The Love Complex (Completed)

-12-

"It was inevitable, the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love." -Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the time of Cholera

There are so many love related quotes, so many opinions and different perspectives about love. What constitutes love and what constitutes the loss of love? When a human loves, do they love until the end? Are they supposed to leave it all behind? What happens if one is rejected? Do you give up? Is that even love? Do you persist? If you ask random strangers these questions, it is certain that they will all provide a different answer.

In Dylan Ren's case, love was more complicated than that. He had stayed true to his love for Valentina. The moment she had left he had decided to go and study abroad. He would become a successful doctor, just like he had told her and then he would go and search for her, just as he had done. There was not a single moment when he failed her or his promise to her. He had stayed loyal and true.

The moment Valentina had chased him out of the filming site; it had signified rejection. She no longer had him in her heart. It was obvious. After one month, she had not bothered to search for him. It meant only one thing. She didn't feel the same.

Sometimes, during the night, he would question himself. Hope would creep in and lay with him. Perhaps, she didn't mean to act that way. She could have been confused or annoyed. So many excuses popped into his mind and would open his heart to the bitter hope, but they never lasted enough. While they opened cracks in his heart, they never did enough to have him running toward her. However, there she was.

A hot vile feeling of anger rose from his stomach and reached all the way to his throat. The sensation burned and made him angry. It was indignation.

Her eyes were covered by black sunglasses, but he could still see the apathy she felt when she saw him. Dylan Ren was a stranger to her.

"Goodness," She said as she walked past him and hugged the girl who was standing just a few inches away from him. "How is dad doing?" She asked.

Dylan looked over at both girls confused. They were siblings?

"He's fine. Lena went out to make a call, but you can go in if you'd like." Regina said.

Valentina nodded and took off her sunglasses. It was then that she seemed to notice Dylan.

"You," she said, as she looked at him with a frown tilting her head, "I know you."

She looked at him for a few seconds before her frown turned into a look of contempt. "Oh my, Gi, call security!!" She shrieked as she quickly stood behind Regina. "This guy is the same dude who came on to me when I was filming!!"

Regina looked at Dylan and then at Valentina completely confused.

"Tina, I think you are confusing him. This is Dylan," she stopped for a few minutes, thinking of the appropriate way of introducing him, but eventually told her that he was her fiancé.

Valentina looked at her sister in horror. "You are getting married and you didn't tell me?"

Regina didn't say anything, but it was obvious that she was a bit annoyed. She hadn't shown up despite the constant calls they had made. When she did show up, she acted as if she was being purposely kept out of the loop. 

"And you are marrying this man, the creepy man who came up to me that day!!"

"I don't think Dylan is the man you are talking about..." She said, before turning to Dylan with an apologetic smile "You can go now; I'll stay here," she told Dylan, patting his shoulder, before she looked back at her sister.

There was no way that Dylan could explain without making it worse, so he didn't dare to explain. "I'll head to work," he said to Regina before he left.

Valentina glared at his retrieving figure, before she looked back at her sister with a frown.

The heavy feeling in his throat wasn't going away. Once he got to the elevator he pulled out the list Regina had given him. It irked him that he hadn't thought about it before. Regina Kendall, he mouthed. Tina Kendall, he thought. He shook his head and crumbled the paper before shoving it back into his pocket.

He knew that eventually he would have to explain the situation to Regina. It would even be justifiable if they even had to call off the wedding. After all, she was Valentina's sister. It wouldn't be correct to continue on with a farce when Valentina knew the truth. 

He sighed heavily and threw his head back hitting the wall of the elevator. It hurt, but he didn't pay it much attention. The scar in his heart was slowly opening, and the pain was greater than the physical pain.

When he got to his office, he sat in his desk chair and glared off into space. He had been trying to forget about Valentina and the pain that she had left in his heart. He didn't run after her, like the main leads in the dramas. He hadn't even bothered to keep up with her through the news or magazines. He had done his best to avoid anything that could relate to her. Every time he drove to the hospital, he would remind himself to avoid the main street so that he didn't have to see the two billboards with her face on them. But, there she was again.

"What type of twisted game is this?" He asked himself, before he restrained himself and began to work.

After his shift was about to end, he decided to go and talk to Regina about the wedding. All throughout the day he had been thinking about what to do. Eventually, he had reached the conclusion that it would be best to tell the truth and end it all. He would personally apologize to Regina and go back home.