Fated To Love You Forever

Madison found it difficult to control the smile that formed on her face, as she walked out the doors of the bakery and began to head home.

Work today had been great as there hadn’t been a lot to do today, and she had also been commended by her supervisor.

Madison knew that this meant something good. It meant she was doing her job well, and also it meant that there was hope. Hope for longer retainment, hope for a… promotion. Of course she didn’t say this out to anybody, but still she was so proud of herself for getting this far.

A month ago, coupled with all she had been through she wouldn’t have believed it if someone told her that she would have been at this point now, but here she was, with a stable income.

A few more months and she might even be moving out of her dingy apartment, to a better place provided she saved well and it was nothing short of unreal.

Well, regardless of anything Madison was determined to keep moving like this. So she decided she would encourage herself in the most natural way – She would make a nice home cooked meal for herself again.

Still smiling widely to herself, she cornered into a store to get some groceries for herself. She still hadn’t decided what she was going to make for dinner, but she would just get a few things for herself.

When she was done buying all she needed, she headed out of the store. As she tried to support the bag of groceries in one hand, her eyes fell on a strange looking man.

He stood at the corner of the street, clad in black, and taking notes in a small notepad.

Madison felt the hairs on her body rise as she stared back at him, suddenly having a bad feeling about the fellow.

Unsure at first, she looked behind her to see if there was anything or anybody else he might be looking at, but a quick glance behind and around made it clear that she was being watched in particular by him.

Her heart fell to her stomach in fear as she gripped the grocery bag tighter, already fastening her pace and taking long strides down the street.

The road was beginning to get lonely because it was evening, and Madison held the grocery bag to her chest, crippling fear flowing through her. Desperately, she tried to flag down a taxi to take her home, since she couldn’t even think of walking all the way home, now that the stalker was still behind her.

At subtle intervals her eyes would roam back to the strange man, and dutifully he stood there watching her like a hawk.

He was not even moving, or trying to hide, and it baffled Madison so much.

She was so scared that her hands began to shake.

Luckily for her an empty taxi passed, and quickly telling him the location of her house, she got in and closed the door heavily behind her.

Still not knowing what else to do, as the car drove away, Madison extracted her phone from her bag and scrolled through for Alvarez’s number intent on calling him.

He was the only one she had now.

…….

“The usual?”

Damien nodded to the bartender as he and Alvarez took their seats on the barstools.

They had both finished from work at the same time, so they decided to go have that drink they had scheduled some days go.

They had driven to the popular club in Damien’s car, and so far Damien had already found himself loosening up. He realized how much he missed his best friend and he was willing to make up for it, there was no going back.

“How’s your wife and kid?” He suddenly asked, turning to face Alvarez who smiled, his face lighting up as he replied, “They’re great, thanks for asking. You know my wife is due in a few weeks.”

“Already?” Damien exclaimed, then realizing his voice was loud, and he brought it down a little, making Alvarez laugh so hard he nearly choked on his drink, “Well that was fast. But how come you don’t sound so excited. More like you sound nervous?”

Alvarez sighed, “I don’t know. I am excited for baby number two, don’t get me wrong. I want this child so much, but at the same time whenever I remember the pain she went through when she had Ivy. The complications and all… I get scared for her health. It’s a baby boy you know and I’m more than happy, but then I’m not looking forward to the possible strain on my wife’s health.”

When he finished, Damien was staring at him and beaming, “Congratulations, man. You just won the award for husband of the year. All soft and mushy, your wife is so lucky.”

Alvarez laughed, shaking his head, “You can say that. Meanwhile you’ve been winning the award for bachelor of the year for a very long, long time. I won’t say bachelor since you have a girlfriend but then you’ve not put a ring on her so…”

As he spoke, Damien suddenly remembered the incident at Katherine’s father’s office when they had brought on the talk about marriage and a wedding.

He wasn’t sure he was ready for that kind of commitment… no, he wasn’t ready at all. And being with Katherine for life was definitely the last thing on his mind.

Needing to still cool off the atmosphere, Damien knew Alvarez would find it funny if he narrated that particular tale, and so he proceeded to hell him exactly what had happened.

As expected, Alvarez roared with laughter.

As Damien took a sip of his drink, Alvarez turned to face him. “How’s your family? I just realized that it’s been quite a while since I saw them or even asked about them.” He laughed, “I’m sure your mother hates me now.”

Damien shrugged, “Just a little bit.” He said it with such seriousness that Alvarez couldn’t help but laugh, “But anyway, mother and Layla are good. The last time I actually saw them was the family dinner I was invited to.”

“Family dinner?” Alvarez looked surprised, “When did that happen? How did it go?”

Damien nearly chuckled at the memory. Back then it had pissed him off so much that he thought his head would blow off from how angry he had been feeling, but now with drinks and his best friend, it was just another funny story to tell.

“Well, mom invited Katherine and-”

Alvarez’s eyes widened in surprise, “Wait what? Your mother invited Katherine to a family dinner? The same Grace Daniels I know? Wow, then I can only imagine how it went.” He chuckled.

Damien laughed, “Exactly, just as you are imagining. And dear mother decided to bring up Madison and the tabloids up at the table as well.”

Alvarez dropped the glass that was halfway to his lips in shock, “No… in front of Katherine?”

“Yes.”

After they had talked and laughed about it, Damien was feeling much lighter, and turning to the bartender he said, “Another round!”

“Speaking of Madison, how is the investigation going? You haven’t even told me what your plan is with Madison and her family.” Alvarez began but Damien went silent and after a while he added, “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, I understand…”

“No, no, it’s alright.” Damien cut in.

Suddenly, everything that had been going through his mind, everything that had been bothering him, everything that made him weak, tired… they all rested heavily on his chest and he wanted nothing more than to relieve himself of this burden.

He had wanted to this, so it wasn’t a big problem. He would just share his worries with his best friend, and he would be a tad bit relieved for sure.

And so…he did share everything. He told Alvarez everything he knew, and all that told his private investigator had discovered, he told him about the mail he had received, the contents of it, Madison’s suspected child from a pregnancy she was rumored to have, and about her parents disowning her.

Saying all these things made him realize just how bad Madison had it with her, and now anytime he remembered how bad he had treated her while she was in New York… The event at the hall, then his club, he just couldn’t help but feel terrible about it all.

He had been so harsh, and now he regretted every single action he had shown out.

Alvarez listened attentively to every word he spoke, and when he was done, he sighed heavily. He looked deep in thought for a few moments and then he looked back up at Damien, “Wow, that’s…a lot.”

When Damien nodded in agreement, he continued, “The only thing I can attest to is the fact that Madison was indeed disowned by her parents. When she was still in New York, she told me about that, but then this other talk… She never mentioned anything about a pregnancy, or a kid. I seriously doubt that, and I think it might just be a rumor. I know she’s still hiding a lot of things from me, but then a kid… na, I would have known.”

Damien leaned forward on the counter, taking another sip of his drink, “I thought as much too. But…that’s the most probable explanation for why she was disowned. Don’t you think so? If that child is mine, her father wouldn’t even think it twice. He would send her away without batting an eyelash. I know Mr Connor, and I know what he is capable of doing.”

Alvarez shook his head, “No, it’s definitely not true. You know first hand how much Madison loves children right? You know how she is with kids. If Madison had a child, I would definitely know. I mean she would have showed me pictures of something so I don’t think it’s true, anyway.”

Damien rubbed his forehead as he thought about the whole thing. He trusted his investigator so much, that he was certain he would not go out of his way to get false information.

He had seen proof, heard the recordings of their neighbors’ testimonies, so he wasn’t completely sure. But then again, he knew Alvarez was right.

A sad smile creeped onto his face as he thought of something.

“You’re right, Madison does love kids. Back when we were together she used to talk about having kids. She had the whole thing planned out, you know? We knew exactly the kind of family we wanted and… It… it was all so sweet. My future with her was mapped out. We were going to have the most pretty kids and…” Damien paused and chuckled bitterly.

Suddenly he felt the back of his eyes begin to burn, as he recalled it all.

He and Madison had made a lot of plans. Plans he was so sure they were going to carry out, but he guessed he had been wrong.

The future always had its own way.

To distract himself, Damien poured another shot of whiskey in the small glass cup, and then he downed it in one gulp.

He felt Alvarez place an arm on his shoulder, rubbing softly trying to calm him down but he refused to acknowledge it.

Instead he gulped down another shot.

“You know…I never really knew what caused the breakup. You didn’t say anything. I was shocked when you all but told me to start preparing so we could leave for New York. You never said a thing. I mean how did it happen?”

Damien swallowed bitterly, and coughed, “I know you might not believe me but Madison initiated the breakup.”

Alvarez let his arm drop from Damien’s shoulder, shock maring his features, as he asked dumbfoundedly, “What? Really?”

Damien nodded, “Yes, she did. Things were going great, and then one day she just walks up to me, brutally tells me how much she hates me and that she no longer wants to be with me. I was so confused, man, and no matter how much I begged and tried to get her to rethink her decision, she wouldn’t budge. There were also some rumors that she had been cheating, and I did see her with some other guy prior to our fallout but I didn’t want to believe that she would cheat. So yeah, that’s that, I guess.” He spat bitterly, taking a sip of his drink.

To his greatest surprise, Alvarez chuckled, and Damien turned to him in disbelief, waiting for an explanation as to what seemed funny.

“Look, man…I know you were hurt and still are, but with everything that you’ve discovered from the investigation, what she’s currently going through, the fact that she was disowned… I have an inkling that something must have prompted her to do that. Don’t you think she might have had no other choice?”

Damien frowned. He didn’t understand what Alvarez was driving at.

“What I mean is, don’t you think her family might have something to do with you both. Don’t you think she might have been manipulated into breaking up with you? Remember those days things weren’t rosy and…”

Damien’s hand tightened over the cup. No, he hadn’t thought of that, but it was so logical. Could it be….

No, he stopped himself. He shouldn’t even be thinking about this now. It happened years ago so the real reason for it didn’t really matter anymore.

He flicked his hand, waving Alvarez’s comment away, “It doesn’t matter now. Whatever reason she had to break up with me doesn’t seem… Look I don’t even know what to say right now.” He paused and added, “It’s all in the past now, and you know what they say about it. The past is the past.”

Alvarez sighed heavily, “Okay then. The past is the past.” He repeated, raising his drink to his lips. When he emptied his glass, he stood, “I need to use the restroom. Don’t drink too much. I’ll be right back.” He smiled and then he was gone.

Damien nodded, taking another shot.

Talking about all of this had put him in a weird mood. He wasn’t sad, neither was he happy. He just felt strange, numb too like usual but still he was grateful that he had Alvarez here tonight.

As he turned to observe his surroundings, Alvarez’s phone began to ring, distracting Damien. He looked toward the restroom to see if Alvarez was on his way out, but there was no sign of him at all.

He had no option but to silence the phone call, but as he stretched toward the phone, picking it up he nearly fell off his seat in surprise when he saw the name ‘Madison’ flash over the screen.

For some reason, his heart began to pound in his chest. The phone continued to ring, making his chest tighten in pain.

Should he just cut the call, or pick up and tell her to call back later? Or should he view this as an opportunity to finally get to speak to her and…?

He picked the phone up from the table, staring at the screen as it continued to ring.

His palms were beginning to sweat, and shaking his head, he put the phone back where it had been. He couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t. What was he even supposed to say?

Her name flashed on the screen again as the phone began to ring for the second time, and his heart breathing cut short.

Taking a deep breath, Damien took the phone in his hand and picking it up slowly, he brought it to his ear…

“Hello, Madison Connor.”