'Two can Play'

Taking a second glance at the time, she smiled wanely to herself mulling over what he said before the echoes of the door he had slammed on his way out assaulted her ear drums. How could he call her unfeeling. Up until that moment she had never once thought her husband of barely two years would be the one to call her cold.

Granted she had her moments and unexpected moods but he had known all these when he proposed to her in that romantic get-away trip she still couldn't believe she had agreed to go on. But it had all turned out for the best since she had returned with heart warming souvenirs; which included a nice comfy engagement ring and the most wonderful kind of feeling to go with it.
'Well you aren't feeling so wonderful now, are you?' a betrayed part of her taunted. What had changed in her husband?
As far as she knew, she didn't feel like she had regressed to her old self or had she?
No! She had made sure to leave her past life behind in hopes for a great future with Joe. So why did she feel like there was a certain amount of truth in what he said.
Being married to Joe was everything she ever wished for according to what she had pictured her ideal marriage to be. He was loving , understanding and all in all a great partner. He was always a step behind her whenever she felt depressed, setting her emotional needs right above his own. "How come this new Joe?' she whispered to herself. Taking a deep sigh she stood from her position on the sofa and walked to the bedroom with a fine crease on her normally smooth forehead the sound of Joe's words still playing in her head.

Since she was on leave from work, she was literally with nothing to do, so she took her bath and got dressed all the while thinking of whom she could share her problems with. Thinking of her mom, she swiped on her phone screen, going straight to her contact list, she dialed her mom's number. After the first two rings , she picked up on the third with a raspy
'Hello'. Without further ado, she told her mom everything that had transpired between her and her husband that morning. There was silence on the other end after all had been said.
Meanwhile, in her four bedroom bungalow, Martha could be seen looking up. She always seemed to find answers to whatever was disturbing her while staring at the beautiful intricately designed pattern that adorned the ceiling in her sitting room. Remembring her daughter was waiting for hervto say something, she said..
'Are you sure that was all that happened?'
'Yes mom'
'And he called you cold and unfeeling just because you told him not to visit his mother during the weekend that you felt he wasnt telling you the entire truth..?'
Dina, suddenly feeling unsure about the whole thing replied with a 'mhmm'. Had she been too quick to draw unnecessary conclusions?
Her mom drew a sigh and told her she would get back to her and hung up.
Staring at her phone, she could not believe her mom ended the call with a cryptic 'call you later'. '
O...kay ...so what was she to do now?'
She dialed Joe's number meaning to apologize for what she had said but the tone immediately took her to voicemail. Ending the call, she tried his number again but met with same result. Speaking aloud to herself..'So that's how he wants to do it hmm?..well two can play'.
She went about her routine chores pushing everything that had happened since 6.25am to a corner in her head.

Throughout that week husband and wife hardly said two words to each other, each refusing to accept defeat first and break the ice that had formed between them.
Joe missed his wife terribly but couldn't do anything about the situation lest every well thought out move would fail to achieve the desired goal. He knew Dina felt bad for giving him the cold shoulder but if he knew his wife as much as he thought he did, he knew she would shave her hair first before she allowed herself make the first move. His wife was subborn like that and he loved her so much..stubborn nature and all. Which is why he was glad she chose this time to express how hard headed she could be. Otherwise, he would have given in to her even before the plan was set in motion.

Saturday couldn't come sooner for Dina. With the tension in the house which she was pretty sure a knife couldn't cut through, she was ready to tear her hair out . She knew she was stubborn but she was also aware that Joe could hold his own against her.
Spending her saturday at her friend's place was refreshing , at least she had someone to talk to. Esther had been so helpful in getting her to relax. Now she actually felt guilty that she had kept malice with her husband for a week for virtually no reason. Thanks to Esther, that little information confirmed what she had been beating herself up for. She had to make things right she knew that much.
When she got home, she made to push the door in to let herself into the house but a sudden noise stopped her hand in mid-way. Taking a glance behind her to see if anyone was there.. funny... now that she thought better of it, Where was Joe's car? He probably went out with the boys and didn't deem it fit to let me know..'. Yea right, and we all know whose fault it is, don't we?'
Muttering silently to herself, she didn't notice the shadow that moved fleetingly against the couch as she turned her back to close the door.
'I thought i told Joe to fix this bulb' muttering to herself after trying the light switch which didnt come on. She had barely taken a few steps when a blinding light suddenly met her eyes and a rain of 'surprise', 'happy birthday'was coming from everywhere around her. She went blank for five seconds before she remembered that it was the twentieth day of August ...her birthday. How could she have forgotten her own birthday?

Laughing with tears streaming down her cheeks, she didn't know what to say. Suddenly, she felt two warm arms wrap themselves around her middle drawing her into their strength She knew it was her wonderful husband. Then he whispered lovingly into her ears 'Happy birthday love'. Everything began to add up as she saw her mom with a tray filled with variety of snacks and her mother-in-law with a matching tray with drinks in tow.
Everything right up to that moment had been a concerted effort to get this day to work.
Laughing at herself for being silly and thinking Joe's feelings for her had changed, she turned to him and thought to herself 'Boy am I the most lucky woman alive'.