Chapter 15 #2
It was Friday evening and the hotel was very lively. I asked my brothers to give me time to take a shower, and then I would meet them to go to dinner. As soon as I got to the suite, I sent Sean a message to let him know I had arrived safely.
“I arrived safely, handsome.
Behave yourself and study hard.
Good luck on your exams.
Love you?
His response came immediately:
?Thank you for your visit.
I love you more…
But you already know that ?
Since he had confessed his love to me, he had started saying the phrase ?I love you more? and the good thing was that he said it with a mischievous smile, which reassured me that we could take it naturally and that our friendship wouldn’t be damaged.
After taking a long hot shower, I put on a white sleeveless dress and high-heeled sandals. It was early December and the temperature in Uruguay was high, and that particular day was very hot.
I had asked my brothers to have dinner at the hotel because I was quite tired and didn’t feel like going out.
We met at the hotel restaurant and had a very pleasant time. I knew they wanted to ask me questions, so I decided not to avoid them.
“I suppose if you’re here it’s because you’ve made a decision about Woollardy,” Lolo stated.
“That’s right. Henry and I have talked very little, he respected the time I asked for. If he doesn’t call me, I won’t call him either because we both understand what that means.”
“And if he calls?” Bastián asked.
“If that happens, then we’ll talk, though I suppose we’ve already said everything there was to say. Do you know if anything else has come up these days about what was done to him?”
“Nothing is known,” Bastián said. “I know he’s investigating on his own and we’re doing the same, but it’s clear that none of us have had any results.”
“Speaking of that, Dali, we’re going to ask you not to leave the hotel alone,” Lolo said.
“Please don’t start with that,” I begged.
“It’s not a joke, Dali, we’re talking about someone who acts like a professional and of whom we don’t have a single clue. If you need to go out, we can accompany you.”
“This weekend I don’t plan to move from here, but know that I’m not going to stay locked up until they catch that criminal.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Lolo said.
“Yes, we’ll talk about it later, but I’m not going to compromise. I’m your older brother and you’re going to have to obey me,” Bastián clarified.
“And I’m not a child you can tell what she can or cannot do.”
“I know, it’s a request, I imagine you realize this is a delicate situation. If they drugged your boyfriend, well, ex-boyfriend, and he didn’t notice anything, I don’t want to imagine what they could do to you.”
I huffed, exasperated. I could already imagine those two being my shadow, but I didn’t say anything else because they were capable of hiring a bodyguard to stay by my side.
When I got to the suite I was exhausted, but being there, in my bed, made my mood plummet. I remembered having him by my side, sleeping in his arms, making love…I shook my head trying to get rid of those images, I couldn’t go on like this, I had to do my part to forget.
As I was opening the book I had chosen to read, my phone rang. It was Niky calling.
“Niky,” I greeted.
“Daliii, how are you? Forgive me for the hour, I always forget to calculate the time difference. I don’t know exactly where you are, but you’ve already made it clear that we have several hours of difference, I apologize. I was about to hang up when you answered,” she said, regretfully.
“Don’t worry, I’m in Uruguay. I arrived a few hours ago and...”
“How wonderful!” she exclaimed, not letting me finish my sentence, she was always that effusive. “You can’t imagine how much I miss you, I want to see you, to talk, to go out together and have fun.”
“I miss you too. But let me tell you that my brothers got really annoying today and don’t want me to go out alone anywhere because of this situation we went through with your brother.”
“Well, I’ll tell you they’re not so wrong, I’m still worried about my brother. I wish I could do something to keep him from going out so much,” she said, not realizing that with that phrase she was giving me a lot of information.
Now I knew that Henry was going out and continuing with his life, which made it easy to guess that he wasn’t going to call me anymore.
I knew it was for the best because, if we had the chance to talk, that’s what I was planning to suggest, but I must admit that a lump formed in my throat and my heart clenched.
So Niky wouldn’t notice my state of mind, I made an effort to compose myself and continue speaking naturally.
“Do you think that person still wants to harm him?” I asked, concerned.
“I don’t know, Dali, but why expose himself? He should be more careful, but he’s so stubborn!”
“I hope they find that person as soon as possible,” I wished aloud from my heart, because I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to Henry.
“The only thing that gives me peace of mind in Henry’s case is that his friend Waylon is always by his side.
He feels so guilty about what happened that they always go out together now.
Lisandro, being married, can’t keep up with them because those two don’t take a single night off.
But let’s change the subject—since they won’t let you go out, if you want, I could come by tomorrow and we can catch up. ”
“That sounds great.”
“I have a lot of work, but I can be there around seven in the evening. Does that work for you?”
“Come whenever you want, I’ll be here.”
“Alright, see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I put the phone on the nightstand and got up.
I went to get my guitar, needing to play something and lose myself in it.
I began to play and sing “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer.
When I finished, I felt a little calmer.
It seemed I had managed to release everything that was boiling inside me—whether it was anguish, anger, unease, pain, frustration, or whatever it was.
I released everything I had inside through singing and playing the guitar.
When I returned to bed I was a little calmer, but looking at the empty side where Henry always slept was torment.
“God, mom, help me forget, pleeeease! I need to forget him, it hurts so much, it hurts too much,” I shouted into the emptiness.
I rested my head on the pillow and stayed like that, staring at the ceiling. At some point I had to fall asleep; I needed to sleep so my mind would stop thinking and I could rest. Sometime in the early morning, sleep finally overcame me.
On Saturday I got up and went to the office.
Even though I didn’t work on weekends, I wanted to stop by and catch up on some pending work.
I immersed myself in work and forgot about the world.
When I realized it, several hours had passed and I hadn’t even eaten anything.
It was five in the afternoon and I was still locked in the office.
Since Niky was visiting that evening, I decided to leave what I was doing and return to the suite.
I prepared something to eat and sat on the balcony to enjoy the fresh air.
Then I took a shower and put on shorts and a sleeveless blouse.
At seven o’clock sharp, my friend knocked on the door.
As soon as I opened it, she threw herself at me.
“Daliiiii, I was so eager to see you!”
“Me too. How are you?”
“Swamped with work, which is good, but I’m exhausted,” she said, heading to the couch to put down her bag and sit.
“I have a lot of pending things too. I was working today and just got back a little while ago. I need to catch up,” I said, sitting beside her.
“Can you tell me now where you were? Because I knew we had a time difference but I had no idea where you’d gone.”
“I was in Paris. My friend Sean lives there and I went to spend a few days with him.”
“Are you just friends?” she asked, very curiously.
“Sean is like a brother to me.”
“And did you have a good time?”
“As good as I could have,” I replied, not wanting to go into details.
“Can I ask you a question about your relationship with Henry?”
“You can, although I’d prefer if you didn’t tell me about his life. It’s better not to know,” I requested.
“Why didn’t you get back together? Because I imagined that after finding out my brother hadn’t betrayed you, your relationship would continue.”
I sighed and tried to find the right words to explain what I felt. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to find them, but the heart is good at finding words to express itself, so I decided to let my heart speak.
“Everything we went through made me reflect on our relationship. It might be difficult to understand, but I realized I didn’t feel right in our partnership.
Something was missing—maybe it was the lack of love on his part or trust on mine, but something wasn’t right.
Your brother has a long list of women he used to date, and I was sure they must still be in contact.
In fact, one night when we went out for dinner, we ran into a friend of his who asked him to call her. ”
“And what did Henry say?” she asked, surprised.
“He didn’t say anything. He had already introduced me as his girlfriend, but that fact didn’t stop her from continuing to seduce him and reminding him ‘how good they were together.’ She even had the nerve to mock me by calling me a ‘little girl.’ But that’s not all—the night all that drama happened, that same woman sent him a message with a very provocative photo of herself where she again reminded him how good they were together. ”
“And Henry didn’t say anything?” she asked again.