To the Love of My Life

Although Steve Burton had not returned yet, Ruby Gregory’s previous unease at the Gregorys’ home seemed to dissipate the moment she arrived here.

Ruby ascended to the master bedroom on the second floor and glanced at the time. Ten o’clock in the evening, she chose a book, sat on the sofa, and began to read while waiting for Steve to return.

As time tripped along, Ruby finally closed the book as her neck began to ache. She picked up her phone once more and checked the time, it was already half past eleven at night.

It was late, and Steve had not returned yet?

Ruby stood up, went downstairs to pour herself a glass of water. She drank it down and wandered around the empty house for a few rounds. Glancing at the European-style clock hanging on the wall, it was already past midnight, and there was no sign of Steve returning. Ruby’s mood began to fluctuate again. She climbed the stairs slowly back to the second floor, hesitated for a while with her phone in hand, but then upon remembering the tie she had bought for Steve, she gritted her teeth and dialed his number.

The phone rang several times without an answer. Just as Ruby was about to hang up, the call was suddenly answered. However, it was not Steve’s voice that came through, but a sexy woman’s voice: “Hello?”

Ruby subconsciously glanced at the clock on the wall. Midnight, and the person who answered the phone was not Steve, but a woman.

Her mood instantly became complex and chaotic, even to the point of slight panic.

The woman on the other end of the line, perhaps because nobody was speaking, cooed and laughed, “Are you looking for Mr. Burton?”

This time the woman didn’t wait for Ruby to respond but continued with a flirtatious tone, “However, I advise you to contact Mr. Burton tomorrow if there is anything you need. Mr. Burton is quite busy tonight…”

With that, the woman unilaterally hung up the phone.

It took Ruby a while to recover. Listening to the busy tone from the phone, she turned her eyes hesitantly, half-minded to call Steve again, hoping he’d answer, and have him come home.

But as her finger hovered over the call button, she remembered the lessons from her upbringing at the Gregorys’ home.

Among them was the fact that it was not uncommon for men to indulge in merriment, especially someone of Steve’s stature. What she should never do was try to control or discipline him, as that would only annoy him.

As Ruby remembered these things, her finger faltered. She stood in place for a long while before slowly walking to the sofa and sitting down, neatly placing her phone on the coffee table in front of her. Then, she picked up the half-read book from before, and continued reading with a composed expression.

But she couldn’t understand how she’d come to be like this. She read sentences and paragraphs, yet immediately forgot them. Even by the end, all the dense black typefaces printed on the pages seemed to morph into the words the woman on the phone had said to her.

Her mind began to run wild.

That woman said Steve was very busy tonight. Busy doing what? Was he busy with that woman?