Chapter 5: Not Alone
Adani's POV
I occupied the guest bedroom for several days, keeping a distance between Wayan and I.
He didn't seem to care. He didn't miss me in the bed laying next to him, nor did he asked me to prepare his breakfast or dinner. Quite frankly, he appeared to be please I wasn't in his presence.
Nevertheless, I was sedulous at the computer one morning, searching job vacancies, filling applications and attaching my resumes where necessary.
As I closed my laptop, the front door bell rung. Sighing, I got up from the chair I was sitting in and went to the door.
"Good morning, Adani."
"Good morning, Mrs. Hernandez. How are you doing?"
"Just excellent. I was up very early this morning and decided to bake some goodies. Frank do love my baking and I haven't done so in a while. There were extra cookies and muffins and a fruit cake so I thought you'd like some. Here."
She handed me the basket.
"Thank you so much," I responded as the freshly baked goodies greeted my nose. Tears of happiness filled my eyes as a memory flashed.
My mother used to spoil me rotten with her baking when I was a child. She taught me how to make chocolate chip cookies, cakes and muffins from scratch. Whipping the cheese cakes and applying the toppings were my favorite.
"Are you okay, darling?" Mrs. Hernandez asked.
"Yeah. Yes, I'm great," I answered, nodding my head yes.
"Well I should get going. Frank has a habit of going into the cookie jar when I'm out the house."
"Ah. Tell him I said good morning."
"I will."
I waved her off and went back to the guest bedroom. I sat the basket on the table before going upstairs.
I pushed in the bedroom door. Wayan's fragrance still hung in the air from using it this morning.
Scrolling into the bedroom felt like a strange place. Quite. Empty and foreign yet familiar. A place of hurt, rejection, pain, tears, disrespect and heartbreaks.
I reached the nightstand and our pictures from our engagement were framed and standing. I sat at the edge of the bed, contemplating my life and everything about it.
I looked through my purse, a habit I had when I was feeling lost. There, I found the piece of paper which had Adona's number. A waitress from the restaurant.
I entered the digits into my phone and called.
"Hello."
"Hi, is this Adona?"
"Yes. Who's this?"
"Adani. I met you at....."
"Oh my goodness. I'm so happy you called. I remember you perfectly. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. Uhh. I was just going through my purse, found your number and decided to give you a call."
"That's the only reason, Adani, I don't mean to pry or anything but are you sure you're okay?"
"I think I need someone to talk to. Someone whom I can relate to and understand me without judgment."
"Well, I do have the day off today, can you get away?"
I looked at the clock. It was 11:00 am. Wayan wouldn't be home until much later in the evening.
"Yeah. I can get away," I answered.
"Good. We can meet up somewhere that is not too far from your house. Anywhere you're comfortable with meeting and talking?"
"There is. We can meet at the park. There's a small diner right across the street from it, and that's not too far from the house."
"Sounds good. I'll see you soon."
We hung up and I went to get ready. After getting dressed, I got into my car and drove towards the park.
Once there, I found an empty table and benches, and waited for Adona to arrive.
Several minutes later, I spotted her walking towards me.
"Seeing you is like seeing myself. It's crazy how people can look very similar to someone they're not even related to," she stated as she reached me.
"I know right."
She handed me a cup of ice tea. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. So, what's up with you?"
"I really needed to get out the house today. Feeling like a prisoner, trapped and banging on the doors for her dear life."
"You're thinking of an escape plan to get away from him, aren't you?"
"Everyday of my life since he changed into a monster. Someone I don't even recognize anymore."
"Adani, have you ever tried going to the police?"
"I did. Both my mom and me when she found out he was hitting me. I paid her a visit and she saw the bruises. She took me to the police station. We filed a report, I went to the doctor, got a doctor's report explaining what my injuries were. Went back to the police, handed them the report from the doctor and they arrested Wayan."
"Then what happened?"
"Two hours later, he was released. He had enough money to bail himself out and he has ties with the department. After his release, he came after me. Found me at my mother's. Stalked me until I was by myself and he let himself into the house."
"What did he do?" she asked me.
I took a deep breath. "He threatened to kill me if I ever involved the police again. He picked me up and carried me to his car and took me to his house. He punched me countless times on the way there."
"My situation was very similar to yours, expect, I didn't have anyone to run to. No siblings, friends or a parent. I had only myself and I did it by myself."
"If you don't mind me asking, what was your situation like with the abuse, like how did it start, when did he change?"
"He didn't change, Adani. He was great at concealing the real person he was. It started when we moved in together. Found a perfect place, not too far from the beach. It was beautiful. The waves could be heard, the wind was always cooling. Not many houses were around. But then a guy moved into the vacant mansion from our house. One day, when I was by the pool, he showed up to greet us, you know, like what neighbors do. Collin, my ex, he immediately grew jealous of him. He didn't want me to have anything to do with the new neighbor and I wasn't interested in having a relationship with the damn guy whom I didn't even know.
Well, one day, my car broke down on the side of the road. Collin was stuck at work and the tow company was taking forever. It was raining. The neighbor saw my car on his way home, he stopped and offered to take a look. A cable was loose. He fixed it and he tailed me on our way home, making certain I got there without another problem."
"That's so nice."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't nice when Collin asked how I got home and I told him the truth. Had I known he would react like that, I would have lied. And that was when Collin became very abusive, to the point where the two of them came to blows."
"Really, what happened?"
"Collin always wanted to be successful. Have a lot of money, own a huge house, cars. A luxury life. I think that's why he was jealous of the neighbor. The neighbor had the huge house, the expensive cars, the success.
One day, Collin's job held an event. I attended as his plus one. We were dancing when it was announced that the company was changing hands. New management, owners, employees. Collin was furious when he found out that his new boss was the neighbor."
"Yikes."
"Yep. Took his rage out on me. Made a huge scene on the dance floor which caught the neighbor's attention. He intervened and Collin drew the first punch. Surprisingly, the neighbor didn't hit back physically. He hit Collin where it really mattered and hurt most. Collin received a letter of termination."
"Man, that must have pissed him off even more, didn't it?"
"It did. He turned into a drunk, abused substances and I was on the receiving end of every physical tantrum he had. We lost the house and I had to sell my car just to get by. We moved into a basement of one of his relatives. I always thought I had some blame. If I had went to college, maybe I could have had a much decent job, earn more money and keep our afloat. It's what abuse does to you. Make you think you're the one to blame when things are going bad."
"Thank you for telling me all this."
" I don't want you to have to go through what I've been through. It's not an easy road. It's hard. We see all these TV shows and therapist saying to get out but no one talks about how to get out."
"What did you do, Adona, how did you get out from your situation?"
"I killed myself, Adani. You would have to do the same."
"Wait...what!?"