Burning Bridges

Burning Bridges-- Chapter 4

author's note: I know that the chapters are really short, like they aren't even proper chapters, so I hope you excuse me for that, it's just that the POVs and the drama will only work if there are short chapters but I will update very quickly so yay! 

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Him 

Wow, it kind of felt good to get it all out. I haven't really told anyone about it, not even my mother, or the new lawyer I had hired, Roger. I just told him to file a divorce on 'irreconcilable differences'. That's what celebrities usually do, don't they? Use the pretext of 'irreconcilable differences'. 

It was kind of pathetic I hadn't told my mother. She was the only family I had my whole childhood. But truth was I was ashamed. I was ashamed of my choice, and I was ashamed why I let it happen. Probably the reason why I hadn't told anyone else. But Mandy...she was different. Everything was different with her.

I had gone on a foreign trip. To Japan. And I decided to come back a bit early to celebrate our three month-anneversary. Yes, you know it all goes downhill from here. I showed up at the house, opened the door using my spare key (I wanted to surprise her, you see) and saw a trail of clothes leading up to the bedroom. The master bedroom. Where I, Daniel Winchester, Ashley Winchester's husband slept every night, along with her. Not some other guy. 

I immediately knew something was wrong. I didn't want to open the door. If I opened the door, I thought, my life would be destroyed. The high profile wedding, the new house, all the love from my friends, gone. Vanish into thin air. What would my mother say? She had finally seen her troubled son getting married, but now this? 

I had another choice. If I didn't open the door, and pretend nothing ever happened, things may even be the same. Then, probably, this marriage would last for a couple more years. People would think it was a normal thing. People get divorced a lot now, anyways.

But then I thought of the rebel I used to be in college. I never cared what people thinked about me. Who cares? Rock and roll, baby. That was me. That was still me. Or not, I realised. Maybe I had lost that part of myself somewhere along the way. 

I sucked it up, and opened the door. I threw a tantrum like any husband would, cursed, and didn't come home that night. Actually, I never went home back again, just during an afternoon when she wasn't home to collect my important belongings. 

I realised that I wasn't really surprised my wife cheated. It was weird, I know. And I didn't even want her back. I didn't  even question her, why she actually cheated. Maybe I could have understood and our marriage could be saved. Maybe it wasn't actually her, but her doppleganger. But then this voice in my head that had been there before the wedding started to grow louder and louder. 

I never did want to marry. Especially not Ashley. I don't know why I did. I didn't want Ashley. I just wanted a settled life, no interruptions. I guess I was in some kind of wonderland, because of my sudden success, and thought that I could top it off by getting married to my ex boss' good looking daughter. 

I understood I never really wanted a green-eyed, platinum blonde with bronze skin beauty. And she was easy. As soon as she saw me (she probably saw my money, I guess), she kind of made it easy for me to hit on her. She was boring, shallow, self-absorbed, yes, but I didn't see through her. Yet the second I realised it wasn't going to work, reality hit me. I just saw a beautiful, nice, faithful girl who wanted me more than anything.

I stared back at the pale skinned, brown haired, ember-eyed girl in front of me. She was difficult. She had a story, and her stories had stories. She could keep me interested for hours. I sighed. Where did I go wrong? 

She just stood there, shocked. If she had some other object in her hand, she would have probably dropped it too.

I knew she had been cheated on once or twice when I was not with her, and I had actually gone and punched the guy. Of course, I was not that strong, and I got a dislocated nose in return. But it felt good, you know, to punch him for all the wrong he had done. 

And then the worse happened. I started crying. The tears were unstoppable now that the barrier was down. It was of the silent type.

Then the worst happened. Mandy started to cry too. She came close to me, as close as we used to be a year ago , yet desperately far from each other. I hated to see her cry. I especially hated it when the reason was me. But I just held her, and we both cried in the empty apartment lobby.

"I know what it feels like, Danny. I do." She said, between her sobs. 

I knew she knew.