"What are you doing here? And at such an hour!" I didn't even try to hide the annoyment in my voice.

Nina lifted her head when she heard me but stayed silent. She was wearing a faded jean, a black hoodie despite the heat, and... slippers? Seeing Nina wearing slippers out was like seeing a cat jumping into a pool. Nina, the one I knew, was a fashion victim. With her, there were no such things as simple jeans or all-purpose clothes. She wouldn't even agree to open the door in slippers, and I didn't even think she could possess such an awful hoodie! Even I found it lame, and God knew how low my standards were in matters of clothes.

Looking carefully, I could see she'd been crying. I was still angry at her, but couldn't help worrying. If she came to my place so late at night looking so gorgeously awful, something must have happened. Something serious.

I didn't want to show my concern to her, but I couldn't bring myself to keep her standing outside. I went back in, leaving the door open as an invitation to come in. She silently followed me and closed the door. In the living room, the TV was still on, with the volume low to not wake the baby demon up. And the main female character was being carried by her man in his arms. I rolled my eyes at her fake attempts to get off his arms (we all know she liked that). Then I focused back my attention on my unexpected visitor.

Arms crossed over my generous chest, I gave her the most disdainful look I could manage to produce, scrutinizing her from head to toe. Under the light, she looked even more awful. Her buzz cut looked strangely messy, here eyes were bloodshot and puffy, completely expressionless, her tiny lips dry. She was mindlessly pulling on her sleeves, swinging back and forth on her dusty feet. Did she walk? Given the situation, I couldn't suppress that lingering feeling of superiority at that moment. For once, I looked better than she did. But as she kept silent, I started to get worried.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I couldn't keep up with the silent war, a war I was fighting alone that is. "And why are you looking like a homeless person?"

"I..." Nina started hesitantly, avoiding my gaze like a kid caught messing up. She did mess up, though. "I didn't know where else to go," she breathed out with a painful expression, as if it was the hardest thing she had done so far.

That made no sense. She didn't sound like she came to see me, at least not about the only thing I considered she could look for me, meaning an apology for hooking up with my husband. No, she sounded like she just needed a place to go, and even a motel could do. But why?

"Did you have an argument with James?" I asked with mockery. She finally met my gaze and gave me a pitiful look when I expected her to be angry.

"We broke up," she shrugged as if it was casual information, leaving my eyes and mouth perfectly round.

Why would they break up all of a sudden? They were engaged, after she told James she had an affair, he proposed to her and she said yes. They even travelled all over to Accra to meet her parents. So why would they break up?

"But why!?" I almost yelled, unconsciously reaching out to her, but stopped midway. I was holding myself not to grab her delicate shoulders and shake her like a coconut tree, but I was supposed to be cold and distant. So I cleared my throat and made a more serious face.

"Turned out he was not that much in love," she said, avoiding my gaze.

Was she doing that on purpose? Giving me pieces of information and letting me hang on? If the objective was to annoy me, she was doing just fine.

"You mean the man who proposed to you after finding out you had an affair with a married man did not love you that much?" I raised an eyebrow sceptically. What was she not telling me?

"I did not have an affair!" she protested, finally meeting my gaze. I smiled, seeing how bad she seemed to feel. "It was an accident, okay? I didn't have all my mind that day, and... It would have never happened otherwise."

"But you don't seem that regretful about it, you didn't even apologize. No call, not even a text."

"As if you would have picked up or replied to my texts," she quickly rolled her eyes.

"At least I would have read them. At least it would have been an apology. I cannot decide whether I forgive you if you don't ask for forgiveness!"

We stared blankly at each other for a moment. Judging by the furrow of her eyebrows, she was fast thinking. Was she only now considering apologising?

"I apologise," she finally said with a slight bow. "I am sorry, I am really sorry for what happened. It was not my intention to hurt you, and I swear it will never ever happen. Are you willing to forgive me?"

"No," I simply said.

At this point, I felt like remaining angry would be useless. However, I couldn't bring myself to simply wash away what happened. I was probably being too stubborn, but in my point of view, adultery was adultery, no matter the circumstances.

But Nina was my friend. We've been so close for so long. That's what made the situation even worse. However, as I said to Samuel, I somehow took part in creating the situation. Our friendship would certainly never be the same any more, but deep down, I couldn't bring myself to simply cut the ties. So even if I was angry at her, I could not ignore her current distress.

"I don't know if I will one day be able to look at you and not imagine you in bed with my husband," I went in the kitchen to bring two fresh bottles of water and gave her one. I was still going to be a great hostess.

She emptied it even before I could open mine, so I ended up giving it to her with a head shake of disbelief. I heavily sat on the couch and proposed to her the armchair besides. She looked exhausted.

"But I think I can put aside my resentment while helping you out of the situation that led you, the great and flawless Nina, to walk through the city in slippers."

"I haven't heard that 'great and flawless' thing for years" she awkwardly sat on the edge of the armchair, rubbing her hands on her thighs.

"What happened?" I asked seriously. I didn't want to beat around the bush any longer.

"We had an argument on the way back to the hotel that night. I didn't like the way he sold me to you. Some things are better unknown, and you would never have known anything if not his behaviour. You might not agree right now because you already know, but I'm sure everyone would be happier. And if he wanted to settle his score with Samuel that much, he could have done it discreetly, just the two of them. And it felt like it was all planned. As if his main purpose of coming here was to spit that incident for everyone to know. After that, things went sour between us, and every day seemed worse... And tonight he told me he was not sure whether he wanted to marry me any more. I didn't try to argue, it's not as if I would drag him by force to the altar. So I said we'd better stop here if that was so. He booked a flight back to Toronto for tomorrow. I didn't want to spend the night in the same room, so I tried to book another, but there was none left. I didn't feel like going back into our room, and went out for a walk. So... Here I am!"

Hearing her story, I started considering that night from another point of view. Until now, that night was the night I came out to discover my husband cheated. But it is true I would have never known if James behaved correctly. I'd put it on the anger of meeting the guy who slept with his woman, but he might have done that on purpose? If that was really the case, I misjudged him. He was not a gentleman for flying hours to meet Nina's family, he was an asshole who flew that far just to take revenge on someone he was angry at. A rich asshole.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said with a furrow.

"Yet you must be happy the bitch who slept with your husband is miserable," she chuckled without looking at me.

I wanted to say otherwise, that I couldn't be happy for someone's misfortune. But deep down I was. I would not have to envy her on her perfect marriage in addition to all the things I envied her.

"Why didn't you go to your parent's place?" I didn't want the discussion to last on my cruel happiness.

"I was supposed to meet them tomorrow with my future husband," her shoulders sank, and I heard a small tremolo in her voice. She was trying not to cry. "I don't know what I would say if I were to arrive there so late, and dumped. Don't think they'd welcome me with open arms"

"They are your parents, and they didn't see you for years," I said matter-of-factly. "Even if they are not happy with your situation, they would surely be happy to see you!"

"Does that mean you want me gone?" her left eyebrow raised.

"No... but given the situation, I would have thought your parent's place would be where you rush to..."

"Not everyone has your life, you know!" she cut me and angrily laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"They would be happy to see me? You said it as if you didn't know my parents! Ever since I moved to Toronto, we barely talk twice or thrice a year by phone call, for twenty minutes in total. And in those twenty minutes, two thirds are about me not being married at thirty-two. When I called to tell them I was coming with my fiancé, they sounded as if they expected nothing. You know how they are, so how can you suppose they would welcome me?"

"They're still your parents..."

"Well, I wished I had yours!" She almost shouted. Then a strange laughing escaped her mouth. She stood up and made a few steps back and forth. "That's funny, huh? While you've been envious of that so-called perfect body of mine and awesome carreer, I've been envious of your loving parents and husband. Your parents are always present for you and supportive, I had to work my ass out to get mine to even notice my existence. I have that fancy job abroad, but the hell if I care! I feel lonely there, and the man I thought would be with me forever doesn't want to stick around. It's always been like that. They like me at first because I'm pretty, I'm hot, I'm whatever, but they never seem to grow to love me. You, on the other hand, always manage to get people to fall for you, slowly but surely. See, apparently Samuel first had a crush on me, but never tried to dive deeper. And today you are married to that awesome man and you have a kid. What do I have on the other hand? A big and cold appartment in an fancy building lost in a too big city, an ex-fiancé that was just looking for a touristic trip, and so many acquaintances but no one to turn to in my worst days, if not my best friend who apparently hates me now."

All along, she'd been walking around and accompanying her words with big gestures. Her voice was shaking and I could hear the tears she was trying to hold back. I've known nina for years but I've never seen her so worked out. I didn't even know she could be that emotive.

But most importantly, I didn't know she thought of me like that. A lucky girl, a girl who had some things she envied. For me Nina had always had all she wanted and could get anything she wished. She wanted an award after high school, she got one. She wanted to travel, she did. She wanted an awesome job, she had it. Since we first met, Nina appeared to be a very ambitious woman, she always said she wanted one day to be as reknown as the greatest people in the world, those who got their names cited on news every now and then. She was on her way to achieve that, so I'd always thought she was happy. Did she change through the years, or was I the one who never really understood her?

I stood up and walked toward her. But I didn't know what to reply to her. When she came in, I thought the chat would be all about me grumbling, I never thought I would end up trying to comfort her. It never happened, I had always been the one to comfort. I was still angry, but that could wait.

I slowly grabbed her tiny hand and squeezed it. Tears filled her eyes, making them shiny. Her lips were trembling, despite being tightly pinched.

"And you have amazing boobs," she managed to spit out, her voice voice distorted by suppressed sobs.

"Believe me, big boobs can be cumbersome. But crying sometimes is all one need"

So that is what she did for the next three hours. And for the first time, I was the shoulder.