The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

It's been too long my friend.

"I missed you so much",

Mariska said as she embraced her best friend in a hug that lasted almost forever. "I feel I've seen you around but I haven't really seen you y'know?", the other girl responded as they now had a seat.

Mariska and Dineo had seen each a few times after the girl had gotten out of the hospital but it was always with the group around. That was the first time they'd met up, just the two of them.

And since Dineo was now officially up close with the girl, she could see the dark circles around her eyes. "You need to update me on everything!" She then said to her. She didn't want to jump to whatever was clearly wrong in her life. She'd tell her when she was ready.

"Well you know this law thing has been kicking ass, other than that there's nothing really interesting going on". She responded to her friend then,

"What about you? I hear you've been living your best life lately. You look so great by the way", Mariska said meaning it. She couldn't help but note how the other girl had really picked herself up. She looked amazing.

"Oh yea ha, I needed to get back my days I'd lost in the damn coma. Guess I'd realized I hadn't really lived when I almost died", she said to the girl.

"Any special someone in your life?" Dineo now asked in hopes the girl would open up to her. She didn't want to force her but she wanted more than anything to just save her.

Mariska chuckled and said, "She told you didn't she? I don't know how many times I need to apologize. But nothing's going on", in frustration. Obviously Preshani told her about the Bruno situation, they'd been hanging out a lot. There was no way she didn't know.

But Dineo didn't because, "Who told me what love?" She'd asked her softly. She could see the girl was getting upset but she genuinely didn't know anything.

"The Bruno thing", Mariska responded now looking at her confused friend but Dineo just shrugged and said, "What Bruno thing?"

It was clear at that point for Mariska that Dineo was not informed. Which made that great because she could now tell her her side of the story. She desperately needed to talk to someone even though she'd convinced herself she didn't. Keeping quiet was beginning to affect other aspects of her life.

"A few months ago I met a boy", she started. Letting the smile take over her face.

"We bumped into each other at an unlikely place and I swear I felt my body tingle at our contact. He smelled so good and looked even better. I remember thinking, yup this is him. This is my him", she'd continued before pausing for a bit to look a her friend, whose smile matched her own.

"As we were talking, Preshani made her way over to us. Long story short, I found out that said dreamy boy was actually Bruno. I obviously hadn't met him since he left before I came into town. But furthermore, I found out he was Preshani's first love", she said honestly then waited for the other girl's judgement but instead she felt her hold her hand tightly. Making her tears force their way out of her eyes.

"Honey, you can't control who your heart falls in love with." She started, the stood up to have a seat right next to the girl.

"Yes Bruno and Preshani had a thing. But that was a billion years ago. They were kids and hardly knew what they were doing. I love Preshani and I know you do too but if she won't understand what your heart craves for, then that sounds like her problem not yours."

"You have to do what makes you happy. Even if doing that makes you have to sacrifice something else. But looking at you right now, you're not ok. You can't keep killing yourself to make other people happy", she'd continued talking but stopped when Mariska practically threw herself in her arms for a tight embrace. She felt her body shake from all the emotions that were taking over.

At that moment, she remembered why their friendship was so great. Dineo was never one to judge and she was happy that she finally spoke to her. She felt her heart calm down a bit. She no longer felt like a horrible person who only thought about herself.

She loved Preshani but she needed to love herself more. She needed to save herself and so Mariska knew was she was going to do that evening. But before that,

"I love you so much. And I'm so happy you're back." She said emotionally to her best friend as they finally let go from their warm embrace. "I love you too." Dineo said back to her.

"Now tell me what's wrong with you. I can see there's a lot on your mind", Mariska then said to the girl. Since they were opening up, she might as well she'd thought.

"Well, a) I'm pretty Nate is ignoring me, and b) Siya kissed me." She said the last part fast in hopes the girl wouldn't hear her but that's not what happened because,

"Siya did what?!" She'd asked in shock. The kiss had only happened a few days before and Dineo still didn't know what to make of it. Her feelings still confused her, but also,

"He's still fucking married, to one of my best friends. How could he put me in such a position?" The girl then said in frustration. It was like she was finally realizing what was happening.

"Yea but aren't they like separated?" Mariska asked her friend wanting to calm her down but, "It doesn't matter. Even if they were divorced, it's still wrong. I saw Ashley just the other day. She's moving on but she's still madly in love with him. How am I to tell her what happened?" She continued in frustration.

"You can never tell her that hun. But weren't you in love with him for billions of years or something?" Mariska asked in exaggeration. She remembered times when the girl would cry about him.

"Yea I think that was a stupid high school crush. Looking at him now, I don't think I'd want anything serious. But besides that, I've kinda sworn off dating", she revealed to her friend.

Mariska didn't have to ask why that was. She knew she wasn't going to actually swear off dating all her life as she was a romantic at heart, but she understood the reason behind her decision.

"I hear you. So what are you going to do about it?" She responded to the girl.

"Well first, I need to stop ignoring his calls. Then I guess I'll talk to him." She said officially deciding how to handle that situation.

"Sounds like you've got it under control. Now, about the other boy. I don't know if anyone's told you this but, Nathan was beside you every single day you were in the coma. He was mad at everyone for not telling him about you when he was getting married and didn't speak to any of us for months. In addition, he went out everyday looking for Michael, and when he found him, he landed him in hospital."

Mariska finished and all Dineo did was stare into nothing in disbelieve.