David: Babe, where are you? I just arrived at our apartment. Please let us talk before the family dinner tomorrow.
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David: Ave, babe, I love you. Only you.
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David: Babe, tell me where you are, and I'll come to pick you up.
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Avery: Talk to your parents first and be honest with them. Spare them a heart attack. I'll talk to you when I want to. Not now.
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DAVID READ AVERY'S REPLY over ten times since her message came. Amidst all the chaos in LA, the last thing he wanted to do was sit down with his parents. Not that he didn't care about them. But he only had one mission flying back to Boston. To make Avery accept his plea for that last chance.
To everyone, he might be the sickest and most disgusting asshole of all assholes. But ever since he laid his eyes on Avery, he knew she was the one. He could never imagine his life without her. But the intelligent and reasonable man, the David everyone looked up to, fucked up once. Just once, but it was a one-time big-time.
"Why did you do it, dude? Didn't you learn from me?" Art's disbelief had echoed in his ears since that night in LA. Art had almost broken his jaw, but David didn't feel the pain nor got upset with Art for hitting him. He'd deserved it. If only they knew his agony, the sleepless nights, and the guilt that claimed every cell of his body.
Why did he do it? He had been asking himself this question for months now. The night that started as an accidental encounter between him and his newfound colleagues at a conference in LA began it all.
"Attorney David Thomas! Who'd have thought that the elusive David Thomas is now engaged?" exclaimed a paralegal he met at another conference a few years back.
"This is a perfect time and place for you to enjoy your remaining bachelor days, David," a new colleague shouted against the loud sounds inside the bar.
"Welcome to the club! I bet you haven't experienced the greatest challenge for an engaged man. But, remember, what happens in LA stays in LA!" said the most senior colleague in the group.
It was the last night after the conference. He didn't listen to his inner voice when the group invited him for that night out. Before he left Boston for that once-a-year conference, his senior partner reminded him: "David, don't ever make the mistake of joining the 'Big Five' on their nights out. Nothing good will come out of it."
But he didn't listen. He'd believed they'd caught him in the wrong place and time. He was supposed to fly back to Boston that same night, but the weather caused his flight to be rescheduled for the next day. So when he went for a drink in the bar, he didn't expect the 'Big Five to be there. Finally, after multiple shots of tequila and relentless prodding from the group, he caved in.
Each one of them, with a woman attendee from the same event, got a room in the same hotel where they'd stayed for the conference. David barely remembered how they'd returned to the hotel from the bar. He just realized what happened that night when he woke up in a bed beside a brunette he couldn't remember meeting.
He immediately gathered his clothes scattered on the floor. There was nothing he wanted to do but get out of that hotel room. Without saying a word, he rushed out of the bathroom, ran to the hotel exit, and took the first cab to the airport. When he reached their apartment in Boston, he first bathed and picked up Avery from the firm.
That was the first time he couldn't look Avery in the eye. Whenever she looked at him, he felt she could see beyond him. At that moment, he promised never to let the same thing happen again. David loved Avery with all his heart. He wanted a future with her. But, unfortunately, what happened in LA would stay in LA. It was a nightmare he intended to keep to himself until he died. So he thought.
But a few months later, he bumped into the same group at another conference in Boston. He'd wanted so much to avoid them, but it was too late. When they saw him with Avery, David reluctantly introduced them. Again, he felt his stomach flip, seeing the guys from LA with the same group of women.
"Who do we have here? Attorney Thomas and the fiancee," the senior in the group said.
All the while, Avery was genuinely happy to have met them. David was fidgety and felt twists all over his body. After all the introductions, he wanted to avoid them very much. But as his senior partner warned him, nothing good could come out once he'd joined them.
"Avery, I hoped you wouldn't mind if we borrow David for a night to cap our Boston experience. We took care of him in LA, and he promised to return the favor once we're here. So you are free to join us."
"I wouldn't mind, not at all. But, unfortunately, I can't join you guys. It's my best friend's birthday. So we've already made plans for the night. But I'm sure David here will be happy to join you. Right, babe?" Avery was clueless.
David wanted to tell Avery he'd go with her, but he had no choice, as he made himself believe. That night, what happened in LA happened in Boston. He didn't realize the first time might have been a mistake, but the second time was a choice he would regret forever.
Avery didn't notice that David hadn't come home that night. Every year, she and Shelly celebrate a day before each other's birthday overnight together. They call it their BFF night. So she didn't know David had dug a deeper hole for himself that night.
Before David could leave the hotel room where he and the same brunette spent the night together, he got a shocking proposal.
"I enjoy what's going on between us, David. No strings attached. I think we can be a wonderful team."
"What? This shouldn't have happened." David exclaimed.
"We can always do it the same way. What happened between us stays between us. What happened in this room stays in this room. It's not like I'm asking you to marry me," said the brunette.
Silently, David put on his clothes and took off. The events in LA and that night in Boston slowly consumed him. He promised himself again that it would be the last. But it seemed like fate had planned a temptation challenge for him. The following corporate case assigned to him was a collaboration with the senior lawyer of the Big Five, who had the same brunette as his junior associate. And the rest, as they say, was history.
When Avery confronted him, he didn't lie when he said that he had already ended things between him and the woman. However, it was the situation that caused its end. The case they were both on was finished. The collaborating firm's representatives moved back to its LA office. David thought it was for the best. He'd tried to bury everything that had happened over the last two months. But, when he'd learned Avery knew about it, he made sure whatever happened in those two months was something he wouldn't want to revisit in his life ever.
He valued the forgiveness Avery granted him. She was the only woman for him, the one he would spend the rest of his life with. Then, just as he thought his nightmare had ended, the last woman he'd wanted to see appeared before him. Several months after they last saw each other in Boston, the brunette associate disguised herself as a client for consultation. When she dropped the pregnancy bomb on him, he realized his worst nightmare had just begun. He wanted her out of his life, but the once no-strings-attached woman gave him only two options: be with her for the duration of the pregnancy or deny her, and she would tell Avery about it.
For the endth time, he made another wrong judgment. Instead of honestly telling Avery about the situation, he hid it. Then, when he could no longer keep everything to himself, he poured his heart out to his senior partner.
"You did what? David, you didn't just dig your hole; you dug your grave deep!"
"I know. I regret everything. Avery just started trusting me again. If she knew about this, it would be my end." David sighed as he raked his hair with his hands.
"But you have to tell her. Better to tell her the truth than hide. I'm warning you, if you give in to what that woman is asking now, she will wrap you around her fingers. No one can't keep secrets forever!"
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