Josiah?

~ Ivy ~

It's been an hour since the party started, I was sitting at the pool side looking at the sky full of stars and moon.

"I am so lonely and sad! Mother, I miss you..." I whispered, sighing.

Then I felt someone's presence behind me.

I turned around to see Josiah.

I froze.

It had to be a dream.

"Why are you here all alone?", he asked.

"I...I..."

I didn't know what to say.

I hadn't seen him for years, and now….

What if he…..

"You feel like it is not your place?" He asked so politely that I couldn't help but nod.

"Ah! I've known you for too long ivy, you don't like parties”he said as he sat beside me looking at the sky.

"Josiah….. you…. It's…" I stuttered. I didn't know exactly what to say to him, didn't know how to tell him how much it had hurt me that he abandoned me for years, how I had waited for him each passing day, and now here he was, acting so casual about things.

He looked into my eyes briefly just for a moment.

"You should enjoy the party ivy, afterall it's being held for your sake",

he flatly stated making me speechless.

He knew I was married.

"What? Are you surprised? Yeah I know you're already married to Peter, no need to try to explain.” he said, a wave of sadness crossed his face.

More sad than me.

He was as handsome as Peter.

But Peter was more handsome than him just a little bit.

Peter's eyes gave it away.

"Josiah you left me, you cut me off, didn't I mean anything to you? What about our relationship? What about us? You gave up on what we had.” I said, suppressing my sadness, he has showed up unexpectedly, he didn't even sound guilty, neither did he ask for forgiveness, did he really think I didn't matter that much?

He gave a weak smile.

“Ivy, I don't think an apology can solve what I've done to you, I know how much I've hurt you, but believe me, I didn't do any of that on purpose, I really wanna explain everything to you, I will, when the time is right.”

I looked up at him. “Did you know how much I waited for you?” My eyes were welling up.

He held my hands but I immediately pulled away.

“Don't…..”

He sighed. “Ivy I will explain everything when I get the chance to, I promise, but I never left you, I was just….”he paused. “I was just confused… I don't know what happened..”

I laughed.

“Oh- so that was it? Is that an excuse to hurt me? At least say something, why exactly did you do that to me? You abandoned me for years Josiah, for years!” A tear stained my cheeks.

"Give me a chance, I will explain, I promise… but now isn't the right time, I will find the perfect opportunity to explain, you have every right to be mad at me, I don't expect you to forgive me easily, just trust me, I promise.”

I felt to weak to argue, I had missed Josiah, he was my first love, I had dreams of us being together, if only he has showed up earlier, maybe I wouldn't be in this situation with Peter, but it was already too late, I didn't know how to react, I just buried my face in my palms and sighed.

I felt his palm on my shoulder, I didn't brush it off, I just raised my head and stared at him.

And suddenly, he pulled me into his chest.

I didn't push him away, I just melted against him and relaxed, letting out all my tension.

I didn't care if it would last for only a minute, I just wanted to enjoy the moment.

I felt relieved.

Free and happy.

That was when I realized just how much damage Peter had done to me within this short while.