𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 | MJJ

I'M LOSING YOU | 03

THURS, JANUARY 22ND, 2015...

Carnation knocked urgently on Saaki's door at around 10:30 at night, anticipating an answer she wasn't truly sure she would get. She knew that Saaki's boyfriend was away for work this week, so she wouldn't be disturbing anyone this late.

When the door opened, she felt tears instantly well in her eyes. She couldn't help it. Her night had been so long and tiring-like every night in the past couple days after finding out about her husband's infidelity.

"Hey, what you- what happened?" Saaki asked worriedly when she saw the tears in Carnation's eyes.

She started to open her mouth to respond but wasn't able to get her words out, and the tears spilled over. Saaki ushered her inside and grabbed some tissues from the box nearby, handing them to her so she could wipe her face.

Carnation removed her jacket and shoes, letting Saaki take everything to put down somewhere.

"What's going on?" she asked, her mind moving a mile a minute.

Carnation managed to just come out with it. "Michael had an affair on me."

Saaki gasped. It was the kind of gasp you would hear in a dramatic movie when something anticlimactic happened. She placed her hand on her chest in shock.

It was a surprise because Michael and Carnation were like the perfect couple. Everything everyone in and out of a relationship wanted to be. The blueprint. It never dawned on Carnation, or anyone else for that matter, that Michael was capable of doing something like this. That he would even imagine it.

"When?" she asked.

"I found out a couple nights ago and I've been trying to pretend it doesn't bother me, but it does."

"Ohhh, my God." Saaki didn't know half of what to say. She couldn't begin to imagine what was going on in Carnation's mind right now. "I'm so sorry." Saaki pulled her in for a hug.

"I don't know what I did wrong."

She jerked her head back, not wanting to hear her beautiful best friend doubt herself. "Nothing at all. Sit, I'll be right back." She left and returned minutes later with a box of tissues, a wine glass, and some white wine in her hands. She took to the spot right across from Carnation and placed everything on the glass table. "Tell me everything."

Once Carnation managed to get her breathing leveled and her cries to a minimum, she began.

"I was about to put the kids down when I got a text message on Facebook from some woman named Sasha, and she told me everything. She showed me all the messages between them, told me how they met, what they did. Everything."

She grew emotional again at the reminder and grabbed some tissues to wipe her eyes.

"I keep thinking about what my kids are gonna say. I don't know what to tell them."

"Y'all haven't told the kids yet?"

Carnation shook her head incredulously. "I can't yet. I can't bring myself to do it."

"Well, you wanna tell them as soon as possible. The sooner the better."

"I know... I'm just so upset."

Given how hard the two of them fought for each other-how much Michael had to prove himself to her father-she couldn't believe he would go outside of their marriage. They'd basically spent their entire lives together. She met him when she was seventeen, just about to graduate, he had been by her side, through thick and thin, for as long as she could remember. It felt like a lifetime, but it was coming to an end. She simply couldn't tolerate cheating.