Love will tear us apart

Chapter 18

Frida stood before Benny, near the window that she had opened because she needed to feel some air on her face, at least to calm that strong feeling of panic that was gripping her chest.

He was there.

Fuck.

Her heart was heavy with unspoken words and misunderstandings. She tried to hold back the tears as she turned and gazed into his eyes, searching for the right way to express the turmoil that consumed her.

Benny entered and closed the door behind him, the sound of the latch clicking shut echoing in the silence. He saw Frida by the window, her silhouette framed by the moon light. He could see the way her shoulders slumped, the tension in her posture as she gazed out in the night before turning to him.

He studied her for a moment — a woman who had always been fiercely independent yet seemed to be drowning now in a mess they had both created. The silence stretched between them until she finally broke it.

"Why are you here, Benny?" she started, quietly.

"Oh, well" he scoffed "I was around and thought: 'Why not go and have my ex-wife tell me to my face how she cheated on me with another man and got knocked up by him?'. So, do you want to start talking?".

Frida's eyes flashed with a mixture of hurt and defiance "Again, how dare you accuse me of such a thing, Benny! How could you even think that?!" her voice rose in indignation, echoing off the walls of the house.

But Benny wasn't backing down" Don't lie to me! I've seen you two the other day! I've always seen the way you look at him! The way you light up whenever he's around... And now this... this baby!" his words were like shards of glass, cutting through the fragile bond that had once held them together. Frida glared at him and sighed deeply, looking up to him with an expression that mingled fatigue and something sharper — defeat, perhaps.

"What exactly do you want to know, Benny?" her words were laced with an edge that made his heart race and his resolve tremble.

He ran a hand through his hair, frustration bubbling just beneath the surface "I think it's obvious" with a gesture that felt both desperate and defiant, Benny pointed to her baby bump — a testament to a life growing inside her, yet a painful reminder of the life that was escaping them "I can't believe it..."..

"What can't you believe? That I'm pregnant?" she crossed her arms, leaning against the windowsill, her tone dripping with sarcasm "Or that the child isn't yours? Because is this, right?" she glared at him "It all revolves around a certain... male pride, right?".

That stung. Benny took a half-step forward, the hurt piercing deeper than he expected "Shut up... It's not about that! You know it! I thought... I thought we were in this together at the time! And now this?!" he gestured wildly as if trying to grasp at the ungraspable. The weight of their situation lay heavy on his shoulders and he felt it pressing down on him "We broke up for it, goddammit!".

"We didn't break up for that, Benny! Not only for that, at least!".

"Oh yeah!" he snorted derisively "And the thousand other faults of mine, how can I forget them!".

Frida looked at him shocked "Faults? Benny, my God..." she took a deep breath "We crumbled under the weight of your lies, of alcohol, of suffocating work, of another woman!" she yelled at him.

"And of another man apparently!" he yelled back, his face red with anger.

Frida's façade cracked, and in a moment of raw vulnerability, she lashed out "You think you're the innocent now, Benny? That you've purged your soul? That now we're even? Well, you have no right to judge me! You cheated on me!".