“Oh,” said Millie as she adjusted her glasses. “He’s not coming. Don’t waste your time waiting for him. It’s useless.”
“You mean, Nick stood me up?” The realization came slowly to me. Millie simply shrugged, but didn’t respond.
Suddenly, anger and humiliation boiled inside me. I furiously dialed his phone number.
I heard the ringtone in the background. It was connected. When the rings stopped, I opened my mouth to scold him but choke on my words as I heard the voicemail on the other line.
“He hung up?” I turned to Millie and showed her my phone screen in disbelief. “How dare he hang up on me!”
She raised her eyebrows and looked at me, as if it had nothing to do with her.
At first impression, Nick seemed more like a sweet and innocent guy, but suddenly he was different. His bad attitude caused my annoyance. I quickly stood up and wore my jacket. “Get the car ready. I will not let him get away that easily.”
“Where are we going?” asked Millie.
“To his office.”
Millie and I were there the entire afternoon.
At seven in the evening, a man opened the door and switched the light on as Nick walked in. It was so bright that I could see his face clearly. Nick stood there with a startled look.
We looked at one another for a few seconds before he took off his coat and hung it on a hanger. He walked to his desk and asked his secretary for two cups of hot water.
“You looked happy. I bet you’ve got yourself a deal in a multi-million-dollar project. We should celebrate it over a glass of wine instead of plain water,” I scoffed.
He paused and glanced up at me from his chair. “Don’t mock me,” he retorted.
I sneered at him. “You’ve changed so much. You’re as bold as brass now. Not only you stood me up, but you also ignored my call. I believe this little mocking is trivial to you,” I said solemnly.
We stared at each other. The tension was so thick in that big room.
Suddenly, a knock on the door broke our tense silence. His secretary brought our drinks in and placed it down on the table before she left the three of us in silence again.
Shortly after, Nick sighed in exasperation. “What do you want?” he asked as his gaze shifted away from me.
“I should be the one to ask that! What are you trying to do?” I finally vented out my anger. “When did you last go home? Have you ever held your own son?”
His face darkened when I talked of his son. “What did Rose tell you?”
“Nothing. I just noticed that you’re not by her side after she gave birth. And worse, you left her alone at home when she needed you the most. Isn’t that too cruel of you? You are her husband, the only one whom she can rely on.”
He simply stared at me stubbornly. There were no signs of willingness to compromise.
As a person who had experienced similar emotions, I was very sure that guilt and self-blame trickled through him when he thought of Rose.
The root cause of suffering, longing, and yearning was because he felt separated from his loved one. The gentle man I knew was gone.
Knowing how harsh I sounded earlier, I slowly calmed myself down. “Are you hiding something from her? Is that why…”
“No,” he cut me off before I could finish my question. “I hate keeping things on the surface level. That’s why I chose to open up with her about everything, including the past and my relationship with Jackson. I just figured it was the right decision to end things with her.”
He met my gaze with much determination, as if he was ready to fight anything that got in his way.
I was incredulous at his decision to end his one-year marriage.
