"I can't believe Garrett Ward did such a thing to you, that bastard." Sue looked disgusted after I told her how my boss had so cruelly broken my heart. "I told you when we were still at the orphanage, and you were still working there, not to trust that man because he's not good-natured, but you didn't listen to me."
I sighed with her words, and I knew she was right when she said those words. I should have paid more attention. "I know, Sue. But I ended up getting carried away by that way of speaking; Garrett is so different from me that he unquestionably caught my attention. The way he was looking at me—you have no idea; I ended up giving myself body and soul to him, and it wasn't little." I sniffed a little more, remembering how good it had been to be in his arms, even though it was only for one night. My friend was looking at me with pity and hugging me from the side.
"Take this as a lesson; stay away from men like them. They're just not for you; these rich and powerful men think they own the world and can do whatever they want; it's like even justice belongs to them; no matter how hard you try to fight, they will always win." She gave me a caress on my shoulder. I was silently thinking about it. It was too bad to think that Garrett just wanted to take advantage of my virgin body. "But don't worry so much; take the time you need to recover; I'll be here watching over you. Then we'll sort out the question of a new job for you, and I can even get you a boyfriend, so you can have fun and not think about him too much." I shook my head in the negative.
"I don't want any boyfriends." I said it with a pout on my lips. I didn't want to fall in love with someone else again.
"But it will be good, friend. At least one hookup. Now that you are no longer a virgin, you will feel the need to have a manly body next to you. It's natural. You can regret what happened to you now, but don't regret it so much; that despicable man doesn't deserve to get the best of you. You will rise from the ashes like a phoenix. Look how cute and adorable you are." She said she was caressing my red curls. "You look like a little princess—poor but still a princess. There must be a lot of men in York who will be attracted to you; even if your nipples are pink, men fall into delirium." She laughed at her own speech, while for me, it was inevitable not to think of Garrett Ward when she spoke of my breasts.
Oh my God. Garrett Ward was totally nuts about my breasts, the way he sucked on them and feasted on them, like a starving adult baby. That act alone made me feel like a complete woman, a woman who had an appreciative man on her side. It was just impossible not to think about him. I hugged my own legs in dismay. 'Why did you do this to me, Mr. Ward? We had barely started... We still had so much to live together.' I mumbled in my own thoughts with a downcast expression on my face.
"What is it now? What about that face?" My friend wanted to know.
"It's just… You mentioned my breasts, and I remembered him; he was crazy about breasts, at least." I replied with a sob of tears, and Sue rubbed my back.
"What a pervert, that Garret Ward." She spoke in exasperation. "How many times did you have sex?"
"It was just one night." That night seemed to last as long as years, and at the same time, I had the feeling that the night was as short as a few minutes. "I don't know if I'll be able to get interested in another man again after what I've experienced with him, my friend." I confessed to miserably closing my eyes. Those words were the purest truth; for me, Garrett Ward was the only man that existed on the face of the earth. I may have acted like a complete thrill just having given myself to my own boss, but I did it because I really was in love with him, and it wasn't little, and even now that my heart has been broken into a thousand pieces by him, I still love him with all my being.
"But this man hurt you; you have to try to forget him." My friend supported me at all times; I just looked at her helplessly, and she could understand how deep my feelings were for that man.
*****
The rest of that whole week I spent at my friend's house in the bedroom, lying on the bed, not wanting to do anything, not even wanting to raise my arm. Sue said she had never seen me so depressed, so I, who had always been a docile and cheerful woman, lavished sympathy and joy on people, but now I was there in that bed without even wanting to eat. How could I get back to being okay if, with each passing day, the lack I felt for the Wards became more and more overwhelming?
I got sadder every day when I woke up and noticed that there was no call from them on my cell phone; not even Magdalena communicated with me, so she was the one who had pretended to be my friend and who was so supportive of my relationship with Garrett that even she didn't call me, and they didn't say a word for me. It was as if I simply didn't exist in their lives; maybe they thought I was just another piece of furniture in the Ward Castle, who would just stand there without questioning anyone waiting for them no matter how long they were gone, if ever they would go back to the castle. That made me more and more depressed, and having the notion that they didn't care about me enough to at least give me some news made me cover myself even more with the duvet and cry rivers.
But my friend had a plan to get me out of my boredom. It was Friday night when she came into the bedroom and caught my attention. "Lily, wake up! You can get your saggy ass out of that bed, because my friend doesn't have her life destroyed because of a man. You're being beautiful like that? Not that! Get up, because I stopped by the mall and bought you this set that will fit you perfectly. Put it on because today you and I are going to get drunk and pick up a lot of handsome men at the club!" She said this, shaking the revealing outfit in her hands that I had to wear.