WestFiction- "If You Love Something" by Mary

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If You Love Something...> chapters 29-30

Rowen sat on the booth of a car, his head in his hands. Joshua made his way towards him. He was fuming with anger, he looked like he could kill him with his bare hands. Rowen saw him and immediately jumped down. Bryan and Mark noticed this and went after Joshua.

“YOU—” seethed Joshua aiming a punch at Rowen. Bryan and Mark caught him just in time, “NO ONE TREAT’S MY SISTER LIKE THAT.” He managed to wriggle out of their grip, grabbed Rowen by the collar and pinned him on the car.

“Look, I’m sorry—” started Rowen. Bryan and Mark somehow managed to pull him away.

“THE HELL YOU ARE. WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO? RUIN HER?” he aimed another punch but two guys holding him up made it impossible to do, “LET GO OF ME.”

“I’ll talk to her, alright?” Rowen said.

“WHAT GOOD WILL THAT DO?” Joshua snapped back.

“She deserves an explanation.”

“FOR WHAT? THAT YOU CAN ADD MORE DAMAGE? THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS, THAT YOU HAVE TWO VERY GOOD FRIENDS WHO ARE PREVENTING ME FROM REARRANGING YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW!”

“I—“ Rowen began.

“ROT IN HELL.”

“Easy, Josh,” said Bryan, trying to calm him down. Both of them were having trouble obstructing Joshua from Rowen. In time Joshua, cooled down a little. The let go of him, expecting him to pounce on Rowen any second.

When he didn’t, Mark faced Rowen, his own anger rising, but he kept it in check. He put some distance between them and paced around to cool himself, even though Rowen was also his best friend it didn’t justify what he did.

~ ~ ~

Samantha just stared out off the car window. How could he have done that to her? The scene played over her mind a thousand times already. She wished that there were a stop and eject button so that she could throw away the memory. She concluded that somehow she must have left the church.

“Excuse me,” she said to the chauffeur as she yanked the veil from her head, “can you pull over.”

“But, ma’am—” he began to protest, looking at her from the rearview mirror.

“Please,” she said cutting him short. Finally he came to a stop at the side of the road. Samantha didn’t wait for him to come around and open her door.

“I’ll wait right here,” he said to him.

“That wouldn’t be necessary,” she said to him and started walking. The chauffeur started calling after her but she just ignored him. She was in town, she knew she must be a scene. A young woman in a wedding gown, tear-streaked face, walking around town unhappily. She ignored all the stares too.

The sun was shining brightly and it was drizzling at the same time. Apparently the Chinese say that a couple in love walking together in this kind of weather is romantic that’s what Ashley told her anyways. So it was a perfect day for a wedding, which never was.

She reached an unusual state of calm and peace of mind, like a huge burden was lifted from her shoulders. That scared her. She tried to think but her mind stayed blank. And at the same time it was like what happened wasn’t real. She took off her shoes and started walking barefoot. She just felt like walking, without a particular destination in mind.

CHAPTER 30

Mark stretched and yawned loudly. He glanced at the clock on the wall, 11.30 a.m. He slept for more than 12 hours. He sat up. Wedding. Rowen. Samantha. It brought him down immediately.

Mark bought a house, just outside of Dublin last year, a place of his own. He brought Rowen to Dublin back with him with the thought he needed to stay away from Sligo for awhile. It didn’t do him any good. There were a few persistent reporters who wouldn’t give him space, Samantha herself had a public profile. The same would happen if he went back to England. Mark thought a change of scenery would do him good, and Nicky kindly offered his cabin, which was hidden between some mountains, as refuge. They flew in by helicopter, yesterday and Rowen stayed in one of the rooms and never came out.

He pulled back the curtains, what he saw took his breath away. They were surrounded by mountains. The place would look heavenly during winter. He made himself a pot of coffee. He needed some caffeine to kick start his system. Now that he was paying attention to his surrounding, he was impressed with what he saw. The cabin seemed bigger than he saw it last night, it was fully furnished. Three spacious rooms each attached with a bath. Very luxurious. He felt a little out of place, he preferred things simple, not elaborate like this. And food and drinks would last them a year. No wonder Nicky kept this place a secret, in fact he didn’t even know about it until a few days ago. It offered one solitude from the rest of the world, a perfect getaway. For a split second he wondered how much Nicky was worth.

He made his way to the living room, and found Rowen sitting there staring into the fireplace. They didn’t need fire to heat up the already warm room. At least he decided not to stay locked up in his room. Rowen was in a pair of sweats, black rings around his eyes and a drink in his hand. Mark noted this, Rowen never drank in the mornings.

“How are ya doing?” Mark asked, he didn’t respond. He just stared at what Mark realized a framed photograph of Rowen and Samantha, which was with him. Stupid question Mark, “Wanna talk about it?”

“What is there left to say?”

“Like what made you do the thing you did?” Rowen just shrugged and said, “Guess I wasn’t ready yet.”

“Rowen, I have known you since I could remember…you can tell me anything.” Rowen just gave a tight smile and asked, “When do we leave here?”

“That’s up to you,” replied Mark, it wasn’t what he expected him to ask.

“Then we leave tomorrow.”

“I don’t think–“

“You call the pilot and say we leave tomorrow,” he cut him off, as he got up, “I have a lot of work waiting for me.” Mark didn’t believe him, he had a month off for the honeymoon. What work would he probably have? But Mark nodded without arguing.

“Do me a favor Mark?” he asked in a kinder tone.

“What is it?”

“Keep an eye on Samantha for me? I know you don’t hang around in one place often but just make sure she’s alright, once in a while.” Rowen’s expression turned soft when he mentioned her name. His behavior confused Mark. Rowen loved her and he was ready to commit, he was sure about it. The day before the wedding, Rowen was walking on Cloud Nine. Then he just stopped his own wedding. He would bet everything he had right now that Rowen was still in love with her. Why did he do it? Very weird.

Mark just nodded without arguing.

~ ~ ~

Samantha looked at the few reading materials which was stacked neatly at the nightstand, most were on Psychology or Physics Journals. Nothing caught her attention and she wasn’t exactly up to Ashley’s knowledge retention level. Ashley sure had a weird idea for a bedtime reading material! There was a knock on the door and Ashley peeked inside, “Can I come in?”

“Yeah,” Samantha said in a crocked voice. She made an effort and sat up in bed. Reality of what happened hit her when she was reached back home, she was thankful that Joshua managed to get her away from Ireland. Her relatives who flown in for the wedding gave her the You-are-young-and-you’ll-get-over-him advice that she had practically memorized it herself. And the you-poor-thing look they gave her didn’t help either. She was confused as she was feeling everything at the same time. Angry, gloomy, dreadful and hurt. Hurt because she loved him and he didn’t anymore.

Temporarily she is staying with Ashley in her plush penthouse in England. For the past three days, she just sat in bed and thought about Rowen. And he never bothered to call. Today she exhausted from it and it made her feel weak. That was one feeling she was not used to, being weak.

“Did they postpone it?” Samantha managed to ask. Ashley shook her head. “I’m so sorry.” Ashley just waved it away as if it didn’t mean a thing while struggling with her clutches, “There’s always next time.” There won’t be a next time. Ashley, ran after Samantha in the church and in the process Ashley sprained her ankle badly that she was to put no pressure on it for a month.

Ashley was to leave for U.S. tomorrow for her new movie. She had been eyeing for the part for two years. When she got the part, shooting had to be postponed due to management cost. Now when they were on the right track, they couldn’t afford any more postponement and due to that Ashley was out from the project. Samantha gave out a heavy sigh, she managed to ruin it for Ashley too.

“Hey, don’t worry too much over it,” she said as she dropped her crutches on the floor and plopped on the bed next to her and cheerfully added, “So what do you want to do today?”

“Nothing,” Samantha mumbled.

“Girl, you have to get out of the house someday,” Ashley said as she put her arm over her shoulders. Samantha in turn rested her head on Ashley’s shoulder, “What went wrong Ash?” she whispered, “What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything. You couldn’t have done anything. And it was not your fault either. Sam, let time work it out.” Ashley tried to convince her, “If it was meant to be, he’ll come back to you. But now you’ll just have to…carry on.”

“I hate him,” Samantha said flatly.

“No you don’t,” said Ashley, “you just hate what he did.”

“Why are you on his side anyway? You hated him since I was dating him,” Samantha asked, annoyed.

“I don’t hate him, I just don’t like him and now I don’t like him even more. But since you love him, I made an effort to be nice to him,” when Samantha didn’t say anything she added losing her patience a little, “Sam, you are the most objective person I know. You can stay here and do nothing and think about him, which won’t change anything. Or you can fight back and make something productive in the mean time and get stronger and show the world you are not someone to mess with. Now if it’s the Samantha Micah I know, she will go for the latter. Then when he does realize what an idiotic fool he is, at least you’ll be in a position where you can make a better judgement. And if he doesn’t…well you haven’t lost anything.”

Samantha flinched at her words, “You know Ash, sometimes speaking your mind hurts people.”

“I’m sorry Sam,” she said kindly, “personally I think you deserve someone better.” When Samantha remained silent, “You don’t have to go to work for sometime right? And I don’t have anything to do for the next few months. Come on, you and me, let’s take a trip somewhere. We’ll make it a girl thing. We can go to Seychelles for a holiday. Or you just name the place and we’ll go there. It would clear your mind a little.

It was appealing, a few days of sun, sea and sand. There was another knock at the door before she could make up her mind. “Room service,” Bryan announced through the closed doors. Ashley glanced at Samantha and she nodded, “Come on in.”

Bryan entered rolling in a vast variety of food in a tray in a serious manner, “Ahh…my favorite ladies, this is for you,” he said as he handed Ashley a red rose, “and this is for you,” he handed Samantha a pink rose. Samantha had to smile, Bryan was doing everything he could to cheer her up. “And for breakfast we have, bacon, cheese,” and continued rattling about food that Samantha’s mouth watered. She just managed a bite of last nights dinner and ate nothing at all the day before. “Then we have,” he continued as he pulled out a few DVD’s, “Mr. Bean, Friends to cheer you up. And later in the evening, we are going to shopping. If I’m correct it cures everything.”

Everything but a broken heart, “No Bry, I can’t,” Samantha said but Bryan shook his head, “You two gals buy whatever you want and it’s on me.”

“I really can’t,” She stared protesting, “besides Ash has a broken ankle.”

“I very much capable walking with clutches,” argued Ashley, “We’ll max out Bry’s credit…Please?”

“Yeah! I’ll drive you both there,” said Bryan, “and carry the bags too.”

She did need to get out for awhile and there was truth in what Ashley said earlier but… She looked at both Bryan and Ashley, a few true friends, who at the moment had pleading looks on their faces then she groaned, “Alright.” Then she added, “Don’t expect me to have fun.”

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