Sophie was sitting in front of the fire place, staring fixedly into the fire. Though she was wrapped in a warm blanket, she was shivering cold. On her way home she jumped into the nearby café. Coffee was a special thing in her life – each and every morning she would grind the coffee beans and brew her coffee in her little percolator. It had become her morning ritual to sit down with her espresso in the little cup she had inherited from her Grandmother and ponder her plans for the day. She definitely did not want to forget to buy coffee beans at her favorite local coffee shop as her stock was drastically running low.
She absolutely did not expect to run into Peter at the entrance of the café. Peter was Mark’s best friend. They hadn’t met since Sophie and Mark’s ways were parted. In her great surprise, Sophie greeted Peter with a wide smile. After a few polite sentences, it became obvious to Peter that Sophie didn’t know anything about Mark. He hesitated, but with a sudden determination, so as not to change his mind, he told Sophie that Mark had only a few days left. After having pancreatitis last summer, cancer suddenly overtook him and he didn’t have any more energy left to fight it.
Sophie didn’t even remember how she had gotten home or how the fire had started in the fire place...Mark’s internet dating site picture from 7 years ago, where she had first seen him and her heart had beaten so heavily in her chest was now hovering in front of her eyes. She had never felt that way before. She immediately wrote the first letter and she didn’t have to wait long to get a reply. After a few days, she found herself running home after work to read Mark’s letters and to write her answers.
A few weeks had passed in that way, when the possibility of meeting came up. They organized everything thoroughly and Sophie was very excited. The day before the date, she received a long letter from Mark in which he admitted that he was living in an awful relationship which didn’t have any future etc, etc ,... He left the decision of keeping the date up to Sophie.
After the date, their relationship became even more passionate and they practically counted the minutes until their next date. Mark asked Sophie to give him some time and finally he was determined to move out. He picked a Saturday in autumn to tell this to his wife. Sophie called him the night before and told him that she couldn’t accept the responsibility for ruining a family and asked him to stay. In order to make her decision even stronger, she totally cut herself off from Mark while her soul was dying and she became invisible to her own environment.
To be continued next week!
