A Black Rose

8:00a.m

It's Valentine's Day next week, and I'm really looking forward to it and giving a special gift to my darling hubby.  I am only twenty-three, and we had our twins five years ago when I was just eighteen. We got married last year and this is our first Valentine's Day since we got married.

  I woke up and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. 

  "Goodmorning, baby. " a manly voice felt into my ears and I felt two strong arms wrapped around my waist while I was chopping vegetables.

It was my husband James .

"Goodmorning sweetheart." I replied him back with a wide smile on my face.

"Honey you're looking so hot today" he said with a slight grin on his face.

"That I look everyday huh!" I said making a face and we started laughing together.

"Momma , Momma " a sweet voice came from behind and it was my little puddle of joy , my baby Jessica.

I picked up Jessica in my arms and said in childish voice"Hey, my sweety pie Good morning Jessy " and I lightly kissed her cheeks .

“Sofi, I need to leave for the office. ” my husband told me.

“But last night you said that you were free” I replied with fake frowning.

He wrapped his hands around my arms and said “Yeh, but unfortunately I got an urgent meeting.” 

He picked up Jessica and kissed her on her forehead “Goodbye Jess.”

“Bye,Dad.” she replied, kissing him on his left cheek.

My lips curved from smile and he left.

                                ***

4 p.m

I was cleaning James's Home office when I noticed his computer screen was on. 

I went ahead to switch off screen when I saw a message pop up from WhatsApp “Hey, Baby. When you're planning to get rid of a nasty bitch.” 

Reading those words made my skin crawl and a weird feeling of hurt struck me like a stone.

I never snooped into my husband's private messages but this wasn't something I could ignore.I opened up the chat and it was from an unknown, unsaved number , there were no other chats between them .

I figured out it might be a spam of the wrong number. 

I simply reported and deleted the message and switched off my husband's device.

                               ***

10:00p.m

I was waiting for James to come from his office when I heard my phone ring. 

It was from James .

I answered the call and a voice came from the other end “Honey, I'm sorry to disturb you. I got to leave for a business trip for two weeks. Can you pack my clothes? I'll be back till 1 a.m . I have an urgent flight.”

“But James, you promised me we'll be spending Valentine ’s week together .”

“My bad honey but it's not happening. Maybe we can plan something next time.”

“Ok, I'll keep your suitcase ready.”

The call ended and I went to the bedroom to pack his stuff.

I opened the cupboard and started taking out all his essential clothes when I noticed a really long blonde hair on his black shirt. Both me and my kids have copper coloured hair. No way this was ours.

Then I remembered a message I saw today and now on this business trip. 

Something isn't right . 

After an hour…

The doorbell rang. I rushed outside with James' luggage . 

He came in and gave me a side hug lightly kissing on my forehead.

“Thanks my sweetheart.”

I kissed him back with a phony smile plastered on face when I noticed marks of pink lipstick on the collar of his pale blue shirt.

“Mmm(pointing towards the mark) What's that mark?” I asked

“Oh!This(trying to look at his collar) I don't know. Maybe it's a stain from some other cloth that got on the shirt from the wash in the washing machine.”

“No, it looks like a lipstick mark.” I asserted.

“Hmm , maybe it's yours ”

“Nah, but I don't have lipstick that shade…Anyways I think you should leave. You might be getting late.”

He took a look at his watch and left without saying a single word. 

My legs were frozen, my eyes were damped and my mind was unable to comprehend everything.

“Am I thinking way too much into this. Am I really overreacting? Maybe it was just a stain. Maybe that hair belonged to some dog and maybe that message was just spam or the wrong number. Maybe it's all a coincidence.”