X Y Z

Eight

She woke up to her ringtone blaring somewhere on the bed and there was nothing she hated more than being interrupted when she was sleeping like any other human being.

Her hands searched for her phone and when she finally caught it, she squinted at the screen with one eye and saw that it was an unknown and unfamiliar number. Frowning, she answered the call. “Hello?”

“Is this Giselle?” A woman's voice, which confused her more.

She nodded but then facepalmed herself mentally because the woman cannot see her sleepy head nodding at her question. She responded, “Yes, who is this?”

“I'm Molly, can we talk?”

Does this woman have any sense of time? It couldn't be past seven in the morning for fucks sake and last night was sucked up by consoling three man children. She sat up with a groan. “Yes, of course. What is it?”

“Do you know Xavier Corlton?”

“Yes again, he was my ex. We dated two years ago.”

“I'm sorry but are you sleeping with him?” The woman's voice was desperate and on the verge of breaking down. It took a few moments to register what the hell she just said. Sleeping with him, the fuck?!

She tried to control her anger as she wasn't one to act on her emotions without full context. “Excuse me but what the hell?”

“I'm sorry but did you meet him recently?” The woman sniffed into the phone.

She shut her eyes for a moment, “Yes, last night but not for the reas-”

“So you are sleeping with him-”

She cut her off, as politely as she could, “Molly, listen. I did not sleep with him last night. Or in two years. I'm not sure why you're accusing me of such things so early in the morning!”

“Then how come he said your name while we-” She broke down. Giselle felt pity and sorry for this woman but she wasn't to blame that Xavier hasn't moved on, rushed into a relationship and then fucked it up. Was it now?

“Molly, look, I'm really sorry but I think you should move on because he cannot. I don't know why, I'm really sorry. I knew he hadn't moved on when I met him last night and I don't mean it in a smug way at all. I just do know what to do with him. He told me about you, that you're a good woman, great in fact but that he's being an unfair idiot. Don't be a fool and settle with him, okay? I'm saying this for your own good-”

“For my own good? For my OWN good?!” She let out a string of curses making Giselle wince as she pulled the phone away from her ear, groaning. “Just say that you're still into him too. You want me gone so you can continue to-”

She didn't want to do it but she hung up. She wasn't going to explain herself to someone who wasn't going to listen to her. Molly clearly wasn't in a state of mind to hear her out. It was a situation too complicated to explain, that she wouldn't have gone to see him if all the guys from her past hadn't phoned her one after another. As a fellow woman, she could understand what Molly was feeling but as someone who didn't take disrespect, she hung up. She explained it to her clearly but Molly wasn't ready for the conversation she initiated.

She wanted to kill Xavier for bringing her into this but then, she didn't know what to do as these things weren't in her control. She simply went back to sleep and then about her usual day.

Molly called her a few more times but she was done with it. She couldn't take the calls if she was to take disrespect and accusations of a woman who couldn't understand that the man was at fault.

Then there was another call from her, again in the evening when she was chopping vegetables to make herself dinner. She inhaled sharply before answering it. “What?!”

She didn't mean her voice to have that bite, she understood why that woman was behaving the way she was. So, she pulled herself together and cleared her voice. “What is it?”

“Xavier broke up with me. He explained what happened. I'm sorry. I just…I saw a future with him but if he's looking back at the past over my shoulder, I didn't know how to react. But I do know one thing though, he loves you. So much. And I like him enough to not see him like this. So I had to tell you. I don't know what you'll do with him, it's up to you. All I wanted to say is that I'm sorry for my behaviour earlier, I shouldn't have accused you without knowing anything. I'm really sorry,” Molly's voice was barely above a whisper, too tired from probably a lot of crying.

She smiled softly as she whispered, “It's okay. I'm sorry too, I should've understood what you were going through. I wish you a good life. Hopefully the next time you choose someone, you'd choose someone who's over their ex, someone you wouldn't make you question your choices, someone's who's not boring enough to make you want to let the bond die. I hope you love yourself enough to choose someone who loves you for you.”

“Thank you, I needed that.” Molly's voice had a faint smile to it. “What are you going to do about Xavier?”

“I don't know. It's true that I loved him a lot once. I don't know if I still do. But I hope he finds what he's looking for with whoever he ends up with.” She said as she resumed cutting the vegetables. And after a couple of more polite exchanges, she hung up and focused on cooking, not letting her thoughts go down that lane that might take her to how Xavier was looking at her, the way he looked at her with love for the four years they dated. She didn't want to go down that lane, not after this phone call, even if Molly confirmed her doubts.