After I Left It Was Spring Again

Eric brought their child to bed and out of habit, wrapped his arm around Wanda.

“You seemed upset tonight,” he said gently. “Anniversaries aren’t about the date. What matters is who you spend them with.”

He smiled faintly as his mind drifted to the surprise he had planned. On her birthday, he was going to unveil a special gift. It was a new brand that he had named after her, "Wanda." However, he would hold this surprise for a week time before revealing it to her.

Wanda did not respond because she was afraid that the moment she opened her mouth, her hoarse voice would betray her emotions. So, she lay stiffly in his arm and murmured a barely audible response.

By the time Eric thought of saying more, he noticed she had already slept. Their son, Ben, exhausted from playing, had also fallen fast asleep in her arms.

Then, Eric's phone began to vibrate repeatedly. It was a message from Christina.

He slid his arm from under Wanda's neck and opened their chat box. Perhaps because of the guilt, he purposely turned around from the sleeping Wanda.

When the sight of Christina in a revealing outfit entered his eyes, he could not help but cough awkwardly.

She sent him a message, "Do you want to come out and play tonight?"

Just when Eric was about to decline, she video-called him. "Are you sure you aren't coming?" Christina teased. "Christmas is around the corner and I can fulfill one of your wishes … let's see … how about I act as a Christmas fairy? The kind that will grant everything you want."

Eric's heart raced. Christina sure knows how to play her cards right, he thought. Yet, tonight was his wedding anniversary and leaving Wanda alone had already crossed a line. Meeting someone else in the middle of the night would be a bit too far.

Yet, while the rationality was still running in his mind and Wanda was lying quietly beside her, his desire grew as the woman at the other end of the video call coyly slipped out of the last few layers of her clothes.

Slowly, Eric got up as he promised himself it would be the last time that he indulged his desire before Wanda’s birthday.

Just as he reached for his coat, Wanda stirred awake. When their eyes met, Eric forced himself to remain calm and smile, "Something urgent came up at work. Did I wake you?”

He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead as if to reassure her. Without waiting for a response, he grabbed his car keys and left.

With the slam, the door closed and once again the room went silent.

Ben startled awake by the noise, rubbed his eyes.

When he noticed that Eric wasn't there, he muttered in a small voice, “Dad is sneaking off to meet Christina alone again, next time I'll be sure to follow!”

Wanda froze. Her gaze fell on her son as her heart broke into pieces.

Realizing he had said something wrong, Ben quickly covered his mouth and hugged her as he tried to cover it.

“Mommy, Daddy must be busy with work,” he said, his voice soft and comforting. “However, I’ll always stay with you.”

Despite his words, there was a tinge of regret in his young eyes.

Wanda didn’t respond. She didn’t praise him for being thoughtful, as she usually would. She just tucked Ben back under the covers, then stared blankly at the ceiling.

Hearing the sound of the car engine downstairs, she curled into a ball and covered her ears with her hands.

Maybe if she blocked out the noise, she could convince herself that Eric really was busy with work and he was not with another woman.

Eric didn’t come home that night. He even did not return in the morning.

As Wanda sat down for breakfast, her phone buzzed with a message from him:

“I asked Jane to make chicken soup for you. Don’t forget to have some. Let the nanny take Been to kindergarten. You should rest more and not tire yourself out.”

Eric had her daily life arranged down to the last detail.