The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

I cheated on you.

Ramsay had finally landed back in the country after a 10 hour flight from India. He had begged his grandmother for them to come back at least on Christmas Eve so he can spend Christmas with his friends as his Muslim religion didn't celebrate the day. Of course his grandmother didn't want to go back just yet so she'd insisted he leave without her. He'd been very happy to.

He'd texted his longtime girlfriend Fatima that evening to come over to his place as they hadn't seen each other in almost a month. They'd seen each other for a few hours before he had to leave the country. The two had been set up by their grandparents to their dismay but ended up actually liking each other.

They'd been together for over 5 years and though things weren't bad, they weren't great either. Sure the two had now been living in two different cities as the girl had been attending varsity at WITS in Johannesburg but that hadn't been the issue.

The time apart had made Ramsay realize that maybe the relationship had ran its course. It wasn't that he was now seeing prettier girls and was over his girlfriend, contrary. He'd found himself on more than a few occasions forgetting about the girl. They'd been apart for a while and he found himself not missing her like he probably should have.

He'd realized that their relationship had been more of a friendship than anything. Sure they couldn't really do much physically as their religion restricted sex before marriage but that wasn't it either. Maybe they were compatible but his heart wasn't really in it.

That had been why he'd called the girl over. He didn't think it was fair to continue to drag her along even when he didn't see a future with her. He was sure his grandmother wasn't going to be happy with his sudden decision but she would just have to live with it.

Ramsay's family was very modern for an Islamic family. They didn't do marriage arrangements so he wasn't breaking any rules but he knew his grandmother would be disappointed in him. He'd decided he'd rather have that than break the poor girl's heart.

The doorbell sounded letting the boy know his girlfriend had arrived. He made his way over to the door as he prepared himself for the difficult conversation he was about to have. Opening the door he greeted the smaller girl with a hug. The beautiful girl had on a rose colored hijab gracing her beautiful face. Ramsay had to admit, the girl was stunning to look at.

"How was New Delhi?", the girl asked making her way to the sitting room and plopping herself on the couch. "We were in Mumbai for the last two weeks. Ma's probably there now, we were planning on going after", the boy replied as he sat next to her putting her legs across his. "Well that's disappointing", the girl said now laying her head on the edge of the couch. "Yea, but I missed home. Delhi will have to wait", he said momentarily closing his eyes and letting out a breath. He needed to get this over with.

"So I've been thinking", he started as he played with the hem of her jeans. The girl nodded for him to continue. "...about the future. about us", he said now looking at the girl. "I cheated on you", the girl blurted out as she sat upright. "I slept with someone. I didn't mean to, I just.. It was a mistake Rams. I didn't mean for this to happen", she trailed off as tears rained down her cheeks.

Ramsey felt the world stop at the girl's revelation. His body tensed as tears forced to spill from his eyes. Was this really happening? "Well then I guess that makes what I have to say next easy", the boy stood up trying to calm himself. "We're done", he continued barely audible as a lone tear made its way down his cheek.

"Wait I don't understand. You were going to break up with me? I thought you were proposing", the girl said standing up and making her way to him. "I want to be mad at you I really do, but I don't blame you. I was barely there for you this past year", he heard himself say.

"No! Don't you dare do that. Don't you dare blame yourself for this. I could've equally tried to make effort but I didn't. You don't know the guilt I've had to carry the past few months", the girl said. She'd lost her virginity to some stupid boy she knew nothing about earlier in the year at a party. She'd avoided her boyfriend after because she couldn't lie to him. Luckily that had been easy as the boy wasn't calling as much as she thought he would.

Even though Ramsey wasn't really IN LOVE with the girl, he couldn't help the pain in his heart when she told him she'd cheated. Happy or not, that's something he would never do and up until that moment, something he'd thought she'd never do too. All that didn't matter anymore. He needed to get closure, he'd deal with the pain later.

"I thank ma every day I got to meet you Tima. But there's so much world out there that we both need to experience", the boy said now moving closer to the girl. "This year's been great. Varsity is different but exciting nonetheless", he continued as he smiled through the sadness. "I'm learning so much about myself. Don't get me wrong, I've loved having you in my life, I just feel like my focus was mostly on you. On us. And not enough on myself", he held the girl's hand. "Maybe all that happened needed to happen. I don't want you to ever feel bad because of me when you do stupid stuff in varsity. I mean isn't that the whole point of varsity? Making stupid mistakes? I mean scratch the learning and stuff", the boy said making the girl laugh.

The pair stood in silence for a while as the moment spoke for itself. This was the time in their lives to be selfish and they both understood that. It was a time to only think about themselves, individually. They'd been together since they were 14 and all they knew was each other. Hard as it was, they knew they had to let each other go.

"You're a great person Rams. I never deserved you to start with", the girl said softly. She meant every word. She was sure she was never going to meet anyone nearly as great as he was. "This really sucks. 5 years is a really long time", the girl continued as a tear slid down her brown cheek. "5 years is a shit long time for sure. But I regret nothing", the boy said.

The pair finally said their goodbyes after hugging for what felt like forever. They'd promised to check in with each other every now and then after they'd decided it probably wasn't a good idea for them to be friends.

Ramsey lead himself to bed after the long day he'd had. He was physically exhausted due to his jet lag and he was now emotionally exhausted too. The following day was Christmas and he needed to be all pink ponies and butterflies in front of his friends as he'd planned to surprise them.

Pushing away his pain, the boy went to bed.