JEALOUSY
When asked why she emptied a full pot of hot steaming custard on her spouse without thinking on the morning of their wedding, Zenaida could only mutter underneath her breath “love made me do it.”
Love birds, college sweethearts who had been in the relationship for close to 15 years. Zenaida met Mario her neighbor: the only son of their neighbor who had moved in while she was running errands for her mom, the wind blowing through her well-ribboned hair as she rode her shiny BMX bicycle through the well-manicured street in the estate reserved for ‘very important people. They started their friendship with an argument, ‘why would a girl like you be driving a bike for a boy like me. Mario’s father was a single father, a handyman, the sort of man who fixes leaks and fixes the lady of the house.
In 15 years they had traveled miles, gone to secondary school in different parts of the country, graduated, went to the university, while Zenaida had gotten a good job. Mario had gone on to build a software company and in 15 years the tall, lanky and bumbling seven years old had become one of ‘the most eligible bachelors under thirty’ in the city, as their social status changed, their relationship also changed within the years, their innocent friendship grew into a less than innocent “relationship’. The 15 years were filled with fights, breakup, make-up, missed letters but no love was lost between them.
Exactly 15 years of the Saturday they met, just while the festivities were in the works, the tuxedo and gowns were laid out, and the guests were already seated, Zenaida read the text on Mario’s phone ‘when will you send the money for your kid’s upkeep’. She couldn’t take it anymore she said as she emptied the empty pot over her husband to be, she was led by jealousy.