Chapter 10 #5
Making a great effort, we went down the stairs, though we couldn’t stop laughing. When we got out to the street, the air cleared my head a bit, although I still couldn’t control my laughter. The door of a car parked a few meters from us opened, and the cause of all my troubles got out.
“Uh-oh, here comes Mr. Congeniality,” I said, without stopping laughing.
“And he sure looks congenial,” said Sylvia, and we both burst out laughing, because Cavaller’s seriousness was deadly.
“What’s he doing? Is he coming over here?” asked Orson, without a hint of humor.
“It seems like it,” said Sylvia.
“That man doesn’t value his life,” I said, and at that moment I stumbled and had to grab Sylvia’s arm.
Cavaller came up to us and looked at me seriously.
“Are you drunk?” he asked incredulously.
“It’s none of your business,” said Orson, answering for me.
“I’m not talking to you,” Cavaller countered.
“Mr. Cavaller, as my dear friend Orson rightly told you, my condition is none of your business. You’d better go back to your car and...”
“Get in my car and I’ll take you to your building.”
I looked at Sylvia and Orson who were looking at me, not knowing what to do.
“Am I being clear or is my drinking making it hard to understand what I’m saying?” I said ironically.
“I understand you perfectly clearly,” said Orson, but Sylvia was looking at us and seemed to have gone mute.
“Devon, don’t make me lose my patience and get in my car. You can’t drive in that state.”
“Enough! I’m going to hail a taxi and…” I started walking and, between my drunkenness and high heels, I had a mishap and stumbled again, but this time my body headed inevitably toward the arms of the last man I would choose to collide with.
“What the hell!” he exclaimed, and in a second he lifted me up and began walking with me in his arms.
“Put me down!” I shouted.
“Put her down!” Orson shouted, blocking his path.
“Don’t get involved in our business,” Cavaller said, glaring at him.
“Our business? We don’t have any business together!” I exclaimed.
“Keep quiet,” he told me.
“I’m warning you, Cavaller, leave her alone or I assure you you’ll regret it.”
I was terrified when I noticed my friend was ready for anything. The last thing I wanted was for them to end up fighting because of me. So, I tried to calm down and defuse the situation.
“Orson, it’s okay. Don’t worry. I’ll let Cavaller take me home. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“Very well. Let me know as soon as you get home.”
“I will.”
Cavaller, who had continued walking with me in his arms, opened the passenger door of his car and sat me in the seat. Then he walked around the car and got in.
“What is this spectacle supposed to be, Cavaller?” I asked, furious.
“William.”
“I’ll call you whatever I want. Tell me what this means. I warn you that I allowed you to take me because I didn’t want you to have problems with my friend, but…”
“I wasn’t going to have problems with your friend; if anything, he was the one who would have had problems.”
“And there it is, ‘Mr. Conceited.’”
“Mr. what?” he asked, looking at me seriously.
“That’s what you are! A pedantic, arrogant, and vain man who can’t stand being contradicted,” I exclaimed, without controlling what I was saying.
“So that’s what you think of me,” he said, thoughtfully, but continued driving calmly.
For several minutes we remained silent; he was the one who broke it.
“Why didn’t you call me these past days? We had agreed on that.”
“I don’t want to talk about that. And I’ll make it clear that I’m not going to call you ever and I don’t want to see you again.”
He looked at me but said nothing, and that’s how it continued until we reached my building. He parked at the entrance and got out.
“It’s not necessary for you to get out. I appreciate your kindness in bringing me,” I said sarcastically. “Goodbye, Cavaller.”
I headed toward the building entrance and he followed me.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to talk,” he said, looking at me seriously.
“Are you dense or deaf today? I told you I don’t want to…” With a finger pressed to my lips, he prevented me from continuing.
“I see that today I’ve managed to bring out the worst in you. Perhaps it would be good for you to vent and throw in my face everything that’s bothering you, because it’s obvious you’re upset about something.”
I sighed. The drunkenness had completely worn off.
“Cavaller, I don’t want to talk to you. I’m tired and I want to get into bed.”
“That makes two of us,” he said, and I noticed the corner of his lips rising in a... smile?
What was he finding amusing?
“What?”
“Open the door; the doorman is watching us.”
“You’re not going to leave, are you?” I stated, resigned.
“Not until we talk.”
“Very well. But I’m making it clear that after this conversation, I don’t want anything more to do with you,” I said, and opened the door as we entered the building.
We greeted the doorman who was watching us without pretense and headed toward the elevators. We made the elevator journey in silence, though he kept observing me.
“We’re here now, tell me what you have to say,” I requested, placing my clutch on the sofa and sitting in one of the individual armchairs.
“May I sit down?”
“Go ahead.”
He sat on the long sofa and looked at me seriously.
“I want to know why you didn’t call me. We had agreed on that. Didn’t you want to see me?”
“As I told you, I was busy.”
“Stop addressing me formally,” he ordered, but I decided to ignore his authoritarianism to focus on what he was asking. “And don’t give me the excuse of lack of time because you went out with your friends, which leads me to conclude that you preferred to meet with them rather than with me.”
“From what I saw, you also had plans for today, so I don’t understand the reproach,” I pointed out, finally starting to use the informal ‘you’ with him. “Besides, if you were interested in seeing me, you could have called me too.”
“That’s true, but we had agreed that you would do it.”
I thought about what he had said, not understanding his reproach because it was evident that he was seeing other women.
If what he wanted was to have a harem of women at his disposal, all willing to feel honored to satisfy him, he would have to wait sitting down with me, and even sitting he would get tired because I wasn’t crazy enough to get into that kind of relationship.
“Very well, then I’ll make something clear.
I’ve been thinking it over and I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your proposal,” I stated, as delicately as possible so as not to hurt his male pride, though it was unlikely he wouldn’t feel offended because a man like him probably wasn’t used to being told no.
For a moment I could glimpse his disappointed expression, but he immediately changed it to his characteristic look of arrogance.
“Are you telling me you don’t want us to be lovers?”
“I’m saying that what you’re proposing doesn’t work for me.”
“And may I know why you changed your mind?” he asked, somewhat ironically.
I sighed. There was no point in lying to him or making up a stupid excuse, we were both adults. Better to be clear.
“I understand that ours was going to be an affair, but I had thought it would be just you and me in that affair. Today I realized I was wrong and that you would also be seeing other women,” I confessed, making a face that showed my displeasure.
“I was naive, I know, and I’m sorry for that because I said yes to something I’m now unwilling to do, I’m sorry.
I don’t accept you leaving my bed and getting into others, nor do I accept seeing you with other women, that’s not for me.
Having said that and cleared up the misunderstanding, I have nothing more to say,” I indicated, standing up, as I no longer wanted him in my apartment because it tormented me to see him and know I wouldn’t be with him again.
William looked at me seriously, I don’t think he even blinked.
“Sit down because I haven’t yet said what I think,” he ordered, and at this point in the night I was already tired of his commanding tone.
“Stop giving me orders, you have the bad habit of ordering instead of asking for things and it’s very annoying.”
“Sit down,” he repeated, ignoring my comment.
I huffed and sat back down in the chair I had been in because there was no point in contradicting him, this man was insufferable. I noticed he raised an eyebrow when he heard my huff, but he didn’t say anything.
“Why did you think our relationship was going to be monogamous?”
“Because I’ve never been in an open relationship,” I stated, “and I never would be.”
“Why?”
“I already told you, because I don’t like sharing my partner, who in your case would just be the man I have sex with, though that doesn’t change what I think.”
Again he fell silent, though he didn’t take his eyes off mine.
“I never said we would be in an open relationship, you came to that conclusion all by yourself.”
“I came to it after seeing you with a woman, I think that’s more of a fact than an assumption.”
“But you didn’t call me and I thought you weren’t going to,” he defended himself, though his defense was terrible.
“William, only four days had passed since you’d been in my bed, four measly days and you were already with someone else. I’m sure you weren’t planning to be faithful to me, because it’s obvious that fidelity isn’t your thing. I’m not going to risk it with you because I know I’ll end up losing.”
“Losing? And what would you lose?” he asked, annoyed and even sarcastic.
“My dignity, because I’d be accepting things I don’t like,” I stated with conviction.
“From my point of view, you’d only be winning because I’m going to give you a lot of pleasure,” he said seductively and tried to come closer.
“No, William. I’m not going to change my way of thinking nor do I intend to convince you that what I think is right.
I’m not judging you, everyone is how they are, and I’m not going to change.
I went through many storms to find peace, and I don’t want to put myself back in the eye of the hurricane,” I said, emphasizing it by shaking my head.
“Are you saying you consider me a hurricane in your life?” he asked, incredulous.
“Something like that.”
“And if I told you I wasn’t on a date? Would you believe me?” he asked.
For a few seconds I stared at him with narrowed eyes. Did he really think I was that stupid?
“No,” I finally said, because I didn’t trust him and I was sure that woman was one of his many lovers.
“You wouldn’t believe me,” he affirmed, looking at me with... disappointment?
“I don’t find you a trustworthy man,” I stated, and he shook his head.
“Is that your final word?” he asked, annoyed and standing up.
“Yes.”
I stood up too, though I felt a tightness in my chest and a lump in my throat that made it difficult to breathe normally. Why the hell did I feel this way?
“May I ask that you allow me to see Aurora again? Only if she wants to, of course.”
“I think it’s better if you don’t see each other anymore,” he stated in a low, deep, and somber tone.
“I understand,” I said, though the discomfort in my chest intensified. “Goodbye, William. I wish you the best.”
“Dr. Dulcet.” That was his cold farewell. He looked at me, turned toward the door, and left my apartment.
When the door closed, I had to sit down because my legs could no longer support me. I felt an uneasiness growing inside me at an alarming rate, transforming into a vast and absolute emptiness, a distress that became more unbearable with each passing second.
“Why do I feel like shit?” I asked myself aloud.
I wouldn’t see them again, neither him nor Aurora. It hurt; I had grown very fond of that little girl, but I couldn’t ignore her father’s decision.
Focus, Devon. You have to move forward, I tried to encourage myself, but I failed.
I stood up and dragged myself to the bedroom to collapse on the bed.
I lay there staring at the ceiling of the dark room.
When I closed my eyes, images of him in my bed kissing and caressing me flooded back into my mind.
I opened them again. I didn’t want to think about him anymore.
Period. End of the story with William Cavaller.