Ex-wife, Please Come Back

But Tasha made no attempts to apologize. After all, an apology wouldn't change a thing. It would be pointless.

And now, she sat, not uttering a single word.

The only thing Tasha could do was cry. Tears continued to slide down her chin. All the bottled up emotions she felt began to get expressed in the form of tears.

Jacob held Sara in his arms. Even though she kept saying something hurtful to her mother, Jacob knew that was not what she really wanted to say. Otherwise, she wouldn't have shed tears for her mother.

"Are you hungry? I will take you out for lunch," he whispered in Sara's ear. Jacob knew how to deal with the present situation. He had noticed a shift in the atmosphere.

The resentment Carlos and Sara felt had disappeared.

"Yes. I am not hungry but we should go out for a walk," Sara said, composing herself. Her father and mother had been separated from each other for many years. She knew they needed to talk in private. It wasn't nice to disturb their privacy.

Jacob put his arm around Sara's shoulder and together they headed out of the ward. Once outside, Sara felt calm and stopped crying. The depressing atmosphere of the ward was left behind. Instead of talking, she stared blankly at the long corridor of the hospital. Restlessness clutched her.

Her thoughts were in a tumult. She knew this was just the beginning, not the end. Her father and she had a long way to go. For some reason, this thought brought her discomfort.

As Sara was immersed in these thoughts, Jacob followed her silently. He knew he couldn't do anything to dispel her sadness. But for Sara, his companionship was more than enough.

She walked at a snail's pace as if the mere act of walking required a lot of effort. Jacob didn't complain. Being someone who was used to walking fast, he had a hard time slowing himself down. He hoped she was feeling better.

Not wanting to disturb her thoughts, he didn't speak.

Sara heaved a sigh of relief. Even now, she didn't speed up. She continued to take slow steps, like

decision. But as years went by, I realized

by strong emotions, she lowered her head. She was talking to

going through a hard time, Jacob simply listened to her. The more

back, I would have imagined she is leading a good life. But now that she is here with cancer, I feel

indeed felt terrible about the whole thing. However, when she spoke, her face was bereft

else held no significance to her. At present, she was drowning in pain. She was thinking about the

shunned her mother out of her life. The day Tasha left home

different. It was my father who always attended these meetings. Sometimes when my father was too busy, I had to go alone. I sat there all alone, watching other children talk and laugh with their mothers. It was one of the

a laugh. She was laughing at her tragic life. This world was filled with miserable people. And today

she thought and shook her head. From what she knew, he wasn't the kind of

He perhaps spent all his life thinking about the day Tasha left

All these years he was waiting for her to return. When she left us, we thought she was perhaps angry with us and wanted a break. However, as days passed, we realized this wasn't temporary. She had no intention of returning. We understood she had no love

sob escaped her. She had never spoken about these pains before. Keeping a secret within oneself

understand her, but hoping that could let herself understand reality was indeed cruel

pause, she willed herself to speak. "One day I told myself that if she didn't return, I would consider her dead. But she's back now. If she is already dead to me, why is it so hard for me to watch her die? She had hurt us more than anyone could ever hurt us. In

look entered her face. Her position was difficult but there was someone else who had it worse. It was her father. How could he bear such

exterior. People assumed he was doing fine. But only Sara knew how much

road, she finally took a look at the people. Some, she noted, were quite sad whereas others had a wide smile plastered on their faces. 'Why is it so difficult

trouble that scared most people. Instead, people worried one trouble after another would attack them. Most people couldn't stand pain for a long time. Once it became