Juvenal

Chapter 15

Mabel switched off her mobile phone and turned towards the shelf. She was in the supermarket and was going through the list to see what she needed to buy. Even though she had prepared the list herself, she had forgotten to check what more she needed and had called her father to ask whether there were any more things that she needed to buy. Earlier when she had been going to school and even when she was attending her university, her mother had been the one who had brought all the groceries for their home. Her mother had never let her father do the shopping, for reasons which were yet unknown to Mabel. She had seen her father trying to go to buy the groceries, but at all of those times, her mother had silenced her father with one single stare. Even though Mabel did not understand the head nor the tail of that, she had thought that it was because her father might forget some things to buy. Anyway, as she read the long list of groceries in her hand, Mabel huffed loudly and pulled a cart towards her and pushed it through the aisle.

Mentally ticking off the things in the list, Mabel went down along the aisle, and she was absorbed in finding the items when she heard someone call her name. Mabel looked up and she stopped when she saw a familiar face come towards her.

"Hi Mabel, do you remember me?" she asked. Mabel nodded, smiling.

"Hi Liz, of course I remember you." she said. Even though she had met Liz just one time, she had not forgotten Edwin's pretty girlfriend.

"How are you, Liz?" Mabel asked. Liz smiled kindly at her.

"I am okay Mabel." She said. Mabel looked at her and wondered whether she had grown thin or whether she was seeing any difference in her because she was meeting her after a long time. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember the first time she had met her, and she thought that Liz definitely did not have dark circles around her eyes and had looked healthier. Even though Mabel wondered what had happened to her, she did not ask anything, considering that she was just a friend of Liz's boyfriend and that she personally did not know her well enough to pry into her personal space.

"Ah ha," Mabel said, wondering what to say. She was at a loss for words and wondered how to break the awkward silence.

"So, erm how's Edwin?" Liz asked.

She had debated with herself wondering whether to ask about him or not and had finally decided to ask about him. Even though it had been more than two months since they had broken up, and she had not even seen a trace of him even in the hospital, her mind had always been preoccupied with thoughts of him. She knew that he had never truly loved her, but the love she had for him was too much for her to forget soon and move on. Even though she had respected his decision to break up at that time, she was the only person who knew how much tears she had spent on his name. She had spent countless nights crying for him as memories of him used to spring up one by one in her mind. She knew that she would be able to find another boyfriend soon, but as he was her first true love, it was actually hard for her to forget and move on from him. She knew that she was not in the place to be his forever love. Looking at Mabel in the supermarket had pricked her heart and she had even wondered whether to talk to her or not and had decided to do so, only to fulfill her selfish thought of wanting to know how Edwin was actually doing. She knew that she would never be able to be his one true love, but for her, for the sake of the love she had for him, she wanted him to be happy, even if it was not with her.

"Erm, Edwin?" Mabel asked.

Her eyebrows were scrunched up as she looked at Liz. She wondered why Liz was asking about Edwin from her. He was her boyfriend, was he not? It was Mabel who should ask about Edwin from Liz, but here it was happening the other way around.

"He is doing okay, I guess." Mabel replied. Liz nodded slowly. Mabel tilted her head to the side and looked at her. She wondered whether there were any problems between them. She shook her head as a possibility of them being broken up reached her mind, but she thought that it was absurd. If that had happened, she knew that Edwin would definitely tell her about it.