Silence pt.2

What silence can represent in a relationship.

She was staring down at the bowl in front of her. Chocolate milk and Cocoa Puffs, her favourite food to eat for breakfast. Usually, she would devour the whole thing without stopping to even take a breath. She loved breakfast, she loved Sunday mornings, she was that annoying person who would always smile no matter how early it was, always cheerful, always excited and always impatient to start the day. 

Today, well, let's say today she wasn't in a good mood. 

He was sitting in front of her reading a comic book and eating his eggs. Sunny side eggs. She clenched her fists. Even thinking about him made her angry. She said she understood, she said it was okay. She said it...of course...but she didn't mean it. How could he expect she would forgive him so easily? 

He turned the page. The sound of paper shuffling broke the silence and filled the room. She looked around the small kitchen trying to relax. Usually, the yellow, already chipped cabinets would cheer her up and even the mess she knew she had to clean up would make her feel productive. Today, well, it just made her furious...with him. Can he ever wash the goddamn dishes without being told million times?

She checked if her ponytail was still smooth and took a deep breath before finally deciding to speak up. "This isn't going to work out?"

This startled him. He pushed his glasses higher up his nose. "What?"

"I told you I was ok with the whole situation, but I'm not", she paused. "How do you expect me to trust you after this?" 

He gently closed the comic book he had been reading before answering her question. "I didn't think it was such a big deal."

"You know how I feel about..."

His phone started to ring cutting her off in the middle of her sentence. Nobody moved. 

"Answer it", she said, her voice filled with contempt, "it's probably her on the phone."

A sudden crash filled the room. She screamed in surprise. A glass that had been sitting on a counter a moment ago, fell on the floor and broke into tiny pieces. 

"The phone pushed it over", he spoke first, "I'm gonna go get a mop."

He stood up and walked out of the kitchen carefully trying not to step on the broken glass. She remained motionless until he returned. She felt calm now that she had told him the truth.

"I didn't expect this to happen", she said while he was gathering the broken pieces of glass. 

He looked up at her. "The glass or...?"

"The other thing, I just can't believe you would keep something like that from me for so long."

He sighed keeping his head down. "I know, but honestily, I didn't know how to tell you."

"Could you please call her..."

"And say what?"

"That it's not the right time?" 

"Fine", he agreed, "I will call her, but can you please throw this out?"

He handed her the black garbage bag filled with broken glass and waited until she left the kitchen to make the call.

"Hey honey", he heard a woman's voice answer the phone.

"Hey mom", he said, "I have to tell you something."

He knew she could sense he was about to give her bad knews. The silence scared him. He started pacing up and down the kitchen to calm his nerves. "It's not the greatest time for you to come, you know, we're swamped with work right now."

Still silence.

"But maybe we can visit you for a day or two", he added.

"I knew she never liked me", his mother sounded resentful.

"Mom, I gotta go." He hung up breathing heavily as if he ran a mile. 

The door opened. "Did you tell her?" she asked him.

He nodded. "I'm sorry, I knew I should have told you...I'll never keep anything from you."

She smiled. "It's ok, I overreacted. Now can we please return to bed, I don't want to start my day like this."

Without words he followed her in the living room. The kitchen fell silent.