Chapter 44

It had been a week.

A grueling long week without Cara, or any sign of her.

She had sent a mail to her parents and her friend Malory. Claiming she was fine and just needed space.

No mail to him apparently. Alexander thought as he winced at the thought of it. She didn't think he deserved an explanation, after all that she had put him and his family through.

From the looks of things, Nicholas had not gotten anything though, unless he was lying about that fact.

There was a small satisfaction on that part, that Nicholas was suffering just as much as he was.

His father was still very much pissed about the whole ordeal. He didn't want it to affect his campaign.

Alexander didn't know how to feel about the whole thing. At first he had been angry, very angry. Slowly his anger had given way to frustration, then he slowly resigned to his fate.

Everyone somehow pitied him.

Everyone.

The vile and vitriol the public had was reserved for Cara, nobody else but Cara, a few was directed at Nicholas but Cara seemed to be the only major person everyone was focusing on.

When he walked in the office, people stared at him. That sad miserable stare you give to someone who has lost a loved one. Then they offer him a little smile, they were somehow nicer.

Everyone spoke to him gentler, softer and it aggravated him. Deeply.

Because he knew he didn't deserve it either. Yes, he had been wronged, Cara shouldn't have cheated on him, but he didn't deserve their pity.

He got about a dozen of calls everyday from people profusely apologizing about his plight and talking about how sorry he was. Old friends, family friends, ex girlfriends, the list of people who called him was endless.

After a while he stopped picking their calls, content to let the phone ring for as long as he would allow while he focused on other things.

No body talked about what happened after a wedding has been canceled. In the movies they barely mention it. How unbelievably awkward it became. The number of guests you have to call and tell them the wedding is over and the number of conversations and meetings you would have with everyone who was involved with the wedding.

The venue, the baker, the caterer, the band, the church, etc the number of people who you had to call and cancel and some of them blatantly argue with you about how they do not issue refunds.

It was exhilarating and exhausting. And even though his mother had taken up the task, Alexander could tell that she wasn't particularly happy about it.

Angela Greene had put her whole life into planning the wedding, she had done more planning than Alex and Cara ever did and she was the one who was most invested in the wedding.

Alexander could only imagine how heartbroken she must be to see all her efforts become futile.

Everything she had worked for or do suddenly going to waste all because of them.

She had become more harsher, withdrawn, angry.

She hated it.

He hated it too.

In fact the whole issue had dampened all of their moods. His sister was barely home, avoiding their parents and him as much as she could. Alexander suspected she was using the situation to her advantage and doing whatever she liked.

Stephanie being free from their mother's watchful eyes meant she could be a rebellious teenager again, especially with everyone so occupied with the issues at hand.

She didn't seem to look so surprised about the issue either, strange. Maybe she had known about it.

He wouldn't be surprised honestly, Cara and Nicholas weren't exactly keeping it a well kept secret. Anyone with a keen eye should have seen it, should have seen all the signals.

His parents also argued constantly over one thing or the other. With the elections on the way, everyone was agitated.

It was barely three days away and his father had grown more rash and agitated.

And Alexander left home, finding the solitude in his old empty apartment better than the weary eyes of his mother.

Still no word from Cara, but her parents had called to apologize, not that it was their fault, Alexander took as much of the blame as they did. It was his fault for pushing so hard. Thinking he could trap Cara into a marriage just because his family provided hers with financial assistance.

Thinking he was somehow entitled to her.

He would have to apologize, right after she did.




Cara had become accustomed to the Lanai beach. She took a walk there sometimes, it wasn't too far from her place. She mostly kept away from people and kept to herself while she was on the beach. But today she spotted a familiar face, a face she'd been seeing everytime she was on the beach. The man probably worked on the beach, there was a resort nearby and lots of people came to the beach.

He waved at her this time and she waved back.

He was Hawaiian, with tan skin, a large shoulder tattoo on his bulging biceps and long black hair in a knot atop his head.

He started walking towards her and Cara pulled her shawl closer to her. She wasn't exactly desperate for human conversation. She talked to her neighbor once in a while and her landlady too. She didn't want to get too close to anyone.

Her trip was mainly for introspection and hiding.

Yes she was in hiding.

She turned back quickly and started walking as fast as she could, back away from the beach and to her apartment. She didn't dare look back for fear that the man may have been following her.

But after about three minutes she turned back and couldn't find him anymore.

Good. She thought.

She deserved to be left alone.

Back in her room she made dinner in the shared kitchen. Cara had never been much of a cook really, and she avoided cooking a lot but she found herself making some rice and shrimps with vegetables. The shrimps were fresh, but more expensive than she had expected.

She still had more than enough money but she worried about how it won't even last her more than three months if she had to keep splurging on rent and expensive food.

The first week she had eaten out and quickly decided that was a bad idea after racking up costs in the several restaurants she had been to.

She had gotten wiser though.

She was much more conservative now, used things sparingly and didn't spend money on meaningless things.

She also had to think about what she was going to do. She couldn't stay in Hawaii forever, no matter how much she wanted to run away from her mistakes.

It wasn't ideal.

She would have to go back sometimes. She just needed time. Time for the whole story to die down.