Chapter 25 CHAPTER 25: Memories
Flashback
William
I met Carla at a charity gala organized by my company for an orphanage home. Her elegance and apparent vulnerability drew me in.
She seemed so out of place among the opulence, her laughter genuine and eyes filled with a light that seemed to push back the shadows in my life as at then. Immediately I saw her, she drew me in with her story and her looks and from the late night chats and laughter that followed, I thought the feelings were mutual.
Right from the beginning, we were drawn to each other as if it was meant to be, or so I thought. She was open and loving and volunteered to tell me about her life, which then made me feel like she trusted me.
So, when she told me about her financial struggles, something in me wanted to protect her, to shelter her from the storms of life. As weeks turned to months, my fascination turned into something deeper, something I foolishly believed was love.
When I love, I give my all because I take you as myself. I love with all my body, heart and soul. I guess Carla knew that, and decided to take me for a ride and feed from my vulnerability.
Carla was a real mastermind. She had a way of making me feel needed. She was gentle, kind and open, and I lavished her with gifts, trying to ease the burdens I believed she carried. I was ready to go any lengths for her. But there was another side to the story I was blind to, a deceit so deep it left scars that no amount of time would heal, or so I thought.
There was a man that kept coming up in all her stories. According to her, Kingsley, her cousin, was her best friend and her everything. She told me how he had been her lifeline all through the years and how he helped her escape the claws of poverty in Germany. He always lavished praise on him, and every time we got together, she didn't seem to stop bringing him up. It got to the point that I was jealous of the so-called Kingsley. I was jealous of someone I had never met before, and I began to hate him deep down. There was a day we were intimate and in the throes of our lovemaking, she moaned his name. That was when I knew Kingsley was more to her than she was letting on. After we were done making love, I asked her why she did that. She denied vehemently that she ever moaned his name. She was so convincing that I began to doubt myself and what I heard. Maybe my ears were playing tricks on me or so I thought, not until it happened before my eyes.
One day, a friend from campus who knew Carla was my girlfriend revealed to me that Kingsley was not her cousin but her lover. I got furious and thought he was jealous of our relationship. Deep down I knew it was true, but Carla was so innocent and so manipulated and had brainwashed me so much that I never saw any fault in her, despite the fact that the truths were so glaring. Maybe I was trying to convince myself that it wasn't true, or I was trying to talk myself out of heartbreak or dread the inevitable because I told him I'd never believe him until I saw evidence.
The truth came crashing down one evening when the same friend gave me a tip leading me to a scene that would forever be etched into my soul.
On that fateful evening, following the lead I was given, I drove to Carla’s house. Everywhere was quiet except when I got close. I could hear moaning sounds coming from the bedroom. The living room door was closed, but as I turned the door knob, it was unlocked. I gulped and tiptoed to the bedroom door and slowly opened it.
Lo and behold, there she was, my Carla, the woman I had planned to marry, in the arms of another man, not just any man, but someone she had introduced as a distant cousin. She was on top of Kingsley, writhing and moaning the same way she does when I was making love to her. They were so far gone she did not hear the door creak open. I stood there for some minutes, watching, as tears pricked my eyes. The reality was far more bitter; they were lovers, and I was nothing more than a means to an end.
I remember standing there, frozen, as my world crumbled around me. The look of panic on her face when she saw me, the hurried excuses that fell from her lips, the way Kingsley smirked at me as I bit my lip until I could taste the blood.
She had turned to her lover and gave him a death stare.
"You didn't lock the door"? She asked him. He only shrugged and stood on the bed in all his glory, without bothering to cover up. He strode to me, looked me in the eyes and gave a wry smile before leaving the room. That was when I knew it was all planned.
I had been a fool, blinded by what I thought was love, used to the wealth I had mistakenly believed could bring me happiness. The betrayal cut deep, not just because of the money, but because I had given her my trust, my heart. And she had trampled on it, leaving me to pick up the pieces of my shattered self-esteem and trust. Since that day, I have vowed to never give my heart to anyone ever again. I couldn't go through such emotional pain anymore.
Back in the present, the weight of those memories felt like a physical burden on my chest. I was transported back to that fateful day as the pain squeezed my heart, not until I felt Hazel’s presence beside me, her warmth, her unwavering support, reminded me of how far I had come from those dark days. She enveloped me in a tight hug as my eyes stung with unshed tears. I felt small and vulnerable again.
"William," Hazel whispered, her voice soft but strong, "what Carla did was unforgivable, it’s hard to get past a pain like that and nobody deserves to go through that. Do not let that pain define you”. I sighed deeply, leaning against her, basking in her warmth and her words. Her words were a balm to my wounded soul and I needed to feel whole again. In her eyes, I saw not just sympathy, but a shared strength, a promise of a future built on mutual respect and genuine affection, and at that moment, I hoped against hope that one day I would move past my pain and love her the way she deserved to be loved.
All of a sudden, I realized that love, real love, was not about what you could give or how much you could spend. It was about vulnerability, about giving someone the power to hurt you but trusting them not to.
I also learned that if love is real, it can never be over.
I felt vulnerable with Hazel. I’ve felt that way since the accident, and I had a gut feeling that I had found a home in her, so when she reached out to me in the dark, I drew her close as the electricity cackled between us.