Chapter 14 Friendship
I was seated in my office on Thursday afternoon, when I sighed a familiar frame walk in through the door, with the usual cheeky smile.
Carrying an oversized bag on one shoulder, sunglasses pushed up on her head even though it wasn't sunny and it haven't been in the last three days.
“Chloe.” I called out, but that came out as a whisper, probably because I was surprised she showed up.
“Heyy.” She grinned, spotting me immediately, and when she got to my desk, her grin widened. “I brought food.”
“Huh?” I raised an eyebrow, genuinely amused. Nobody told me she was coming. “How did you find my office?”
“Oh…” she chuckled. “That was simple, I just told one of the nurses at the reception, that I was your younger sister, and they directed me here.”
She shrugged, completely unbothered, and offered herself a seat.
“Tsk, you don't look anything like me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, but they didn't seem to mind.” She was already unwrapping whatever it is that she brought, that scented like something shed gotten from a good Lebanese place two streets from the mansion. “Aunty Fee said you haven't been coming home for lunch.”
“How did she know that?” I stiffled a laugh. “She's on leave to rest. And besides I eat at my desk."
"That's not eating, that's surviving." She scoffed, like it was the most unhinged she'd ever do. "There's a difference."
I glanced at her sideways, wondering exactly where Dr. Lane knew her from.
She finally finished unwrapping, and pushed the food towards me. "Eat. I already had mine at the restaurant before bringing yours.”
I couldn't reject it, mostly because my stomach has already made it's own decision.
The meal was nice, and nothing like I'd ever tasted, maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all.
We ended up in the balcony at the back of the building, it's one of my favourite places around here, yet I've never bumped into anyone here.
Chloe sat down on the bench. “So… are you going to tell me the long story, or you'd rather we do this in installments.
“Installments.”
She nodded. “Okay, let's have the first installment then.”
I looked at her, and she looked back at me, patient in a way that contradicted everything about her energy.
I don't know why I said what I said next, maybe it was the food, or the fact that she'd shown up without being asked and hadn't made it weird, or it was just that I was tired of carrying things in silence and my mouth made a decision my brain hadn't approved yet.
"I was married." I started.
Her eyes widened, then fell back to shape almost immediately. “Okay?”
"For five years, and I was gradually losing myself without knowing it, until he cheated." I said, "Not with just anybody, but with my best friend."
She was quiet for a second. Then, "Both of them?"
"Both of them?” I raised an eyebrow, clearly lost.
"At the same time or?"
"Chloe."
"Sorry." She said, and she actually meant it. "That's really horrible.”
"He served me divorce papers the morning after I caught him.” I continued, my chest doing the weird thing it was fond of doing, once again. "Before I was even out of bed, and his mother was there… she helped pack my things."
Chloe's jaw tightened slightly. She didn't say anything, just turned the container in her hands.
"I went to my parents." I chuckled. “They told me to go back and fix my home."
"Fix your…" She stopped herself. "Okay. I'm not going to say what I want to say, just keep going."
"I called Dr. Lane." A smile broke out of my lips. "She told me to come to London."
"And here you are." Chloe smiled back. "The best friend, how long?”
I shrugged. "I don't know, long enough."
"Did you have any idea?"
I thought about it honestly, the way I hadn't let myself think about it since I got here.
"There were signs." I shrugged. "I just didn't want them to be what they were.".
"What's his name?”
"Ethan." I said.
"And the best friend?"
"Clara."
She repeated both names quietly, like she was filing them somewhere specific.
"Okay." She said. "I have questions but I'll save them." She picked up her own drink. "What are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean what are you going to do." She said again, like the sentence was self explanatory. "To them, eventually."
I looked at her, and she looked back, completely serious.
"I have a folder." I said slowly.
Her eyes lit up. "What kind of folder."
"Evidence." I said. "Everything. Articles, screenshots, the wedding announcement..”
"They got married?" Her mouth fell open.
"Last month."
She made a sound that wasn't quite words. “They both deserve each other, slimy snakes.”
And just like that we were seated on a bench in a balcony at the back of a hospital in London, and I was telling Chloe about me again, like I had known her for years instead of just days.
She was sharp and witty, she seemed to know the right things to say and the perfect time to tease, and by the time we had to go back inside she had pulled out her own phone and made three notes.
"What are those?" I asked.
"Things to look into." She said simply, standing up and brushing off the back of her dress with a wince.
"Chloe…"
"I'm a social media manager Liana." She said, pushing her sunglasses back down. "This is literally what I do, I make people look good and I make other people look exactly as bad as they are." She paused. "And from what you've just told me, they've done a very good job of making themselves look bad, we just need to wait for the right time."
I stared at her, totally speechless.
She smiled, bright and unbothered.
"Come on." She laughed. “I'm pretty sure I heard one of those doctors say there's a review in an hour"
I gasped, suddenly remembering that. I stood up and together wevwalked back into the hospital, leaning me with the realization that;
While the last friend I had, had been performing friendship while stealing my life, Chloe hadn't been begged to show up today, she just did…