When Haris's friend said at the barbecue that the blue sofa had won after all, Lejla assumed her husband had mentioned their purchase. Then another added that he had voted for gray because she would change her mind sooner or later. They laughed like people continuing a familiar discussion. Lejla laid her fork on her plate. She had not chosen a sofa with them, yet apparently they all knew how long the selection had taken.
Haris said he occasionally told his friends little things about their marriage. She asked which little things. One guest, still convinced it was harmless, took out his phone and showed her a group named after their address. At the top was a poll on whether Lejla would abandon a weekend with her parents. Below were her messages, copied without the introduction explaining that her mother was struggling with the anniversary of her sister's death.
Lejla did not ask for the phone to read the rest. She called a taxi and left before the meat Haris was taking off the grill. At home she sat on the blue sofa, trying to recall how many arguments had ended with his strangely prepared answers. He often told her she was overreacting, always using the same words. Now she pictured six men approving those words between a match photograph and arrangements for a beer.
He returned angry that she had left. He said everyone discussed relationships with friends. Lejla agreed that they did. She pointed out the difference: seeking support when confused was not the same as shortening someone's sentence until it became funny. Haris offered to delete the group. She replied that erasing his screen would not erase all the people who had read her grief as a question to vote on.
The following morning a friend called with a new joke. This time Haris heard what he had previously expected to entertain him. He interrupted, but did not run to Lejla to claim credit. He wrote to the group that he had sent them selected parts of conversations, often deliberately unfair. He went alone to speak to a counselor, for the first time without an audience that would decide beforehand he was the reasonable one.
Lejla did not immediately decide whether to stay. She canceled their joint appearance at the next barbecue and visited her parents alone. When she returned, Haris asked how it had gone. She looked at his phone on the table. He turned it facedown, then realized that the gesture proved nothing either. He left it where it was and waited. For now, Lejla only told him her mother had made soup.