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What I can’t decide is the reason why I’m pushing him tonight. Is it because I want him back or to use his actions as an excuse to kick him out of my life, which has suddenly become colorful ever since he came back in it?
His domineering command just called out to my defiant side and I decided I was going to let him simmer in jealousy. It’s not like he can find me, since he doesn’t know where I’m going or with whom.
I don’t know what my non-answer told him nor do I crave to know.
When I arrive at the family-owned restaurant, Shammi is already waiting for me at our usual table in the back and gives a wave upon seeing me. I plump down across from him and just as I was afraid, he bombards me with an interrogation.
“What does that boy mean to you, kid?”
I go for acting innocent. “What boy?”
“You trying to fool me?”
“He’s my ex-husband. I mean, ex-fake husband.” Shammi quirks one wrinkled eyebrow in equal parts curiosity and amusement. I sigh loudly. “It’s complicated and a long story that ends with my heart being broken.”
“He’s here to win you back.”
“He says he’ll wait as long as he has to,” I share, and then nervously ask, “he doesn’t mean it, right? Nobody waits for long and everyone eventually moves on.”
Shammi’s expression softens before he quietly probes, “Tell me everything first.”
Even though it’s painful, I tell Shammi the whole story from the very beginning and once I begin, the words and all the emotions I held inside come pouring out like a river. All the while, he quietly listens without interrupting, no expression giving away his inner thoughts. When I finish, he’s quiet for a long time and when he speaks, it’s not what I expect to hear.
“Did I ever tell you how I met my wife?”
I frown and sit back. I only know they were married for a short time and she passed away a few years ago. “No. You haven’t.”
“The first time I met her was before my very first tour in the army. She studied in an all-girls college across from my training base and both of us had sneaked out one night with our respective friends. Our groups collided at a bonfire party and it was love at first sight. I know you kids these days don’t believe in it but it happens and it exists for a few lucky ones. Sometimes, two people’s souls click and they are bound forever. My wife was that person for me and it was the same for her. We spent that whole night talking and laughing and learning everything about each other.” His voice drips with something more powerful than love. The soulmate kind of love. I listen attentively as he continues.
“When morning came, I had to return to my base, but I knew I needed to see her again and that she was the one. But cellphones didn’t exist like they do now and I couldn’t just ask for her number. Letters were our only mode of communication. We promised we were going to make it work and for months, we did until it was time for my first tour. We were too young to get married and I didn’t have any money in my name back then. So, of course, I couldn’t ask her parents for her hand in marriage. I promised I would do it once I returned.
“In the beginning, we exchanged letters, the one thing that kept me going through the toughest times, but one day, they went unanswered. I was devastated and when I came back, I found out she had died and that her parents had moved.”
“What?” I ask, aghast.
He gives a shaky smile, tears stinging in his eyes, but he pushes through. “She wasn’t, of course, but that’s what her family wanted me to believe and they had told her vice versa. They didn’t want her marrying a poor man, so they lied. But when two people are meant to be, they find their way back to each other, and we did, twenty-five years later at a crowded restaurant. It was her voice and soulful eyes that I recognized her by. The moment our gazes clashed, I knew she hadn’t forgotten me either. At first, I thought I had died and was dreaming as we stood still. I never cried, not even when I found out I lost her, but that day, I wept. It was such a surreal moment. When we talked, it was like no time had passed but the trauma we went through ran deep. I had never married while she was divorced with a son. Since then, we have been inseparable. She confronted her family, who still didn’t accept us, but I wasn’t letting her go again and I married her the next day.”
My cheeks are soaked with tears as I hear his heartbreaking story. I can’t imagine the agony he’s been through. What if he never met her again?
The mere thought of Dash being ripped away, gone forever from my life, has my throat closing and darkness swarming my vision. The ache in my chest is so terrifying and vivid that I feel like I’ll pass out.
I suddenly understand why Shammi told me this as I meet his own glistening eyes. Giving me a small smile, he grabs my hand with his wrinkled and warm ones.
“Life is too short to live in the past, sweet Bianca,” he says. “Everyone makes mistakes and, yes, that boy made the worst by lying to you, even if he did so because in his broken way he loved you. It is inexcusable. But you have to ask yourself, is it worth punishing him for it for the rest of your life when you could be spending it happily living together? Because that boy will spend his whole life for another chance, taking every punishment you give him. You are his soulmate and I know this because he looks at you like I did at my wife.”
“I’m scared.” My voice is small.
He caresses my hand and squeezes. “That’s love, kid. It is scary, exhilarating, and magical once you fall. It’s also the greatest gift. Yours is waiting with his arms wide open. Be brave to take the jump.”
Shammi lets my hand go just as I feelhimbehind me.
Chapter Seventy
DASH
The stubborn little minx really went on a fucking date.
And I know why. It’s because I saw the necklace with the key I gave her.
