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The next morning Arthur seemed his old self again, polite and gentle. He made tea for Salimat, and as they were eating breakfast he said,
"Salimat, I have to go away on business for a few days. I'll be back on Tuesday, so please call me then at 6PM. I'll miss you terribly!"
They drove to Salimat's house in silence. Arthur parked his car, Salimat kissed him on the lips and stepped out. Without saying a word, Arthur sharply pulled away from the curb and sped off. Salimat felt a cold chill in her heart and a feeling that she'll never see Arthur again. She was crushed, stunned with that realization!
Next three days seemed like eternity for Salimat. She couldn't think of anything else, her thoughts constantly brought images of Arthur, of how happy and warm he used to be, and how cold and distant he'd become. She wanted to understand what brought on such change, but she couldn't.
On Tuesday Salimat could do nothing else except stare at the phone and the clock above it. She couldn't wait for the evening to arrive when, she'd hoped, she'll hear Arthur's cheerful, tender voice again.
She rang his house at precisely 6PM, but no one picked up. "He must be late getting home," she thought. She called again later, but, again, there was no answer. There will never be any answer from the other side, suddenly she realized. Salimat knew then that Arthur was home, and now she understood why he asked her to call him - once he sees that the call is from her, he won't pick it up. She felt as if her heart and soul were stabbed with a sharp knife. The pain became so unbearable that she literally couldn't breath. Salimat realized that Arthur's feelings for her had disappeared like snow in spring. "Did he ever have feelings for me at all?" she thought. Why did his smile and his affectionate jokes mean so much to her? But if he wasn't honest, how could he behave in such loving manner toward her? She would've loved him even if he wasn't so charming! Why, she thought, did Arthur need her love anyway? Is she the only woman who felt that way about him? "No," Salimat thought, "no man of integrity could do such a thing! Yet how cold and withdrawn he was in the car that night?"
Salimat fell on top of the bed and screamed from pain. After a while, she got up and went to a huge mirror that hung on the wall. She kept looking at herself as if seeing her image for the first time.
"My youth is gone, I'm not as pretty as I used to be. What does he need me for? Why would someone as handsome and strong as Arthur love me? Maybe he doesn't understand, doesn't know what suffering means? My entire life I've known nothing but pain and suffering. I wrote in my books about happiness because I've never known what it feels to be truly happy, I wrote about love because no one really has loved me, at least not the ones I loved anyway!"
8/11
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