Paige narrates:
I find myself sitting in the sand watching my little dog play with a ball and I think about my life. Today I am 24 years old, and I feel that my life has no fixed direction, I thought it did, but it didn't. Now I have to start over and forget a man that I fell in love with for years. Now I have to start all over again and forget a man who made me fall in love with my heart for years.
Sometimes life is not fair to people who are good, I consider myself a good girl, just very unlucky.
I'm focused looking at the horizon until a scream brings me out of my thoughts.
"Paige?"
I turn my head to locate where the shout came from and stand up as I see a woman running towards me. I think my eyes are playing tricks on me. It can't be possible that we would meet again after all these weeks.
"Tabatha? What are you doing here?" I ask as she embraces me.
"The question here is, what are you doing here? And where is your handsome husband?" she asks, looking around to find him.
"I came alone. Some unpleasant things have happened. I'm currently living here with some friends, at least until I find a place to live," I tell her, blushing.
"What's that? Please, I live alone. I would be delighted to share my house with you. I can help you find a job if you plan on staying here," she says, looking at my face.
"I come with Simba, he's right over there," I say, pointing to my baby.
Tabatha showers Simba with affection, winning over yet another person in my baby's life.
"No problem at all. I would be happy to have both of you in my house. Besides, I want to know what's been making you sad. Don't think I haven't noticed. Now I understand why my WhatsApp messages weren't reaching you, and here I was thinking you didn't want to talk to me," she says, laughing.
"Why would I do something like that? How about we go to where I'm staying, and I introduce you to my friends? Then we can figure out tomorrow about me moving in with you and the job you mentioned you could help me find," I reply, smiling.
I feel that having her here is a new opportunity to stop feeling so alone. It's not that I'm ungrateful towards John and Mathew, but it's just different from having a girl who always understands us better.
"I love the idea! Let's go right away," she says, excited.
We walk and arrive at the house where I'm staying, and to my surprise, Matthew is home alone. I introduce Tabatha to him, and to my surprise, they already know each other.
"How is it that you already know each other? Explain," I say, looking at my friend.
"Well, maybe I didn't tell you about my job because I don't like being seen differently, as your friend here is doing," she says, looking at Matthew.
"Matt, stop looking at her with fear. What's wrong with you?" I ask, nudging his shoulder.
"It's just that you don't know who she is," he says nervously.
"Of course, I know who she is. Her name is Tabatha," I say, stating the obvious.
"What he means is that you don't know who I am here. Most people know me as an ice queen. I'm Matt and John's boss. They work in one of my companies. I have a lot of money, and there are many rumors about me, like selling drugs and trafficking people. Maybe your friend believes that, and that's why he's afraid," she says, looking at Simba.
"How can he believe such nonsense? You're none of those things. On the contrary, for all the money you may have, you're very humble and down-to-earth. I like that," I reply, smiling at her, seeing her so nervous.
"Of course, I'm not afraid of her because of those things people say. It's just that I said I was sick and that's why I didn't go to work, and as she can see, I'm not in the office. That's what I'm afraid of," he says blushing.
I look at Tabatha, and she looks at me. Both of us break the silence with laughter over Matt's fear. Poor friend of mine, he's nearly dying of nervousness.
"Don't worry, I haven't seen you today. I came to see my friend, and I don't know who you are," she tells Matt.
"Well, now I can breathe easy," Matt replies, sighing.
"Now, tell me about all those things they say about you," I say curiously.
"Well, it's a long story that I can tell you without a problem, on the condition that after hearing it, you won't change your image of me. You may hear some unpleasant things about me," she says, trying to smile.
"I would never change the way I see you. I know you, and your past won't change our friendship," I say, taking her hand to give her reassurance, seeing how nervous she is.
"Alright, when I was 16 years old, my parents died. They were robbed for the money that my family has always had. I wasn't with them at the time they were shot. I didn't stay safe at home for long. It was an ambush, and I was kidnapped. I lived through hell during the time they held me captive. They were looking for all the money my parents had, and I had no idea where it was. If it weren't for one of the men who was keeping me captive, whom I bribed to help me, on the last day of my captivity, one of them tried to rape me and forced me to perform oral sex on him. I couldn't take it anymore. I had been through that several times already, so I took the initiative and bit him, so hard that he started bleeding. When he was about to hit me, the guy I bribed helped me, and we escaped from that place, not without killing several of them, both him and me," she says, leaving me speechless.
I don't know what to say, not because I think she did anything wrong, on the contrary, she stood up for herself. I am proud of who she is now and for all she has been through she has not let herself be defeated. We need more women like that in the world.