*Andrea*
Alison held me close to herself as I cried. “He said it’s over. He said he doesn’t want to see me again.” I cried.
Smearing her shirt with my tears. I still don’t know how I got there.
I remember being thrown out of the house by two guards. Nora had smiled at me and told me never to come close to her family ever again. She had won. It’s not the fact that she said those mean things to me that got to me.
In fact, I could barely care about her.
What made my heart shatter into a million pieces was the fact that Alejandro didn’t forgive me. He didn’t want to listen to me.
“Alison, what should I do?” I pulled away from her hold. She still has her hands around me, though, refusing to let me go for a second.
“Give him some time. He can’t be angry at you forever.” She said.
I wanted to believe her, I wanted to think that this was a phrase in my life and my relationship with Alejandro.
But I knew it was not.
Alejandro is a man of his word. He doesn’t say things he doesn’t mean. So when he said that it was over between us, I feared he was right that it was truly over between us, and I could never live with that.
Never.
Alison had tears in the corner of her eyes.
“Please stop crying and eat something. It’s not good for you to cry so much and end up stressing yourself out. Think about the baby.” She said.
At the thought of my baby, I found myself crying more.
I didn’t even have time to tell him about the fruit of our love that was slowly growing inside of me.
“You can tell him about the child. If he knew about the baby, he would not want to do such things to you. He would not leave you once he found out about the child.” Alison said.
She stood and walked to the dinner.
My eyes were fixed on the frame Alejandro gave me.
My hands quickly moved to the necklace he had gifted me. He had promised our love would last forever.
But now it seems the love wasn’t strong enough to withstand this storm.
“Drink water.” She gave me a glass of water.
I shook my head, turning my head away from her. If Alejandro won’t take me back, there is no need to live.
If he had cheated on me or anything, I would not have been this sad. But thinking that I have betrayed him and that I had manipulated him, I just can’t…
No matter how I try to deny it, it was all manipulation, and this was my fault.
“Think of your baby, Andrea,” Alison said.
My hand involuntarily flew to my stomach, and I wrapped my hands around it
“My baby,” I cried.
I drank the water. Alison wiped my tears with a warm handkerchief.
She then sat with me. I placed my head on her lap.
She patted my head. “What do I do? I can’t live without him.”
“Everything will be fine. Give him time, he will come around.” He said.
My phone beeped, temporarily separating us as she picked up the phone.
I leaped up when I heard it was a message. Did he text me?
I knew he couldn’t stay angry with me forever.
I grabbed the phone from Alison. Immediately, my eyes glued to the screen, and tears filled my brim.
I have just been fired. That was the message. He didn’t want me in his company again.
“He just…” my lips shook as I tried to form coherent words.
Tears blinded my view.
“It will be fine.” Alison pulled me closer to herself.
I am now jobless.
How could things change in the blink of an eye? Just yesterday. Alejandro had kissed me passionately in the office and had told me he loved me.
He drove me home himself and had texted me all through the night.
I cursed the moment I stepped out of the house. I cursed the moment I learned about his house if only Lucas wasn’t there.
I didn’t eat dinner that night.
I had no appetite for food. I cried all through the night. I locked the door, so Alison would not be able to enter.
I wanted to be alone. I needed time to heal my heart.
I sat curled up at the side of my bed, staring blankly into the air.
I remembered when Alejandro had been in my room. He had sat in that chair over there. He teased me, and we had a good time.
I wanted to change the time.
If I had known this was how we would end, I would have slowed down my time with him.
I placed my head on my knees and wiped, mourning for a love that didn’t have the time to blossom as much as it should.
I raised my head upon hearing the heavy knock I could no longer ignore.
“Andrea opened the door. Don’t try anything stupid.” Alison yelled, knocking heavily on the door.
I ignored her. She’ll leave when she is tired.
But she didn’t leave.
“If you don’t open this door right now, I’ll break it down.” She yelled.
“No, I’ll call the police.” She remained there for a while.
I dragged myself up and walked to the door, opened it, and poked my head out
She flinched back upon seeing me.
“You…” she couldn’t form a coherent word, “I am not dead yet,” I said.
I wasn’t stupid enough to end my life. I will not give up my child. We may have broken up, but I still have my baby. I still have something to live for.
Alison hugged me.
“Thank you for choosing to live.” I pushed her away. I never said I wanted to die.
My eyes were heavy with grief. I inhaled sharply while sitting on the edge of my bed.
“I made breakfast. Come eat something. You didn’t eat yesterday.” She said.
“No. I don’t want to.” I said my voice was low and weak.
“You should. You have to eat something.” She said.
“For your baby. For my nephew. We can’t allow him to starve.”
“Alison, please…”
“No, you please listen to me.” She said, She stood, walked out, and was back after some time.
She returned with a tray of food and placed it on my lap.
“Eat something. Even if it’s just a bite.” I nodded and took a few bites.
She left me alone, “I’ll be out. Call me if you need anything.”
I laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Why was the world not ending? I am in so much pain. Why was everyone still living as if nothing happened?
I took my phone and called Alejandro.
It didn’t connect. “The number you dialed Is not in service.”
I shiver in pain, knowing that he has blocked my line and probably deleted my number, too.
He must truly want me out of his life, but I still want him in my life and in my child’s life.
I wrapped myself in my duvet and slowly drifted into sleep. When I opened my eyes again, Alison was in front of me.
She held a tray in her hand.
“Freshen up and eat something,” she said.
I pushed the tray away from me. “I don’t want to eat. I don’t want to freshen up or anything. Just leave me alone.”
I ran my hands through my hair. It was greasy.
“You have to,” Alison said.
After a while, I stood and walked into the bathroom.
My hair was a mess. There were dark circles under my eyes.
My face was red.
I have cried so much that I believe I have no more tears to shed. But tears poured down again when I stepped into the shower, and the water hit my skin.
Memories I have shared with Alejandro rushed into my head.
“I picked out these dresses for you,” Alison said.
I wore the nightgown she gave me. She fed me as I refused to eat anything. “You aren’t eating for you but for your baby.” Whenever she said that, my heart cracked.
I began to wonder. Alejandro would have been so thrilled If I hadn’t ruined everything, right?”
He would have been.
The next few days, I stayed in my bed. I cried sleep when Alison came with a tray three times each day.
She picks out a dress for me. She fed me.
One of these days, I asked her to help me call Alejandro. Maybe he would give me the chance to speak to him one more time.
Alison refused at first, but then after much whining from me., she agreed.
The number didn’t connect.
I had nothing else to do.
.
.
.
I stood in front of the window, watching the busy City.
It has been two weeks since we broke up and the wind was still fresh. I still cry all through the night, and I have not stepped out of my room.
The door opened, and Alison stepped into the room.
“Hey,” she said, standing close to the entrance. I turned to her.
“Hey!” She looked sad seeing me like this.
“Do you want to go for a walk? You haven’t stepped out for a while now.” She said.
“I am fine,” I said, turning to meet her gaze.
“I don’t want to go out,” I said.
She stepped closer to me, leaned on the wall, and held my hand.
“I am so sorry, Andrea. This is all because of me. If I hadn’t forced you out of your room that night, if we hadn’t gone to the bar, then we would not have been recorded, then all this would not have been happening.”
I turned to her. I have never blamed her. “You have nothing to apologize about. You didn’t force me out of the house. I went on my own free will,” I said.
I am an adult and would not blame others for what I’d done myself. Never.
“But then…” she began, “he would not know. This was bound to happen anyway. He was bound to know, and this would have been his reaction.”
It broke my heart to say this, but it was true.
Alison led me back to the bed. “Even if he loves you. Even if he doesn’t want to have anything to do with you or the baby, please know that I’ll always be here with you.” She paused.
Tears rolled down my cheeks,” you’ll always have my support.” She said.
“Thank you, Alison.” I hugged her, staining her shirt with my tears, “And I’m sorry I am stressing you.”
“It’s fine.”
“I’ll be going out to get some stuff,” Alison said. She paused and studied my face, which could only reveal pain.
“Do you want me to get anything for you?” She asked.
I shook my head.
“Alright.” She walked out of the room, leaving me seated. To my surprise, she came back a few minutes later with a radio in her hand. “You should at least listen to some music,” she said and turned it on.
I sat there listening to songs, crying to songs that shouldn’t make me cry. All the songs that were played suddenly became sad, as if they were played for me alone.
The music played for over two hours before it stopped.
“Now it’s time for business news.” The host said after welcoming the audience back.
At the mention of business, I froze. It reminded me of Alejandro.
“The CEO of Costa Enterprise… was seen with his ex-wife on multiple occasions. Rumors have it that he will soon be remarrying her. He stopped in… having dinner with… he…” I couldn’t hear everything she said; why was a radio station suddenly discussing business?
“Mr. Costa was asked by one of our representatives if he wanted to remarry his ex-wife Nora, and this was his response…”
The radio was suddenly stitched off by Alison.
I didn’t see her. My eyes were blinded with tears.
I have truly lost my man.