The beginning of a beautiful friendship

“You know I would never betray you!” His words echoed in my mind. Jake... How could he do this to me? He had promised he’d be there for me. He had promised to spend the rest of his life with me. But no! He had betrayed me. He had broken all his promises.

I stared at the mirror examining myself. I didn’t recognise the girl who looked back at me. She was thinner than ever, as if she hadn’t eaten for months! She had sad tearing eyes reflecting her broken heart. My broken heart! I didn’t recognise my own self!

“Come on Andy!” I spoke to the girl in the mirror. “How could you have changed so much?”

My life had changed rapidly over the past few weeks. I closed my eyes and imagined the first day I got her message... Sarah... That was her name. She had told me that Jake was her boyfriend and that they were having an affair. I didn’t believe it at first. But then, Jake’s behaviour explained a lot. He was seeing another girl behind my back. He wasn’t just betraying me, he was betraying Sarah too...

I had spent endless nights crying over Jake, but I had also continued to do one thing. I had kept in touch with Sarah; the girl who saved my life... from Jake. The girl, whose life was also at a risk. Jake could destroy her life too, in the same way he had destroyed mine. Jake was a player. He had betrayed me, and he could do the same thing to Sarah. I couldn’t let that happen now, could I?

All my happy memories with Jake came back to me when I knelt in front of Jesus in church on Sunday morning. I had prayed and prayed for salvation, for forgiveness, and for me to have the strength to face anything that came my way. My love for Jake would always remain the same, no matter how badly he had hurt me. And if he really did love Sarah, all I could do was to sacrifice my happiness for his, and for hers.

“I’m glad I have you to talk to,” I told Sarah one day. It was the first time we had met. “If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know where I would’ve been by now.”

“Yeah, me too,” she replied back. I stared at her eyes. I knew exactly what she was thinking. How many more girls had Jake deserted? How many girls will he desert in the future? What kind of a future would Sarah have if she really lasts with him? Would Jake always be faithful to Sarah? Did he really love her? These were questions that only God could answer. I closed my eyes and made a silent wish, for the answers to be positive for Sarah.

“Sarah, let’s be friends,” I said. “If anything goes wrong between you two, you can always count on me. I will definitely help you!”

“I don’t understand,” Sarah said, as she looked right at my eyes. “You lost Jake because of me! I took him away from you, and you still want to help me?”

I smiled. This was one thing people would never understand about me. My loyalty and protection towards the people I love. I nodded. “Yes,” I said. “I can help you.” I stared at Sarah as she gazed into my eyes, confusion written all over her face.

“Plus... It will be Christmas in a few days,” I said. “I can manage doing a few good things!”

“But...” Sarah started, but I shook my head and held her hand.

“I’m not angry with you Sarah, nothing is your fault. Jake played around with both of us, and we can’t help it. If there was one person to blame, it’s Jake. Not you, not me, not anyone else!” I smiled at her, as I watched tears curl up in her eyes.

“I can’t do this!” she said. “You love Jake!”

“So do you!” I said. “Sarah, if Jake is happy with you, then I don’t want him back. He can stay with you. You are not a bad person I know that. He’s lucky to have a girl like you.”

“But he hurt you!” she said. She was silent for a while. “You really love him a lot don’t you?”

I nodded. “Yes!” I said. “And, that’s why, I decided to leave him.” I smiled, forcing my tears to go away. Wow! I’m stronger than I thought! However Sarah had tears rolling down her cheeks. “Don’t!” I said, wiping them away. “Don’t cry for me!”

“I don’t know what to say Andy!” Sarah said, as she hugged me. A slight tear escaped the corner of my eye. I wiped it away before pulling back.

“Be happy Sarah!” I said. “And keep Jake happy.” I smiled. “Also remember, if you ever need anything, any help, any advice, simply anything in life, I’m just a phone call away!” Sarah nodded. “So what do you say? Friends?” I asked, stretching my hand towards her.

She smiled as she took my hand. “More like sisters!” she said.

I smiled to myself. This was not the end, I realised. This was just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Jake may have destroyed my life, but thanks to him, I had found a great true friend.

Sweet Betrayal

It pained my heart to think of it. Why he would do it, I did not know. Had I done anything wrong? Did I ever let him feel like I did not love him? But how could that be? After all these years together....

My heart was heating up, tears curling up in my eyes. I saw a vision of that painful memory that haunted my heart. I saw the way he hugged her, and kissed her. He had not known I was there. If he had seen me, would he have freaked out? What about the girl? Who was she? Where did she come from? Did she know everything about him? Did she know about me? or did she not? Question after question listed in my mind. I had to find the answers. I needed the answers. I had to find out why he had done this to me.

It was New Year’s Eve when we first laid eyes on each other. I had managed to stun him somehow, and he was after me through out the whole night begging for my number. Something about him attracted me. Maybe it was the way he looked at me, or the way he spoke, I did not know. He never left without my number that night. I realized that together with my number he had also taken a part of my heart away with him. Even though it was our first meeting I felt as if I've known him forever.

I couldn't believe the enthusiasm in my own voice on the very first day that he called me. I tried my best to keep my voice calm and cool, but I knew I was doing a very lousy job at it. The more I tried to sound cool, the more excited my voice seemed to be. It was not long before we started dating. We went out for movies, had dinner, and went for parties all together. We could not stay away from each other.

Tears were now rolling down my cheeks as I drowned in my memories. Seeing him with that girl in that way had completely crushed me down. My whole world had crashed in front of my eyes. She had stolen the love of my life away from my heart. Why did she do that? How could she do that? Didn't she know how I felt? I was a girl! Didn't she know how girls felt? Wasn't she a girl herself? I heard my phone ringing in a distance. I chose to ignore it. I mean... How worse could it possibly get? The phone rang and rang. A tiny little voice in my heart told me to pick it up.

In between tears, and with frustration overtaking my heart, I answered the phone. It was a girl on the other side.

"Hi," she said. Her voice sounded distant, and I felt that she too, was a bit upset over something. "I want you to know something," she said.

"Yes?" I said trying my best to sound normal.

"Your boyfriend... I need to tell you something about him," she said. I paused. Was this her? Was she calling me to ask me to back off? I felt like crying harder than ever. I did not want to hear the rest. I did not want to know what she had to say. I wanted to dash the phone on the ground and run off.

"I don't think I want to know anything!" I said. "Please leave me alone!" I could not hide the pain in my voice. My voice was giving up on me.

"You need to know!" she said. "Please don't put the phone down. Please listen to me!"

"What do you have to say?" I screamed at her. "You stole him away from me!"

"No I didn't!" she yelled back. "It was you who stole him away from me!"

I could not believe what I was hearing. We had been together for almost three years now. How could she say something like that? I stole him from her...?

"Listen to me..." she said, "You're having an affair with my husband! We got married five years ago, but fate separated us... And today, after a long hard search, I have finally found him! I thought I had lost him forever!"

"No!" I screamed. This could not be! This could not be true! "It can't be!"

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I really am! Please forgive me and my husband for everything... every tear... every problem we may have ever caused."

I felt the pain in my heart overflow. It slowly turned into hatred. After all the love and support I've given him, he destroyed my life! And she... she had not betrayed me... I had betrayed her! I felt my body go numb. My heart ached and screamed. I saw his face everywhere I looked. I closed my eyes and felt the phone slip off my fingers. With a loud thud it hit the floor. I felt my legs give up on me. I couldn't stand straight. My breath tightened, and my heartbeat was slowing down. In the same way my tears rolled down my cheeks, I felt myself falling... falling... falling... and then suddenly, everything went black!