Stay

He had kept down the key and stared at her eyes one last time. She chose to look away. He smiled faintly, shook his head, and walked out with a small bag. She had slammed the door shut behind him noisily. He pressed the button on the elevator and tapped his shoes on the marble floor. It echoed through the empty corridor, and the lift arrived. He thanked heaven it's empty for he won't be able to explain to the neighbours that his wife threw him out in the middle of the night, because he asked How?" to her, "We are pregnant." A sudden replay of the scene made him laugh at himself. He had taken out the car key, hoping one of his friends would be awake for a drink, and his phone beeped. "Stay." He looked up in a reflex at the window of the apartment where she stood, moving away carefully behind the curtains as he smiled. Her phone beeped with "Always" before the doorbell rang.