“To be honest, I always had my doubts about her”

“Yes, you made your feelings about her pretty clear to me, multiple times. But… I just can’t believe she would… and on our anniversary!” Aaron struggled to complete his sentences, barely speaking with a voice filled with a mix of rage and shock.

“It was our 10th, you know…” he continued after a small pause to calm himself down. “I thought I’ll make up for all the times I forgot about it, or just couldn’t be there for her”

“And clearly she had other plans”

“Does it feel like the right time to make jokes to you?” he asked, exasperated. What he wanted from Jim, his best friend, was unconditional support… but so far, he only got snide remarks and petty jokes.

“I’m sorry. No more jokes. But have you thought what you’re going to do about this now?”

“What’s there to do… we just…”

“I mean, she had an affair!” Jim cut him mid-sentence. “and who knows how long she’d been doing this to you. I think you should get a lawyer before her family does”

“I know. I cannot think clearly right now, I need a drink” he said, pouring one of the finest whiskeys Jim had… “I always had a thing for Macallan 25. Sadly, even this reminds me of her”

“You know what, you need to take some rest. Just lay down for a couple of hours”

“You’re right. But what do we do about the…”

“Leave that to me” he was interrupted again.

He felt a sense of calm slowly settling in. In the last few hours he’d seen his world come crashing down. He’d seen his marriage of 10 years ending in a snap. He was tense, worried, restless… but now he knew his best friend had his back. It took him just a moment of rage to end her life, and perhaps a few more hours until Jim removes all the traces. Maybe then he could celebrate his anniversary with another drink.

A note:

Today, ABugInMyMind completes 10 years since I made my first post here. It’s been a great ride, and I can’t help but smile every time I think about everything I used to write about. In the last 10 years, a lot has changed… from the way we talk about politics to the way we use social media, from cheering for Sachin’s century to wondering if sports will happen normally again, from eating street food to sanitizing the delivery packs, from getting no matches on tinder to getting no matches on tinder, we all have seen a lot of transformation around us. While the 2011 version of me could write long grammatically questionable posts about each of these things, the 2021 me can only laugh again curse his time management skills, and make a promise to himself that he’ll write more.

To all those who stuck around, and who are reading this now, thank you. Here’s to another decade filled with words!