Chapter 3 - The GiftOne week later, Mark was waiting in the hallway.
That alone was strange.
He had shaved. His hair was combed. He wore a new blue shirt and far too much cologne.
“Soph,” he said.
The nickname felt foreign.
Then he smiled.
“I got you something.”
He produced a dark velvet box.
Sophie’s stomach tightened.
Inside was a beautiful gold necklace.
Thin chain.
Small oval pendant.
Elegant.
Expensive.
And somehow wrong.
“How did you pay for this?” Sophie asked.
Mark laughed.
“Can’t a husband buy his wife something nice?”
His fingers remained on the box.
“Put it on.”
“Now?”
“I want to see it on you.”
Sophie forced a smile.
“I’m exhausted. Tomorrow.”
For a fraction of a second, Mark’s face changed.
Disappointment.
Anger.
Then the smile returned.
“Sure. Tomorrow.”
That night, Sophie waited until he returned to the spare room.
She took the necklace into the kitchen.
Filled a glass with water.
Lowered the necklace inside.
Covered it with a saucer.
Then she hid the glass inside a drawer behind an old enamel pot.
She climbed into bed beside her husband.
And stared into the darkness.
May you like
For the first time, she wondered whether the stranger on the bus had not been warning her about a necklace.
Maybe she had been warning her about Mark.
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