02

Haven stood near the doorway, dumbstruck. She didn’t know what was happening to her! She got back to her senses when someone shakes her by her shoulder. She looks at him, expressionless.

James, her boyfriend of 3 years and lover, was having early morning sex with his colleague on his bed. Haven couldn’t believe her eyes. She hoped this was a bad dream.

He downright cheated on her.

Haven looked around his room. Their clothes and accessories were discarded everywhere on the floor. The woman, Ashley, with whom her boyfriend was having sex with, was still on his bed, naked. She made no efforts to cover her bareness.

“Haven,” James whispered.

Haven turned to him and said one thing, “We’re done.”

She left his apartment immediately grabbing her bag. He could only follow her until his door because of his nakedness.

All the tears she had held until she came out of his place, rolled down like waterfalls. She held her chest and crouched down in the elevator. Her head leaned onto the elevator wall to support herself from falling down. There was no end or pause for her tears for even a second.

The watchman’s variedness made sense to her now. He was aware of James’ activities.

She forcefully got up and walked toward the watchman. She stood in front of his desk with crossed arms, pretending to be strong.

“So you knew it?” she questioned him.

He could not miss the hint of tears in her eyes. He replied, “I don’t know anything. I only saw Mr. Cross coming home late last night with a woman. It was dark. I thought it might be you. But when I saw you in the morning, I realized it wasn’t you.”

Haven didn’t believe him. She could no longer trust anyone.

She left an enormous sigh before walking out of the building and got into her car.

Haven’s tears flowed with no restraints even as she drove. At one point, she had to stop the car by the roadside because her vision was blurred by her tears.

When she tried to restart the engine, the fuel gauge made a sound indicating it was empty. It seemed like the world was against her today.

She got out of the car and walked to the nearby gas station. She spoke to the owner and asked if anyone could help her with getting into the car and fill the gas. But her luck had an ulterior motive. They didn’t own a tow truck or anything of that sort.

She felt dejected with all of the things happening in her life today.

She ran out of the station and went to the public restroom which was by its side. She sat in one of the stalls and cried. Other people outside the bathroom could hear her wailing.

After some time she walked out of the washroom. And silently walked towards her car. As she reached her car, fresh tears made its way from her eyes. How will she even go home now!

She leaned her forehead to her car door and cried.

“Excuse me?” she heard a man’s voice behind her. But she was too tired to turn around and look at him.

“What?” she asked, wiping her tears.

“Is there anything I can help with?” he asked.

“My car no have gas. Me… no going... home,” she said, least bothered about her improper sentences.

The man chuckled and said, “I can help you with it. I’ve got a truck.”

She didn’t feel the relief and happiness that she was supposed to feel. She just went inside her car and sat in front of the steering wheel.

The guy made some mechanical connections between his truck and her car and started the engine of his truck.

By the time they reached the gas station, Haven had dozed off to sleep. She was tired of all the crying and wailing she had done since the morning.

The man thought how careless this girl was to sleep like this in her car. He filled her car with gas. He looked inside her car for her purse to get her address. And succeeded in it pretty quickly. He drove his truck towards her house and parked her car in front of her gate and undid the mechanical connection between his truck and her car.

He had done a quite decent job by dropping her off to her home. And he had nothing to do with this woman. So he drove away.

Haven slept for a good 1 hour after reaching home. She woke up when she heard her phone ring. Her phone was lying on the passenger seat of her car. She looked at the caller ID. It was her father.

She cleared her clouded throat and picked the call, “Hello.”

“Hello, Baby,” came her father’s voice from the other side.

“Hi, Papa,”

“How are you, Honey? How was your day? Did you both enjoy your big day?” he asked, curiously. Although he wasn’t sure about Haven’s relationship with James, he couldn’t say no to his daughter’s wish. He had no habit of saying no to his daughter.

The memories from this morning flashed inside her head. She didn’t know what to tell her parents. She didn’t know if she should just say the truth. Her father could travel to New York right away and kill James. After all, he is an army veteran.

Although Haven wanted to hurt James, she couldn’t get herself to tell her parents about him just yet.

“It was.. good,”

“I hope it did and he is treating you well.”

“Yes, Papa, he is,”

Haven felt more sad and angry at herself for disappointing her parents. And wondered how disappointed her parents would be about her when they get to know about what has happened. She had no clue about how and when she was going to tell them about it.

They spoke for some time until she felt she couldn’t talk anymore. She was very tired and had no energy. She had not eaten anything from the morning. She said bye to her father and disconnected the call.

She leaned into the seat and sighed. Tears still strolled down her cheeks. All of her dreams about her’s and James’ future was shattered in a moment. She suddenly started regretting entering his apartment by using the password. She thought she shouldn’t have done that and waited for him to open the door. The heartbreak would have been postponed for some time. This was so sudden and out of the blue. She didn’t see this coming from anywhere. James had always made time for her whenever she wanted to see him. He always was there with her, for her happy times, like birthdays and promotions at work.

She even considered the possibility of James getting bored with her. So that might be the reason for him to cheat on her. She tried to take the blame on herself.

She sidetracked her thoughts to the back of her head. And grabbed her purse and went inside her home. She didn’t know what will her future be from now on. The future she had planned for a long time was now down the drain.