Chapter 6

The two badly wounded lovers who had just had the worst fight of the lives were now seated beside each other in Eric's car, parked on the side of the main streets.

They were almost out of breath and suffering from severe pain!

Eric, from the wound to his head and Corny, from muscle pain she had sustained from the lunatic throwing her against the concrete walls of the building, and also, against the surface of the hard ground.

Nothing else was left within their beings they could use to argue with each other anymore, so they both just sat there, recollect their thoughts, and tried to reflect on what had just happen to them.

Seeing the aggression and lunacy of her attacker, they both wanted to call the police to get him off the street immediately and send him to jail, or have him placed inside a so called; nut house!

But, she knew that such probably wouldn't get too far since him being a mentally ill person living on the street, usually places a huge saving in the relevant authorities account or the government purse! Probably, he would have just spent a night in lock-up and by the next day, he would be back on the streets!

So they refrain from getting the police involved!

Eric was very happy, Corny wasn't hurt more than she had but, right now what was important to him was her giving him her ear... listening to what he had to say about the half-truth story she recently heard from his estrange wife sister!

The dissimulated statement or more like hearsay which had caused them to be in this awful brouhaha, and had ripped their loving and growing relationship apart!

With all the injury Corny had caused him, he still wanted her in his life for good - for the long haul!

And there in the car, in her state of uneasiness and tears, Eric wrapped his fingers between hers and gave her all the true details of his marital relationship bit by bit... the good the bad and also the ugly!

"Corny, you know that I love you and whatever that woman had said to you in the night club not too long ago is true, but, it is partially true!"

Eric stated.

He now had his hand to her face, directing it toward him so she could look him straight in the eyes while he spoke with her; and so he continued telling her the facts of the matter, and his side of the story.

"I have been married for four years and I have been separated for two years now because, my wife has been cheating on me for the longest while which I have suspected for a longtime now but, just recently gathered prove about it!"

"Not even the last child that we have together is actually mine, but I still support her as if she is my own kid, just to keep away the embarrassment from my door-steps!"

Eric shamefully expressed.

"I just can't appreciate another man showing up at my door-step every month saying that he is there to drop off his child allowances to a child conceived with my wife after our marriage!"

"I just cannot accept that!"

Eric exclaimed.

"If she meets the child's father, somewhere far away from my residence so as to collect money for the child without me knowing about it; that is not too bad!

But, the child's father, constantly showing up at my gate - the place that I'm paying for and I call my home, every two weeks or every month, to me, is a constant reminder of what had transpired between them behind my back!"

"Therefore, I do take care of that child all by myself, even though, I'm very much aware that she still seeing other men outside of the marriage relationship after it was revealed to me that this last child wasn't mine at all!"

Eric continued with his confession.

"It was only because of that same child's medical bills that I had to be paying for weekly why I haven't file for my divorce papers as yet. But with my new promotion on the job and you in my life, I will make it an agenda that I will handle with great urgency; because I need a wonderful life with you and for the long haul!"

Eric revealed sternly.

Attentively listening to what Eric had to say about his marital status and situation, Corny decided to speak as Eric was just about to go into more details about all that his estrange wife had done to bring their marriage to a state of annulment.

"So why did your sister-in-law say that the children and your wife were suffering, if you're providing for them?"

"She said it, because she wanted you to feel bad or guilty! She wanted you to realize that you are out with a man whose children and wife are under a desperate situation... that's all; just to hurt you! And you played right into it because, I we had never discussed about that side of my relationship to you; as yet!"

Eric answered.

"How can I really believe that what you are saying to me right now is true Eric?"

Corny asked worryingly.

"Darling, you have to believe me that what I'm saying to you is the honest truth! I will bring all the divorce papers to you as soon as I start filing for them to prove my sincerity to you my love!"

Eric said softly while still playing with Corny's hand, as though they were special and delicate beads!

Corny wanted to trust everything that he was selling her at the time, but now everything was a chance - a risk; and she wondered if she gave herself to him emotionally or waited for him, he would one day change his mind and tell her he was returning to his wife and children!

She was downright confused more than before, and literally falling to pieces!

Tears began streaming heavily from her eye lids!

Her heart was saying I love him and her mind was telling her it was all a trick!

She would be hurting much more than this, if she put her trust in him and waited around for him to love her and join hands with her in matrimony!

It was decision time... either to let him loose or go for the ride!

Corny decided to dig deeper and ask some more questions to satisfy her own foolish curiosity!

"So what is the communication like between you and your wife, now that you are both separated and have children together?"

"Matters pertaining to the children I do discuss with her but away from that, we hardly speak, and we don't sleep together if that's what you are getting at!"

Eric replied.

"I wasn't getting at anything! I only wanted to know the truth! But since you said you are not sleeping together, where do you sleep when you are there in the house?"

Corny asked with questioning eyes.

"We all have our own rooms. I have my room which I now keep lock whether I'm there or not! And she and the children have their own rooms which I don't bother to go into, unless, there is something I bought for one of them at the store and needed to hand it over to them!"

Eric explained.

"Have you already discussed with her that you'll be divorcing her?"

Corny asked unblinkingly.

"Yes Corny, I have told her and discuss this divorce matter with her several times already; more than seven times! And she also knows that I will never sleep with her ever again or reconcile this marriage with her; because she cannot be trusted with me, my money or anything else that concerns me!"

Eric seriously explained.

"Okay then, you can bring me to meet her and introduce me as the person you intend on marrying after the divorce becomes finalized! I am sure she won't be surprise!"

Crony stated equally as serious as Eric did when she asked him if he had already discussed the divorce procedure with his estrange wife.

Although, the morning was quite cool, Eric became quite jittery after hearing Corny's proposal concerning meeting his estrange wife!

This is not what he wanted, or how he had envisioned them meeting!

He wanted his estrange wife who by then would be the ex-wife to meet his new wife, and not his girlfriend or fianc閑!

And obdurately, Eric rejected Corny's proposal, and he began telling her about all that could go terrible wrong if he should follow through with her proposition.

"No. No. No Corny! I am not doing that... I'm not bringing you to her! For goodness sake, we are still legally married; and me doing that, wouldn't look good in my community or worse yet, in a court of law!"

Eric stated strongly!

"I'm not saying this is what will happen to us, but, how would you like for me and you going through a divorce and I bring another woman in your presence and introduce her as my new girlfriend or intended wife before the actual divorce was completed; how would you like that to happen to you?"

Eric asked fiercely.

"But, after all you have said she has put you through, why do you want to play nice with her?"

Corny firmly enquired!

"Listen to me Corny; that is not going to happen! There is no way she is going to lay eyes on you until we are happily married, so please erase that idea from your pretty little head!"

Eric commanded.

"Not because she has hurt me badly in our marriage, treated our marriage like dog's crap, and bring strangers in our matrimonial bed; doesn't mean that I should stoop to that level and do the same thing to her! Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that her sister will be giving her a prefect description of you whenever they meet up, if she is not doing so, right now as we speak!"

Eric unbendingly spoke. His utterances of compassion, respect and great understanding for others began to tickle Corny's soul; making her wanting to fall in love with him all over again and again!

He was no easy fish to catch and throw back in the sea!

He needed to be brought home and be readied for dinner!

He was not only crawling up on her now, but, he was also consumed into every fiber of her heart and soul! Because now she fully realized that he was a very caring man who considered not only the feeling of himself, but also the feelings of others even after they have stabbed him in the back repeatedly!

Corny understood Eric's world a lot more than before... she now had more insight into the man who she had only known to have flooded her with flowers, gifts, and made her felt very special, as if, she was the only woman walking god's green earth!

The clandestine - the unknown part of his life was now revealed to her and in the bottom of her heart, she told herself, she should wait for him, even though, such a decision was quite a risky one!

For hours had gone and the two love-birds still sat in the morning dew only shielded from the elements by the metals of Eric's little car while they chatted away.

It was all about what their lives should hold in the future, if the handsome man seated beside her with the shiny gray turban wrapped around his head follow through on his story of getting a divorce from the woman who had and continues to betray his trust.

Now Corny and Eric were back to where they had started from with only the problem of a divorce hanging over their heads. With Corny strongly believing that Eric will be honorable and finalize the process of getting a divorce from his unfaithful wife!

As the time went by, the heart-throbbing darlings found themselves snuggled up together into each other's arms on the passenger seat of Eric's car until they had fallen asleep!

Honk!!!! Honk!!!! Beep!!! Beep!!!

Were the noisiness of all the buses and cars commanding their positions and travelling to their designated routes that had finally woken the sweetheart! And then, had them rushing away from the bus-stop in a hurry before the police was summon to the scene ordering them away or granting them a ticket for parking illegally!

Surprisingly, it was the first time that Corny had actually seen the extent of Eric's injury since it was now daybreak, and the morning sun was illuminating everywhere around them!

She now began crying and apologizing continually for what she had done to Eric's head; for hurting him - for smashing his head repeatedly with her golden pair of high heel shoes!

There was no way he could return home without getting his injuries seen and treated by a nurse or doctor!

Eric's face was now badly swollen!

The blood on his vest had dried up causing the vest to be stiff as a card board box!

And when Corny decided on removing the makeshift turban from lover's head, she was in awe of what she had seen so she began screaming even more uncontrollable!

"My god, Eric, there is a big hole in the side of your head!"

"You need to see a doctor right away!"

Corny shouted!

"How are you feeling... are you feeling dizzy?"

Corny asked with dreading concern written all over her face.

"Let me take you home first and then I'll go by the hospital and have the nurses look at it!"

Eric said calmly.

"Are you crazy?"

"No!"

"You are going straight to the hospital with me right now... I am not leaving your side today until a nurse or doctor attends to your head!"

Corny warned profoundly.

"No Baby, you cannot go to hospital looking like this; you need to get yourself cleaned up a bit, you need a pair of shoe on your feet and clean clothing so you can look presentable in the hospital!"

"Do you want them to pronounce you as man and then placed a straightjacket on you"?

Eric asked, with a look of uneasiness on his face.

"I'm not looking that bad!"

Corny lashed back smilingly.

"You don't worry about how I'm looking right now; just worry about getting to the hospital alive and be seen by the nurse right away... your wound is not looking good at all! Furthermore, I have some money on me which can afford me to buy something to put on my feet!"

Corny continued speaking reassuringly.

"Okay, my sweetheart, let us go straight to the hospital and have the nurses take a look at my head before anything worse happens to me!"

Eric spoke calmly.

Spearing no more time, Eric hasted to one of the hospitals to have his wound seen and be treated by a professional; and within the next twenty minutes, he was there at the hospital searching for a parking spot.

It was still early and within minutes, he had found somewhere safe to park his car, and then began making his way to the emergency room hand in hand with Corny by his side.

Like radar, one of the doctors working the emergency room saw the hole in Eric's head from a distance, and summoned him behind one of the curtains to be treated immediately!

Seeing the dry blood caked to Eric face and neck, the attending doctor asked.

"How long ago since you have gotten these injuries Mr."

"Around seven or eight hours ago since I had sustained them!"

Eric replied.

"Is this a case of domestic violence or something else, because, if this is a domestic violence situation, I have to get the police involve!"

The doctor stated.

Crony was now standing at outside of the curtain, and she could overhear the questions the doctor was asking Eric. She now began to wonder if the doctor would call the police and have her arrested, if Eric would have told him that he and his girlfriend had a fight at the night club.

She thought about bolting through the glass doors of the hospital before Eric could answer the doctor's question!

However, she decided to linger a little while longer and hear what his response would be before dashing for the emergency door!

But Eric, being madly in love with her, and would never purposely do anything or say anything that would put her in arms-way not even for a second; defended her!

Whether she was wrong or right, or, was carrying out actions to bury him or save him, it was his job to protect her at all cost; at least, that's how he felt about her!

And for the first time, Eric told a white lie in order to defend the woman who has captured his heart, and made every day felt like a Valentine's Day in his life!

"Not at all doctor; this is not a domestic problem at all! This is a situation for the government to attend to; right now... all these crazy people on the streets of the city attacking people and causing bodily harm to pedestrians as they like!''

Eric expressed aggressively.

"My girlfriend wanted to do some window shopping in the plaza after we had just finished eating at one of the restaurants in the plaza! And while I was closing up my car doors, one of those lunatics living on the streets aggressively attacked her and began dragging her behind one of the massive buildings where he was making every effort to assault her!"

"Immediately, I gave chase in which we both went into a dreadful tussling, where by, he stabbed at me several times with what appears to be some kind of metal instrument! In which one of his stabbing attempts went straight to the side of my face which was meant directly for my eyes! It was only divine powers that I overpowered him!"

Eric explained.

"Wow; that must be a very frightening experience for the both of you!"

The doctor exclaimed, as he wipe away the dry blood from Eric's face and neck while inspecting the big gash on the side of his head.

"Very, very frightening... I thought that crazy man was going to finish me off! And if I wasn't there, I am certain he would have killed my girlfriend!"

Eric expressed.

"Doctor, she too is going to need your assistance, even though, she is refusing right now to be seen by a doctor! But this man was so very massive like he was king-kung! He had just heaped her up from the ground and then threw her real hard against the tough surface of the concrete floors like he was throwing down a suitcase at the airport! Doctor, I swore, all the bones in her body were disassembled and fragmented after she had hit the ground!"

Eric spoke intensely.

Now the doctor began washing away little particles of glitters from Corny shoes from Eric opened wound before stitching it together, administering an injection and prescribing pain medication for him, so as to bring him back into tip-top shape.

As soon as the doctor was done treating Eric, he then peeped behind the heavy curtains and indicated to Corny to come beyond the examining space and see him. Soon after, he began to carefully examine her body, while asking her the relevant questions to approve her correct treatment.

There were no broken bones, thankfully, so he further concluded that she only needed some pain medication which he prescribe for her to take and recommended that she took some warm baths to promote healing to her hurting muscles before releasing her from the emergency room.

Not long after leaving the sight of the doctor, Eric and his one and only, were slowly exiting the doors of the hospital emergency area and heading straight towards where he had parked his car.

But, before they could have reached the waiting car, it was Corny who had stopped Eric from continuing their journey to the vehicle, expressing to him how much she thanked him for telling the doctor a white lie on her behalf.

"You are the one who burse my head with your shoes and you are the same one who had also encouraged me to come to the hospital and seek medical assistance."

"So, what you want me to do?"

"Let some police officer fling on some hand-cuffs on your wrist, because we had a fight which either you or I had started, or, was responsible for? I know this is exactly what my ex-wife and her sister wants, and I'm not going to let them win by letting anyone throw you or me into a jail cell; you hear me?"

Eric stated angrily, but thoughtfully.

"Eric Bent, you are the sweetest man I have ever met, and I am really, really mad about you by the minute... so in love with you by the second... there is no way I want to go through this life without you by my side!"

Corny joyfully expressed as she stared into Eric's.

Instantly, Eric had her face in his hands, his lips on hers, and he began kissing her lips softly as he articulated to her that the feeling was mutual and he would never let anything or anyone hurt her ever, even when, he knew she was in the wrong.

Because all that he was feeling for her was indeed truelove which he had every intention of demonstrating to her as the days went on by.

Although wounded and shackled in pain, the two sweethearts embraced and displayed their heartfelt affection in the middle of the pathway going towards the hospital parking lot, not caring about the eyes that were staring all over them and voicing their unwelcoming opinions!

It was just them against the entire world!

And when their moments of kissing, embracing and frolicking with each other had reached the state of enough, with fingers folded, intertwined tightly between each other like a spinster's thread, the two significant other, continued their steps towards Eric's car where Eric decided, he would take Corny home first before heading home, so she could shower and get some rest, but only after he had treated her to her first meal of the day; breakfast!

Since Corny had no shoe on her feet, Eric alone when into one of the small food shops near the hospital building, and there he ordered egg sandwiches and coffee for the both of them and brought it back to his car.

Where they both sat and joyfully devoured until they were totally filled with grub and grazes!

It was their first breakfast they both had together, and Eric decided to make note of this chief and memorable occasion by writing it on the back of his insurance case situated in the glove compartment of his car!

Now they were both happy with each other!

Corny was feeling very pleased, because now she felt reassured that Eric would legally be her one and only someday soon which she had intended to last for the rest of her life!

Especially, since she had regained his trust and had a better understanding of the circumstances of Eric and his estrange wife!

While Eric on the other hand was feeling tremendously joyful and enlightened about he and Corny recouping their relationship, and redeeming their love for each other!

There was nowhere else for them both to go; but to go forward!

And before dropping Corny off at her gate early Sunday morning, Eric kissed her repeatedly before letting her go inside the house as he repeatedly declared and promised her that he would not let her wait be too long, or his act of fully committing to her as a husband!

With such declaration of and oneness, more smackers, strokes and smooches kept on prolonging, with Eric skimming off every ounce of sweetness from Corny's lips as he wholeheartedly pronounced to her how much he loved, appreciate and adored her!

And as she stepped from his car, his eyes stayed steadfast on her until she was standing at the front door waving good-bye back at him!

Immediately after closing the door behind her, Corny could hear the screeching sounds of the tires pressing onto the asphalt and squealing sounds of the brakes of Eric's car as he zoomed down the avenue towards the main road until there was pure silence!