Chapter 11 #2
“Take off this dress, please. You can’t marry someone else,” he implored in a whisper.
What? He still thought I was getting married?
I looked at him, breathless, and before I could say anything, he made me turn around and began unbuttoning the tiny buttons that ran down the back of the dress.
I noticed his hands were trembling, and just as I reacted and tried to turn to stop him from undressing me right there, Niky's voice startled us both.
“Henry? What are you doing? Get your hands off my dress, right now! If you tear it, I’ll kill you.”
He looked at me and then at his sister.
“If you don’t help her take it off right now, I swear I’ll finish taking it off myself, and I guarantee there won’t be a single button left in place,” he threatened.
“But what’s wrong with you? Have you turned into a caveman?” Niky asked, looking at him as if he had grown two heads, though I could swear she was enjoying the situation because there was an amused gleam in her eyes.
“You’re an absolute lunatic!” I exclaimed, finally coming out of my shocked state.
Holding up the dress, I began walking toward the door to get out of there as quickly as possible. I was completely confused and couldn’t understand what had just happened.
“Dalina, come back here because you owe me an explanation.”
When I heard what he said, I turned and looked at him furiously.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” I stated, and left the room, seeing how Henry wanted to follow me, but Niky grabbed his arm to stop him.
I returned to the place where I had been when Niky was adjusting the dress, feeling my entire body trembling uncontrollably.
I pressed my back against the wall for support, wrapped my arms around myself, and stood motionless, breathing with difficulty and completely bewildered.
That man was my torment, and when he was near me, he turned my world upside down.
Yes, I was weak with him and I hated being weak.
I hated myself for always succumbing to his charms.
The door opened forcefully and Niky entered with quick steps.
“Dali, I’m sorry. I always end up getting you into trouble with my brother. I swear I’m going to kill him!”
“Has he left?”
“Left? No way! He’s still outside waiting for you to come out, and I don’t think he’ll move until you do. I swear my brother has never behaved like this before, which makes me think…”
“He’s still here?!”
“Look, if you don’t want to talk to him, I can have the security guard remove him. Although I think you two should talk. I know I shouldn’t get involved, but I assure you my brother feels something strong for you. I’ve never seen him so desperate.”
“Niky, we both know what’s going on with him.
He’s a man who likes to have all women at his feet, and generally he does, and in a way, I was too…
or still am, I don’t know. In these weeks we’ve been apart, I haven’t heard from him, but he sees me in a wedding dress and thinks I’m going to marry someone else, and now he wants us to have another conversation.
I don’t believe he feels anything strong for me.
What I think is that he can’t understand why I would choose someone else over him. ”
“The same thing happened at the pub the night I got drunk. He was with another woman and didn’t seem interested in leaving her, but as soon as he saw me with Nacho, he immediately came over to ruin my night, imposing himself and pulling me away from him.”
“I understand he’s your brother and you see him differently, but you have to admit he’s someone who likes to date many women and it’s unlikely he could be with just one. You saw that the day after we separated, he was already going out with others, and I haven’t even been able to go out alone.”
“I’m sorry, Dali. I know I don’t have much defense for him, but I repeat, I’ve never seen him so upset about anything. Maybe you could have one last conversation.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I would talk to you, nothing more. I should clarify that I didn’t tell him this dress isn’t yours. He deserves to suffer a little.”
“I’m not trying to make him suffer, and I don’t think he is suffering. I just don’t want him to make me suffer.”
“That’s understandable. If you don’t want to talk to him, you can leave through that door which leads to the entrance hall and you won’t cross paths, or you can lock yourself in that dressing room with doors and I’ll tell him you left.
I don’t think he’ll doubt my word. Decide whatever seems best to you.
You have my absolute support in whatever decision you make. ”
“Thank you, Niky. I think I’ll take the less brave option, or cowardly, call it what you will. I prefer to run away rather than face him. My heart and my pride refuse to do it,” I whispered, shaking my head.
“You’re not a coward, you’re just protecting your heart, and that’s not cowardly,” she said, caressing my cheeks. “Do you love him?” she asked.
I raised my face and looked into her eyes, ready to be honest.
“I love him with all my heart, as simple and as complicated as that. Henry is my first love, and I doubt I’ll forget him easily, but I will forget him because I’m convinced that no person is insurmountable and no pain is eternal.
For him, I’m just someone to enjoy for a while; he made that clear to me.
With him, I have an expiration date, and if I accept that while being in love, it would be like serving my heart on a platter for him to crush. ”
“Damn arrogant, stupid bastard!”
“No, Niky, don’t say that. He is who he is, it’s his way of living and what makes him comfortable and secure.
The fact that we think differently doesn’t make us better.
But since he won’t change and neither will I, there’s no point in continuing to dwell on our relationship.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but your brother is the typical man a girl like me should stay away from. That’s why it’s over.”
At that moment, some knocks on the door startled us. His voice was heard from the other side.
“What’s taking so long? Dalina, if you don’t come out in five minutes, I’m coming in to get you.”
Niky looked at me seriously.
“I think you’ll have to take the dressing room option because it’s impossible for me to get you out of the dress and into your clothes in five minutes.
Come with me,” she said, took my hand and dragged me to the dressing room.
“Take your purse and your clothes and turn off your phone, just in case it rings and gives us away,” she added, while placing my things on the chair.
The dressing room was spacious and comfortable with a couple of armchairs. Niky helped me in, but I didn’t want to sit down to avoid wrinkling the dress.
“I’m going to sit calmly at my desk and wait for my caveman brother to break down the front door. You stay calm and lock this one,” she said, before closing the dressing room door.
I really felt bad doing all this. On one hand, I didn’t like that Niky had to lie for me, and on the other, I also felt like a liar and a traitor, but I couldn’t face him.
My heart, my mind, and my body always surrendered when they were near him, and I didn’t want to go through that anymore.
While my head was racing with thoughts about what had happened that day, I heard his voice again.
“Dalina, come out now.”
“You can come in,” said Niky.
I heard the noise of the door opening and his footsteps as he entered. Being locked up in the dark seemed to have sharpened my senses, and I could hear even their breathing.
“Where is she?” he asked, with a serious and authoritative voice.
“She left,” Niky responded, with absolute calm.
“What? What do you mean she left?” he asked, raising his voice.
“She left through that door. Stop shouting and sit down because you won’t catch up with her. She already got into her car and is heading to her hotel… or maybe she’s going somewhere else, I didn’t ask.”
“I can’t believe you did this to me. I’m your brother! Why did you betray me?”
“Because Dalina is my friend and I don’t want you to keep bothering her. Can’t you see she wants you to leave her alone?”
“Don’t get involved in this, Niky.”
“I will, because even though you’re my brother, this time I’m going to take Dalina’s side because I don’t want her to suffer,” she stated with determination.
“I’m not going to make her suffer, I just want to talk to her,” he said, and at that moment his voice seemed to be that of a defeated person.
“Why, Henry? Give me one good reason to help you with her and I swear I will, but so far you haven’t given me any option but to try to keep her away from you.”
At that moment they fell silent and I held my breath waiting for his answer.
“I don’t know,” he said after a few seconds, and I exhaled, defeated.
“That’s not the answer I was expecting,” Niky admitted. “Let me tell you, little brother, I thought Dali was important to you, but it’s clear that all you want is the same thing you want from all your ‘friends’ and...”
“It’s not like that,” he interrupted.
“Then tell me what you want. Dalina is a sweet, charming, good person and I don’t want you to make her suffer.”
“And you don’t care if I suffer?” he asked, and my heart stopped, because that question suggested that Henry might actually feel something for me.
“Of course I care, but are you suffering? Are you in love with Dalina? Because so far it hasn’t seemed that way. I remind you that in these last few days you’ve been with more women than…”
“I don’t know,” he said again.
“What is it that you don’t know?” she pressed.
“I don’t know what I feel for her, but she’s special,” he finally said, and it seemed that saying it took a great effort.
“Having doubts is a big step.”
“But she’s getting married, Niky. Until two weeks ago she was with me and now she’s marrying someone else.”
“She’s not getting married,” Niky stated.
“What?”