Page 53 of Stronger Than Fate
»—“Confront your brother and tell him how things really are.”
»—“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. I appreciate your concern, but I’m asking you not to call me anymore because after all this,I prefer to leave the group. I’m going to delete our WhatsApp group and we’ll pretend we never met.”
»—“We’ll continue seeing each other, I’m sure of that. We’ll end up being like sisters, don’t forget that.” And with that phrase, she ended the call.
I looked at Niky and began to cry inconsolably. My friend of so many years, whom I loved like family, had betrayed me behind my back. It hurt; the pain of betrayal was immense. I had shared my most vulnerable side with her, hoping she wouldn’t take advantage of it, and I had been wrong. All the time we’d spent together had been a lie, but you learn from adversity, and I intended to learn this lesson.
Niky stood up, crouched beside me, and hugged me.
“I’m sorry, Dali. I’m sorry you had to hear all that garbage, but I needed to remove the blindfold from your eyes so you could see who that woman really is.”
“It’s better this way. Now I can clearly see that Sol doesn’t care about me. If she did, she wouldn’t act like this. I still don’t understand what’s motivating her to do this, but I suspect Henry has something to do with it.”
“Do you think my brother knows her?” she asked, concerned. “I saw them together at home that weekend when you were there, and it didn’t seem like he paid any attention to her or knew her. In fact, I remember when Sol came into the bedroom, he asked who she was.”
“I don’t know, I’m truly confused.”
“I think we should tell Henry about this, just in case,” she suggested.
“Maybe that’s best.”
A while later she left the office, leaving me immersed in the crushing anguish of recognizing the betrayal of my lifelongfriend. It was an anguish I felt physically; it weighed me down, overwhelmed me, and prevented me from moving. Sol was part of my childhood, my youth, my life. We had shared so many experiences, so many years together, and so many guarded confidences. Why did she hate me so much? Because in her words and the tone of her voice, I could feel her hatred. Suddenly I felt so sad that I could barely breathe. I got up and decided to leave; I wouldn’t be able to accomplish much that day, my head was anywhere but focused on work.
I informed Cameron that I was leaving and asked him to tell my brothers that I was leaving early because I had some personal errands to run. I suspected they would think it had something to do with Henry, but at that moment I didn’t have the strength to tell them everything that had happened with Sol.
I went to my suite, changed from the clothes I was wearing into jeans and a blouse, and went out for a walk along the promenade. As I walked, I tried to understand her actions, but nothing justified them. I still couldn’t understand her motives, and I knew that at some point I would confront her so she could tell me to my face what I had done to make her betray me like that. I wasn’t going to assume anything; I planned to confront her and clear things up. Nor would I allow her bitterness to interfere with my relationship with Henry. If anything was clear to me, it was that I needed to let go of those who no longer wanted to be in my life and make room for those who were coming into it and wished me well.
At that moment, I also remembered that Sean had always told me that on many occasions he hadn’t felt comfortable around Sol, and I felt that perhaps he could help me understand all this madness. Given the time, I assumed he wouldn’t be studying anymore, so I sat on the promenade wall, took out my phone, and made a video call to him. My friend answered right away.
“Hello, beautiful! Wait a minute, you’re at... How envious I am! You’re at the wonderful promenade of our country. You have no idea how much I miss walking there.”
“I can imagine. How are you, handsome?” I asked with a smile.
“I know that face; something’s wrong with you,” he stated, looking at the screen carefully.
“I think you know me better than anyone.”
“What’s happening? Problems with your boyfriend?”
“No; problems with Sol. I’m still in shock.”
“What happened? I’ll tell you that nothing about Sol surprises me, so tell me at once.”
I told him everything Niky had told me and the conversation I had overheard that day in my office. Sean looked at me in amazement but let me speak without interrupting.
“I don’t know what to think, Sean. I never expected this behavior from her. I have no idea what’s happening to her, I swear I didn’t do anything to her.”
“That woman is trash! Let me tell you several things. First, I’m surprised she’s such a harpy, but I imagined that sooner or later she would show her true personality. I always suspected that Sol presented herself one way but was actually another, and I also always suspected she had a tremendous envy of you. At some point, I think I mentioned to you that I didn’t feel very comfortable in her company.”
“You never told me all this.”
“They were just my conjectures, something I sensed but couldn’t confirm, and I wasn’t going to fill your head with those things to ruin your friendship with her. Now I see that I should have.”
“What else were you going to tell me?” I asked.
“That I suspect she likes your boyfriend and that’s why she decided to ruin your relationship. Did they know each other?”
“As far as I know, they didn’t.”
