Ten years. God, how time passes in the blink of an eye…

You can almost recall the pleasant surprise felt when you discovered that your two good friends, Travis— or Trip to those in his circle— and Grace, hit it off. Introducing the pair on a whim proved to be fruitful considering how quickly the pair got hitched after months of dating.

After a decade together, they must be going strong even now.

Surely…?

Nevertheless, here you are, just outside their snazzy apartment. As you arrive, you can hear the faint mutterings of what sounds like bickering on the other side of the door.

“Trip, when are you going to get rid of this?” Grace’s voice makes itself known amongst the quiet high rise. A pensive Trip can be heard replying:

“What, Grace… this?”

“Yes, you know how I feel about it --“

Grace’s tone takes on a more curt, reprimanding quality only to be cut off by Trip snapping in an exasperated gritting of his teeth. The sound of a man who simply cannot be bothered to care right now about whatever little marital spat was simmering. “I know I know I’ll do it right now, alright?!”

“You know I’ve had to ask you about this several–“

“Get off my back!  I’ll get rid of it in just a minute!” Trip cuts his wife off again, straining to keep his voice down as he suddenly gets the feeling that company is near…

“Fine, Trip… fine…” Grace concedes, dropping the subject for now as she disappears into the kitchen.

After a brief moment of tense silence, footsteps can shuffle up to the front door before you can even rap your knuckles against the off-white panel. Trip opens the door, all smiles and a levity to his voice in contrast to the disgruntled remarks from moments before.

“Anon! Hey—! I thought I heard someone out here!” He holds the door open, welcoming you into his home. “Great to see you! It’s been a while, how’s it going?”