Philip had sat himself down in the wing chair as usual. He was looking around the room. It had been a while since he had been here but even the pictures on the walls were the same.
"How are you feeling?" Stella broke the silence. "It has been..." she looked in her note book. "It's been six months since we last spoke. How have things been?"
He shook his shoulders, fixed with his eyes on a picture of a sunset, or was it a sunrise, he really couldn't tell the two apart?
"Last time you talked about your relationship with your girlfriend. The two of you were having difficulties communicating." She paused. "Are you still seeing each other?"
She glanced at the picture he was looking at.
"Is it Miss Stella now?" He finally broke his silence. "I noticed you are not wearing your ring." She looked at her hands, yes, that ring. She hadn't been wearing it for quite some time now.
"That's very observant of you." she smiled at him. "It's also quite private."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to..." he excused himself.
"That's alright. It was..." she paused, "It's been awhile now."
"How are you doing?" he continued.
"I'm fine, thank you." she said politely and smiled again.
Philip had always been impressed by her professionalism, her job was to talk to all these people about their problems. She was human too, she obviously had problems of her own. This was the first glimpse he ever had of her private life. Like a peek through a keyhole. He knew that behind a missing ring, there often lay countless nights of endless fighting, tears, betrayals, guilt. People also tend to drown their problems at work. She was probably no exception to that, but her job was to dwell on other people's problems and he couldn't help but wonder if that was really good for her.
"But we are not here to-" she started,
"... here to talk about you. Yeah I know." He looked at her and smiled back at her.
"How have you been?" she continued, "Are you still seeing each other?"
"Yes. Yeah we do." he said.
"And how are things between you now?"
"You know..." he rocked his head to the sides.
"Are you still having sex?" Her question was quite direct and a bit unexpected.
"Uhm, yeah. Yes we do Miss." He confirmed.
"And the fighting?" She kept looking at him
"Yes, nothing really changed." He switched position in the arm chair, leaning back, placing his elbow on the arm rest and rested his head against the back of his fingers.
"You know, part of her I can't be without, and other sides I really can't... stand."
"Can you tell me about a side of her you can't be without?"
Philip paused for a while.
"She is... the sex is good." he said
"Sex, is, good." she mumbled to herself as she was writing it down.
"Anything else besides the sex?" she continued. Philip kept thinking.
"She is pretty, she... you know, I love her." He paused, "We sort of have grown together, if you know what I mean?" Stella nodded.
"And what about the sides you can't stand? Do you want to talk about those?"
He thought about how patronizing she could be. How she used to compare him to other men, the comments she could throw at him, guys with expensive cars, fancy clothes, richer, more in shape, better looking guys. As if she knew he couldn't compete with them.
"I think she wants me to feel... replaceable."
"Do you want to tell me more about it?" She asked, waiting for him to continue.
"She is comparing me to other men, implying they would give her a better life, better in bed."
"How does it make you feel, being compared?"
"It's hurting."
"Does it make you sad?"
"A little maybe."