#170 “Why won’t You Answer?”
As soon as their plane landed, Sophia was eager to return to her grandfather’s house. She and Benjamin hailed a taxi, the anticipation of revisiting her childhood home palpable in the air. Upon arriving in front of the house, Sophia reached for her phone to inform Alexander of their safe arrival.
“I’ll just write to Alexander that everything is fine and we’ve arrived,” she announced, her fingers hovering over the screen.
But before she could proceed, Benjamin swiftly snatched the phone from her hand, eliciting a frown from Sophia.
“You can write to him as soon as we enter. Come on, Sophia, you haven’t been here for years, let’s get settled in first,” Benjamin suggested, his tone persuasive.
Sophia chuckled at Benjamin’s eagerness. “God, Benjamin, you’ve really missed this place,” she remarked, a fond smile playing on her lips.
“Of course, my best years were here,” he replied nostalgically, his arm draped casually around her shoulders as they approached the entrance.
As Benjamin led Sophia into the house, Sophia remained unaware that he had discreetly stowed away her phone in his own pocket, a subtle act that did not escape his calculated intentions.
Once inside the familiar surroundings of her grandfather’s house, Sophia couldn’t help but feel a rush of nostalgia. Memories flooded back to her, evoking a sense of warmth and comfort that she hadn’t felt in years. Benjamin watched her with a knowing smile, his own fondness for the place evident in his demeanor.
“It’s just as I remember it,” Sophia remarked, her eyes scanning the familiar surroundings with a mix of nostalgia and curiosity.
Benjamin nodded in agreement, his gaze lingering on Sophia as if trying to capture the moment. “Some things never change,” he mused, his tone wistful.
Sophia couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to Benjamin’s demeanor, a subtle undercurrent beneath his seemingly innocent demeanor. But she pushed aside her suspicions, choosing instead to focus on the present moment.
As they settled into the house, Sophia’s curiosity grew, her eagerness to uncover her grandfather’s secrets intensifying with each passing moment.
As the day wore on, Alexander found himself unable to shake the restless agitation that gripped him like a vice. Despite his best efforts to focus on his work, his mind kept drifting back to the image Benjamin had sent him, tormenting him with visions of Sophia and Benjamin together, their smiles mocking him from the screen of his phone.
Pacing his office with an air of nervous energy, Alexander’s thoughts churned with jealousy and insecurity. He couldn’t understand how Sophia could be so carefree in Benjamin’s company.
Hours passed like an eternity, each minute dragging by with agonizing slowness as Alexander waited for a sign from Sophia. But as the afternoon wore on and his calls went unanswered, his frustration boiled over into a seething cauldron of anger and doubt.
With a trembling hand, Alexander dialed Sophia’s number once again, his heart pounding in his chest as he waited for her to pick up. But to his dismay, the call went straight to voicemail, leaving him with a sinking feeling of despair.
“Where are you, Sophia?” he muttered to himself, his voice thick with emotion. “Why won’t you answer?”
As the minutes stretched into hours, Alexander’s anxiety reached a fever pitch, his mind racing with a thousand worst-case scenarios. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong, and the thought of Sophia in Benjamin’s company filled him with a sickening sense of dread.
Just as Alexander was about to give up hope of reaching her, his phone buzzed with a new notification. With trembling hands, he unlocked the screen to see yet another message from Benjamin, accompanied by a photo that sent a fresh wave of anger coursing through his veins.
In the image, Sophia and Benjamin were seated at a quaint little café, their faces illuminated by the soft glow of the setting sun. Sophia’s smile was radiant, her eyes sparkling with genuine happiness as she enjoyed an ice cream cone.
The message that accompanied the photo was like a dagger to Alexander’s heart, each word a cruel reminder of his own insecurities and doubts.
“She seemed happier with me than she will ever be with you.”
The words burned into Alexander’s mind, stoking the flames of his jealousy and resentment until they threatened to consume him whole. He couldn’t bear the thought of Sophia finding happiness in someone else’s arms, of being replaced by Benjamin in her affections.
With a roar of frustration, Alexander hurled his phone across the room, the sound of shattering glass echoing in the empty office. He felt like a fool, and the realization filled him with a sense of impotent rage.
But even as anger boiled within him, a tiny voice of doubt whispered in the back of Alexander’s mind. Could it be true, he wondered, that Sophia was happier without him? That she had found someone else who could give her the love and happiness he so desperately longed to provide?
The thought was like a knife twisting in his gut, tearing at the fragile threads of his self-confidence and leaving him feeling more alone and lost than ever before. As the sun dipped below the horizon and darkness descended upon the city outside, Alexander was left to wrestle with his demons in the cold, unforgiving silence of his office.
