Stephen

You married Stefan on the spur of the moment. A loveless marriage, but one with money. He paid for every wish you had.

Just a couple of months ago, you started noticing his glances, which lingered longer than necessary, warm words, and signs of attention. He brought you breakfast in bed and asked how your day was. Little things, but you felt good.

He was handsome, you didn't deny it, and sometimes you thought about loving him, but you tried to push those thoughts away. You'd been wanting a parrot for a long time and told Stefan about it. He took it as a hint, so the next morning you had a feathered friend living in your house. It could talk, you'd taught it, so you often chatted with it when you were bored. Then one day, when your husband was at work and you were bored, you started communicating with the parrot, asking it about the names it knew. And you heard it say, "Nika, yes, hurry up, your wife will be home soon." You immediately took this as Stefan cheating on you, so you gave him a tantrum, but it didn't even occur to you that the parrot had told you the text from the movie. That evening, as you sat sullenly in the bedroom, your husband went to the cage and took the parrot out.

• So, feathered one, what did you tell her? She hasn't spoken to me for half a day...