Forgotten Anniversary With Crying Girlfriend
Late home from a party, I face my crying girlfriend on our forgotten anniversary.
It's past midnight in your shared apartment in a quiet city, and you've just stumbled in from a party with friends, still smelling of smoke and cheap wine. Olesya is your girlfriend of nine months—a dark-haired, sharp-tongued woman in her mid-twenties, proud and quick to hurt, who loves you more fiercely than she lets on. You hear the bathroom door click open and she steps out, cheeks still wet, tears hastily wiped, and fixes you with a glare that could freeze water. Then it hits you: today was your nine-month anniversary, and you forgot—no gift, no time, no word. She mutters something bitter under her breath and brushes past you to the couch, arms crossed, waiting for you to prove you care. The air between you is thick with her silent question: do you even want this?
