I haven't seen him for years. I didn't want to see him. < img src = "https://zycie.news/crrops/2fcaa8/620x0/1/0/2024/10/14/7fly5rnruuohycqqq4lpcypzpzqsengti0azopotr7c.jpg" alt = "woman @pexels" styles = "background-color: rgba (101,91,81,1)" > < p > until today.

< p > stood at my threshold, with the same smile, which I once loved and then hated.

< p > — Hi & Hellip; & Amp; MDASH; he said quietly.

< p > my heart shone, but I didn't let me see it.

< p > — What you want ? — I asked cold.

< p > — Talk.

< p > We used to be married.

< P >Wedding, WSP; Oacutene Plans, Dreams & AMP; NDASH; Everything that was to last forever ended faster than I could expect.

< p > after divorce you don't even turn on He moved away, disappeared, left me alone with life, which we built together.

< p > did not call, did not ask how I manage.

< p > and I had to learn to live without him.

< p > Now, after so many years, wr & oacute; 60 ~/p > < p > — You left me — I said, looking in his eyes. & Amp; MDASH; Shortly after divorce. As if we never knew each other.

< p > swallowed.

< p > — I know.

< p > — So why are you coming back ?

< p > — Because & Hellip; I made a mistake.

< p > I laughed bitterly.

< p > — Error ? It was not a mistake. It was a decision.

< p > — I didn't know how to deal with it.

< p > — So you chose the simplest solution — I hissed. & Amp; MDASH; You just ran away.

< p > He looked at me as if he was looking for something in my face that wasn't there anymore.

< p > — Maybe we could have been overwhelmed by & Hellip; & Amp; MDASH; whispered.

< p > I couldn't believe what I hear.

< p > — & Amp; oacute; bid ? & mdash; Repeat & oacute; & Amp; MDASH; After you left me ? after years of silence ?

< p > silent.

< p > — Where you were when I really needed you ?

< p > did not answer.

< p > and it was an answer for me.

< p > I didn't close the door right away.

< p > I let him stand in this threshold, just like I once stood, looking at how he goes away.

< p > and then I said the most important word I could say:

< p > — No.

< p > and closed the door.

< p > this time I left.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116