Chapter 123 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE

Chapter 123 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE
SHIRLEY
I let out a loud sigh and crossed my arms.
‘Please Shirley, just three minutes I beg of you’
I scoffed ‘And who told you that I want to be near you for even one second?’
His face fell ‘Common Shirley, please stop acting like this. Let’s just talk please’
I rolled my eyes at him before started thinking.
He looked quite remorseful and the way he kept on begging me got to me.
My heart might be as hard as a rock after what he did to me, but at least I can just hear him say whatever nonsense he thinks he wants to tell me.
I wanted to know what excuses he wants to make for his actions.
I wish Tess was here, we would have had so much fun tearing him apart.
‘Fine, I will give you two minutes nothing more’ I said.
He started thanking me profusely ‘Oh thank you so much, I promise you won’t regret it’
I scoffed ‘I’m already regretting it, I’m just doing this because I have the time’
‘Let’s grab a seat there’ he said, pointing to a small coffee shop nearby.
I walked to the coffee shop and he followed me closely.
When we got to the coffee shop, we settled down quietly and I crossed my legs and waited to for him to start.
My eyes were burning holes into his eyes so much that he had to look away and act like he was interested in something behind me.
‘So, what do you want?’ I asked impatiently.
He shifted in his chair, clearly uncomfortable ‘Listen Shirley, I fucked up’
I laughed hysterically that a couple of eyes turned to our table, wondering what was wrong with me.
‘Haa!!! You didn’t know you fucked up all this while?’
His shoulders fell ‘I know I fucked up Shirley and I made things worse by not owning up to my mistakes’
I acted as if I wanted to cry ‘Boohoo, do you need a handkerchief or do you want a fucking round of applause for saying that?’
‘Shirley please…..’
‘Don’t you fucking call my name in your wretched life. You have lost that right!!!’ I barked.
He recoiled for a moment.
‘You are a fucking asshole, I’m sure you know that already. How long has it been? Seven months? You didn’t make any effort to apologize, you just acted like you did nothing wrong and now, out of the blue you suddenly have a conscience?’
‘I know I hurt you, Shirley. I didn’t know what came over me’
I scoffed again ‘Let me guess, it’s the work of the devil? You know that’s the common line everybody in the world use to redeem themselves when they mess up.’
‘There is no excuse for what I did to you. I was lonely and broken. I was going through some things that I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. I thought I could handle it on my own.’
‘Interesting. Go on, continue making excuses for your self’
He shook his head ‘There is no excuse I can make that can save me from what I put you through. I’m only telling you the whole truth’
‘You said you were lonely? After everything I did, I was there for you. I displeased myself to please you, did things I didn’t like doing, wore clothes that were never for me, laughed at your dry jokes, encouraged you when you were feeling down even when you didn’t do the same for me so tell me how exactly were you lonely?’
He hesitated.
‘No speak up. We are having a conversation, I need to know why you were lonely when I was there for you’
‘I was going through some shit in the office, I also got the news that my mum had stage four breast cancer and it felt like my whole world was falling apart at that moment’
My heart constricted.
One of my greatest weakness is my empathy.
I am so quick to feel sorry for someone even someone that doesn’t deserve my compassion.
My voice softened ‘Why didn’t you tell me that your mum had cancer? Why didn’t you tell me what you were going through?’
He ran his hand over his head ‘I….I didn’t know what I was thinking at that time. I was just scared and I didn’t want to bug you with my problems because you are already dealing with your problems.’
I rolled my eyes ‘Is that why you cheated on me with another man?’
He bowed his head in shame ‘That was very stupid of me Shirley. I messed up badly. I knew Zack from the office, one day he walked in bearing some confidential documents that I’m supposed to go through and that was when he found me in my desk, crying my eyes out.’
I leaned back in my seat and listened.
‘He sat beside me, held my hand and assured me that whatever it was will pass. He was so nice and compassionate that evening. Before that day, we were like cat and rat in the office, we didn’t like each other but he dropped the beef and helped me out through that difficult moment’
I blinked ‘So you trusted a stranger over me?’
‘Yeah and that was my mistake. I should have opened up to you about everything. Anyway, I told Zack what was going on and we talked about it. His mum died of cancer too so he understood everything. Then we got more close and one thing led to another.’
I shook my head angrily. Jealousy and pain eating me up.
‘I’m sorry Shirley, I didn’t mean to hurt you I swear. I was a coward who couldn’t own up to his mistakes, I didn’t even reach out to you afterwards.’
‘What of your mum?’
He bowed his head ‘She died three months ago’
My heart melted.