“Now I really wanna hear this, who is this woman and how did she make you commit? She must be important for you to still be talking about her,”
“Yes, she was, I mean she is but I made a mistake and till now she doesn’t look at me and never ever respond to me,”
“Someone I know?
Rafael asked out of curiosity, Caleb wasn’t the commitment type, he had a different woman with him every week, how he didn’t notice that his friend once had someone serious was beyond him, even when he didn’t give two fucks about him, he still would have noticed, maybe it was before they became friends.
“Yes, she is someone you know, in fact, she is someone you still see every day,”
“Wow, who is that? Just mention s name already,”
Rafael urged.
“It’s Armani, your assistant,”
Caleb said, wow, he hadn’t expected that, Armani and Caleb had a thing going that almost lead to marriage and he didn’t know? Talk about living under a rock.
“Wait, Armani? When? How? No, I mean did we know each other then? What happened? Why did you guys break up?”
He asked confused, he couldn’t picture Armani and Caleb together, heck he didn’t even know they talked to each other.
“Let me answer one at a time, bear in mind that I am trying to talk you out of doing this, out of getting a divorce, Armani and I got to know each other when you and I became friends, at the launching of the Percys’ chains of hotels, that’s where we first met,”
“Wow, that was two years ago, so you were smooshing my assistant behind my back?”
“Stop talking man, and listen,”
He scolded, Rafael took a sip from his beer and urged his friend on.
“Like I said we met at the Percys’ party, something happened, and I couldn’t contact her after but then I found out that she worked for you,”
“Wait, you never met Armani before that day? That doesn’t add up because Mani has been working for me just as long as we have been friends,”
Rafael replied confused.
“I never showed up at your office the first two years or should I say a year and a half until you remember the Greenfield project? That was the first time we worked together and the first time I went to your office,”
“Oh,”
Rafael said finally realizing why, but then again.
“She must have been pictured with me since she is one of my best and is always with me,”
“Hello, I don’t go checking everyone close to you, you are distracting me with these questions, the main thing here is Armani and I were a thing and were good until, well shit happened and I couldn’t stand up for her, she left me, I let her and I regret it till this moment, she might kill me if she finds out I told you about this because I promised to keep it a secret from you,”
Caleb said, Rafael had a lot of questions, there are so many things that he wanted to know, they both never gave anything away that they were a thing, he didn’t know, even the paparazzi that follows Caleb too didn’t know. Wait, was that why Armani had been so sure Caleb hadn’t done anything and was his friend truly when he had thought Caleb was? That would explain a lot why she was able to defend him because she knew him.
“You said shits happened? May I know what it is?”
“Yeah, I was a fool, dad and mom didn’t want me to have anything to do with her or they were going to mess with my inheritance and I was much too dependent on them that I let her go,”
“Wait what? You let a woman you love go because your parents didn’t like her?”
“No, not totally, Armani didn’t want to have anything to do with me too, after she found out about it, we agreed to take a break, then mom said she took money from her, of course, I didn’t believe it, I shouldn’t have listened to any of them in the first place, Mani wanted us back together but I took too much time, then after that, I found out that she lost our child, I lost it and called her out on it accusing her of doing it on purpose because I didn’t take her back, she swore on her life that she didn’t do it and also told me to stay away from her, when I came back to my senses, she wasn’t ready to take me back, long story short, she hates me,”
Rafael could only stare their mouth open, this was no way near what he had thought it was, they were going to be parents too? Wow.
“I don’t even know what to say, all these happened under my nose and I didn’t even notice, wow, just wow,”
“You don’t notice things, now I am sad too,”
Caleb said drinking from his beer, he finished the whole glass and got another, Rafael watched him drink more and more glasses, he couldn’t even stop him so he joined.
“That’s why I don’t want you to be stupid like me, don’t let that lady go, you will regret it,”
Caleb said, he was already drunk, Rafael disagreed, as much as they experience similar things there were a lot of differences between the two situations, so many differences, and he knew he wasn’t going to regret it, it was for the best.
“I am not changing my mind, Caleb, I am getting the divorce,”
“Wow, I warned you,”
Caleb answered, they drank together in silence both nursing their own pain, they left much later, all Rafael could remember was calling his driver, he had been much too drunk to remember when or how he got home…
Waking up with a hangover wasn’t nice at all but he didn’t mind, Rafael got off the bed and walked into the shower, he looked at himself in the mirror and hated what he saw, his face reflected the sad reality of his life, he brushed his hair backward with his fingers and leaned forward to look at himself well.
“Man, you look horrible,”
The voice in his head whispered, yes he did, he hasn’t shaved in over a week and he had lost weight too, from not eating properly, he had a lot of pending work and had to go to the office today, but he didn’t feel like leaving the house, he still had to be present at the court hearing as the bastard Leonard had filed for an appeal which the court had granted and the hearing was today, plus he had to meet with the new partners from the United Arab Emirates, many things to do, and he couldn’t go looking like a heartbroken, lifeless man that he was right now, he hated how silent this penthouse has become, where before he found solace here, the only reason he could still use this room is that he and Nicole never slept here together, he couldn’t even look anywhere else here without seeing her and missing her but he isn’t going to give in and go back on his words, the divorce papers will be sent to her, he just needed to modify a lot of things so that she doesn’t lose anything rather she gains from it, he wasn’t leaving her because he didn’t love her anymore, he was leaving her because that’s what’s best for the both of them.
He shaved, took a bath, ate as much as he could, and left for work hoping to start up his journey of healing and living without her while hoping she does the same…