Life Like Other People's

“Sorry, I did not mean to make scenes,” she said coldly. “Will you help me with the suitcase?”

Seeing that he was in a complete stupor, she added simply:

“I am leaving you.”

He dropped his bouquet, threw himself down on his knees before her and started kissing her hands, murmuring:

“You’re right, I’ve been a swine, but I love you! Give me another chance, I beg you! I’ll be a different man, I swear! I’ll be the best husband in the world!”

She worked her hands free and pulled away.

“Please, don’t. It’s not going to work for us.”

“But why? Why?!”

“Because you are a clone.”

The mercenary Kurt had not made it back from his last tour.

Having received the insurance money, his wife turned to an underground cloning center.

The clone was a muscular giant, same as the old Kurt. On Elena’s order, the doctor even made cosmetic scars where the old ones had been, and added some new marks. She hoped he would not guess that he was just a replica.

And he did not.

Only she soon discovered that she had no love for her new husband – a peaceful, comfortable, domestic one. She loved her first husband – the mercenary Kurt who had been drinking, using foul language, and giving her slaps.

…He was sitting on the porch of his farmhouse which still smelled of paint and observed with satisfaction the products of his labor. A barn, a shed for machinery, a windmill – lots of big and small things which he had made with his own hands over the past half-year.

From under a glass dome, the sounds of a song were coming. His wife had fallen in love with the orangery at once and was now puttering around in it all day long. She planted some seedlings which their former neighbor had sent them as a Christmas gift. Orchids of a special sort named Gemini were the first to blossom.

Kurt begged her to be careful, but she assured him that her belly was not bothering her at all. She was pregnant, in her seventh month.

They remained together for the sake of the baby, and then, little by little, they started getting on. His feelings blunted a little, and he no longer adored her insanely. However, he was still surrounding her with his care, and finally the woman responded to it, as women will, especially when they are expecting a baby. Also, hard work had coarsened him, and he was more like the old Kurt now.

They had their little fights, and reconciliations, and bed.

Also, they had a hope which so far was growing peacefully in Elena’s belly.

On the whole, they had a life like other people’s.

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