I stumbled back to the guest room in a daze. The phone on the nightstand buzzed incessantly as messages kept pouring in.
The phone was set to blind mode so when I unlocked the screen, the blind-assistance mode read them aloud automatically.
It was a series of audio messages. In the first message was Ruby's high-pitched moaning in ecstasy and the man who had always been calm and introverted in front of me sounded like a wild beast that had gone mad. He spites out those harsh and hideous words that I had never heard before.
"Sally, did you hear that?" said Ruby. "Your husband is incredible. He’s driving me crazy!”
"Hubby, who do you love more? Do you love me more or her?"
Austin's voice was tinged with laughter as he answered, "Of course I love you more. Say … what's the point of always comparing yourself to a blind woman? She's like a dead fish in bed …."
Big drops of tears smashed on the screen, I fumbled furiously, trying to turn off the sound, but their voices became clearer and clearer in my head—every single one of them.
My stomach churned violently. Barefoot and shaking, I staggered to the bathroom, clutching my chest as I dry-heaved over the sink.
That night stretched on endlessly.
The murmur from the bedroom next door did not stop until dawn and I lay wide awake as I stared into the void. My tears kept flowing silently.
In the morning, Austin went to work with Ruby at his side.
Before she left the house, Ruby dug into the trash can and fished out the used condom that she and Austin used last night. She waved it teasingly in front of me, then dropped it into my bowl of chicken soup.
Though Austin saw what she had done, he did not say anything nor rebuke her. He just pinched her nose playfully and then said to me, "Sweetheart, let your husband feed you your breakfast."
I cast down my eyes and stared at the condom floating in the chicken soup. My lips twisted into a bitter smile as I said, "I don't want to. I'm not hungry."
"You must eat, Baby. Your body is weak after the miscarriage. Be a good girl and eat something." He kept coaxing me to eat and insistently brought the spoon filled with chicken soup to my lips. "Be a good girl and take a bite, okay?"