Brenda and her husband just had their dinner and were now lounging on their favorite couch in the balcony. With a glass cup in hand and their all time favorite wine, sparkles, about to be cocked open.
Brenda signalled her husband to halt dramatically raising the palm of her hand right in front of his face. Her husband, Mike, rolled his eyes at her childish mood before placing the glass cup and bottle on the stool next to him since he felt it was going to be a minute judging from her body cues.
"I want us to take a look back at the just concluded year and have a recap of things and events before we make a toast to the new year." She said.
"Okay ma'am. You go first." Her husband encouraged her seeing that he had no idea where to channel the discussion.
"How would you describe 2021 in one word?" Brenda asked her husband while smiling sheepishly at how tough her question is.
"Graceful." He answered after what seemed like forever trying to make a quick recap of 2021 in his head.
"For me, I'd say pepper" she dead panned which got Mike spitting out an imaginary mouth full of water.
"Babe, what do you mean by pepper?" Asked Mike trying to control his laughter.
"I don't know. That's just how I felt. You know, child birth, motherhood, business and what not sapped the living day light out of me..." She trailed off absent mindedly and only stopped when she notice Mike's brows creasing into a frown.
"Oh, no. Don't get me wrong. I love my baby and she's the best part of my 2021." She added sharply after reading the expression on her husband's face before going ahead to talk about her reservations about 2021.
"But,I have been a total mess emotionally. You were not there to assist me since you need to work and whenever you were around, you didn't just connect with me emotionally. I tried severally to reach out but you were ever so far away. You just didn't understand me." She took a pause and a deep breath to organize her thoughts before attempting to go ahead with her confession.
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At this point Mike was already disturbed as he got up and walked to the furthest part of the lounge area obviously frustrated by her revelation. He made a sharp u-turn when he reached the end and walked hastily back like he needed to sit next to her on the couch badly. Brenda, who was now looking at a faraway object uninterestedly shrugged at her husband.
He took her hand in his and looked straight to her eyes with great concern.
"You should have left me a note or even echo it into my ear." He went on with the softest voice possible.
He knew what he just heard was the truth because he has been worried lately as to why his wife looked so thin and pale with tired eyes . For the longest time, he itched to ask why his lively and chatty wife seem uninterested about a lot of things these days.
Looking back to when they met. Her charming and lively nature were things that drew him to her and have always been one of the things he loved about her but motherhood was stealing that away from her and it hurts him to know that he played a huge role in that.
He was tongue tied and could not say much other than to place a peek on her palm. That seemed to do the magic because instantly Brenda snapped out out of the low mood, announced that it was a new year and literally drew a Vail on 2021.
Retrieving her hand and jamming them together, she announced she has decided choose happiness because she knows it going to be a fulfilling year ahead hence is willing to let go of the struggles of last year.
She picked up the wine and started to shake it rigorously while giving her husband a mischievous smile.
Tensed Mike from a moment ago who has just had a surge of emotions and is now cooling off couldn't take back the wine bottle in time. "C'mon Babe. Its going to make a huge mess that way, you know." Her husband warned.
"Oh no, I popped it already!" Brenda replied. Her mouth formed a huge grin as the wine spilled all over her hand and on the floor.
He threw his hands up in the air as if to say I told you so before picking up his glass to pour himself some wine.
"Cheers to a fulfilling new year, My love." He said, placing a soft kiss on her lips before stretching out his glass of wine
Brenda responded clicking the wine bottle in her hand with her husband's glass cup before bringing it to her mouth for a drink.
"Damn, woman." Mike said. His voice filled with sarcasm while acting disgusted as he watched her drink directly from the bottle and not her glass cup already served with wine sitting on the stool.
"I love you too, honey" She replied her husband, sticking her tongue out as she strolled to the side of the balcony where she can have a great view of the city.
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Mike joined her. With one hand on the rail and the other holding her wine bottle, she drew in the evening fresh air which seemed to give her the confidence to face tomorrow
THE END.