“What are you doing here?” he demanded, his body tense. He wished she would leave him alone. The last thing he wanted was to lose his head over her again. Seeing her again had confirmed that he was still in love with her but the hurt and anger made him want to forget the past.
“You walked away and left me standing there in the supermarket.”
“I walked away because I had nothing else to say to you.”
“Anie…”
“Don’t call me that!”
“That’s what I used to call you when we were…”
“Yes, you used to call me that when we were lovers…but we aren’t lovers anymore.”
“How long are you going to punish me for what happened?”
“I’m not punishing you although you deserve to be punished.”
“So, you aren’t punishing me but you hate me, don’t you?”
“I don’t hate you, although I wish I did, then seeing you again wouldn’t be so painful.”
“I moved to London because of you.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you, Anie–Anatole.”
“Do you think moving to London and claiming that you love me is going to change anything?”
“I’m not claiming that I love you. I do love you. I never stopped loving you, Anatole. I will always love you–“
He dragged his fingers through his hair, his expression taut. “Spare me,” he muttered tightly. “If you loved me you wouldn’t have lied to me about your age and I wouldn’t have been humiliated when your father showed up at my house and accused me of statutory rape because you were sixteen, not eighteen which is the age of consent in the Zimbabwe.”
“I was afraid that if you knew that I was sixteen you wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with me.”
“And you’re right about that. I would have walked away.”
“Could you really have walked away, Anatole?”
“It would have been tough but, yes, I could have walked away and spared myself the humiliation of being accused of having sex with an underaged girl.”
“Please don’t reduce what we did to just having sex. We made love.”
“It doesn’t matter what you want to call it–you lied to me about your age and I, like a lovesick fool, believed you. I let my heart rule my head.”
“I’m sorry that I lied to you about my age. I wanted to tell you the truth so many times but I was afraid of losing you.”
“You should have told me the truth before things got as far as they did, Dena.”
She sighed heavily. “You’re right, I should have told you the truth when you asked me how old I was.”
“I should have known better than to get involved with a girl whom I thought was half my age but, I fell in love with you.”
“And I fell in love with you too–“
“That’s all in the past. I have nothing more to say to you and I don’t want to be late for my date.”
“You have a date?”
“Yes–with a woman who is closer to my age.”
“Are-are you in a relationship with her?”
“Not yet.”
“Are you’re doing this to hurt me?”
“I had no idea that you were here in London until a few moments ago, remember?”
“How would you feel if I started dating again?”
“It’s your life–you can do whatever you want with it.” Turning on his heel, he walked briskly away.
She stood there, watching him, tears springing to her eyes. Whatever hopes she had of them getting back together were now crushed. He had moved on. Pain and jealousy filled her. Who was this other woman who was taking him away from her?
Sources: Wikipedia; VOA News
