I wandered out of the gym, my limbs feeling strangely floaty, and noticed my phone glowing with seven missed calls from my mother, as if she were haunting me. The digital message blinked urgently: Call me back! Despite it nearing eleven, I dialled her number. My mum, the eternal worrier, could stay awake for days over the most trivial thing. As soon as she answered, she sobbed and pleaded with me to come over. Between sniffles, she blurted out that something had happened and the wedding might be off.
My sister, Alice, is not much older than twenty-three. Shes an up-and-coming designergraduated last year, landed a job a blink later. She studied the craft, interned diligently, and the firm snapped her up immediately. Until that night, Alices life had been picture-perfect, almost an ideal.
For just over a year, Alice had been seeing Benjamin. Hes three years her senior, living on his own, working hard and saving towards buying a little place. Mum approved of him; so polite and well-bred, shed say. Alice and Benjamin had already booked their ceremony at the town hall. The wedding was a mere fortnight away.
One woman messaged Alice on social media, I recounted, still trying to piece it all together. She wrote, You and I havent met, but I know you. And before youre wed, you really need to know Alice skimmed through her profilemid-forties, nothing remarkable. But the stranger persisted, sending messages from every corner of the internet. After much back and forth, they arranged to meet in a café near Alices office.
Mum, in her panic, scolded Alice and warned her never to bother with such rendezvous. Still, Alice waited at the café, watching the world turn dreamily outside. Suddenly, a heavily pregnant woman shuffled in, surreal and shimmering. At first, Alice thought nothing of her, but the woman strode right over.
Are you Alice? the expectant soul asked, sounding almost chummy. Im Olivia. Ive been seeing Benjamin for over a year, and in four months, Ill have his son.
Of course, Alice rejected this absurd tale. Impossibleshe and Benjamin had been together for ages, preparing for marriage! Olivia offered no proof, no arguments, simply said that Alice had her phone number and could ring if she wanted answers. With a backward glance, she left, mentioning Alice could speak to Benjamin.
So, what did Benjamin say? Thats where everything unravelled. Alice had decided, in her steadfast way, that intimacy would only happen after marriage. Theyd stroll around like sixth-formers, holding hands, kissing tenderly and nothing more. Alice had no romantic experience; Mum raised her on classic novels and Victorian morals. Is that even possible these days? I mused, bemused. Bright, educated, sociablehow did she end up in such naive circumstances? But there it was.
Benjamin, apparently, needed more and decided to seek satisfaction elsewhere. He met Oliviaexplained upfront that theirs wouldnt be a committed affair. At first, Olivia accepted the terms. Shed split from her husband recently, had her own child, lived comfortably on child maintenance and her job. Benjamins age didnt faze her.
Benjamin now claims hell take a paternity test when the babys born; if its his, hell provide support (in pounds, of course), but has no intention of being involved. He told Alice its her own doinghis robust manhood couldnt endure abstinence, and if only shed been more worldly, Olivia wouldnt have happened.
Nobody foresaw Olivias choice. Theres the question: where will she even have the baby?
Now Benjamin begs Alice not to break things off, insisting he loves her and only needed Olivia for physical relief. If youd been wiser, thered be no Olivia, he says. If the child is his, hell do his bit; otherwise, hell hand Olivia money for a procedurebut its hers to sort out now.
So, is Benjamin to blame? Was it some unstoppable male urge? Or should Alice bolt from such a fiancé, since lack of intimacy can never excuse betrayal? Even in the drifting logic of dreams, nothing seems certainexcept that nothing really makes sense, and the world keeps spinning in its odd, English way.
