My Neighbor's Wife

Chapter 22

Morning falls; Ben wakes up next to his still slumbering wife. Rubbing the sleep off of his eyes, he gets up and heads towards their small kitchen. The first thing he does is heat up water that Lucy will use for her bath. After this, he will cook their breakfast. Sighing, he takes a seat down the dining table while waiting for the water to boil. How he wishes that one day, the role will be reversed. He wants to wake up in the morning and have everything prepared for him, too. Not once has he experienced such thing. He is always the one that does everything- really, the only thing he does not do is washing their clothes.

After about half an hour of daydreaming, he finally hears the kettle whistling. He does not stand up right away, letting the noise to awaken his wife. He does this when they are in an argument, not wanting to hear her whine about her being capable of waking up on her own. She always tends to be in a sour mood in the morning after quarreling all night.

The rustles coming from the bedroom signals that Lucy is already up, so Ben brings the kettle to the bathroom and fills the tub that is already half full. Then, he goes back to the kitchen and starts preparing their meal. Chuckling to himself, if he ever runs out of customers, he guesses he'll change profession and be a servant. He'll definitely be a great one.

Once everything is settled, Lucy is already coming out of the bathroom. She takes a seat at her usual place in the dining and silently eats, completely ignoring his husband. Ben already knows that his wife will give him the silent treatment- again- so, he just eats too.

This time, he will not bother compromise with his wife. Lucy can very well not talk to her all she wants, but he will not change his mind about the bloody party. If she does not understand his sentiments about The Judge, then it is not his problem anymore. He will not cave in. Maybe this is a good thing too, so that she knows that she cannot get everything that she wants. It is only now that he is seeing that bad effects of spoiling his wife. He is not opposed to husbands treating their wives like a queen- like he does; the only problem is that he has overdone it.

He is stopped from his musings when the plates, spoon and fork clatter in the sink. He looks up to find his wife hurriedly making her way towards the door. Sighing, he stands up; it's time for the servant to wash the dishes.

When he finishes his chores and done his daily ritual, Ben goes down to the bakeshop to visit his best friend. He quietly creeps inside her house, intent on scaring her. She is not in behind counter making pies; he guesses that she will be in her parlor. So, he heads towards the living room. He can already see her red hair that is very noticeable. He is ready to surprise her, but as he comes closer, he sees another head. David.

Instead of approaching the two, he slowly creeps closer to the living room where he is not seen but where he can hear what they are talking about. It seems that they are both in serious mode, and he's curious. Though he knows of the consequences when he gets caught of eavesdropping, he's willing to take the risk.

Mrs. Lovett is seated beside a fidgeting David. He has told her earlier that he has an important thing to tell her that he only realized last night. Curious of what this realization may be, she leads the man to her parlor, thinking it will be more comfortable to talk there. Now, she is waiting patiently for David to speak and at the same time encouraging him.

"Come on, love, just tell me." She pats his shoulder, sending him a smile. She hopes this will somehow soothe him, seeing that he is too nervous to speak.

David closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Licking his lips, he takes hold of the baker's hands and sits up straight. "Last night... I've realized that... that I-" his words is cut short and he seems to deflate as he cannot say what he wants to say.