Another love story (Mads Mikkelsen)

16. Retrospective

"I think the divorce was a terrible idea." Hanne sat opposite Mads sipping at her espresso, her eye contact unbreakable.

Mads couldn't deny that she was a handsome woman but the kiss they shared the week before had been empty for him. There had been no electricity, no fire burning in the pit of his stomach. Had he become as emotionless as his character? Had he finally lived up to his villainous reputation?

"I think you should move back in with me and we should give things another go. We never really tried before did we?"

Mads felt himself disassociate with the situation as he delved deeper into himself, retrospectively viewing his circumstances.

He was undeniably out of love with Hanne, that much he knew. Was it because he was infatuated with Sophie still, even after the week they'd spent apart?

He still thought of her, the look on his face when he had told her that he had let Hanne kiss him. It was wrong of him to do that but after all the ups and downs of the divorce, allowing his wife her way, he had become accustomed to letting her win. The kiss had been his way of giving his wife the upper hand, give himself the easier life.

As it turned out, it hadn't been the easy life and had just prolonged the inevitable heartbreak.

"Hanne. We tried everything. Marriage counselling, couples therapy, even spending time apart. I'm afraid to say it but I don't love you any more and I don't think I ever can again. Of course, I would never treat you badly, and will always see you as one of my closest friends but Hanne, we have to stop this charade and move on with our lives."

Hanne finally broke eye contact to stare into her drink with an incredible amount of concentration.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Mads, she stood, just as he had with Sophie.

"Fine. I will speak to my attorney to move things along. I think we both want a speedy conclusion to this now."

With that she left and Mads was alone again with his thoughts, his thoughts that kept drifting back to Sophie.

*

Sophie sighed as she tore her gaze away from her reflection in the mirror. He eyes were bloodshot and her throat felt tight. Not only had she broken up with Mads but she had also developed the flu, meaning her time spent working from home was justified.

She told herself that she was done with crying, done with feeling bad about herself yet her flat was a mess, her general hygiene was questionable, and her fridge was looking remarkably empty. She needed help to get out of her rut.

Jan hammered at Sophie's door until finally she stopped telling her to go away and unlocked the Yale.

Carrying bags, Jan emptied the contents onto the kitchen counter and began filling her fridge with milk, eggs and other essential food items including much needed vegetables that Sophie's diet had severely been lacking.

Ushering Sophie up from where she lay wrapped in a sad aged blanket, she pushed her towards the bathroom where she turned on the shower, grabbed a fresh towel and gently pulled the hair tie holding Sophie's hair in her knotted top bun.

Jan had to stop herself from chuckling when the hair didn't move after she removed the tie.

"Come on. In you pop. It's like uni all over again only you're not twenty and I'm not cleaning sick off you."

"There's still time." Sophie tried joking as her best friend undressed her and helped her get into the shower.

"I'm going to leave the door open. Shout if you need anything, I'm going to make us a nice cup of tea and you can tell me what happened."

Sophie sobbed softly. She didn't deserve a friend like Jan.

A while later, clean and refreshed, Sophie stepped back into the living room which looked tidied and smelled strongly of vanilla.

She felt like a new person and thanked Jan profusely.

"That's what friends are for, right? Now. Tell me what's got you this upset? Is it that man you've been seeing?"

"Mads broke up with me. That'll teach me for messing around with a married man."

Jan pulled Sophie in for a friendly cuddle.

"He's an ass. You don't need someone in your life that's going to make you feel like a terrible person, you need people in your life that are going to lift you up and work alongside you to reach your goals. He sounds like a pretty self centred guy, I mean who in the world is called Mads, other than that actor Mads Mikkelsen, anyway?"

Sophie chuckled through her tears. She'd never told Jan that it was the actor.

"Jan, I was dating that Mads. The actor."

Jan sat back and looked at Sophie from afar.

"Don't be joking with me right now. Are you serious? Mads? As in actor who played Hannibal? Who played that villain in that marvel movie with Sherlock in?" Taking in Sophie's deadpan expression, she realised she wasn't joking.

"Shit." She said after a long time.

"Still, even actors can be dickheads by the sounds of things."

Sophie laughed.

She felt better already.