She stood there as if the whole world had suddenly not existed, her shoulders sunk. Her head was heavier than her neck could bear. Then suddenly her knees gave in. She fell to her knees and burst into a scream. Her tears suddenly burst out like blood from a horror scene. That drop to the ground looked painful. But right now, there was a pain much more prevalent, and it was coming from a part of her I could not see.
I watched him run to her. Trying to pull her up to her knees. His zippers were still undone. There was red lipstick on his pants. The kind he had always insisted she looked better in. It hadn’t made sense until today. Though this wasn’t the right time to say it. I had warned her. But I guess she was in love with the red flags instead. Girls never fall for the good boy.
It broke my heart to watch hers break. But I felt this was something she had to go through on her own. She had called me in the middle of the night, a little after 1 am.
“Hello Dan, imagine……..” She had broken down while still trying to talk on the phone.
“Hello Dee, come down first and then speak slowly so that I can at least get what you are saying,” I had said.
I knew it was important. She wouldn’t dare call me at this time if it weren’t. We didn’t speak past 7. That was around when he got home from work. Or rather, I wasn’t allowed to call past that time. We were not having an affair, but she was aware of my feelings towards her. And let us just say, she was in love with him. I had settled for being somewhat her best friend. The one she called when he wasn’t treating her right. And this, of late, had become quite frequent. Deep down, I wasn’t comfortable with my role. I wanted to be more. I wanted to show her how love was supposed to be. I craved the chance to show her she deserved something different. I wanted to be the call she made when she was happy and not crying all the time. It had taken some time to realize it would take a while, if not forever, for my role to change. I was willing to wait. So, when I saw her call, I kind of hesitated, but then I knew I had to pick it up.
I had respected her decision to keep me as her ‘therapist’. I had been professional about it. Her boyfriend wasn’t aware of my presence. I dare say he was oblivious. He was so confident of his effect on her. To him, she was glued no matter what. And to be honest, I didn’t blame him. She was head over heels for him. At some point, it became fascinating just how much he could get away with.
So, when the phone rang, I knew there was no way he was the one calling. It had to be her, and she was most probably kneeling on the bedside again, crying.
“For how long are you going to put up with this?” I asked once she finally composed herself to speak after what had felt like an eternity.
“You can lecture me later. Right now, I need you to take me somewhere. How fast can you get here?” She asked. I almost answered right away. But then in that second of hesitation. I thought of the times we had been through similar situations. When she had needed me, and I had always shown up. And these conveniently had almost always been the times they were not okay. For a minute, I hesitated, but it was as if there was a bigger force in play.
“Give me 20 minutes,” I responded as I picked up my car keys.
On my way there, she sent me a picture on WhatsApp. It was a picture of her boyfriend with a lady in a short white silk dress. She looked hot, if I was her, I would be pissed as well. They were in what looked like a park. The lady on a swing with Mark standing right behind her. I picked her and then we drove for approximately 30 minutes to a local picnic site famous for park and chill. We parked a distance away from where Mark’s car was and then took a walk towards it. I had struggled to keep up with Dee as she ran towards the car, furious. She hadn’t gotten to the car but stood at a distance.
It was a navarra blue Audi Q5. Mark had worked his ass off to get it and he was so proud when he finally did that, he decided not to tint it.
“I have worked too hard for them not to see me in it,” He would always say.
So, for this reason, I believe it was pretty clear for Dee to see everything that was happening inside the car before she even got that close. And that is when she fell to her knees.
I stood there from a distance, suddenly glued to the spot. As much as it pained me to see her like that. Broken. I couldn’t help but think of all the times I had tried to keep her away from this moment. The endless conversations we had. And somehow, I felt there was nothing more I could do that I hadn’t already done. I stared at this woman whom I was madly in love with. A woman whose heart I had seen break day after day. At this moment, I wondered if there would be anything left for me.
I took a few more steps to where Mark was trying to console her and calmly spoke to her.
“Hey Dee, I will be in the car in case you need me,” I said as I walked away towards my car. Inside the Audi, little madam snow white hadn’t bothered to adjust either her position or the dress she was wearing. It was as if Mark had gone out for a short commercial break and would be back on the show in no time. I saw more than I was comfortable seeing.
Once back in my car, I adjusted my car seat backwards and eased myself to lie down as I made peace with my role for the night as her designated chauffeur and most probably therapist on our way back. I had a feeling she would be spending the night at my place, and once again, I would have to settle for the couch. And at that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder, what exactly I was waiting for, and was it all worth it?
