It stood on the kitchen’s table; conspicuously pink! Unlike her miserable pale face, the teacup was pink. She sat down looking at the cup with a million thoughts rushing in and out of her mind, but she was afraid of one particular thought. She tried to squeeze her neurons in her nerves for excuses or memories, but none exist. It was only THAT particular thought that kept pressing as she stared at the dark lipstick stain on the pink teacup. She thought “he loved a woman with dark lipstick.” The sound inside her ears was too loud; one long ding that kept ringing. Her stomach became morbidly ill. Then, tears streamed along her cheeks making their way to her lips and off they fell on the table.
The pink teacup stood right in front of her with a lipstick mark that looked as it were laughing at her. How could she be so fool? She has always sensed that something wasn’t in place. His absence was consistent as if he had scheduled the nights of his affairs. His excuses were not really convincing, and his truths always seemed off, but she believed him anyway. After all she was hurt too many times to believe anything her gut told her; every suspicion was treated as a symptom of her trust issues.
She bought the pink teacup from a website that sold souvenirs and antiques for couples. The shiny pink teacup came with an identical blue cup for him. Everybody thought it was cute when both of them drank from the similar looking cups. “Did he drink from the blue cup while she was drinking from this one?” she wondered. Now she realized that every little detail she wondered about was actually true. She didn’t really need him to explain and justify things to her. She has the cup. She has the lipstick stain. The mark that has burned its print on her heart FOREVER.
She got up with tears still falling off her eyes. She heaved repeatedly while she was washing off the pink teacup. She grabbed the little soft towel and dried the cup, put it back in the cupboard above her head. She, then, headed to her side of the bed next to him, and tired she drifted off to sleep.