Page 105 of Stronger Than Fate
“Alright, see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I put the phone on the nightstand and got up. I went to get my guitar, needing to play something and lose myself in it. I began to play and sing“Kiss Me”by Sixpence None the Richer. When I finished, I felt a little calmer. It seemed I had managed to release everything that was boiling inside me—whether it was anguish, anger, unease, pain, frustration, or whatever it was. I released everything I had inside through singing and playing the guitar.
When I returned to bed I was a little calmer, but looking at the empty side where Henry always slept was torment.
“God, mom, help me forget, pleeeease! I need to forget him, it hurts so much, it hurts too much,” I shouted into the emptiness.
I rested my head on the pillow and stayed like that, staring at the ceiling. At some point I had to fall asleep; I needed to sleep so my mind would stop thinking and I could rest. Sometime in the early morning, sleep finally overcame me.
On Saturday I got up and went to the office. Even though I didn’t work on weekends, I wanted to stop by and catch up on some pending work. I immersed myself in work and forgot about the world. When I realized it, several hours had passed and I hadn’t even eaten anything. It was five in the afternoon and I was still locked in the office. Since Niky was visiting that evening, I decided to leave what I was doing and return to the suite. I prepared something to eat and sat on the balcony to enjoy the fresh air. Then I took a shower and put on shorts and a sleeveless blouse. At seven o’clock sharp, my friend knocked on the door. As soon as I opened it, she threw herself at me.
“Daliiiii, I was so eager to see you!”
“Me too. How are you?”
“Swamped with work, which is good, but I’m exhausted,” she said, heading to the couch to put down her bag and sit.
“I have a lot of pending things too. I was working today and just got back a little while ago. I need to catch up,” I said, sitting beside her.
“Can you tell me now where you were? Because I knew we had a time difference but I had no idea where you’d gone.”
“I was in Paris. My friend Sean lives there and I went to spend a few days with him.”
“Are you just friends?” she asked, very curiously.
“Sean is like a brother to me.”
“And did you have a good time?”
“As good as I could have,” I replied, not wanting to go into details.
“Can I ask you a question about your relationship with Henry?”
“You can, although I’d prefer if you didn’t tell me about his life. It’s better not to know,” I requested.
“Why didn’t you get back together? Because I imagined that after finding out my brother hadn’t betrayed you, your relationship would continue.”
I sighed and tried to find the right words to explain what I felt. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to find them, but the heart is good at finding words to express itself, so I decided to let my heart speak.
“Everything we went through made me reflect on our relationship. It might be difficult to understand, but I realized I didn’t feel right in our partnership. Something was missing—maybe it was the lack of love on his part or trust on mine, but something wasn’t right. Your brother has a long list of women he used to date, and I was sure they must still be in contact. In fact, one night when we went out for dinner, we ran into a friend of his who asked him to call her.”
“And what did Henry say?” she asked, surprised.
“He didn’t say anything. He had already introduced me as his girlfriend, but that fact didn’t stop her from continuing to seduce him and reminding him‘how good they were together.’She even had the nerve to mock me by calling me a‘little girl.’But that’s not all—the night all that drama happened, that same woman sent him a message with a very provocative photo of herself where she again reminded him how good they were together.”
“And Henry didn’t say anything?” she asked again.
“The day we ran into her, he didn’t. To the message, he responded that he was faithful to me and not to call him anymore, but I suppose that was because I discovered it. I know you think differently, but I assure you Henry doesn’t love me. He might have enjoyed being with me, and excuse me for what I’m about to say, but desire isn’t love. I have no doubt he desires me, but I’m sure he doesn’t love me. If after everything we went through he didn’t realize what he feels for me, he never will. For my own good, it was better to end our relationship as soon as possible.”
“Do you still love him?”
“Yes; and I don’t think these feelings will be easy to overcome, but I’ll manage it.”
“I won’t tell you what I think because it’s clear you won’t believe me, and you asked me not to talk about him, but it makes me so angry that you two can’t understand each other because I’m sure that…”
“Niky, don’t continue with that.”
