My Reclaimed Love

I woke up to the soft rays of sunlight filtering through the curtains, casting a warm glow over my cozy condo. Stretching lazily, I reached for my phone on the bedside table, expecting to find a sweet morning message from Philip as usual. Philip would often leave me sweet voice mails in the early hours of the day just so I can play them first thing when I wake up. He was that sweet ; always treating me like some egg that could be broken if handled carelessly. Many times I would wonder if I did something in my previous life to deserve such a sweet, and kind man. But beyond that, I love Philip because he's a man who knows what he wants, goes for it and doesn't step back till gets it- it's how he's expanded his father's business so much in the last five years since he took over. Beyond the physical attraction, that resilience is one of the things I loved about him the most. If I was on set, I would typically receive and listen to them around 5:00 am since we often shot scenes overnight but today there's no message. …. It's 7:30 am now and there's no missed calls nor voice mail from Philip. "I'm gonna give him a call to see how he's doing but first I need to get myself a cup of coffee" I thought to myself. Just as I got out of bed and began walking towards the kitchen, my phone began to buzz ridiculously loud. Oh for f***s sake… who is it? Philip would be on his way to the office by now, or even in a meeting already so it can't be him. I'm gonna have to call them back and this better be good because I specifically told my manager Nathan that I wanted to take out today to rest after 6 straight months of being on set everyday. Another movie project starts tomorrow and with the calibre of cast lined up, the director and script I've seen, I think it's gonna be a blockbuster. Nat put in a lot of work to get me that lead role and I ain't gonna blow it! I just want today to be a smooth and cozy day for me; exercise, good food and sleep all the way till 10pm when NAT arrives to take us to the airport. From there it's good bye LA and hello Atlanta; "hmmm… I can't wait," I said out loud excitedly. I continued making my coffee while the phone kept blaring. Can't be bothered by any one till I get this cup of delicious goodness down my stomach. I walked back into the room a few minutes later holding the cup of coffee to my mouth, wondering how anyone enjoyed any flavour other than Hazelnut mixed in rich chocolate. Pure heaven… Feeling like I'm now alive, I pick up the phone to meet ten missed calls and a voice mail from Hannah. Oh my god.. something's definitely wrong! Hannah never calls more than twice. This is really weird and I just hope everything is okay with her. Hannah's been my best friend for the past five years and I dare say the most consistent person after Nat. But of course, Nats is paid to do that so I can't really compare the two. She's very kind to me and her friendship never felt like the wishy-washy thing my colleagues try to act up around me. She's a medical doctor and in-between her work and actually having a life of her own, it's amazing that she is able to keep up with me and I can't be more grateful for that. I just hope nothing too bad happened. I clicked the button to play her voice mail with half my heart in my chest. At the beep of the tone, Hannah's voice began to play with worry audibly hedged in every sound. "Bella…. honey…. Have you seen the news today? You gotta take it easy on y'self.... ………..Break…… Philip… that son of a gun… …… Break…. God! I'm so sorry Bella, I know you don't deserve this I'll be at your place as soon as I can .. wait for me okay? The beep tone signaled that the recording had ended leaving me shaken to my core. With trembling fingers, I turned off the phone, a sinking feeling gnawing at my gut. My heart pounding, I fumbled for the remote and switched on the TV, my breath catching in my throat as the headline flashed across the screen on ABC news: "Billionaire Heir Philip Gonzalez Marries Superstar Andrea Smith in Lavish Ceremony." It felt as if the ground had dropped out from beneath me, leaving me suspended in a void of disbelief and betrayal. Philip, the man I thought was my soulmate, had married another woman? No, that can't be possible, surely this has to be another entertainment industry saga. For sure someone's trying to ruffle me up so I don't show up for my set tomorrow in Atlanta. While standing in front of the TV in denial, my phone started to buzz again. I told myself this was a facade and all I had to do was call Nat and he'd clear things up; he always handles these things well. It just didn't make any sense that Philip would do that. Up until our early dinner on Tuesday evening, he was still the sweetest man I'd ever known. I picked up the phone just before the last ring. Hey Nat, I just saw the… "Hey boo…." Nat said in a sunken tone that almost made me choke and sent me spering out of denial. Just stay put Bella, I'm coming over right now and we can talk. I should be at yours in about an hour or so.. Don't do anything stupid Bella, it's not worth it. He hung up, leaving me to my shattered self. Every hope I'd hung on to in the past five minutes just got blown out the window with that one call. I sat on the floor completely enveloped in my shame. Why….. Why would Philip dump me for another woman? And not just any woman, Andrea Smith, my Hollywood life long rival. Where did I go wrong, what did I do wrong.. Couldn't he have talked to me about it if there was something I wasn't doing right? The memories of our whirlwind romance flooded back – the laughter, the whispered promises, the dreams we had shared. How could it all have been a lie? Tears welled up in my eyes as I struggled to make sense of the pain ripping through my chest. Andrea, with her beauty and cunning, had finally stolen the man I loved, just as she had stolen so many roles from me in the past. I struggled to get to a couch and slumped into it. All I could do was stare into the abyss of a space I had around me. A space I once loved but now suddenly felt like I was drowned in. Is this what hell feels like? my mind asked me as my thoughts began to wander down memory lane to the day we met. A wry smile splurged out another burst of hot salty tears down my cheeks.