slowly faded away. It didn't take long for them to become lovers. James felt love for the second time, while Tasha found what true love was.

In the meantime Anita realized her mistakes in ignoring her husband's feeling. Guilt started to crowd in. With a new aim in her mind, she started rearranging her timetable. Due to their stable finance, a maid was hired to help around the house. This left her more time to spend with her family. She started planning family outings during the weekends, preparing dinners everyday and even having breakfast together. By this time James and Tasha's relationship had blossomed with love.

James finally had a family he had been dreaming of. He had the love of his life as a wife and the seeds of their love. What more could a man ask for? Not the complication of a third wheel, that's for sure.

Over the years, James could be seen living a double life. A life with his wife and two kids and a life with his girlfriend. Both women never suspected the existence of the other. Even when his relationship with Anita had been restored, he couldn't leave Tasha for he had learned to love her.

Until one day, in a shopping mall, Tasha spotted James with his family. His wife's hand in his and they eyes stared into each other longingly with love. Tasha could feel herself rooted to the ground. Her heart was beating so fast, her surrounding noise was gone.

'I saw you with HER and two kids,' the text message read on his mobile phone. He looked around him to see her staring at him. He excused himself from his wife with an emergency at the office. Grabbing her by the hands, he dragged her home to their apartment.

He explained that, yes, he did have a wife when they met. And yes, he's still in love with his wife. He couldn't leave his family. He loved his family as much as he loved her.

"Then what would happen to me? Us? And the child growing in me?" she asked of him.

He looked her in the eyes, "I honestly don't know. But I'll always love you."





Short story by Lynn Abdul
Read 951 times
Written on 2008-03-09 at 22:24

Tags Marriage  Romance  Fiction 

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John Lambremont, Sr.
Unfortunately, Lynn, this scenario is all too common in the U.S.A. Try to edit this into poetry; the results would be interesting
2008-03-09