The Man I Loved

Mr. & Mrs. Derek Foster

© 2014 Chantelle U.

[NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED]

[NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT]

Dedicated to my friend, Wendy.

The Man I Loved [Short Story]

My names Diana...

I was released from the hospital just two days ago. It's been a hectic roller coaster ride since I got back home, always seeming to find myself bantering back and forth with my husband every chance there was.

I mean, I guess this was better than having him ignore me like how he did before I was admitted into that damned hospital.

As I focused my gaze on the opposite wall I'm leaning on, Derek looked at me with no trace of emotion visible on his sharp featured, handsome face, as he picked the broken shards one by one off the floor, the shards that came from a vase that smelled of cheap perfume that I had just thrown across the room right beside where Derek stood.

Mr. Derek Foster, my husband of two years, also the man I love.

Derek was a few years older than me, but Derek and I went far back, back as high school sweethearts even.

Derek studied up on business and management and soon enough he opened up a massive online shop by the time his senior year came around. His shop was a huge hit and his success radiated off his physical appearance that day he flashed genuine smiles at older men who announced they were delighted to pay for his college funds. I, on the other hand, wanted to become a nurse and work to help others and also be able to aid and care for Derek whenever he got sick working too hard. I squealed back then at the thought of having a life with him after high school, it made me determined to do my best because he was the man I loved.

Memories of us holding hands, walking down the schools hallways flashed through my head as I finished the last curl on my head, readying for tonight's dinner. I plastered on bright red lipstick and caked my face with heavy mascara, blush and eyeliner.

This was the first in many failed attempts and rejected requests, I finally got permission to join him for dinner. Derek and I used to eat dinner separately before I was in the hospital, he was always so busy so I understood but eating without him only started a few months after being married, it was lonely. Tonight Derek is letting me have dinner with him because he said he needed to introduce me to someone special anyways, must be someone from work.

I decided to wait a while before heading downstairs, I wanted to make a grand entrance to show my worth as Derek Fosters wife, the man I loved.

A few minutes later I hear knocking at the front door, I hear the door swing open swiftly just as the knock came. From upstairs I can't hear a word they exchange between each other but a few seconds later as if on cue, I hear his hearty laugh that makes my heart flutter.

That laugh... I haven't heard him laugh like that since our wedding day. We had our first dance as man and wife, to a very, very slow dance and later I decided to quicken the pace to a rather catchy beat, Hound Dog, was it? By, yours truly, Elvis Presley.

We were a different kind of married couple, I thought as I stood above the staircase, we were young yet we knew we were right for each other, we knew it was true love. I gripped the banister and stepped down slowly, making my black stilettos echo with each step down and eyed my figure wrapped in a thin black dress to make sure it hugged my curves in the exact spots I wanted them to be.

We had a ritual, on every anniversary we shared together, we would go to the docks at night and watch the blankets of the ocean sway along with the wind and make the boats rock side by side. Every night he kissed me on the forehead and we exchanged our "I love you"s. Every stolen glance we took at each other at the same time, we smiled knowingly and embarrassingly look away. We flirted shamelessly in front of our family and friends. And we made love like there was no tomorrow.