Perfect Harmony

𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

Even before her phone rang, Penny had seen the pictures. There were dozens of pictures all over the internet about Dorian making out with a stranger before going on a taxi together. The world loved a new gossip and many didn't even fully understand what those photos meant.

Penny knew. She knew exactly what that woman meant and what they did after kissing in a crowded bar before Dorian even called her. It was obvious what he wanted to ask from Penny but she wasn't going to agree to any of his requests.

No, she wasn't going to ask Isabel to answer the cheater's calls, let alone forgive him. No, she wasn't going to say that it was just a mistake and that everything would alright in a day or two. And she definitely wasn't going to take Dorian's side, not when she was so incredibly disappointed in him.

"I messed up," was the first thing he said when she accepted the call. "I messed up real bad. Oh my god, I cheated on Bella. She will never forgive me! You have to know that I never meant for this to happen and that it meant nothing. I never wanted to hurt her. You believe me, right?"

Sighing, Penny tried to find words to say but it was hard. This was probably her only shot to make him realize that cheating Isabel wasn't something he could fix easily. If she started to scream at him about what a horrible man he was, Dorian would just hang up and call Isabel non-stop and beg for forgiveness which would help no one.

"I know you didn't want to hurt her but the fact is that you did. And telling her that it meant nothing means absolutely nothing to her right now so keep your words to yourself and leave her alone," Penny could feel her voice shaking and realized that she was even more affected by the situation than she realized.

"I'm not gonna tell you all the reasons why cheating is wrong because you should know that by now. So I'm just telling you to leave her alone and give her space until she comes to you. Don't send her flowers and chocolate or anything because it would just seem like you're impatient and are trying to buy her forgiveness. Gifts mean nothing when your heart is broken."

She could hear Dorian mumbling something on the phone while sounding like he was holding back tears but couldn't hear what he was saying. Patiently, she waited until he got control over himself and was ready to talk again, this time with a calmer voice.

Although she always felt like dying whenever her friends felt bad, she couldn't get herself to pity the man. Despite her own history with one-night-stands and casual dating, she had never cheated anyone and it was hard to imagine for her to forgive a man if someone did that to her.

Even imagining Noah hurting her like this made her feel like throwing up and the pain was unbearable. Of course she trusted him but if he ever hurt her like this, he would be out of her life for good. Now poor Isabel had to go through all that. Penny just hoped that Dorian understood why she couldn't be on his side on this. Isabel was the victim here, not him.

Even though she was almost sure about the fact that Isabel wasn't alone right now, the least she could do was to call her. Hell, she should apologize to Isabel for introducing Dorian to her! If she had known that he would do something like that, she wouldn't have even wanted him to her birthday party. But no one thought their friend would do something like this, right?

"When she called me she was crying and screaming to me in Spanish but I didn't understand it. She tried to teach me but I was such a bad student. Bella never gave up on me and she always told me to try again and had enough patience to teach me some things over ten times. Do you think she's gonna give up on me this time?"

"I don't know," she said honestly even though she doubted that a strong woman like Isabel could easily just forgive and forget someone cheating on her.

"What about you? If you were her, could you forgive me?" For some reason, Penny's heart ached for him just a little bit.