The trip was nothing special

The trip was nothing extraordinary — for a twenty-year-old, it would likely be seen as somewhere between a disaster and a failure; for someone in their mid-thirties, it might be described as "alright, I guess."

On the first night, they went to the local fancy restaurant. The only memorable thing about it was Sarah posting a photo on social media holding a wine glass with the caption:

"Tom finally took me out :-)"

They barely spoke during dinner — after years together, spending almost all of your time in each other's company means you've exhausted most conversation topics.

That first night, they simply went to sleep. The next day was uneventful — Sarah went to the gym and got spa treatments with massages while Tom did essentially nothing: sat by the pool drinking beer.

When night fell, they took a walk along the beachfront, discussing mundane things about Sarah's work, boring dialogs they'd had countless times before.

As soon as they returned to their hotel room, Tom tried to initiate intimacy with hugs and "sexy" kisses. But Sarah responded with a chilly peck on the lips. She said she was too tired already and maybe they should save it for when they got back home.

Tom and Sarah arrived home in the evening.

Sarah headed straight for the shower while Tom collapsed on their couch, staring at the ceiling and hoping that at least his upstairs neighbours wouldn't disappoint him. He lay there for about ten minutes before he heard Sarah approaching him.

"Going to sleep," she said as she entered the bedroom. "Tomorrow's a hard day." They usually went to bed together — it was almost an unspoken rule between them.

Tom glanced at his watch, noting that it was only 9:43 PM. He looked up at Sarah with mild surprise.

"Give me five to ten minutes," he said as he continued to lay on the couch. But nothing happened upstairs — no signs of activity.

After a few more minutes of listlessly circling the room, trying to buy himself more time, Tom finally went to bed. As he lay there, he couldn't shake off the disappointment about his life.