Jason appeared in the hallway. He looked disheveled and was not even wearing a coat, as though he had rushed out of the café in the middle of a crisis.
“Claire, I’m sorry for arriving without warning. I need to hear the truth from you. Is Andrew really… or did he invent this to punish me for something?”
Jason did not finish.
From the hall came Andrew’s irritated voice.
“Sophie, just leave already!”
Jason lifted his eyes and saw his recent fiancée standing inside another man’s apartment.
Sophie fell silent at once.
The silence became so dense that everyone heard the elevator doors close at the far end of the hallway.
“So it’s all true,” Jason said heavily.
“I’m afraid it is,” Claire replied. “And judging by your faces, no one needs any further explanation.”
She took Jason by the arm, led him past the two bewildered lovers, and seated him on a kitchen stool.
Then she pointed at him firmly.
“Stay here. And please don’t distract me from important matters.”
Three minutes later, Andrew was outside the apartment. Before he left, Claire gave him such a sharp, precise slap that he did not even manage to protest immediately.
Sophie hurried after him, trying to slip through the doorway sideways. Apparently, she was afraid the next portion of justice might be meant for her.
“Claire!” Andrew shouted from the hallway. “You can’t just throw me out! I’m registered at this address!”
“Once, you were the person I loved, Andrew. Love is worth far more than any registration. Unfortunately, you spent yours until nothing remained.”
Before closing the door for good, Claire gave both of them her most charming smile.
“And one more thing, darlings. Jason and I may decide to get revenge on you. Beautifully, thoroughly, and without rushing. We’ll be sure to show you the photographs afterward.”
Sophie gasped in horror.
Andrew lunged back toward the door, but he was too late.
The lock had already clicked into place.
Part Five. The Anger That Helped Her Begin Again
A genuine verbal war broke out in the hallway.
Later, Claire would describe it as two cornered rats fighting over which of them had caused the greater disaster.
“You ruined everything!” Andrew snarled. “Why didn’t you hang up the phone immediately?”
“Me?” Sophie shrieked. “You idiot, you shouted my name! You confessed and exposed me at the same time!”
“I was sure Claire already knew!”
“You were sure? Do you even know how to use your brain? Because of your stupidity, I lost my fiancé!”
“And I lost my wife! My belongings are in there, the apartment is my home, and my entire life is inside!”
“Then stand outside the door and beg her forgiveness! I’m sure you’ll be excellent at that!”
Meanwhile, Claire returned calmly to the kitchen, sat across from Jason, and rested her chin in her hand.
“Stay a little longer. At least half an hour. They’re currently deciding who betrayed whom more thoroughly, so there will be plenty of noise.”
“I can hear them,” Jason replied wearily.
He did not touch the water or the crackers Claire had offered him. He only stared silently at his own fingers.
“You know, Claire, I feel absolutely sick. For the entire last week, I thought I was the happiest man alive.”
“And you were happy for a reason. You simply learned the truth in time. Congratulations, Jason. I mean that sincerely.”
“What is there to congratulate me about?”
“You didn’t spend several more years building a family with someone who was deceiving you. Imagine discovering everything after the wedding, perhaps with a baby in your arms. It hurts now, of course. But the consequences could have been much worse.”
Jason gave a humorless smile and glanced at the clock.
About fifteen minutes later, he stood, nodded quietly to Claire, and walked toward the door.
Andrew, meanwhile, had gone down to the courtyard.
When he saw Jason leaving the building, his thoughts began racing.
Why had that man spent half an hour inside his wife’s apartment? What had they been doing? Why couldn’t Claire have handled the situation privately, at home, without an audience?
Why had his mother started asking questions?
Why hadn’t Sophie ended the call?
Andrew blamed his mistress, the disastrous anniversary dinner, and his own carelessness.
But more than anyone else, he hated Claire.
As far as he was concerned, everything had begun with one ridiculous joke—a joke that had transformed his life into a catastrophe.
Sophie was walking toward the bus stop.
She was filled with hatred too.
She cursed Andrew for being cowardly, unbelievably stupid, and reckless enough to discuss their affair over an open phone line.
But she was angriest at Claire.
One sentence from Claire had destroyed the engagement Sophie had carefully built and erased the wedding that had been waiting for them.
Jason walked several blocks instead, carrying entirely different emotions with him.
He was sincerely grateful to Claire.
The painful truth had reached him before he tied his life to Sophie through marriage. The infection had broken open before it could spread any further.