“Was there a business trip at all?” I asked the first thing that came to my mind
“Yes, Hun. I was on a business trip. I didn’t know it was all arranged,” he explained to me, but my mind was on the pictures I received
“So. Indeed, your family doesn’t want me due to my social class?” I said more of a statement
“Where did you hear that from?” he asked me in a worried expression
“I knew the day that lady stopped me. I waited for you to open up to me about the issue, but you never did. The photos today confirmed you really don’t love me as much as I thought,” I sobbed even more. I had cried till there were no more tears. My voice was hoarse.
James ignored my struggles and hugged me from the ground to the couch. He placed me down on the sofa and hugged me. I let him do so
“You should have told me about her. Why did you cheat on me again?” I asked him. He seemed ashamed about everything.
“It was a trap. I can tell you, I was drugged.” He tried to say, but I could not take any of that
“I am done. I don’t want to go on with this. Please, James, this rollercoaster will never end. The threats, the cheating, it too much for me.” I said, trying to stand on my feet.
“We can make it work again. I promise I will do better. I have changed. You have seen me all these years. I have stopped sleeping around. I’ll be better. I swear, I love you,” He said as he tried to hug me from behind.
“We have been through this over and over again. It’s becoming a nuisance a norm. I am done. It’s too much,” I said as I tried to pull his hands off me.
“Baby, I really can’t do without you. I know I am a mess. And this time, I have decided to really change. Just give me another chance.”
“I have also made my decision. As much as I love you, the relationship is not working. It’s too much. I am done” With that, I left the room. I could feel him standing in the middle of the room, his hand hanging on both sides. He looked defeated, but I didn’t care at that moment. He had taken me through hell over and over. It was time I took the hard decision.
I opened the main door leaving the dejected love of my life standing watching me go. Sometimes I wished he would have done something more. He would have tried hard to stop me from leaving. But sometimes I also feel it was the best.
Walking down the street, I couldn’t keep my mind shut and kept on thinking of the things we had been through together all these years. I couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of life without him. Every corner of the street. Market, shops, staircases reminded me of him. Driven by adrenaline, my anger took the best part of me and made the hardest decision that I kept from making all those years.
It was a hard decision, but no, it had to be made.
Roaming around the street in the city for hours. I didn’t want to go back to him, nor did I want to go home.
I wanted to make my life out in the city. I didn’t take anything else from the apartment except my id, phone, and wallet, in my handbag.
I booked a hotel room in the city and called my friend Cindy. Over the years, our friendship had grown to be more than sisters. I had never had a sister before. Having her was a blessing.
I cried my eye out that night with the company of Cindy. She didn’t blame me but embraced and let me say everything in my heart.
For a whole three months, I could not do anything substantial. My mind was on James. Every single corner of entertainment places spoke of him. I didn’t receive a call from him since that day. He simply disappeared.
His friends tried to find me. They asked what happened between us. But I could not tell them anything. Tony was such insistence that I told him I didn’t want to see him around me. Seeing his friends made everything worse.
I would always imagine him laughing about me with them. I would imagine him telling them how stupid I was to have fallen in love with him. My imagination took a toll on me that I hated everything and everyone he was involved with.
I started a small business on business plan consultancy. It was just a small way to keep myself busy working with different people. My father asked me what had happened and I had to tell him. He was so furious that he warned me against all the city boys.
From the very start, we were an unlikely couple. One looking for a straight man that only loves one woman and the other not finding one woman enough
Coming back to the apartment and getting the message he left behind really shuttered me. I never would imagine him doing crazy things. It was also a threat.
I took what I wanted from the apartment and left everything that was not mine there. I took the keys because the place had one of the best memories I had. I wanted to come some other time in the future when I miss him too much. It was a place I found love and felt betrayed simultaneously.
I said goodbye to the capital city and moved to the next city over 500 km away. I wanted to start afresh where no one knew me, and I knew on one as well. I left the business plan consultancy agency to Cindy and opened a new business. It was a sign of a new beginning. I wanted to start afresh, and it was working.