Once Cheated, Forever Forgotten

He had a failed first love. His first love cheated on him with another man and he caught her red-handed. 

Devastated, he broke up with her and told me, "Shannon, because I've experienced betrayal, I will never let you go through what I went through. I will cherish our relationship."

And I believed him.

Now, as Garland finished cleaning and sat beside me with a smile, leaning in to kiss me, a scene from the digital video replayed in my mind. 

It was where Rosie was crying and begging him, “Garland, even if we break up, your heart can only have me, not Shannon. Promise me you’ll never fall in love with Shannon, okay?”

Garland’s breath brushed my nose and just as his lips were about to touch mine, my stomach suddenly flipped. I couldn’t hold it in.

I ran to the bathroom and threw up uncontrollably, until only bile was coming up and tears streamed down my face.

I heard Garland's worried voice beside me asking me, "Honey, are you feeling unwell?"

"Honey, let’s go to the doctor." Garland draped his coat over me and was about to pick me up when the phone rang. 

The familiar ringtone sent a shiver down my spine. It was Rosie.

If it were before, I would have told Garland to ignore me and answer Rosie's call.

I would have told Garland not to keep Rosie waiting. I would have said that Rosie didn't like him anyway, so she must have something urgent to say.

I would have made Garland prioritize Rosie, making her more important than me.

But now, I just silently watched Garland's changing expressions. The subtle changes in his expression that I had never noticed before were now so obvious. 

I had been blinded by my own ignorance all these years, only realizing now that Garland was worried about Rosie.

He put me on the bed, then picked up his phone, looked at me with a troubled expression.

"Please don't answer. She's trying to sow discord between us again, trying to get you to divorce me."

"Honey, wait a minute." Garland ignored my reply, walked out of the room and even closed the door. 

So blatant, so open and I hadn't noticed a thing. 

I was stupid, so foolish for trusting them too much, giving them this opportunity to hurt me.

I heard Rosie's soft sobs through the door and said to Garland, “Please come to me.”

Then Garland comforted her, "Don't be afraid, wait for me for ten minutes."

As they ended the call, I sat back on the bed, looking at Garland’s worried yet complaining expression. “Your best friend is such a handful. Sometimes I really want to block her.”

“You don’t know—she said she had a car accident, got rear-ended and now the traffic police and the other driver are after her. She keeps crying.”

“Why did you have to choose a friend like that? A ‘family member’ like her even made me set a special ringtone.”

Garland complained, but there was a smile on his lips—one he wasn’t even aware of, brightening his eyes.

“Honey, I’ll go help her first. You rest. If you still feel sick later, I’ll take you to the hospital. Be good.”

I watched Garland grab his coat and leave. 

I knew I should remind him, like always, to drive safely and not argue with Rosie. She was family, after all. 

At the very least, he shouldn’t hold it against her—for my sake.