LOVE'S SECOND ACT

CHAPTER THREE

“Good bye Elena.”

The finality of those three little words hitting me like a wrecking ball as I felt my legs give way. I fell down to the floor next to the elevator as I sobbed. How had my life come to this? What kind of bad luck did I have? I couldn’t stop crying as I mourned the obvious loss of my love. Fred was the only man I had been with ever since I had graduated from college. He had been my solace whenever I had a bad day or whenever I needed to get away from my wicked stepmother and my half-sister who were bent on making my life a living hell. How do I go on from here?

Suddenly, I felt a strong wave of anger rush through me as I remembered the reason for my predicament. I quickly got up from my position on the floor as I made my way back to the room, I knocked the door gently not wanting to disturb any of the other people in the hotel, thankful to find the door slightly unlocked. I quietly got in and closed the door behind me. Guess Mr. Rhodri doesn’t know how to lock a door, I thought as I rolled my eyes.

As soon as I laid eyes on his smug expression on the couch by the balcony window, I lost all my cool. I picked a shoe that lay next to me and launched it at him, taking him by surprise the second time today.

“f*****g hell, what the hell has gotten into you? Are you trying to kill me?” he shouted but I was way beyond rational as I launched at him with all the strength I could muster, ignoring the pain in my head. I lunged at him, hands flailing around as I tried to inflict as much pain as I could on him. I needed him to feel pain, even if it was an ounce of what I was feeling. I just kept hitting anywhere my hands could reach as my eyes got blurry with the amount of tears flowing from them and down my face.

“You p*****t, what did I ever do to you? You’ve destroyed the only good thing I had going on and now, the only love of my life is gone. I hate you. I hate you, I f*****g hate you. How could you take advantage of me? Did you set me up? You f*****g dirtbag.” I just kept screaming at him and lunging at him as he tried to grab my hands.

Not long after, he quickly grabbed my hands and held them in one of his as he spun me around so I was locked in his grip, my hands in one of his and his other hand around my waist to prevent me from moving around.

“Jesus Christ, will you be f*****g calm or else I’m calling security.” He yelled at me as he completely subdued me.

Feeling completely defeated, I finally broke down in his arms, bawling my eyes out as I trembled in his arms. I felt all the pain of a lost love all over again. My body shook as the sobs wracked through my body. I let it all out, all the pain that ran through my body. I cried and just kept crying, not even after Mr. Rhodri had ushered me to the couch and offered me a tissue. I wiped my tears and blew my nose as I felt the tears fall all over again. The pain in my heart just kept on flowing through me and I couldn’t help myself.

Soon enough, I had cried out all the tears I had in my eyes, my eyes were most definitely red and swollen right now. Mr. Rhodri just stood there, emotionless as he watched me break down in front of me, probably clueless as to what to do. Not like there was anything he could do to alleviate the pain in my heart, he was the cause of it after all, I thought.

I slowly calmed down as I tried to pick at what was left of my dignity. I got up slowly, once again picking up my belongings and walking around the room to gather my essentials. So far, nothing I remember taking from home was missing in my bag. Mr. Rhodri just stood still were he was and watched me as I gathered my belongings and walked dejectedly to the bathroom once again to clean myself up as best as I could. I looked like mess once again.

I came out again and he was still where he stood, looking as confused as I was. I guess he had never had to deal with a hysterical woman who just lost the love of her life after a very blurry night. He looked at me like he was trying to read me or something like that, he had this skeptical look on his face. Almost like I was a puzzle that he was trying to piece together.

“I… I….”, once again, I didn’t know how to form words as I looked up at him in shame. What I was ashamed of, I didn’t know. This was not me. I needed to get out of this suffocating room and try to make sense of what I had just gone through in the last twenty-four hours.

“I am sorry for the mess, I’ll be on my way now” I said as I made a beeline for the door as I held my heels and bag in my hands. His voice stopped me just as I laid hands on the doorknob.

“Wait…” I froze before I slowly turned around to face him.

“Do you really not remember how you got here?” he asked. I looked up at him seeing the honest confusion and curiosity in his eyes. It looked like he genuinely wanted to know about me. I was too tired to fight right now, so I resorted to the one thing that came easy with me – sarcasm.

“If I was really a p********e, would I really be here at this time? Would I make a whole scene about waking up to a ‘strange’ man in a ‘strange’ place? Would I be so stupid as to not take caution to not be caught? Would I attack you when I get ‘caught’ by my boyfriend instead of going after him to solve the problem? Would I be so wasted that I cannot remember making an arrangement with you for a night? Would I be that reckless? Huh? Would I –”, with each word, I found myself getting angry at his extremely stupid question. Would I really go through all that for a couple hundred dollars that I could easily make on a Friday night at the bar I worked at? I was ready to go on and on with the obvious questions when he interrupted me.

“Okay, okay, fine. I get it, you’re definitely not the person that I thought you were. I believe there has been a misunderstanding here”. He said in a calm voice.

Well, that’s a no brainer, isn’t it?

“If you don’t mind, can we sit and talk things through? So that we can better understand each other and find a way to solve our problems.” He said as he gestured towards the couch. I thought about it. There was nothing left for me to lose. I had already lost my boyfriend and my dignity. The least I could get was an explanation.

But then, I let the last shred of my dignity speak for me when I said, “I think it’s a bit too late for now”.

And I walked out the door.