Karen was clearly impatient because she said, "Sam, I'm not in the state of mind for your games. You’d better restore everything and I’ll pretend nothing happened.”
If we were truly over, I wanted everything to be cut clean. The shared card needed to be sorted out, too.
"I'm sorry. You have the wrong person," I said then hung up.
For whatever reasons, Karen decided to end her Aurora-watching trip sooner than expected.
"Sam, I'm sorry, I misunderstood you about the charm. I won’t leave again. Please, don’t be mad at me," she pleaded.
She took the initiative to cling to me. With a voice as sweet as honey, she said, "Let's have pasta tonight and maybe a new designer bag …."
Expressionlessly, I shoved her away and told her with a business-like tone, “Please keep your distance during work hours and maintain professionalism.”
It was the same line she used on me before when she insisted on “avoiding suspicion” to the point where we couldn’t even have normal conversations.
The smile on Karen's face froze. She had never thought that her own words would be used against her.
"Come on, Darling. Don’t be like that. I’m back now, aren’t I? Are you still mad? Let’s go get our marriage certificate tomorrow, okay?” she coaxed.
The change in her attitude was too quick and it was not hard to guess the reason.
Karen and Hugo had probably found themselves stranded in the freezing Nordic cold without transportation or any clue about the local language.
Lost and scared, they might have even encountered a hungry bear along the way and Hugo, suddenly remembered that he was not as frail as he claimed. So he sprinted away like an Olympic athlete and left Karen to face the danger alone. Fortunately, a local happened to pass by and helped her out.
I was not sure whether she finally saw Hugo's true colors or she was just looking for safety but either way, she had run back to me.
However, her enthusiasm could no longer raise any ripple in my heart.
I coldly interrupted her. “The Civil Registry Office is closed tomorrow.”
“Well, then, how about Monday? We can go at eight o'clock instead of seven o'clock in the morning if you want!” she suggested.
I said calmly, "I’m sorry, but I’m already married.”
