Chapter 9: Tessa

“Can you believe that little girl calling me a cold misandrist, me? What hurt most is the fact that all my family members think I'm this hateful person,” I said to Tessa who was seated in the passenger seat, before swerving the car into the lane that would take us to the airport.

It was late in the evening and I was driving her to the airport to catch her plane to New York back to her work.

We'd spend the day together just like we used to before she left for New York.

Tessa had laughed her ass off when I told her about the jerk who had soaked me in pinot noir saying she would have loved to have witnessed my interaction with the bastard.

She'd only sober up when I stopped talking and threatened to leave.

She had no fucking idea how close I was to killing that bastard, had he stayed a moment longer I would have done it.

Seeing how agitated and worked up I was getting over the strange man, Tessa had finally let it go, then we spent the whole day just hanging out.

She'd just asked how my aunties were? Which had reminded me of earlier this morning and is currently the topic of discussion.

It's unbelievable that anyone would call me a man hater! I don't hate men, I fucking love my grandpa and he's a man.

“Yeah, I'm not surprised,” my best friend says nonchalantly to everything I've been telling her.

She didn't seem all that surprised about what my family thought of me. My lips tightened with her reply.

“What does that mean?” I asked. She sighs and turns in her seat to look at me while I drive.

“To be honest they're not the only ones.”

“What? Are you saying you think the same?” I asked, feeling hurt that Tessa, the person I thought would understand me most in this world, thinks like my family does.

She stared at me with her beautiful hazel eyes that matched her curly hair.

“Well, not exactly. Did you know how many times I had to defend you from our group of friends. Remember what you to Brian and Jose? Not to mention what you did to Helen's husband, it cost him his job and his whole career, not to mention his marriage,and Helen? She still hasn't forgiven you for that by the way,” Tessa said.

Reminding me of the cheating weasel. The other two aren't even worth mentioning. But Joseph Helen's husband, that bastard and Helen's neighbor had been going at it like rabbits.

Having an affair under his wife's nose and he had the gut to try point fingers at me, mocking me about the fact Colton cheated on me days before our wedding.

If there's any shortcoming I am fully aware of as a person is my drive to get revenge when I feel I've been wrong unjustly. I'm not proud of it and hopefully I will grow out of it.

To be honest though at the time I really thought I was doing Helen a service when I exposed her husband, I didn't think she would get angry with me for that.

“Gia, I'm your friend and we've had this conversation before. To be honest even I am starting to think you've turned into a misandrist…”

“What?”

“Name one man you like and get along with that's not a part of your family,” she challenged.

“Reggie,” I replied, seriously. She rolled her eyes, exasperated.

“Reggie is a dog.”

“He's a male,” I argue.

“See, in your eyes Gia. Men are classified into three, your grandpa and uncles, those you respect, your male cousins you like. Honestly though it's more like you tolerated them and then the others who are all the same in your eyes, bad.”

“That's not true. I don't think all men are bad. I'd just never met the good ones. I'm not this…this hateful person Tess, I can't be.”

“And I'm not saying that you are. What I really think is you've closed off your heart and emotions because you are afraid of getting hurt. You don't think you can handle it if another person you love betrays you again. And I understand that Gia, but your irrational fear is getting in the way of your happiness.

You need to let go of your fears and face life as it is. We all get hurt and betrayed at some point in life but we survive it, we storm through it and continue living. Because that's what life is all about.”

I had no words, I just felt like someone had stabbed me in the sternum, I parked the car at the curb outside of the airport. Tessa, sighs then gets out of the car, I mechanically get out and help her carry her traveling bag.

“When is the shareholders meeting?” Tessa asked as we walked into the airport.

“Next week.”

“Are you going?” I shrugged, not entirely sure, though even if I stayed here I'll still be working. For me, work always comes first. It's not like I've got anything better to do.

“I'm not sure,but grandma and aunt Layla are going,” I said.

“You should come, there's this place I want to take you,” She said with a mischievous smile, her eyes sparkling. That piqued my interest.

“Where? And what's there?”

“I can't tell you. You'll have to come if you want to know.” I narrowed my eyes at her, the way I used to when we were kids until she felt intimidated and fessed up but of course she only laughed. We're no longer the kids we were.

“Come to New York, I promise it will be the best experience of your life.”

Thirty minutes later as I drove back home, after I'd dropped Tessa at the airport, I couldn't stop thinking about everything we'd discussed. I'm not going to believe that just because I don't get along with men or trust in men that I'm…a misandrist.

But everything Tessa had said was mostly true, the truth is bitter and it pains me to think I'm this sort of person. That my fears have made me cold and is negatively affecting my life. Right then I made the decision I'm go to New York.