Epilogue
Have you ever read something, so familiar as if it is your own life story? Did you feel the growing sense of recognition in your stomach? Or have you felt the sympathy that you wished someone felt when you were suffering? Well, Liza did. As she read each word of the manuscript in her hand, she felt the growing sense of familiarity. She wanted to reach out and console the female protagonist of the novel, she wanted to wipe her tears and tell her that it will be better, when that girl found out that her husband as cheating on her. It felt as if she was living it all again and though it had been nearly three years those memories still brought tears to her eyes.
Liza sat there in her office all night reading through the manuscript, as the female protagonist confronted her husband, kicked him in the balls (something that Liza wished she had done). The lead of the novel was much more independent than Liza ever was, she was one of those characters with whom you wouldn’t want to mess with but still Liza identified with her so much that it felt as if she and the lead were the same person. Liza read as the husband realized his folly, as he apologized to the lead, groveled for the forgiveness, it reminded Liza so much of Jonathan. However in the end unlike Liza the lead forgave her husband, gave him another chance to prove himself and they had their happily ever after.
The night lamp was casting soft golden light on Liza’s table. Liza could tell that it was nearly morning as she saw the sky take a pinkish orange tint. She kept the manuscript which was now full of red and blue marks, its papers turned and creased due to Liza reading it over and over again. She wondered if she will ever be able to let it go. If she will ever be able to look past it. If she will be at peace. She still loved Jonathan, not as much as she did before but there was a small corner in her heart which kept their happy memories safe. She may never be able to fully move on Liza guessed, something will be always missing, but that tends to happen when you love a guy with your heart and soul for more than half a decade.
Liza hate being stuck on something that happened nearly three years ago. She wanted to be free from all the grudges and accusations she held. Maybe, sh thought, it was finally time to forgive him. To forgive Jonathan and move on once and for all. She hurriedly picked out a pen and a neat white paper she used for office correspondence and began writing. She could have called him but hearing his voice would have been too much to handle so she reverted back to the old ways and she wrote him one last letter.
‘To Jonathan,
Hey, Jonathan it has been a long time. Nearly three years to be exact. How are you? I hope you are well. It feels so weird to be writing to you after 3 years. It’s like I am doing something that I shouldn’t do, it feels as if I am defying my own nature. I am sure you are wondering that why I have written to you.
I am sorry for the way I left you. I felt like a coward for leaving behind your back, but I know that if I had waited to tell you then you would have tried to stop me and I may have stopped. I loved you so much back then, even after your betrayal that it was physically painful to stay away from you. But I needed to do leave, for myself. I read a book today and it made me realize something important. It made me realize that I will have to forgive you to move on. So Jonathan I am forgiving you.
I am not saying that if we ever run into each other I will even acknowledge you or our past relationship because I won’t. I will probably walk away as soon as I see you but I no longer hold a grudge against you. We had our good times and we had our bad times and I thought that that we could get over anything together. Love does that you. It makes you believe that nothing can go wrong when you have your other half by your side, it makes you feel invincible but then Life happens and sometimes you don’t remain so invincible, you come across a wall that you cannot cross together. I guess that’s what happened to us.
Nothing lasts forever and I am happy that I got to share some wonderful memories with you, but that’s what we had will ever be, a memory. You will find someone someday who you will love more than you ever loved me or you may even have already found her. Please promise me that you will never throw her away like you did to me, that you will cherish her. Don’t make the same mistakes Jonathan.