Business And Pleasure

26

I woke up in the middle of the night only to hear some faint sobbing coming from outside the room. I quickly put on my clothes, realising what had happened between me and Trenton. With my heels in my hand, I tiptoed out to go downstairs and what I saw in the middle of the lounge stopped me in my tracks, sticking to the shadows where he wouldn't see me but I would see him.

Trenton was seated on the floor, all of his wife's jewellery and pictures splayed out before him. He was wiping away his tears as he slowly and carefully packed away the merchandise into a cute bedazzled box.

"...and I will always miss you but I think the time you were talking about has come," he was saying. He smiled through his tears, lifting a small beaded bracelet that could be adjusted. "And this one...remember when we were pregnant? I told you that we'd give it to our baby when she was born to symbolise the hard war we had to fight to get her here. Every bead is every day which she made it through but 4 months down the line, she didn't make it. I hope you're with her wherever you are. Cher...I don't know if I am finally moving on but I have hope now. I am trying really hard and apart from the woman I told you about, there is this other woman I met..." he looked up at the ceiling. "She's amazing. She's five years my junior, like you," he laughed.

I stood rooted in my spot, my heart pounding loudly.

"Oh! I wish you could meet her. She makes me so angry sometimes and others she makes me feel like I am alive again. Like I am truly alive and she doesn't even realise it. But...I don't think she likes me the way I like her. All she sees is this asshole that has been nothing but cold to her...but I think she is slowly warming up to me."

I gave a small smile. I am, I thought.

"Oh! And she's a receptionist."

I stopped breathing. I literally stopped breathing. I quickly stumbled back upstairs and then came down, pretending to have just woken up.

"Trenton?" I yawned, stretching for effect. "Are you down here?"

I heard a bit of shuffling and things being dumped into a box and when I appeared at the bottom of the stairs, he was just closing the box.

I stared at him. "What are you doing?"

"I was organising a couple of things," he quickly said. "Why are you up?"

I rubbed my eyes. "I overstayed my welcome," I stated. "You shouldn't have let me stay. I'm sorry. I'm going to my place, hey?"

"Do you really have to?" he asked.

I nodded. I don't know why I said it but I just did. "Yeah. My boyfriend called."

His face fell. "Your boyfriend?"

"Oh! I didn't tell you?" I feigned embarrassment. "I...I met someone. I'm really sorry for not telling you." I wanted to just die right there and then. Why was I lying?

"Why didn't you tell me before...before tonight? Before I...why didn't you tell me?" He clenched his fist. He was very upset with me, I could tell. He was in love with another woman and I though tonight had been special for the both of us but...

I looked away because the tears brimmed in my eyes. I chose to see what I wanted to see in his eyes earlier. He wasn't in love with me. How could I have been so stupid? I hated myself-I cried. Right in front of him. I cried.

"Joera..."

I grabbed my car keys and ran out. He came running after me, calling my name but I sped off into the night, tears spilling from my eyes as Antoine's words echoed in my head.

"It will all end in tears."

I asked for a day off on Monday and Trenton refused to grant it to me because he wanted to talk to me but I was not ready to face him. What would I say to him?