Chapter 2: Getting Out There

"I smell something delicious!" Diana approached me right after coming home and put her elbows on the counter.

After work, I decided to make her favorite soup, the one with yogurt. The recipe belonged to my mom and she loved hearing that my best friend loved it.

"It’s your favorite," I said playfully.

"Weren’t you tired?" she asked curiously. It was the little things that made me secure with her. I didn’t know if it was just her character or a type of job deformation to care a lot about people.

"No, I was even bored. Can you imagine?"

"You reached that level, huh? I’m just happy for you," we laughed.

But I knew things were wandering in her mind. She wanted to ask but she was waiting for a calm evening. The one we were having now.

We ate our soups and some leftovers. After getting full, she laid back and let her blonde hair down. I really liked the color of it. Under the light, it was like a little sun.

"I was craving it, really," she started and looked around. I kept my eyes on her and waited. I wanted it to be fast and I wished that she wouldn’t beat around the bush anymore.

"And… Did he call today?"

She made it sound like she was talking about a grocery list. The fact that she was trying so hard not to make me feel worse reminded me that friendship was the most important thing in life. Everything would fade away, but a strong connection with a true friend could save a life.

“Yeah, Sophie texted as well," I murmured. My tone was peaceful and I didn’t turn my eyes away.

“I really don’t know why she’s involving herself in this mess," Di shook her head like she always did when she wasn’t happy with a situation.

"I’m not sure either, but I guess she’s just fooled by him."

"How?! Walk me through this again. She was a close friend of yours at that newspaper company and she knows what you went through. She knows he didn’t stand by your side when you lost your job!"

She was a bit loud now, she was furious with all of the things that had happened to me. I thought I would start crying, having everything laid out in front of me. But I guess I could tolerate it when it came from her, one of the few people I trusted with all my heart.

"I’m sorry," she continued and looked down.

"It’s okay, we can’t change the facts," I tried to smile.

"Did you answer him? Or are you thinking about it?" she asked with a lower tone. It felt like if I didn’t have the thought to do it before, she didn’t want me to have one now.

"I sometimes send a text saying ‘Stop texting or calling,’ and that’s it. I don’t want to face him or talk to him about anything that happened." I sipped the last drop of my soda and put the glass on the table.

"Well, I wouldn’t want to talk to him either if I were you," she continued after breathing out. "And I don’t want him to bother you. If there’s anything I can do about it, tell me, and I’ll do it. And with pleasure" she said confidently.

I smiled sincerely and felt blessed after all. Diana was right to feel worried about me since I lost many things in my life a month ago.

The job that I came to this country for, my dream job was gone. Having been told that I was fired to my face, just because my relationship with Max was exposed, was the most terrible experience I could ever imagine having.

We didn’t cross the line at work, we were living our relationship outside work. I didn’t understand why it mattered, we were following company rules. What evidence was there against us? Because I was sure that we had done nothing wrong.

Maybe it was Max. Maybe he wanted to get rid of me, maybe he knew that I would be fired and that would take me away from him. He could then continue his life as if nothing had happened.

It wasn’t fair at all that he was still working there, it wasn’t fair that he was still respected where I was buried alive with shame.

I shook my head reflexively to get rid of those thoughts. I shouldn’t have let them drag me down.

Di was still watching me.

"What is the thing that makes you feel the angriest about this mess? The breakup, the job, or the way he treated you?" she asked slowly.

"The injustice," I answered while watching the floor. My mouth was closed and my nostrils were flaring. Yes, it was definitely that.

"He didn’t suffer the consequences and I had to do it by myself. And when I left and had nothing to do with him, when he was able to get rid of me, he wanted to play the good guy role and tried to be by my side. I don’t buy any of that."

"Yes, it is unforgivable," she nodded. "I think we should go out sometime to chill out. You always loved it," she raised one brow with a smile. I would do anything to get rid of the dark clouds in my head, she didn’t need to ask me twice.

We texted on our group chat and agreed on going out on Friday. Elena suggested having lunch outside and seeing a movie. Di strongly disagreed and said she would rather die than watch a movie Elena suggested. Enzo only sent clown emoji as a reaction.

I backed Elena up but it wasn’t enough.

Then, Enzo came up with the idea of going to a pub where a new music group would be playing. He had heard that they were good. We all agreed after thirty minutes and a hundred texts.

The last one was from Enzo. "If you girls like the lead, I will kidnap him so that I won’t be the only man in the group. "

None of us replied to that.