Bella rolled her eyes. ‘Well, she won’t know mine either, so we’re sort of even, aren’t we?’

‘Good God, Bella, it’s not a competition!’

Bella fixed him with a steely glare. ‘I never said it was. Stop putting words into my mouth.’

Ben tutted and shook his head.

‘Don’t you dare tut at me!’ Bella hissed, her eyes suddenly blazing. ‘I’ve had just about enough of this!’

‘Well, that makes two of us!’ The words were out before Ben could stop them and they seemed to hang, suspended in the air between them for a long moment, before they landed. Bella’s grip on her glass tightened momentarily, causing her knuckles to turn white, before she raised her arm and threw it towards him. Instinctively, Ben ducked and it smashed against the wall behind him with a strangely musical tinkling sound. ‘Bella!’ he yelled in shock, turning to look at the wall, which was dripping with water. ‘What did you do that for?’

But before he knew what was happening. Bella was on him, pulling his hair and pummelling him with her fists. As he was sitting down, she had the advantage of both surprise and height and he was all but helpless to fend off her blows, which were landing with painful accuracy. ‘Stop it, Bella!’ he shouted, as loudly as he could, trying to get through to her. But she was like a wild animal, clawing and slapping him with such ferocity that she was almost grunting with the effort.

Finally, panting with exhaustion, she stopped as suddenly as she had started. Throwing Ben one last cold stare, she turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen to the bathroom. She slammed the door and locked it behind her. Moments later he heard the water running as she filled the bath.

Numb with shock, Ben was unable to move from his chair. He swallowed back the tears that threatened to erupt, like a dam about to burst. His head hurt where she had pulled his hair and he knew that there would be livid scratches and bruises all over his arms and back. He just couldn’t make sense of it and the shame and humiliation of it was already enveloping him like a blanket.

After a while, he felt able to get to his feet, his heart still pounding and his legs still shaking. He heard the sound of the plug being pulled out of the bath and fear crawled at his insides. Too scared to move, he stood rooted to the spot, his ears straining to hear where she was.

Finally, the lock turned with what sounded to him like a sickening crack, causing him to jump, even though he knew it was coming. Bella emerged, her hair wrapped, turban-like, in a white towel, with another tied around her body. She was about to walk into the bedroom, when her head spun around and she locked eyes with him. ‘What are you doing standing there like that?’ she said, with a half-laugh. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost!’