Chapter 4
1300 Words
I was thankful that I wasn’t wearing a dress. If I am, I wouldn’t be able to squat down and sit beside him like now. I took a heavy sigh before looking at him. His face looked so in distraught and lost. I’m sure being left alone in the altar is more painful than embarrassing.
It is probably opening a pandora’s box of questions. Why did she leave me? How could she leave me? Why would she endure all the preparations if she’s only going to leave in the end?
Where do I go now? What do I do now?
Suddenly, I feel like I am inside his head just by looking at how devastated he looks right now.
“You can cry more,” I told him.
I wonder if he’s already cried enough. Will he even cry hard enough? He was left in what he thinks will be the most important day in his life. But now, it turns out that it’s not only the most important but the most memorable as well. Too painful to forget.
He leaned his head on the concrete railing and pulled his leg up, resting his arm on it. “I want to,” he whispered in a hoarse voice—a good evidence that he’s been crying out here. “But I can’t cry in front of anyone.”
I stared at his face and the face of the man who saved me from that bastard from the club flashed right into my mind. I tried to look at him, trying so hard to see why when I finally realized that he’s the same person. I just wasn’t able to recognize it at first because, contrary to the strong and dangerous man from that night, he is now as weak as old wood.
I wanted to tell him who I am but I am afraid that it’s not what this situation needed from me right now. I just wish I am enough comfort for him now.
“Don’t you have somewhere to go?” he asked me with his eyes closed.
“I don’t know if I can leave someone like this.” He’s clearly not thinking properly. He almost jumped off the building. I don’t think he’ll be able to find his way back. I am scared that he’d be resuming to be on that situation.
He pursed his lips tightly before smiling at me. “I won’t kill myself,” he told me. “I know what I am doing now.”
I stared at him blankly because I know for a fact that I don’t believe him. I know what it is to feel like I want to end everything and I know that it doesn’t go away just because of a random stranger.
But that man really made everything feel better that time. He was a symbol of hope for me—a sign that there was still something to look forward to in this life. And I wasn’t wrong because look at where I am now. If I died that night, I wouldn’t have witnessed the good side of the world. I would have only known about its cruelty.
“You have to go down,” I told him. “Your mother is worried about you.”
He pursed his lips and sighed hard. “I don’t have a face to show them.”
“You’ll have to face them anytime soon so I think it’s only fair that you go now.” I sighed. “Besides, they have been worried about you.”
He was silent for a moment before washing his face with his palm in frustration. I don’t know if I am of any help but I am sure that his mother will make everything alright. And with that, I am kind of envious because I have never thought of my parents that way. Never had I thought that they would make me feel better before.
He let out a heavy sigh before standing up. I watched him as he leaned on the railings of the rooftop and looked at the city lights. “We have planned this for a really long time,” he began in a sad voice. “She was excited. She told me she was.”
I blew a breath before standing up beside him. I don’t know what to say because I know that nothing could comfort him for now. He’s still in pain and I totally understand why.
“She was the perfect woman. She was close to my parents. And she was the only woman I had dated who my best friend liked. He was always against the girls I was dating because he thinks girls are only taking advantage of me,” he continued. “But it turns out, he likes her so much to take her away from me.”
My jaw dropped in shock. The man who his bride-to-be went with is his best friend? How cruel can that be?
“I don’t know how I can recover from this,” he uttered while smiling weakly. “I have given her almost five years of my life. And all I get is this. Not even an explanation.”
I sighed hard as I leaned on the railings too. “Sometimes there are people who cannot tell you directly what they want,” I told him because I think this is the only thing that I can do now. “But that woman…would you have liked to marry her now only to make your lives miserable because he doesn’t love you anymore?”
“I will love her every day and show her that she will be happy with me.”
I chuckled weakly. “That won’t do when she already loves someone else,” I retorted. “She left you for a reason and it might be a bitter pill to swallow but that is all because she doesn’t love you anymore.” I hate giving false hope to people. I want to present reality as much as I can because it’s better to get hurt knowing the truth than to be happy with lies.
“She will love me again if she only gave me the chance to!” his voice was rising and I totally understand that because he’s hurting right now.
I smiled and shrugged. “You don’t know that.”
“Well, same goes to you. You don’t know what will happen if things ended up differently,” he was almost sneering at me. “You don’t know what I feel. You don’t know the pain that I am feeling right now so don’t you tell me what to do because I am not allowing anyone to stomp on me and my emotions tonight.”
I stared at him, feeling pity and annoyed at the same time, before raising my hands in surrender. “Okay. I rest my case, sir,” I told him before looking at my phone. It’s time for the assembly. “I better go. Please don’t jump. Just think of what your mother would feel if you do that.” I finished before going down and calling security because I can’t let him be alone right now.
- Writer
