Sweet Revenge

The Day After

I woke up to the sound of the birds chirping from my window. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. Why was it unusually colder today? Out of habit, I reached for him expecting him to be sleeping next to me. My hands fell on empty space.

I huddled under the covers trying hard to stop the tears from falling. I failed. Tears started to form in my eyes and every time I tried to swallow the lump that keeps forming in my throat, the urge to let it all out becomes more difficult to bear.

"s**t!" I whispered against the silence.

Yesterday did happen. He did leave.

I needed the strength to get up and face the reality of him being gone. I needed to start ridding the place of his stuff. I needed to push back those memories that made me feel like I wasn't enough.

I reached for my phone expecting to see messages and missed calls from him. I unlocked the phone only to see that there was none. No messages from him. No voicemails. This was for real. I was left alone to wallow in my misery.

Was I not enough? What was wrong with me? I gave everything to him knowing in my heart that we were meant to grow old together.

I kept letting the tears flow knowing that pretty soon I was going to tire myself out and eventually fall into a dreamless sleep. The many thoughts raging in my head were interrupted by a phone call.

Ring... Ring... Ring...

"Don't look Bella. Let it ring." I reminded myself.

Four, five, six more times it rang and the call went straight to voicemail.

I took a look at my phone battling in my head whether to listen to the voicemail or just delete it.

Too late. My softer side won.

I clicked the voicemail icon and listened to the panicked voice on the phone.

"Bella! Where are you?! The job offer! You're supposed to sign the contract in 30 minutes! Call me back now!" The voice shrieked.

I really didn't feel like talking to anyone. I didn't even feel anything knowing that the job offer was the dream job I always gabbed about a few years back. Sandy has been my friend as far back as I can remember. We grew up in the same neighborhood. We went to the same school and graduated at the same college. She went on to become an anchorwoman working for the top broadcasting company in the city.

I was her cheerleader. I followed her everywhere and boosted her morale when she didn't get the gig. She tried so many times until the last one finally offered her the job. We were both on cloud 9! This was the beginning of her wonderful journey. Sandy was easily lifted whenever she was down. I guess that's one of the things that made us click as friends. We were opposites. She'd like a different style of clothing and I would prefer something else. There were times that we couldn't agree on a place to eat because we would have different tastes and end up eating at a cheap pizza place. No matter how different we were, Sandy and I will always be there for each other.

I sighed. I waited for the job offer for months. The moment I saw the ad online, I didn't think twice when I clicked the apply icon. I was so ready to leave the current job I have as it took so much of my spare time that I usually went hoe to head straight to bed and sleep. The job I had also made me work during the weekends which took more quality time away from Aaron.

"Aaron." My thoughts started drifting back to yesterday's events. Sandy has no idea what happened. Although every year when we go on our "girls only" out of town trips, she would annoyingly ask me when will I break up with Aaron. This amused me before as my relationship with Aaron felt like it was iron-clad. Sandy remained single and happy to be dating on and off different guys every month. She didn't want the commitment. She cringed on the words "in a relationship." While I on the other hand wanted to settle down, get married, live in the suburbs with 2-3 kids and live a quiet life. I felt like I was the perfect wife material. Every year, Sandy and I would bet on whether or not Aaron was going to pop the question. Every year, I would always believe that he would and every year, I get disappointed. I hoped that this year would be different. Boy, was I so wrong!

I kicked the covers and decided to get up and start getting ready.

I went to the bathroom, undressed and turned the shower on. I felt the warm water start to caress my skin. I felt exhausted. I still feel like an emotional wreck. I suddenly felt the tears start to fall. The pain in my heart felt nauseating. I felt like crawling back to my bed and wait for the pain to stop taking over me.

My heart was asking me to cradle the pain but my brain was telling me to get out and move forward.

I immediately turned the shower off and dried myself with a towel. I put on my robe and stared at the mirror. My eyes looked like it was going to pop out anytime soon. They were so red and puffy and its too late to try to remedy the situation. I had 20 minutes left before I signed the contract.

I hurriedly rummaged through my clothes and for a second, I felt a tug in my heart seeing that some of Aaron's clothes were left behind and still in the drawers that we shared.

I gripped the edge of the drawer forcing myself to focus at the task of getting dressed. I settled with a silk cream colored long sleeve top and a black pencil-cut skirt that just fell above my knee caps. I looked at myself in the mirror and decided that I looked decent enough. I quickly brushed my hair and decided to twist it into a ponytail. From the dresser, I quickly applied a light concealer around my eyes to lighten the dark circles under my eyes. I slapped on red lipstick and looked at myself in the mirror.

"This is the best I can do." I sighed to myself and quickly put on the black pump heels I kept under the bed. By accident, I bumped Aaron's trainers that were kept under the bed as well. I swallowed hard the lump that was starting to form in my throat.

"Not now Bella. Get a grip!" I reminded myself.

I quickly stood up and headed for the door. There were too many memories and everywhere I look, Aaron's stuff was in every corner of the apartment. I briefly shut my eyes and took a deep breath. I took my purse and my phone and headed out of the apartment.

As soon as I stepped out, a cool breeze caressed my face. The sun was shining bright and it felt like the perfect day. On the outside, I looked alright but from the inside, I pushed back all the painful memories at the back of my head and focused on what is coming my way.

As I hailed a cab, I convinced myself to just get through the day and I'll come back home tonight and continue to drown in my misery.

The cab stopped and I pulled the door open. As I got in, I took my phone out and speed dialed Sandy's number.

Sandy picked up on the first ring.

"Are you on your way?" Sandy asked excitedly.

"Yeah. I'm in the cab and on my way." I answered matter-of-fact.

"I'm so happy for you! I'll swing by your place later and we can celebrate! This is it Bella! This is what you've been waiting for!" Sandy shrieked on the other line.

I had to put the phone a few inches away from my ear as Sandy's excitement was deafening.

"Thanks Sandy. I'm almost at the office. I'll call you later." I quickly disconnected the call and got out of the cab as soon as it stopped at the entrance of the Bradshaw Towers.

I inhaled and let out a nervous sigh.

The building looked cold and commanding but at the same time prestigious and mysterious.

"This is it Bella. All you have to do is walk towards the entrance and begin anew." As I whispered words of encouragement to myself, I noticed a black Mercedes Benz Maybach slowing down in the driveway and stopping at the entrance of the building. The driver got out of the car and quickly ran over to the passenger side to open the door.

As soon as the passenger door opened, a pair of perfectly shined Italian loafers stepped on the pavement. The man stepped out of the car and for a moment I felt our eyes lock and for some weird reason, I felt warm all over.

"Sir." The driver bid the passenger good bye.

It looked like he saw right through me and continued to walk towards the entrance with one hand in his front pocket. He arrogantly passed by the front desk while the receptionists continued to drool and stare at him.

"Whew! What was that?!" I whispered to myself.

As soon as I took a step towards the entrance, a way too familiar voice called me from behind.

"Bella? What are you doing here?"

I slowly turned around and there he was. Aaron. The man that broke me into a million pieces.

I turned my back to him and hurriedly walked towards the entrance of the building leaving him standing outside.

"Calm the f**k down, Bella!" I continued to chant inside my head while walking through the doors and quickly and continuously pressing the up sign on the button of the elevator until it opened its doors.

I stepped in and furiously pressed the close button on the elevator leaving Aaron behind as the lift closed its doors.

I pressed 24 to take me to the floor were I was to sign my contract.

Alone in the elevator ride, I slowly slumped to the floor and cried.