Dropping the Bomb

By that time, I could tell that something was wrong, and that our meeting didn't quite have the vibe of a joyous day like it normally had. I immediately thought it was because he was stressed about work. 

"Is there something that I can help you with? We might not work in the same department, but it's not like I don't know what your work involves. I am willing to lend you a hand," I offered with an enthusiastic nod of my head.

"Abigail," Sam said my full name as he frowned slightly. The disturbed look on his face, along with the fact that he just called me by my full name instead of my pet name, told me that he was about to say something very important to me. 

Suddenly, I began looking all around me with a mix of excitement and anticipation. I suddenly recalled all of our talks about getting married in the very near future, and I couldn't deny the possibility that popped up in my head.

Is he about to propose to me right now?

“Yes?” I said questioningly. 

“I…have something to tell you…” Sam said while still looking quite hesitant. 

“Umm…I guess I have something to tell you too…” I said before I found the corners of my lips naturally lifting into a smile. 

This is it…

I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself as I suddenly started feeling very emotional. It felt like I was on the verge of tears as I thought about the bright future that we would share. We would definitely get even busier if we had to prepare for our wedding on top of our busy jobs, but that didn't seem like a big obstacle at all. When we saved up enough money, we can finally get out own place and live together. We would have so much fun together decorating our house and going on dates. I stared into his eyes as I kept on smiling at the bright future that I saw of us together.

“Should we try saying it at the same time?” I suggested gleefully. 

Sam just nodded his head but he seemed even more nervous than before. As if we counted silently in our heads, we opened our mouths to say that we wanted to at precisely the same time.

“Yes, I’ll marry you,” I promised with all my heart. 

"I think we should break up," Sam said as he stared coldly at me. 

What did he just say? Did I even hear him correctly?

"...What?" I whispered in disbelief. 

"We should just break up, Abigail," he repeated. 

Although I heard him loud and clear this time around, I still couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was just so sudden, and he clearly caught me off guard. 

"No, I mean why?" I managed to say while stuttering quite a lot. 

My mind was in a mess and filled with endless unanswered questions. It was a real struggle for me to keep my emotions under control so that we could continue talking. 

He can't be serious, can he? 

“I thought long and hard about it, and I think that it would be better for both of us this way," Sam replied quite coldly. 

I couldn't understand him even though he sounded so reasonable about it. None of it made sense to me. It can't make sense!

"This is just some kind of bad joke, right? Why are you saying these things? You can't be serious. We promised to get married," I voiced all the questions as I entered into a state of complete denial. 

"Abigail, let's not make this any more complicated for us. We should just end it here," Sam said, and there was not an ounce of hesitation in his voice.

I was about to open my mouth to protest against this decision when suddenly someone else entered my field of vision. I looked up to see my dear friend Emily standing there.

"Oh, Emily…" I greeted her while feeling quite surprised that she suddenly turned up. Since the company that we worked at belonged to her father, it wasn't unusual for us to run into her in this neighborhood. Although, I had to say that she turned up at a very rotten time.

"Sam and I are getting married next week," she announced before smiling smugly. 

"What?" I asked after a moment of stunned silence. 

First, it was Sam who said that he wanted to break up with me, and then Emily turned up and announced that the two of them were getting married. 

What is going on?

"I thought we agreed that you would leave it to me to break things off with her," Sam turned to say to Emily. 

"I guess, but it seems like she was having a hard time understanding you," Emily said before smiling my way again. That was enough proof for me that the two of them had been making a fool out of me, and probably for a very long time already.

I sat in silence as a cold void of emptiness welled up inside of me. My chest felt tight, and tears threatened to spill from my eyes. It felt like I was about to have an emotional breakdown, and the only thing that was keeping me from bursting out into tears right in front of them was my pride.

"Oh, by the way, you are invited to our wedding," Emily said as she slid a rosy pink envelope my way. I knew without a doubt that the envelope contained their wedding invitation.

"Well, this is a little insulting. I had thought that maybe I would make it onto your list of bridesmaids," I said before slowly standing up from my seat.

Since they went through the trouble of inviting me to their wedding, I decided to turn up. If nothing else, seeing the two of them getting married will probably give me proper closure.

That evening I returned home alone with a broken heart and without my usual friend to turn to. I had always felt thankful for living with my mother, and times like these only highlighted the importance of our close bond. I wiped my tears away and reapplied some of my makeup so that I would appear fine. 

–To be continued…