I'm becoming a slow writer and I hate it but exams are my priority and they take so  much energy and time.
Hope you guys will  enjoy this chapter I'm really exhausted sorry for the typos.

"Earth calls Elide, Earth calls Elide" Samira, my best friend, called.

"You've been obsessively looking at your phone, put that thing down and focus on  your breakfast, I rarely cook for people that aren't me, you should be eating not having that sad face." 

Samira and I met when we were still In high school and since then we never grew apart until the complicated years with Andrew, and even though I hadn't seen her for over a year we seemed to have no issues with our current friendship.

Samira after all was a beautiful human being, physically thanks to her deep dark skin, the most beautiful smile, and inwardly thanks to her amazing personality.

"Who are you thinking about?" another thing about her,  was that always knew when something was wrong with me.

"No one" I lied and when she glared at me I faked ignorance avoding the upset expression she had portrayed on her face.

A month had passed since the day Damien basically fucked me through the phone, we talked just a few times after that, but I was able to discover many things about him: like his favorite colour and the movie he could watch a hundred times, embarrassing stories and other little things. 

I liked all that, getting to know him better but things were still odd between us, maybe that was why I couldn't bring myself to call him more often.

We were both holding back from talking, really talking, and neither of us seemed to gather enough courage to stop holding onto our stalled tongues the meaningful words instead of talking like some old friends

I missed him deeply, but I would never have asked him to give up everything and come to me, because I don’t think that if he was to ask me I would’ve been capable of doing the same thing.

And not because I didn’t want to, but because the rational part of me knew better than to overturn my life once again because of a man or a sentimental relationship of any sort.

That's one of the reasons why after another week of being miserable I had enough, and I wasn't the only one, there was my brother too that had returned to his actual home after another fight about Damien's and I relationship, he was already mad with me for my affair and the fact that I refused to talk to him after he practically accused Damien of being some kind of predator didn’t help.

I knew that was just his overprotective side speaking but I was still mad at him, not once he had described Andrew as a predator, even after I told him what he did to the other women in his life.

Eventually,  after five days of ignoring him he gave up and apologized asking me if I wanted to come to visit his husband and the twins but I couldn’t bring myself to get out of the house because of the bruises,  they were still marking my body, it was like Andrew was following me and every time I looked at my wounds his face would appear. 

I was afraid of looking in the mirror and pissed at myself because  I still feared him. I hated him and I hated my mind for making me feel so frightened of him.

I also hated my wounds, usually they took less to disappear but apparently my body wouldn’t cooperate.

I was tired of covering my bruises,  I simply wanted them to disappear , to do a full face because I wanted to and not because I had to cover my marks to shield myself from inappropriate questions and curious eyes. 

Even if Andrew was finally out of my life, what he had done to me would never simply fade away, Andrew's actions would still affect my life, my behaviors, and my relationships, and I hated that, so damn much.

But I decided to try, when my bruises finally healed I invited my friends over. I hadn't seen them for a year, at first calling them knowing I wasn't monitored by Andrew felt terrorising.

I remember thinking for a brief second how Andrew would be mad at me if he was to find out but then I brushed off that silly thought, he was in prison, sentenced to five years for domestic violence. Though It was a small sentence, I was sadder by the fact that Beatrice didn’t obtain justice, without Tiffany her death was still a "suicide" she had so many proofs that could've sentenced him for a life behind the bars but she seemed to have disappeared. 

His mother instead got 2 years which was ridiculous, and the only one I could blame for that was the juridical system.

When I first told everything that happened to my friends asking to meet them up, I was scared, expecting them to be mad at me or something but they basically rushed to come and meet me wrapping me in the safest hug ever, so safe I burst out crying. 

The realisation I was starting to take my life back felt scary but hell I loved it.

I wanted to start working again and when my father the same position at the family company he had been trying to get me to accept since I've gotten my degree I finally said yes, yet he decided that I would still need some preparations from him but I knew that was his subtle way to get me to rest mentally and physically a little bit more.

The only thing I seemed to ache for as the days passed by was Damien.

I was tempted to meet him face to face but he never mentioned anything about it in our calls and making him mad was the last thing I wanted.

"You know, we been eating breakfast quietly for the whole time, clearly something is in your mind talk to me”

“Promise me you won't go all crazy about it"

“Is Andrew bothering you again?" She asked with a murderous tone.

No, it's not that! It is...well complicated”

“How complicated?”

"I met someone while I was still with Andrew. '' A moment of quiet followed.

"So you cheated on that ugly, dumb, stupid,  untalented, ugly, asshole with and So? What's the problem, if I was you I would've been cheating on him for years,  what am I saying I wouldn't even be with him he’s actually really ugly have I said it before?" 

I tried to glare at her for her rude words but burst out laughing, after all that description was true.

"But I wonder how you were able to cheat on him, he was so controlling  and obsessed"

"Well that's the complicated part... this someone is really close to him"

"Who is it?" She asked as if we were in some of our gossip sessions. 

"His father.'' She began to chuckle thinking I was joking,  when my expression remained stoic as it was before she slowly began to comprehend I was not joking and her eyes and mouth hung wide open.

"His father?  Oh wow! Well I didn't imagine you being this revengeful" she said, and there was a hint of pride in her sarcasm.

"You don't understand,  I didn't do it to get back at him, it...it just happened"

"Can I see a picture of him?"

"Why?"

"I'm trying to see something. '' Frowning, I did as she said but realising I didn't have any picture of him I simply searched Damien's name on Google and handed her my phone.

"Oh wow, I can understand why, he's the total opposite of his useless son," she winked, handing me back the phone. 

"So you're telling me you cheated on Andrew with his father? Call me childish but this is the best revenge ever"

"Well I don't see it that way, I wouldn’t sleep with a man just to get revenge on someone,  I'm too sentimental for that stuff" I muttered under my breath looking down at my nails.

"Do you love him?"  

"I…I'm not sure, I thought so"

"Do you think he loves you?"

"I like to think he does, but how could I know?"

"Love relationships are so complicated yet so easy, this is not the moment to obsess over a man , you are trying to get your life back together right?  Think of yourself,  love is an important part of your life but there are so many types of love, and a love relationship is not necessarily what you need now" 

"You are right."

"When I'm not? Do you know what you need instead of warring over men? A girls' night out. Put on something cute by nine"

"But-"

"No buts, you went out just once this week and just to the grocery shop you deserve some fun and a little escapade"

"Do I have any options? "

"Of course you do, if you don't want to go out we can stay here watching a movie or something, you know I would never push you into doing something you don't want to do but this time I know you actually need something to get your mind off, I'm your best friend for a reason "

"Ok then," I said with a smile plastered on my face.

 ●●●

Nine came and I was ready and dressed in my best short black dress, after all, I had no bruises anymore showing some skin wouldn’t hurt me.

Samira was never late, she was waiting for me at my apartment in her car exactly  at nine

"I'm here "

"You look amazing" she was dressed in a pink dress that was complimenting perfectly deep brown skin.

"So do you," she complimented with a wide smile.

"Well we should start going."

There is this cute club that opened just some months ago, it got really popular quickly I've been meaning to go for a while, we can go there"

I shrugged, finding the club choice irrelevant.  

We got to the club Samira had been blabbering about throughout the whole drive in a short time, entering without any issues.  I couldn't lie, that the place was cute.

People were dancing, drinking while having a good time with each other, before I could keep analysing others interactions Samira dragged me to the bar and order two shots of strawberry vodka one for me and one for her then dragged me into the dance floor dancing with me until a tall man asked her for a dance and stole her from me.

"Can I?"  It didn't pass much until another man asked me to dance. He was an attractive boy, tall, maybe east Asian. Though I didn't want to dance, I didn't want to upset him.

I nodded and put my hand in his, letting him pull me closer and grab my hips. I didn't like his touch.

Closing my eyes I turned my body laying my head on his hard chest as his hands roamed up and down the little of my waist though he wasn't being inappropriate, his touch felt wrong.

I tried to imagine Damien's hands instead, feeling a little guilty, but that successfully helped me lose myself. 

I was tempted to ask the man dancing with me to get closer, but I was painfully aware that it was only because I imagined him to be Damien and he wasn't him.  I couldn't deny it any longer, I needed Damien.

I needed to talk to him.

When the song ended I thanked the guy and found some random excuse to getaway. 

Exiting the club before having the chance to digit his number his name popped up on the screen.  

I quickly replayed, I had all intentions to tell him how I felt, tell him the 

"We can't do this anymore," we both said at the same time but our intonations were different… way too different. 

He meant something else, something bad.

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