Level25

The bar was unusually busy. It smelt heavily of coriander and fish. This was the Indian quarter. Jin seldom ventured here since the incident in the temple a few blocks up the street. Tonight he found himself under certain obligation. He had arrived surprisingly early given that he had nearly missed his bus and the changes he had to make along the way took longer than usual. He didn’t expect his wife to be there yet, but she was - arms crossed and frowning.
“I am leaving you,” she said with a certain hint of fear, “don’t think that I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Although Jin had made a point of not touching a single drop of alcohol that morning the room felt like that familiar small swimming pool; the kind people set up in their back gardens by themselves; the kind their kids easily drown in. His wife averted her eyes while Jin struggled to losen his tongue.
“Don’t you have anything to say?”
He let his head sink onto his chest the way small boys do when they’re mortally wounded.
“I..erm. I...”
She had never looked as beautiful as in that instant when she shook her head, slowly got up, turned around and walked away.