My Forgotten Mate

A Rotten Man

Marie's POV

I carefully watched Helen as I handed her the pictures and as she slowly perused through them, I could see the huge change in her mood and disposition, she wasn't as confident as she had been much earlier when I had threatened to show her proof that her fiancé was cheating on her, she looked broken and dumbfounded by the images she was currently looking at, it wasn't my intention to put her in this state but it was my duty as her friend to ensure she wasn't used by that slimy son of a w***e who had kept her in the dark for so long any more.

I was still thinking about the whole situation when Helen shot up from the sofa, letting the pictures fall from her hands and onto the ground as she hurried towards the door. I had picked up on her movement far too late as I had been lost in thoughts of my own and by the time I got off the sofa, she was already halfway across the room and closer to the door than I was.

"Helen wait", I called out as I rushed to stop her but I was ultimately too late, she had gotten to the door before me and was already outside. She most likely knew that I was going to try and stop her so she had made sure I wasn't going to be following her by locking the door behind her. I banged on the door with my fists realising what she had done while I continually called out to her, hoping that my efforts would at least encourage her to reconsider her course of action but all my efforts proved abortive as I could hear the sound of her car engine turning over before she pulled out of the driveway, she was probably headed to Michael's to confront him.

I looked down and spotted her shoes. In her haste, it hadn't even crossed her mind to wear her shoes on her way out. Tears rose to my eyes, I did not envy my friend or her heart at this moment, she was undoubtedly experiencing the worst day that any woman could live.

I turned around and headed back to the living room, burdened with guilt and pain for my friend and the situation I might have put her in. My motivation for all this hadn't been to cause her pain, I would never do anything to hurt Helen, I just couldn't stand the fact that she loved Michael so faithfully while the scoundrel was gleefully sneaking around town sampling different women while deceiving my friend.

I had been so angry when I discovered that he wasn't being honest with Helen, I had walked in on him with his secretary in his office looking nothing like a boss and a secretary, I had suspicions but nothing to prove it. The way Irene had stared at Michael before she left the office on that very day had been all the encouragement I needed to hire a private investigator, it had come at an expense but it was worth much more if I could stop my friend from potentially committing her future into the hands of this deceiver.

As my meetings with the private investigator grew in frequency, it had come to light that Michael was not only in fact cheating on my friend with his secretary, but the man had discovered that Michael had a string of other ladies across town with whom he had also grown intimate, from expensive shopping sprees to clandestine hotel rendezvous with some of these mysterious women, Michael was on a roll, all while professing his undying love to my friend Helen.

I had tried to keep it from her as I couldn't quite bring myself to break her heart in such a manner. She was head over heels for Michael, so much so that knowing all the information that I did, it was heartbreaking to watch. The days sped by and she could notice the change in my attitude whenever I was around the both of them or whenever Michael came to see her, she had grown concerned about it and had begun to ask questions, questions I had preferred to leave unanswered.

Her curiosity had turned to anger at the fact that I had chosen to hide my feelings from her and soon to the suspicion that I was beginning to act that way around her fiancé. I had let the suspicion grow up until it had threatened to end our friendship, this was something I wasn't prepared to do, and for that reason, I had let the cat out of the bag. When I did, she wasn't prepared to believe me, insisting on the fact that I was merely looking for a reason to justify my attitude whenever we were in the company of her fiancé, she had insisted on this line of thought up until I had told her that I had proof and that I would show it to her if she was willing to agree; a neat brown envelop containing a stack of all the pictures that the private investigator that I had hired had ever brought to me, they had grown in number with every visit he paid me and now, their number had thickened the envelope.

She had waved it off at first, claiming to be uninterested. This was until I received another call from her today, the call which had brought us both to her house. I allowed myself to lean back onto the sofa, I was protecting my friend, surely that should count for something.

I sat up once more as I thought about what would happen when Helen confronted him, I hoped he would not be violent with her or say something that would break her even further. I was so angry that she hadn't let me go with her, she had denied me the satisfaction of seeing the smug grin on his face wiped off when he heard the accusations Helen was prepared to make.

I tried calling her phone but there was no response from her, she wasn't taking my calls and as the line trilled, my worry grew and my palms began to sweat. I got off the sofa and started pacing, this was what I tended to do whenever I grew anxious.

I didn't like the fact that I was here alone with no way of knowing what was happening with Helen, she wouldn't take my calls and I sure as hell wasn't going to call Michael, I had grown to distrust the bastard ever since I discovered what he was up to, there was no way I was giving him the pleasure of receiving my phone call.

I picked up the phone and tried calling Helen again, but she still wasn't answering. I had unknowingly begun to pace faster than normal with my steps taking me as far as the locked door and back to the sofa.

I still had my phone pressed against my ear waiting for some sort of response when I heard a car pulling up in front of the house, I ran to one of the windows and peered out of it, Helen had returned and her car was pulling into the driveway. I did not wait to watch her get out of the car before I ran towards the door and stood behind it, waiting for her to open the door.

I could hear her car door closing but there were no footfalls on the concrete, I stared down at her pair of shoes lying at my feet and remembered that she hadn't worn them out, I just wanted to see her.

I heard the jingle of her key bunch as she tried to get the door open, it took a little while for her to do so and there was only one explanation for that, her hands were shaking. I waited patiently for her to get the door open and when she did, we both stood there staring at each other in silence before the tears came pouring, I grabbed her into my arms and pulled her into the house as I kicked the door shut. She had begun to sob quite loudly and heave as she expressed the pain she was currently going through.

I felt so bad because I had played a part in putting my best friend in this state, I had never seen her cry so much as she did in the hours that followed, she lay in my arms on the sofa as she wept and blew her nose, I cried with her at some points, Michael had broken her spirit.

"Why did you keep this from me Marie?", she cried as she buried her head in my arms.

"I was trying to avoid this 'Len, it's breaking my heart seeing you like this", I cried as I held her, I wanted to ask her what had happened at Michael's but I couldn't, I lacked the courage to put her through any more pain than she was currently going through, all I could do was hold onto her as she wept and hope she would find the strength to pull through this.

"He was in bed with his secretary Marie", she cried into my lap as I held her. I hadn't prepared myself for that shocking piece of information that I had just received, I felt stunned at first before a huge wave of anger began to wash over me, I could feel the bile rising within me. Michael was the worst thing that had happened to Helen, as devoted and committed as she had been to him, she didn't deserve this by any means and it hurt me more the fact that I hadn't intervened sooner.

I stared at the pile of scattered pictures on the ground, there were a lot more photographs in the scattered pile that she hadn't seen. I wished that there was a way for me to make them disappear, she certainly didn't need to waste any more time thinking about this, she needed to focus solely on her recovery and healing from the mess that this had dragged her into.

"I'm so sorry 'Len, I'm so sorry", I cried as I held onto her, this was all I found the strength to say as I cried with my friend, she felt light in my arms as she cried, I wanted to know what she was feeling, I wanted to know if this had broken her, I wanted to know if she could still be fixed but I didn't find the courage to ask any of these questions, I only made it my duty to be there for my heartbroken friend in whatever capacity that she may need. Michael had fooled the both of us into thinking he was the perfect man for Helen, but it turned out he was far too rotten to be worth her tears.