Before It's Too Late

Chapter 6

🎵So I breathe and let it go

How do I breathe and let you go?🎶

AVERY FROZE. DAVID'S SCENT filled her nostrils. The warmth from his body radiated behind her. Her tears would betray her if he saw her face, and she saw his. She hoped David would leave her and not insist on getting an answer. But she hoped that maybe, just maybe, everything was just a misunderstanding and David was still the same man she had fallen in love with. The man who promised to love her forever. The one whom she still loved, despite everything.

The crying she was trying so hard to keep to herself turned into loud and continuous sobbing. Finally, Avery can't control her emotions anymore. When David put his arms around her and made her slowly face him, she lost it all.

"Babe, what's happening? Why are you crying? Did something happen?"

David's concerned expression made her forget she was looking at the person who had been hurting her for weeks. She placed her arms around him and cried harder.

"I'm in so much pain right now," she uttered, her voice croaking.

"Tell me, babe, what's going on? What is hurting? Why?" David pulled his body away from hers and inspected her face down to her body.

"My heart is hurting... in so much pain for weeks now." Avery's body was shaking in between sobs and tears.

As David wiped her tears with his fingers, he kept asking her questions. He was unaware of what she was about to say. "Is there something wrong with your heart? Did the doctor find something?"

Avery shook her head. "No... but I discovered something. It has been causing me tremendous pain, killing me every day."

"You're making me worried now, babe. Tell me, please." He motioned her toward the bedroom bench. As they sat together, he clasped his hand with hers.

Avery felt hopeful. She thought it might be the chance she needed to confront him. It's now or never. "We need to talk."

David nodded. "Okay, babe, talk to me. Tell me everything."

Avery removed her hand from his. She looked him in the eye. "Who is she?"

"Who?" David asked back with his brows furrowed. His hand cupped Avery's face. "What do you mean, who is she?"

Avery straightened her body, not taking her eyes off David. "Please be honest with me. Who is the woman you are cheating on me with?"

David's face fell. His breathing turned heavier and louder. The warmth from his hands turned ice cold. Slowly, he removed his hand from hers and immediately brushed it through his hair as his eyes looked down at the floor. Dead silence enveloped the room. Avery knew it was the chance to lay everything down. As painful as it may be, the only way to know the truth is to get answers from him.

"I knew it from the night I blacked out." She didn't ask him a question this time. "I accidentally read the message she sent you that night. You didn't meet Jonathan. You didn't have any reason to meet him at all."

"Ave, Babe. You know I can't lie to you." Though he looked her in the eye, his gaze moved fast away.

"But you did. You lied to me." Avery sniffled. "You've been lying to me all this time."

If there was one thing Avery learned as a paralegal, it was to interrogate without asking. "I called Jonathan right after you left. He didn't have any clue. Izzy was in her parents' province; no way for her to tell you to say hi to me."

"Babe, I'm sorry." David clasped his hands together. Then, slowly, he traced Avery's lips and looked directly into her eyes. She didn't look away. Her tears and sobbing stopped. She felt braver, empowered seeing his guilty face.

"Who is she? Tell me! What did I do wrong?" Her eyes darted to his. "What did I not do?" Then, she removed his hands from her face.

David started massaging his forehead. "There's nothing wrong with you. It wasn't you; it was me. I was stupid! I'm sorry, babe." He lowered his head. "Ave, I'm sorry."

David said the three words she didn't want to hear. She had been agonizing for weeks, knowing the truth. She didn't realize that hearing the truth from him would be a thousand times more painful than how she had been feeling all along.

Avery confirmed that the truth hurts. She had valued honesty all her life, but at that moment, she wished David could have just lied to her face again. Hurt wouldn't give justice to how she felt when he gave her the confirmation she had been longing to get from him. It wounded her heart. It cut, it stabbed, and it pained her already bleeding heart.

"Ave, babe. I'm sorry. I know there is no excuse for what I did."

She took a deep breath. "Who is she? Since when?"

"You don't know her. She was a client's assistant. We met a little over two months ago, and it was a random hook-up." David tried to hold her hand, but she pulled away. "I swear I didn't plan or think of it. I never thought in a million years of cheating on you. It just happened."

"Two months? You've been making a fool out of me for fucking two months?" Avery's chest rose and fell with rapid breathing.

"No, babe. I met her the night I told you I would meet Jonathan. I ended everything with her. Please believe me!" David's hands brushed his hair in insanely fast succession.

The memory of that night flashed back to Avery. David's sweet gestures, bright smile, and the sparks in his eyes. She wouldn't forget the image of him reading messages on his phone. He may lie to her face, but her heart felt the other way. His face then didn't show an inch of a man about to end everything with the woman whose messages he was reading excitedly.

Avery's mind told her not to believe him. To not forgive David would be the most reasonable decision. But her heart reminded her how sorry his face was. His asking for forgiveness should put her at ease. Just like any other sinner, David deserved a second chance.

"After you confirm David is cheating, what do you plan to do?" Shelly's voice echoed as if her best friend was beside her.

"Ave, please say something. Please forgive me. Please, babe."

His words woke her from her thoughts. She stared at his face. She didn't know what to do with him.

Avery felt too weak even to say a word. Her eyes were locked on his. If only her eyes had sharp arrows flying out of them, they would have hit his body bulls-eye. Slowly but fiercely. She remembered what she had told herself: she wouldn't be in this game without a fight.

"Ave, tell me what I need to do for you to forgive me, please."

With precision, she wiped the remaining tears on her face with her fingers. Then she held her chin up. "I want you to tell her everything is over between you two... in front of me."

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