The Riddle at Midnight

The golden retriever's name was Sphinx, a cruel irony Elena had chosen years ago when the dog's only mystery had been how he could sleep eighteen hours a day. Now, watching him sprawl across Marcus's side of the bed—her side, technically, since Marcus had been staying at his brother's place for three weeks—Elena understood. Some riddles answered themselves.

"He misses you," Marcus had said when he came by yesterday to pick up more clothes. Standing in their doorway, not meeting her eyes, running his thumb along the doorframe like he was testing its integrity.

"He doesn't even know I'm gone."

"I do."

The silence between them had stretched, sphinx-like, inscrutable and ancient.

Now it was nearly midnight. Elena should have been sleeping. Instead she was scrolling through padel court bookings on her phone, her thumb hovering over Friday at 7 PM. They'd met at a padel match two years ago—she'd been subbing in for a coworker's mixed doubles league, terrible at the sport but laughing so hard at her own missed shots that Marcus, playing across the net, had actually doubled over mid-serve.

They'd gone for drinks afterward. He'd ordered her favorite gin and tonic before she'd told him what she wanted. "I noticed your glass at the court," he'd said. The observation had felt like being seen.

Last week, she'd caught him running padel drills with someone from his office. A woman named Chloe. Elena had seen them through the glass wall—Chloe laughing at something Marcus said, his hand lingering on her back as he corrected her form. The same way he'd first touched Elena.

Was it infidelity? Technically, no. But the betrayal felt the same.

Sphinx shifted in his sleep, dreaming. His paws twitched.

Elena booked the court for Friday. She'd play singles. She'd run until her lungs burned, until the only thing she could think about was breathing, until she was too exhausted to remember how Marcus looked at someone else the way he used to look at her.

Some riddles, she decided, didn't need answers. They just needed you to stop asking.