20.

“Miss Iris, are you busy?” Iris looked up from her phone where she was reading through her comments on her book in the library. She had been reading and got tired so she decided to go through her comments for the thousandth time.

“No Berta, please sit down” She gestured to the empty seat for the elder woman and dropped her phone on the table. “Is everything okay?” Iris asked when she noticed the worried look on her face.

“I know it’s not my place to say this but I couldn’t help but notice that things have become more tense between you and Luca. I know things were not that good at first but it’s like he has become more hostile towards you. Did anything happen?”

Iris lowered her head in shame as heat flooded her cheeks. She hoped they wouldn’t notice since Luca never said anything to her while anyone was present. There was no way she was going to tell Berta that she suspected that Luca was like that because he probably regretted consummating their marriage.

“I don’t know, Berta. Maybe