The House Husband

Bicker

"Don't tell me you have reconciled with that ashit?" Chloe said, clearly displeased with her friend for making the same mistake over and over again. The said friend didn't bother to respond but changed yet again to another outfit.

"Do you think he will like me better if I go in this?" she said, gesturing to the white tee-shirt and blue jeans she had just changed into. She asked this while checking herself in her tall mirror.

"Come on, Ria, that guy doesn't love you. For god's sake, he is using you,"

"No he isn't, I have a function at the gallery next week, and he promised to be my plus one, so who is using who?"

"I thought I was your plus one," Chloe said, hurt that the plan they made together had already changed without her knowledge.

"Yes, that was before he came back. He said he had never been to such functions before, so I wanted to treat him,"

"Were you ever going to tell me about this new plan or until after everything?" Chloe was obviously annoyed that her friend of many years would still be gullible enough to allow her irresponsible boyfriend to deceive and take advantage of her.

"Don't worry, there will always be another opportunity. Now, do you think I should wear a fedora hat or not?"

"Do I look like I care what you wear to meet that nonentity?"

"Be happy for me, will you? Richie said you were only sour about our relationship because you are jealous," Ria said, holding up a yellow sundress. Chloe only snorted while she pushed the clothes away to find a place to sit. "Of course I don't believe that, but right now, you are acting pretty jealous if you ask me,"

"Why would I be jealous of you guys? I have my own boyfriend, remember?"

"Yes, your fourth boyfriend in two years, Chloe, you are not very consistent, you know?"

"Oh, and I suppose you are?"

"Of course, Richie has been my boyfriend since forever," she said proudly, and there was a short pause before Chloe spoke again.

"How many years has it been?" Chloe asked, looking at her friend with pity now.

"What?"

"How many years has it been with Richie?"

"Oh, I think six, no, wait it's seven years, why?"

"No reason, you look great in that dress, but I doubt that trash of a man would notice anyway."

"Chloe, please stop insulting Richie, you are being disrespectful," Ria said and although Chloe wanted to retort, but decided against it, instead she chose a fashion magazine from the cluster on the glass table to look through. She knew saying anymore would only drive a wedge between them and having a rift with Ria now was the last thing on her mind. She would be waiting with a box of tissues when her friends came crying. Chloe would never understand why Ria, a beautiful girl, would fall for a riff-raff like Richie, he is not worth the trouble for any girl at all, but Ria is just stubborn, she would not listen to any negative information about the guy, it was like she was under a spell or something. He would sweet talk her into lending him money to do a project, wait until she had no more money to squander, then find a silly reason to break up and disappear. Chloe would help her friend pick up the pieces, she would vow not to get into any relationship again and when things were finally starting to look great, Richie would crawl out of which ever hole he had been hiding, give her a little sob story and Ria is hooked again, this has been a continuous circle for the past seven years and Chloe was seriously tired, she wished she could make the guy vanish from the surface of the earth permanently, at least then Ria would be able to meet someone new and start afresh.

"When will you be back?" Chloe spoke after the long silence, even though she was flipping through the pages of an exclusive magazine, she couldn't help but worry about her friend.

"I will be late, don't wait up," Ria said, grabbing her purse from the dressing table, with a wink, she was out of the house. Chloe heaved a heavy sigh, took out her phone and dialed a number.

"Are you busy?" she asked when the other person picked up.

"Nope, I am never busy when it comes to you babe, what do you need?" the man on the other side said.

"Let's meet," she said and hung up, then she remembered she hadn't told him where to meet, so she texted the address and began the tedious task of rearranging the wardrobe.

As she worked, she thought about all the times Ria had promised never to forgive Richie but had gone out with him once and returned smittened. How was Richie able to keep doing that to her? Why can't Ria break free of the guy? At this point, Chloe believed Ria was being manipulated by the psychopathic bastard, and she feared she might not be able to do anything to stop her from getting burned once more. It's not like she hadn't tried getting involved before, but all her efforts backfired, making her seem like the bad guy who is simply jealous of her friend. Ria would sometimes keep away from her too, tagging her as an enemy. Chloe thought, maybe because she never really liked the Richie guy, or perhaps it was because she knew that Richie was cheating on her friend with multiple girls. Every time he was in town, he always made sure to keep Ria away from her.

Two hours later, Chloe was sitting in a small restaurant with a beautiful view of the setting sun. A man in formal clothing sat across from her, watching her expression as it kept changing.

"... So... are we going to order anything or should I mind my business?" the man finally asked after a while, breaking Chloe off her reveries.

"I'm sorry what?"

"I said, what do you want to eat? I am famished."

"Sorry, I was preoccupied just now."

"No kidding, you kept staring out the window the whole time that I almost got jealous,"

"Let's just order," she said unsmiling as she waved at the waiter who had visited their table twice. After placing their order, the man looked over at her worriedly, took her delicate hand in his and gently caressed it.

"You know the problem wouldn't go away just by thinking about it, right?"

"I know, I am sorry, I called you out here to talk, but I don't know...." Her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears.

"Wait, did I do something wrong? Are you breaking up with me?" he asked, alarmed, almost going down on his knees to beg. Chloe looked at him with admiration, and her tears began to fall freely. She shook her head and wondered why Richie couldn't be like this guy here. "Did I do something?" He asked again, pulling out a white handkerchief from his suit pocket. He was rubbing her palms now, visibly worried.

"No, you didn't do anything," she said, shaking her head again as she wiped her tears and blew her nose. She didn't understand why she was so emotional either. Perhaps it was because she was just distressed. "It's about Ria," she finally managed to say after a little while.

"What about her? Is she sick? I hope it's not cancer?" he asked simultaneously, and once again, Chloe asked why can't everyone be like this man sitting across from her?

"No, no, she is perfectly fine, just that," she paused, took a deep breath and blurted "Richie is back," after she said that, realization settled in the man's face, although he had never met this Richie before, he had heard so much about him that he wouldn't want him to date his enemy.

"I hope Ria is getting him arrested?" he said because, to him, that was the only reasonable thing anyone in their right sense should be clamoring for. But Chloe shook her and laughed bitterly.

"She is somewhere, probably having dinner with him or something."

"That's crazy, perhaps he is changed?"

"You don't know anything, people like Richie don't change, they are like parasitic leeches, just taking and taking and leaving when there is nothing more to take. I am worried she will get hurt again. What if she falls into depression again?"

"That will be bad, but Ria is an adult, she knows what is best for her, we can't really do anything to stop her from taking him back."

"That's the problem, I need to find a way to make her see reasons. I honestly don't know how to go about it."

"What if I talk to her?" he suggested.

"No, that won't work, if anything she would try to sell him for you and you might end up falling for him too, I have done that too many times already, it doesn't work."

"Well, you can always dig dirt on him and show it to her, that way, she would know what kind of man he truly is. Maybe if she saw that, she would believe you."

"Believe me, I have tried. She is just too stubborn to see anything beyond what he is showing to her."

"Well then, at this point, I guess the best you could do is let her be."

"That is the problem, I can't," she said with sadness, and although he was mad at her for taking someone's problem too personally, he didn't dare show his anger, as far as he was concerned, she was right and that is what matters.