Many things happened in my life in these last days that prevented me from publishing the chapters as I had planned. One of them was that on Tuesday I got a call about whether I was interested in going to a job interview, I went and got the job. I no longer thought I would find work this year (I am a teacher and usually by this time they have hired all the teaching staff) so I was calmly write the story and publish twice a week.
Obviously I will not have as much time as before so I will update every Saturday, which is the day I have the freest.
I will no longer bore you with my things. Here is chapter 4. The next chapter will be published on Saturday. Thank you for reading!
Sheldon didn't know how long he had been standing in the middle of the room unable to move. A voice inside his head was screaming at him to run and follow Amy, but another voice was screaming for him to get away from her for having cheated on him. If it hadn't been for Penny walking into the room, he possibly would have stayed in that position all night.
"I guess you don't want to talk about what happened," he shook his head as his friend approached him. "Can I hug you?"
"Please," Sheldon whispered. He desperately needed a hug and he was grateful that Penny offered it to him, even though he knew that hug wouldn't make him feel any better. He needed the hug of the one person who surely would not be willing to hug him.
"So what will you do?" Leonard asked her when they were inside her apartment.
"I can't stay here after everything that's happened," she replied, looking sadly at the apartment where she had lived with Sheldon for years now and share so many good moments with him there. She felt like he was going to cry again.
"Will you go to your parents' house?"
"No, they are going on vacation tomorrow and I don't want to ruin their trip," she sighed "I will look for a hotel to stay tonight and then... "
"I'd offer you my apartment, but I guess you don't want to be around Sheldon right now." She shook her head. "You should stay with Howard and Bernadette."
"Stuart just moved out a few months ago and they are finally alone. Then there are the children and I don't want to be a nuisance" she saw Leonard take the phone from his pocket
"What are you doing? " Asked Amy, but he ignored her.
"Bernadette, it's good that you answer," said Leonard "Something happened here and Amy needs a place to stay for a few days, so I thought... "he kept quiet while Bernadette said something "That's what I thought. We'll be there in twenty minutes. "
"Us? "
"You're not well, and I'm not going to let you drive alone."
An hour later Amy was installed in Stuart's old room. Her friend had given her some sheets and everything she needed so she could rest. She thanked her and told her that she would explain everything the next day, but that at that moment she needed to be alone. Bernadette understood and left the room without saying anything else.
Leonard was in the living room talking to Howard when Bernadette sat down next to her husband. He told both of them part of what had happened, omitting Amy's pregnancy. He knew that she should tell everyone when she feels ready. They both thought Sheldon had been an idiot to Amy and that they hoped they could fix everything soon.
When Leonard returned to his apartment, he found Penny talking to her best friend. Seeing him, Sheldon stood up and asked about his wife.
"She's gone," Leonard said, knowing perfectly well that it wasn't what Sheldon wanted to hear.
"Do you know where she is?" He nodded. "She is with her lover, isn't she?" He asked, afraid to know the answer.
"You still have that stupid idea that Amy has a lover!" Penny exclaimed.
"It's not a stupid idea. It's the truth."
"Well, you're wrong," Leonard said annoyed. He was beginning to understand Amy's decision to get away from Sheldon "She swears she doesn't have a lover and unlike you, I do believe her. "
"I believe her too." Penny stood next to her husband and scowled at her friend. "She loves you and she would never be capable to cheat on you."
"That's what you say because you two didn't see what I saw.
"Yes, yes. You saw her dancing with another man. That does not mean that she is cheating on you."
"And surely you are wrong about what you saw."
"I'm never wrong."
"Well, I hope you're right," said Leonard, "Or you will have lost your wife for nothing."
"I see that you have sided with her again." Sheldon turned away from his friends and walked to the door.
"Because you are acting like an idiot again" Penny looked disappointed at the man in front of her "I really thought that when you got back together you had learned to value her and..."
"I did," Sheldon interrupted her. "She is the person I love the most in the world and she betrayed me."
"Without trust, there can be no love and you clearly… "Penny winced as she put her hand to her belly "you don't trust Amy."
"Are you okay?" Leonard put a hand on her back. She nodded "I think you better go."
"Fine, but at least... "
"I'm not going to tell you where Amy is," Leonard answered without looking at Sheldon.
After the argument with his friends, Sheldon went to his apartment. The door was ajar and for a second he thought that Amy had come back, but when he entered he realized that she was not there.
The drawers were left open from when Amy pulled her clothes out of there. She went through every drawer and closet and it was noted that she had taken almost all of her things.
He bit his lip hard to try to keep from crying, but couldn't resist when he turned to Amy's
nightstand and saw her wedding ring there. Sheldon walked over to the table, took the ring in his hands, and cried until he fell asleep.
When Sheldon woke up he reached out and tried to pull Amy closer to him, but all he managed to do was fall off the bed. Everything that happened the night before came back to his mind. His wife had cheated on him, she was going to have a baby with another man and… she had left him.
It took him a long time to get up off the ground and when he did he decided that he should find Amy and talk to her. Although he didn't know what he was going to say to her. All he knew was that he needed to see her one more time.
He left his apartment and crossed the hallway to try to talk to his friends. He knocked on
the door several times but received no response. He returned to his house and began calling and emailing all of his friends, including Amy in the hope that she would answer him or someone would give him information on where his wife could be. The only one of his friends who responded was Rajesh to ask him why he was bothering him so early when he knew that Amy had come home the night before.
The rest of the day he spent continually going to his neighbors' apartment, but they never opened the door for him even though he heard they were there.
It was past midnight and Sheldon was lying on the bed he shared with Amy without being able to stop thinking about her. He had had all day to process and think about everything that had happened. As much as it hurt him to think about it, he still believed that Amy had cheated on him or that at least she had romantic feelings for that man and that was slowly destroying him.
But he also knew that Amy had waited patiently for him for years. While he constantly said that she was trying to get him into her bed, he knew it was not like that. She never forced him into anything, because she understood that he didn't feel comfortable with certain situations. Even after they were married, Amy rarely suggested or initiated coitus because she said that she was happy just being together and whenever he initiated coitus she asked him if he was okay with that.
What if his friends were right and he had misunderstood everything? Maybe Amy was dancing with that man because she wanted to practice salsa to surprise him or maybe there was another reason that he did not know about.
Or maybe you are the one who is right and she is really cheating on you, a little voice whispered inside him.
Be that as it may, he had already decided that the next day he would go to the cafeteria. The safest thing is that the stranger was the owner of the cafeteria and he would ask him about Amy since he did not believe that that man knew that he was her husband. He would ask Leonard to accompany him since he needed a witness to prove if he was right or not.
Sheldon peeked through the door peephole for the fourth time to see if his friend would open the door of his apartment to go to work but saw nothing. After a couple of minutes, Leonard finally walked out the door.
"I'm not going to tell you where Amy is," Leonard said the moment he saw Sheldon.
"I want to know where my wife is, but that's not why I've been waiting for you to leave" Leonard ignored him as he waited for the elevator door to open "I'm going to go to the
cafeteria to talk to Amy's lover."
"Sheldon, you don't know what is happening between that man and Amy and you could end up getting in trouble," Leonard warned him.
"That's why I wanted to ask you to come with me" his friend stopped the door with one hand to turn around and look at him "I understand that Amy doesn't want to know anything about me and she says hasn't been in the cafeteria but I swear I saw her with him and ... I need to know the truth.
"Fine" Leonard let go of the door that immediately closed "Okay, suppose we go to the cafeteria and find that man. What will you do?"
"The day he saw me he treated me as if I were a client, so I don't think he knows who I am, so I will ask him what his relationship is with the woman he was dancing with and when I confirm that they are in a relationship... "
"Do you still think that?" Leonard asked exasperated. "I'm sure he'll tell you they're just friends."
"For the first time in my life ... I really hope you're right and I'm wrong," Sheldon admitted. Leonard patted him on the back.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked when they were out of the cafeteria.
"Yes," Sheldon nodded "I have to know what is going on."
"Very good, but first… he grabbed him by the arm to stop him since he was about to get out of the vehicle "Promise me that you will let me ask the questions to him."
Sheldon bit his lip. "Okay," he agreed after consider what other option he had.
They both got out of the vehicle and walked towards the cafeteria. Upon entering they saw that there were a couple of people talking at a table and a young woman smiled at them behind the counter, so they approached her.
"Hi, how can I help you?" Asked the woman with kindness.
"Hi, we'd like to speak with the owner of the cafeteria," Leonard replied. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sheldon with his gaze fixed on the center of the place, so he thought that perhaps that was the place where he had supposedly seen Amy with the stranger.
"The owner should be back soon," she added. "Is there a problem?"
"No, we just want to ask a few questions."
"Well, if you want, I can help you." she extended a hand to Leonard. "I'm Randy."
"I'm Leonard," he said, taking the young woman's hand. "What happens is that my friend and I" pointed to Sheldon who had turned around and was looking at Randy. "We came to the cafe on Saturday afternoon and it was closed...
"Oh yeah. Sorry, we couldn't attend you that day but the owner closed the place to practice salsa with a friend and for what I know they had a great time" she winked, but none of the men in front of her noticed "Are you okay?" she asked with concern when he saw that Sheldon seemed about to faint.
"Yes, he… Can you give me water?" Randy ran behind the counter and came back a few seconds later with a glass of water that she handed to Sheldon "Do you need anything else?"
"No, he'll be fine" Randy saw Leonard whisper something to his friend and then motioned for her to walk closer to the counter "So, you were telling me about the owner and the friend... are they in a relationship? " Asked Leonard trying to sound casual. He hoped that all those years of pretending to be interested in the gossip his wife was telling him would do some good.
"No, they are just friends. But I'm sure she's been in love with Max for years. "
Sheldon looked up when she said that. Now he knew that the man who had stolen his wife was named Max, but that was not the most shocking, but the fact that according to what the woman in front of him had said, Amy had been in love with Max for years. So why did Amy marry him? He wanted to run out of that horrible place, but he needed to be strong.
That woman somehow seemed to know a lot about Max and Amy, and he was sure that she could answer him the answers that Amy would refuse to give him.
"Maybe you think I'm a little weird for asking these kinds of questions, but it sounds like a romantic story," Leonard said with mock interest. "I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all. I enjoy sharing my wisdom on everything that happens around here" she laughed and Leonard followed suit.
"So if you say that she has been in love with him for years, why doesn't she tell him anything? "
"I'm not sure how things happened, but what I understood was that when she was finally going to reveal her feelings to him, he told her that he would move to Paris. "
"Oh… she must had felt terrible."
"I'm sure she did, although I doubt she will admit it."
"And how long was Max in Paris?"
"Around ten years, I think."
Ten years? That meant Amy became friends with him around the same time that the man she was in love with went to the other side of the world. Is that why at the beginning of their friendship she didn't seem to have a romantic interest in him? She surely was convinced that Max would return soon, but when she realized that it would not be like that she decided to move on and tried to have a relationship with him.
"And I imagine that he has not been back for long, if she still hasn't confessed her feelings to him, right?"
"You're very good at this," Randy commented with a smile. "You're right. He came back about three months ago and they have been spending quite a bit of time together ever since."
Sheldon felt that the room was running out of air, he put a hand to his chest due to the difficulty he had to breathe. Surely the first thing Max did when he returned was to communicate with Amy and she must have been delighted to know he came back. Had Max's return made her realize that she made a mistake by marrying him? Is that why she asked him to meet in this place that night? To tell him that she never really loved him and it was only his second choice since the man she loved was far away and now that he was back it was her chance to finally be happy with him.
"Sheldon, Do you want ...?"
"I want to get out of here," he whispered. "I can't be here for another second."
"Sorry" Leonard looked at Randy as he helped Sheldon to his feet "We have to..."
"Yes, I understand," he added. "And if you still want to talk to Kat, I can tell her to contact you."
"Who is Kat?" Leonard asked with difficulty since his friend could not stand up without his help.
"The owner of the cafe," Randy answered with a slight frown. "We have been talking about her since you arrived. "
"But…" Leonard stopped and looked at Sheldon.
"Look, here she comes." Randy pointed to a woman who had just entered the cafeteria. Leonard looked at her in surprise.
"Amy..."
"Hi" the woman smiled at Leonard and then looked at Sheldon "Hey, you're the man who came the other day, are you?"
"Amy?" Leonard repeated.
"Who is Amy? " Asked the woman "Your friend also mentioned her the other day."
"You are Amy," Sheldon answered almost yelling. "And I think it's time you stopped lying. We already know everything about your lover that you have loved for years. "
"Lover?" The woman looked clearly confused. "What lover are you talking about? And why do you say I'm lying. "
"Randy told us all about Max and you," Leonard commented. He really felt disappointed in Amy. He had believed that she would never cheat on Sheldon, and maybe she hadn't yet, but according to what Randy told them, Amy was in love with that man.
"Randy you shouldn't have said anything!" What if Max had listened? " She put a hand to her hair to straighten some strands that covered his face. As she did so, Leonard noticed something.
"Is that what worries you? " Sheldon felt that he could not speak of the pain that he was feeling "That that man finds out that you love him? I don't understand how you could... "
"Sheldon" his friend interrupted him to make a sign for him to keep quiet.
"No, Leonard. I can't keep quiet anymore" he protested "Amy has to listen to everything I have to say. "
"Who the hell is Amy?" The woman asked again. Customers began to turn to see where they were and the man in front of her kept yelling nonsense.
"You," Sheldon yelled loud enough for everyone to turn and look at them.
"She's not Amy," Leonard confirmed.
"I can't believe that after everything you've heard you take her side."
"I'm not on her side, just… take a good look at her."
"What do I need to see?" Leonard pointed at the woman's right eye. Sheldon looked at her carefully and noticed that the woman in front of him had a mole visible enough from where he was standing. A mole that had been covered by the woman's hair the day he arrived at the cafeteria and that a couple of minutes ago was still covered. A mole that his wife didn't have. "But… " Sheldon looked from the woman to his friend "Amy doesn't have a mole there."
He widened his eyes in horror as he realized that the woman in front of him never lied to him when she told him that she was not Amy. She was extremely similar to her, she could even pass for her identical twin of hers, but she was not her wife. It was this woman he had seen dancing with that guy. This woman was the one who looked at him with desire and the one who was in love with him ... not his wife as he had believed.
He had said horrible things to Amy by mistaking her for the woman in front of him. His wife tried to explain and he refused to believe her. He needed to find Amy. He needed to tell her that he was wrong and beg her forgiveness.
"Leonard, please tell me where Amy is. I want... "at that moment he heard the sound of his cell phone. He knew he was being stupid, but he was sure that Amy had somehow felt his regret and that she was the one calling him, so he answered without looking at the number" Amy, my love. Good thing you call me, I... " the person on the other side of the line said something "Yes, I'm Sheldon Cooper. Who are you? "
"I'm sorry to inform you that your wife had an accident. "