The One That Got Away and Other Horror Stories

You will never ever forget the first time you met him. How could you, when you shared all of your firsts with him! You will never forget the goose bumps that materialized right after you saw him with a floral bouquet and a stuffed monkey for your birthday. Of course you have to bring the flowers to your office and string along your friends, saying that you have nowhere to put it in (of course you just want to rub it on their faces). Of course who will ever forget the embarrassment that you felt when he introduced you to his family! Forget that you became his family’s chauffer when they came for a visit, the fact that he was proud enough to let his mom know that you’re together is enough to make you giddy for a week (of course you can’t wait to tell all your friends). Most important of all, you will never forget the steamy sex that you always have any time of the day and it sure will last forever, or so you thought.

You will never forget the first time you caught him cheating on you. You were in bed, he was taking a bath. He left his phone and of course it’s like an open invitation for you to check it out. You beat yourself shitless when you saw indiscreet messages from more than one person. You berate whether you need to confront him about it or not. But you don’t want him to leave you lest he'll think that you’ve turned into a whiner. But your pride just won’t let it go without a fight. So you get the phone numbers of the people he was fucking behind your back. You vowed to get back on his cheating ass by having sex with these same people then a few others indiscriminately. You eventually get tired of it.

And he tells you he’s in love with you, and everything doesn’t matter at all.

But you can’t understand why everything abruptly changed. He doesn’t hang out at your house anymore. He has a lot of excuses when you invite him for dinner, movie or whatnot. And it has been a month since you both had sex. Of course the inquisitor in you has to ask him why. His answer left you bewildered – “My respect for you transcended beyond carnal feelings already”. Of course you obviously know its crap. You vowed to win him back by inviting him and his friends to your house on Christmas Eve. You cooked for 7 hours straight, you turned your house upside down, heck you even bought a new table! You fetched him and his friends at their place, fed them and sent them back home. When the two of you were left in your car, he kissed you on your cheek while thanking you. And you inadvertently blurted out “I Love You”. And he just looked at you and smiled.

5 full days passed without hearing anything from him. By then your irritation and anger has already subsided. After 10 movies, 4 re-runs of Will and Grace, and 5 paintings, you got a text from him. “Sorry if I never texted. When you said that you love me, it got me thinking. You are really important in my life. But I am still confused. This is entirely my fault but I would like you to be my friend first, best friend if you will”... So this is how being heartbroken feels like, you thought. Funny but you kind of expected tears to fall incessantly with it, but they weren’t any. He wants to visit you and tries to bribe you with your favorite food. You held your ground and told him it was a bad idea. He said he was hurt, and you didn’t give a damn.

After one full month, you met him in person. He hugged you tight and told you sorry over and over again. You did not feel anything.