Somehow, he no longer heard what I said, saw what I did, or cared about my feelings. It felt like we had run out of things to say.
The phone rang and Roland's impatient voice came through.
"Why aren’t you home yet? If you don’t come back soon, I’ll lock the door!"
I sighed and that inexplicable sense of exhaustion surfaced again.
“Roland, you were supposed to have dinner with my parents today…”
I heard his breath on the other end of the line seem to lighten and after a long pause, his cautious voice came through.
“So, what about your parents now?”
Before I could respond, he abruptly added, “Selena, hold on a moment. I have an important call coming in. I'll call you back later, okay?”
He seemed very urgent and before I could respond, he hastily hung up the phone. I no longer wanted to question whether he really had a call or if it was just an excuse to avoid me.
Looking at my phone with no battery, I walked into the rain, letting it soak my high-fashion dress and drench the elaborate hairstyle I had spent five hours on, making it stick to my forehead.
I suddenly recalled the year I graduated from college when Roland and I waited for the bus in the rain to save on taxi fare. At that time, he tilted the only umbrella we had completely over my head.
That night, as he came home soaked and with a fever, sneezing while daydreaming, he said,
“In the future, when we have money, I’ll definitely buy a car to pick you up in the wind and rain, so you won’t have to get wet again.”
Unable to tell if it was the rain or tears, my vision began to blur.
A taxi pulled up beside me and the driver, a woman, called out, “Hey, get in! I won’t charge you for this ride!”
The driver was a chatty woman who tried hard to make conversation with me. Before I could pay and get out of the car, she called out to me again.
“Hey, there’s no difficulty that can’t be overcome. Money can be earned back and you can find another man. Don’t ever put yourself through this.”
I suddenly realized that her kind words were meant to prevent me from feeling hopeless. I waved my hand in gratitude.
Yes, from now on, I would not allow myself to suffer.
Before going to bed, I checked my phone and Lysandra, Roland’s "first love," had updated something on her social media.
“The princess just couldn’t sleep, so her prince came over to lull her to sleep.”