Leah had always dreamt of a love where everything was perfect. A relationship where she found solace in her partner. A relationship where she just had to live and be loved. That was the love Leah always dreamt of but nature had something entirely different in store for her.
She peered out the window in the hopes that he will at least make a change of heart and come back for her. Her perfect Josh wouldn’t end things with her just because according to him, she no longer fit into what he called his ‘ideal date’. She began to replay the scene in her mind.
“Babe, what’s up with your hairdo? You look like someone who just had gum stuck in your hair and your dog assisted in helping you take it off” She had said to him and his response to her attempt at a joke had been “Really? I decide to get a new haircut and that’s all you have to say?”
“You know what, I think it’s time we called it quits.”
“Babe?” Leah who had been whisking the batter to make pancakes, paused dramatically and raised her head to look at his face just so she could ascertain whether he was joking as well. But the look on his face said otherwise.
“You’re no longer my ideal date so what’s my reason keeping you around. I’m ending it here” Josh had said and turned around for the door, leaving a stupefied Leah to herself.
For the first time, overdramatic Leah was speechless. She still found it hard to believe that her relationship which was envied by all just came to an end.
When she regained her senses, she ran to the door. hoping to at least find him with something that indicated it was all a prank. She checked the parking lot for his car just incase he decided to recreate one of those scenes in those cheesy dramas where the guy asks the girl to break up with him, only for him to go down on his knees and ask her to marry him instead.
But life wasn’t a kdrama.
He was gone.
And she knew it.
Sitting lifelessly at the window for a while, just when she was about to resort to her coping mechanism which involved her using sharp objects to draw blood from her skin. Something to distract her from the current pain flooding her chest, Cheryl came in.
Cheryl and Leah had met in their late college days. They were two different people who had a liking to each other and developed a fondness for each other. Everyone said their friendship was a match made in heaven and Leah who grew up without having much friends around her began opening up to Cheryl who seemed like the only real friend she’s had in her life. And since they both lived closely, they had more opportunity to bond.
“Leahh!!!” Leah who had zoned out, was suddenly jolted back into reality at the sound of Cheryl screaming her name. The knife in her palm dropping to the floor. She looked up to see Cheryl striding towards her. Her face, a mixture of worry and concern. But if Leah was in her right senses, she wouldn’t have missed the resemblance of fulfillment etched on her friend’s face.
Instead, she stood up and fell into Cheryl’s arms, sobbing.
In the midst of her sobs, she whispered “He broke up with me”
“Oh my God. Baby I’m so sorry” Cheryl said.
“He said I’m no longer his ideal date. I thought the little misunderstandings we’ve been having all this while was because he was having problems at work and I was willing to be understanding. But today, he said he no longer has any attraction to me so there’s no reason for us to be a couple”
“Josh said that!? I’m so sorry.”
Then they were accompanied by silence.
Few days later, delusional Leah still believing that Josh’s behavior was just as a result of work problems decided to go over to his place.
She knew his schedule.
He loved spending Saturday nights at home.
Rather, he loved spending it with her. She decided to go over to his place with his favourite pastime snack hoping that they could maybe after reconciling, have a little bonding time.
Leah got there, a box of cheese crackers and yoghurts in hand. She opened the door to his apartment and piles of clothes were strewn across the sitting room. Her heart began beating rapidly against her chest.
Josh was never a neat freak but still, he never carelessly left clothes lying around corners of the apartment.
She walked further in and saw a blouse on the chair. Her heart rate increasing.
Did Josh already move on?
Did he have a woman over?
Was that the reason for the misunderstandings they’ve been having over time?
He already had another woman?
Not able to contain her thoughts anymore, she walked straight ahead towards the door at the extreme end of the sitting room and barged into the bed room.
On the bed lay Josh, wrapped in the sheets with a woman. The box containing the snacks dropped from her hand, making a thud. They both whipped their heads towards the door and stared back at her. The shock evident on their faces. Leah couldn’t believe her eyes. Not only was Josh lying in bed with a woman. He was lying in bed with Cheryl. Leah just couldn’t take it anymore. She ran out of the room and out the house, her hands over her mouth, trying to stop the tears from flowing. She ran out, flanked down a cab and went straight to her house. She had been betrayed by the two people she never dreamed of.
All she ever dreamt of was to live a drama free life. Was it too much to ask for?
On the way home, the words she kept on repeating to herself were “Am I a fool for dreaming?”
Leah had never been so heartbroken in her life.
Getting to her house, with the intention of ending it all, she rushed into the kitchen and picked up the purple-coloured knife she had gotten alongside Cheryl. They both got the same knife design because it looked cute.
She picked up the knife, and just as she pointed the knife tip towards her chest, something stirred up in her heart.
Something dark and deep. And she began to look at the weapon in her palm, in a different light.
Then and there, she promised to become the villain in her story.
Since life didn’t give her roses, she vowed to make a bed out of the thorns.