The Legends Daughter

Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

Roman thought about it for a moment "Whatever you feel comfortable telling me."

Melanie drummed her fingers on the table before looking at the shot of Patron in front of her. She squirmed in her seat and contemplated taking a drink. He mentally kicked himself, he was sure she was going to take the shot, but instead, she surprised the both of them.

"I was in my last year of college when we met. He was an entrepreneur whose business was starting to take off and I was a songwriter and choreographer. I had also been doing some indie shows for almost a year at that point, and was starting to make a name for myself on the circuit. At first he was fine with what I was doing, very supportive, offering suggestions, he seemed genuinely interested, but I would say after the first 6 months his attitude towards what I was doing started to change. He wasn't as understanding when I had to travel as a choreographer with the artists I worked for, or when I had to go do a show. We argued almost every time I had to leave town, he would call me constantly while I was working; he repeatedly accused me of cheating on him which is ironic because he was the cheater in our relationship. He put a tracker on my phone that I didn't know about, I found out about that in an argument we had when I mistakenly gave him the wrong name to the restaurant I was eating at while I was in Germany. He screamed at me and accused me of lying; he was so irate that he slipped up and told me not only the name of the restaurant but the exact location of the restaurant."

Melanie scoffed as she thought back on the memory "You would think that would have been enough of a warning, but God help me I still thought he was my prince charming." She said as she leaned her head back and rolled it from side to side. "The reality of the situation was that I was in a relationship with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In public and in front of my family and friends he was sweet, thoughtful, caring everything that a girl would want in a boyfriend. But as time went on, when there was no one around and it was just the two of us, he was the complete opposite." She felt her palms sweating so she wiped them on her pants and let out a sigh "We were together for almost 2 years when I found out he cheated on me for the first time. When I confronted him, he swore to never do it again, he promised he would change, and like the young naïve girl I was, I forgave him and we moved on, but things didn't get any better, they only got worse."

Melanie rubbed her forehead before breaking into a soft chuckle, not because anything was funny, but because she couldn't believe she had put up with so much for so long. "The last few months of our relationship I found out that he had a two and a half year old daughter, not because he told me" she said as she shook her head "but because the mother of his child decided to show up on our doorstep." Roman's forehead creased together in confusion, he knew he wasn't the best at math but he knew those numbers didn't quite add up.

Melanie looked up and saw the confused look on his face. "Turns out he was cheating on me with the woman I found out about, and was cheating on the both of us with the mother of his child. I know it's confusing. I don't know which part is more unbelievable." She said as she held up an index finger "The part where she had the balls to show up to the house of the woman whose boyfriend she was banging." She held up a second finger "The part where she dropped the bomb on me that not only was he a piece of shit as a boyfriend but he was also a piece of shit as a father. I mean what kind of man has a relationship with someone for 5 years and ends up with a two and a half year old with someone other than his girlfriend? And if that isn't bad enough he decides to keep his daughter a secret for the remainder of the relationship." She said as her voice went up an octave.

Roman shook his head "That's not a man Mel; a man wouldn't do the things that he did. He wouldn't cheat on you and hurt you over and over again. He wouldn't allow any woman to be able to know something about him that would shatter your entire world, and he damn sure wouldn't hide his own flesh and blood."

Melanie tilted her head to the side, closed her eyes and slightly elevated her eyebrows. "Yeah, well hindsight is 20/20, but the sad thing is the fact that he had a two and a half year old daughter during our relationship with another woman, was the least of our problems. That's how truly screwed up that relationship was, and eventually I just couldn't do it anymore." She said as her bottom lip began to quiver, "So while he was away in California on business, I packed up my clothes and anything that had sentimental value to me, and moved in with my dad."

"He never tried to contact you or go and see you?"

Melanie gave a small smirk "He knew better than to go to my dad's house that just would have been a suicide mission. He did call and text me though, and after the first few days of my phone ringing off the hook, I gave in and started to pick up or respond to his text messages. I wanted to try and get him to realize that I was done, and that I was never going to give him another chance, but 2 months later when he was still calling and texting I gave up with trying to get him to understand. It's been almost a year and he is still convinced that eventually I will give in and go back to him."

Roman felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach "Is that who called you when we were in the courtyard that night?"

Melanie nodded her head yes as she suddenly became engrossed with the ball that her hands had formed on the table.

Roman reached over and uncoiled her hands from the tight ball they had formed and took each one of her small hands into his. He could feel her body trembling. "Mel, look at me please." When she didn't reply or make any attempt to move he asked again "Baby, please look at me."

She said a silent prayer hoping he wouldn't ask any more questions about her ex before slowly lifting her head and looking him in the eye.

"What did he do to you?"

Roman watched the color immediately drain from Melanie's face as she turned a ghostly shade of white. They both knew exactly what he was implying. She slowly removed her hands from his grasp, drank her last shot and quickly stood up from the table.

"Excuse me I need to go to the ladies room"