LOVE. No other name.

COLORED 4

                                Lady 1, or the WIFE, briskly motioned towards Lady 2, or the MISTRESS, and then she screamed with all her grief and rage, “SHARICO! Why you of all people?!”

                PAK!

                The sound of the slap on Sharico’s cheek reverberated all around the place. Then the wife faced her husband, her voice cracking, “Aiven, I followed you here. You told me you were going to meet up with your lawyer to give him these files. What’s inside this folder, Aiven? Divorce papers? Was it because of the children?”

A look of confusion spread over Aiven’s and Sharico’s faces.

The wife continued, “Was it because of the children you badly wanted but I couldn’t give you? Was it because I’m just an unattractive, lame housewife?”

                She faced Sharico, “WHAT THE HELL, Shari! You were the mistress I knew he was hiding from me all along! You! My own friend! No, I’m taking that back…my ex-friend.”

                “Jolene. I-I’m so sorry. Jolene. I’m begging of you, please don’t take him back.”

                Jolene suppressed her tears, and she said coldly, “LEAVE. Let me and my husband talk for a while.”

                The selfish, unmoved Sharico disappeared into the ‘woods’.

                And that was when Jolene finally let herself cry. Her knees became so weak that she had to sit on the bench. A while ago, she was an erupting volcano, but now, she was just a broken girl. A broken girl who loved so much and received too little in return. What did she do to deserve this excruciating pain? She had only loved. But, “to love”, isn’t that what makes us all vulnerable?

                He looked at her. And to me, it felt like he was looking at the pieces of a priceless glass vase that he intentionally dropped. “I’M SORRY. WE’RE SORRY. Jolene, please don’t cry, please don’t cry for me. You’ll find better love. You’ll forget me soon enough.”

                A long silence ensues.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                If you were to look around, you wouldn’t see me. So don’t bother.

I’m sitting on a rather high branch, on one of the trees in the “mini-forest” I’ve been talking about.

I have come to detest being invisible. You know what I mean.

I have come to loathe how powerless I have become.

Here I was, a lady who watched other people’s lives as they unravel before her eyes. It was like watching television.

And the thing I disliked about watching television was,

you could smile and feel relieved when the damsel in distress was saved by her knight in shining armor,

but sometimes you would envy her because she had her prince,

sometimes you would criticize them and think they’re not suited for each other,

sometimes you would realize you were lonely, and all of a sudden, you miss the one who holds your heart.

SO YOU JUST KEEP SMILING.

you could cry when a dear character dies (or leaves),

but even if you call their names until you lose your voice, and plead for them to come back, they never will,