New York city...
Sheila's pov:
It has been a while since I went to campus, since I've seen him. I really just couldn't bring myself to talk to him or even just see his face after what I witnessed that day in his office.
Today is different though, I am going to his office before class hours for us to have a talk and I will see if he is at least honest about it or not.
I arrive on campus at around 6:00am , very early for an university student so I am sure no one is here yet.
As I walk in the corridor leading to his office my heart keeps beating and I am getting nervous all over, he still has some sort of effect on me I agree but I'm not going to let that soften me when will talk.
I reach his door and I knock to which he tells me to enter, he is not surprised to see me because we agreed to meet up at this time yesterday.
I close the door and take a seat on the chair that is on the opposite side of his desk and while I do so I feel his eyes on me, once I look up he stares at me with many questions in his eyes.
"Sheila . What happened? You didn't show up for a while at school. You ignored all my calls and texts and Avery didn't want to tell me anything when I asked her , so please do so because I am confused" His eyes look honest as he voices out his concerns but then again , no.
"Are you really confused Gary?" He looks at me with desperation once more and nods.
"Well you didn't seem as confused when you were holding that woman in your arms and kissing her cheek lovingly. I know the woman wasn't your mom, sister or relative because you pretty much made me meet all of them , so now can you please just tell me who she is to you and why you are going behind my back to do whatever you do with other women?" He looks conflicted after hearing what I said , he tried to hold my hand to comfort me but I pulled my hand away from the table and his reach.
He coughs then says "Look , this is firstly not exactly what you think. I am not cheating on you , that I can assure you" I look at him in the eyes with tears on the brick of coming down and he looks sorry for me but continues as I refuse his comforting , "What you saw that day was true in a way, I was not holding my mistress though. Rather my ex wife" Ex-wife?? What is this supposed to mean?
"Gary are you telling me you were married before ? And you never thought this was important information that I as your current girlfriend should know? This makes it even worse then because you both share a past together" he tells me he is sorry and seriously looks like he is .
He then continues "I was married but divorced one year ago and it was cancelled officially. My ex-wife was a control freak , an aggressive partner who would go crazy on me when things didn't go her way and sometimes I would retaliate which led to us breaking one another emotionally. I never laid hands on her but she claimed so in court, I proved myself innocent of course so the judge closed the case. We tried cohabitation after that to try and rekindle the lost flame in the relationship but she started her bad habits again and I wasn't feeling safe anymore, I decided to divorce her eventually and she got really mad but at some point she accepted I wasn't going to come back so she signed the papers" I just listen to his story without interrupting and damn does he have a burdensome past , but it still doesn't explain why she was here and why he was holding her so affectionately, I think he sees what I am thinking about and so he continues to explain , "The say you saw her here in my office was the day her new husband had beaten her. She told me he was all she wanted at first but that he had started drinking a lot and loosing his temper on her and was beating her, she came to me first I guess because we have history and it is easier to talk about it with me. I was holding her like that because I was comforting her as I genuinely felt bad for her, I let her cry on my shoulder for a while until she told me she wanted to get back with me and that we shouldn't have separated but I told her it was over for a reason and that if her current husband treats her badly she should file a divorce and report him for domestic violence. She wasn't too happy I rejected her and so she stormed out of my office without a word." Once he is done explaining I kind of feel dumb for having ignored him instead of talking about it but I also am still mad because if he had told me about his past marriage the misunderstanding wouldn't have happened in the first place.
"All this is understandable now , but still why would you hide this from me. The fact that you were previously married I mean. The fact that we are in a relationship means that you should be able to share this kind of information with me to avoid such misunderstandings in the future" he nods and stands up from his chair , he makes me stand up as well and hugs me out of nowhere.
"I know that Sheila and I am so very sorry for having made you sad and upset with this, I just never thought of bringing it up as it is not a happy memory in my life. I promise I will be more transparent with you from now on okay? Now please forgive me" he releases me from his hug to let me answer.
"I forgive you just because you were honest , but seriously never again. Also isn't she going to cause you trouble for being rude to her?" He shakes his head and tells me not to worry about it . We then stay in each other's arms for a while until class time reaches and we have to separate.
Avery's pov:
Once I open my eyes I am in my room once again and of course it is already morning, I fell like my body rested which is good.
I take out my phone from the night stand and see that Eric has texted me .
Eric: Good morning you. Lovely day today don't you think? Want to utilise it well and go on a picnic date with me?
Me: Well good morning to you too , you flirt. You are in luck today it seems because I have no classes so I can join you, where are we going exactly?
Eric: I will text you the address later, I'm gonna keep it a secret for now :)
Me: okay sure , weirdo , see you later.
I put back my phone and go do my hygiene routine for the day. I then eat breakfast and get ready.
When I went to the kitchen earlier I saw a note on the fridge written by Sheila telling me she went early to talk to Gary , good for her , I hope they settle their issue.
Eric texts me later telling me to meet him at the park near my house.
I notice him not far from me across the street as I am heading towards the entrance of the park.
Once he sees me he waves his hand at me and I go sit where he prepared.
"Oh wow you set this up quite well, where did you learn this from? How to be romantic.com?" We both laugh at that and he shakes his head in disbelief and gasps looking offended , dramatic much.
He actually prepared a lot of snacks and painting stuff .
That's what we were up to for the rest of the day as we just hang out as usual these past week, getting to know him better. Giving myself a new chance at maybe love.