When Love Reawakens

Chapter 02 : FATE

I can’t move anymore and the more I look at him, the more my breathing seems to stop and then resume as fast as a marathon.

I know it’s him, he has grown old, but I could never forget his morphology and even less his eyes so sweet, but at the same time wild.

His smile that used to fill my belly with butterflies has not changed, still as teasing and mischievous.

No doubt, it is Declan, my first and only love.

The one who broke my heart into a thousand pieces with one promise.

"Wait for me," he said to me that day.

But he never came back and I always waited for him...

« Alyanna ! » Hinata whispers to me discreetly, giving me a slight slap from behind that brings me back to reality.

I pull myself together and my body moves on its own, following the rhythm of the music while my mind is disconnected. My eyes try to study it as much as I can, but it is impossible.

The last time I saw him, he was a boy and today he has become a man. I would like to stop dancing to admire him better, but I can’t.

The woman next to him says something in his ear, he looks at her and smiles. I feel my heart clenching in my chest and a wave of immense anger invades me when she kisses him and he responds to her kiss.

A silent tear is gushing from my eye and I pray that no one has noticed it. I can’t get carried away on stage and spoil the show.

Think of the money it will bring to you, Alyanna and also, the girls ! You can’t do that to them !

I look away and stare at a point on the horizon.

I’m just an i***t, eternal love does not exist.

We were young and unaware of what we wanted. I thought he really loved me and that I was the love of his life.

You i***t ! you were the only one who suffered all these years.

It’s my turn to move in the middle for my solo dance and I decide to do a move that I used to do when I was younger with my personal touch: I shake my hair and shaking my head before combining with steps to move my hips and I put a hand on my chest that I slowly lift up until I raise it completely and I turn on the lateral.

The smile he had earlier when he kissed this woman whom I do not know, but which I already hate, evaporates little by little and his gaze seems lost, surprised, but I can’t really study it from the scene.

I know he recognized him.

The show ends and I am the first to leave the stage in a furious rage.

The tears I was trying to contain earlier are escaping from my eyes and I take off my mask which spins at the back of the room.

Betrayal. Lie. Disappointment. Jealousy. Hatred. Anger. Resentment.

All these feelings invade me and I only want one thing, to confront him and shout in his face that he is a liar, that he played with my feelings and that during all this time, I was sincere.

I waited for him.

« What’s going on, Aly? Why are you crying? » Asks Andrea who makes her appearance followed by the other girls who come to take me in their arms.

I wish I could have waited to be in bed before exploding, but I can’t. My emotions are too high to keep them quiet right now. I feel so...betrayed.

« I’m so sorry…I almost ruined the show. »

It was unprofessional of me to stop myself in the middle of a show because of my emotions.

« It’s not a problem, tell us what is going on, you worry us » said Makeda, sitting beside me and laying her hand on mine.

I quickly wipe my tears and take a big breath.

« Declan is here. He’s among the guests of the party. »

A silence of death hovers after my revelation.

I read of the misunderstanding on the faces of Shirley and Jodha as well as the surprise on that of Makeda, Hinata and Andrea. It is true that I did not really mention my relationship with Declan to Jodha and Hinata since when we met, I did not want to hear about him or talk about him.

The others know because for years I have not stopped pushing men away because of him. They sometimes thought I had invented this story that the boy I loved would come back one day and that he was the man of my life.

If there were no pictures of us from our childhood to adolescence, they would not believe it.

« Declan? Your Declan? The one from your childhood? » asks me Hinata.

I just nod my head before melting into tears again, remembering the kisses and the complicit looks he exchanged with this brunette.

« He was there with a woman who I believe is his girlfriend and he kissed her, gave her complicit looks and me as the miserable woman that I am, I stupidly believed that no matter how long it took, he always loved me and that he would come back for me. He is happy and it’s as if I am the only one who has suffered in this story! » I started, disappointed, but above all, feeling like an i***t.

Andrea takes me in her arms and despite me, the tears are accentuated. Andrea is the one I have known for a long time in the group and has also met Declan.

She saw our friendship grow from the sandboxes to the birth of this love. When we officially expressed our feelings, even though we had already been in love for a long time, I was fourteen and he seventeen.

Love is timeless, because from the moment my mother introduced me to this little boy who was going to live in our house because we had hired his father as a driver, I had never been away from him. We became friends, we played games together and then when I was 13, his father got fired because my father didn’t like the relationship I had with the driver’s son.

He had a bad eye on it and I must say that he was not entirely wrong; I did love Declan.

« He’s not worth it, Aly. No man deserves you to shed tears for him. »

She’s right. I have much more important things to do than cry for a man who has forgotten me.

I am beautiful, I am the “black warrior”. I am a woman many men would want to have. I wipe away my tears and smile feebly.

« Exactly! You snap your fingers and you have a man at your feet right now! You are Alyanna Eloyan! » Said Shirley to give me back confidence and we laugh.

I don’t know why people think there are always problems in girls' groups. We are so united and I know that I can count on my Warriors no matter what!

Someone rings the doorbell and we all stop laughing. Makeda goes open and we stay in the shadows, since we don’t have our masks. But we can hear the conversation.

« Is there a problem? » she asks her interlocutor.

« My friend would like to meet the black warrior in private. » I heard a male voice respond.

My heart misses a beat in my chest and the others stare at me.

It can only be him, and surely he recognized my last movement.

« Which friend? And why? » Asks Makeda

« I must speak to this woman. It is important. » I heard another voice.

I hold my breath.

It’s him.

Behind that door is the only man I’ve ever loved.