Arias Otero María Paula, Betrayed Loyalty

BETRAYED LOYALTY

Written By María Paula Arias Otero

Part I

The smell of coffee filled the room. Fresh bread just came out of the oven, they were putting it on shelves. Soft jazz music was being played in the background. A beautiful, skinny girl was sitting at the back of the coffee shop, in a table for two, but she was alone. Her winter gray eyes observed people’s monotonous flow going in and out of the coffee shop in detail. She had this soft cherry-red lipstick that beautifully colored her lips. Her freckles stained her face as the dew at dawn and the mesmerizing movement of her hair threatened the waves themselves by the fluidity with which they moved, She was stunning, simply perfect.

All of a sudden, her elbow, in a foolish and unwanted move, spilled the coffee mug right in front of her. She was now covered with this dark substance that tainted her white blouse and her jeans turned brown. When she stood up from the chair, a tall boy was standing next to her with some napkins in his hand and said;

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, thank you. I’m so lucky the coffee was cold already, I didn’t burn myself.” the girl said.

She stayed still when she looked at him, staring at the new guy carefully from head to toe. He had some ocean eyes, a wavy and dark brown hair, and he was a broad-shouldered man as strong as a bull; then he approached her.

“Let me help you. Take these napkins and try to clean yourself a little bit,” he said.

Her sight was interrupted by the guy’s intervention and she had to answer quickly before embarrassment consumed her completely.

“Oh, thank you very much. What’s your name by the way?” She asked as she grabbed the napkins to clean her blouse.

“My name is Thomas Brown, and yours?” The boy replied.

“Amina Bonavich, nice to meet you,” she responded cheerfully.

Once she removed as much coffee from her blouse as she could, she sat down again on the same chair and kept cleaning her jeans. Amina asked Thomas if he wanted to sit with her and chat for a while. They bought two ice teas and some cookies and passed the whole afternoon getting to know each other, laughing, and having a good time.

A few months passed, and destiny wore its tale, they kept seeing one another. Their special place was that same coffee shop where they met. One day, Amina invited Thomas to her big white house, which had an enormous entrance, and beautiful gardens full of flowers. She introduced him to her parents, and they spent the afternoon in the living room, talking about life, and trying to get to know him. When the 20-year-old boy left the house Amina’s mother said;

“Amina, what is going on with this boy, he isn’t too old for you?”

“Mother, I’ve been meeting with him for the past three moons, we are just seeing each other, but I am starting to like him, he is a really good guy,” Amina answered.

“But Amina, you are 17 years old, and he is 20; what are you thinking? He is never going to love you, he sees you as a baby.” Amina’s father said.

“You may not like him now nor trust him, or think he will never be good for me, but believe me; from the past few months, we spent together, I had the chance to know him and he is a good person,” Amina answered loudly.

There was a long silence, but it was interrupted by Amina, who said,

“If you pardon me, I am going to my room.” She went upstairs and shut the door. Amina didn’t care

what her parents told her. She kept seeing Thomas, but this time they were not hanging together as friends, they were trying to be more than just friends. Their first date was at the cinema, and from there on, every weekend they went out on a date to a different place. They had their first kiss on the London Eye when they were at the top of the observation wheel, which had the most spectacular view of the city.

Thomas approached Amina in a very slow way, she had this doubtful flinch when he took her hand. She finally got the strength enough to let him get close and kiss her on the lips. Amina softened all her muscles and enjoyed the moment. Everything was going perfect, as destined to be; Thomas asked her to be his girlfriend several dates after.

Part II

A few weeks later, the parents found out about her affair with Thomas and they confronted her.

“Amina, for the fifth time, I don’t trust him” Amina’s mom shouted angrily. “I can’t believe you’re dating a guy, three years older than you.” She added.

“Oh, come on, mother! He’s a nice guy and you know it,” Amina said.

“Yes, but he’ll dump you anyway. That is not real love, Amina,” her dad intervened.

“He’s just using you.” He added.

“Why are you all telling me what to do? I love him and he loves me. That is true love.”

Angry, Amina ran upstairs to her bathroom, shut the door, and stared at the other Amina beyond the mirror for some seconds in complete silence. Then the piercing silence was cut by Amina’s murmur as her tears started to fall on her cheeks;

“Is it real love though? Does he really loves me?”

Tired of crying for almost an hour straight, laying on the bathroom’s floor, Amina decided to finally go to sleep even though she was full of doubts and fear.

After a few months of being together, they had a special moment. Amina was ready to take a step with her sweetheart, and they fooled around. Before it occurred, she was feeling frightful, because it was something new for her, but it was a step she was willing to have with Thomas. They relished the moment, and it was an experience that Amina enjoyed, and it exceeded her expectations.

Part III

As days went on, Amina started to feel peculiar, she commenced complaining to herself that she was feeling dizzy. She just came out of taking a shower, when she stood still staring at her reflection in the blurred mirror due to the steam of the hot water. She was thinking about something when all of a sudden a shady smile was portrayed in Amina’s face. If only she knew that you can burn the house, but never hide the smoke.

A few weeks later, Amina arrived home. Her face was pale as a white tissue, it was possible to see misery through her eyes. She approached her parents, that were sitting in the outside deck, they were reading the Daily Telegraph. When they saw Amina, they stopped what they were doing, and both said at the same time;

“Amina, what happened, why do you have that look in your face?”

“Mother, Father, I have something to tell you.” She sighed with fear in her face and she added; “Mom...Dad, I am pregnant.” Amina said with a broken voice.

“What? Amina I am bloody disappointed in you, how come you didn’t protect yourself. How do you know you are pregnant” Said Amina’s mother with grief.

“I just came from the hospital. I took a pregnancy test, and it came out positive.” Amina respond

The father stood up and threw the teacup to the ground with anger, while her mother was crying disconsolately. Amina couldn’t believe her parents’ reaction.

They were in shock, the three of them didn’t say a word, it was the longest minute of silence, the atmosphere was strained, they were not able to see Amina in the eyes. Only negative arguments came out of the Mother and Father’s mouth. Amina couldn’t handle it any longer, so she ran to her room. and she cried for the rest of the day and night.

Part IV

Days went by, and Amina was able to tell Thomas about what was happening with her parents, and the fact of her being pregnant. Thomas took the news in the best way, he was attentive, supportive, and the most important thing for Amina was that he still loved her. Meanwhile, Amina’s parents still didn’t accept her, they started to reject her, even stopped talking to her for a few days.

Amina was passing through a rough time with her parents. The day of the ultrasound arrived, and she went on her own. When she was over there, she texted Thomas and her parents to be together in her house by the time she finished the exam. Amina arrived home, and she found everyone sitting in the living room, she had an envelope in her hand. She opened carefully and passed a medium-sized paper to her mother. Both started crying, and Amina’s mother hugged her daughter and began to apologize about being so rude, about the fact of not being present and supportive with her during this crucial moment. The photo felt into the floor, and Amina’s father picked it up and observed it, it was a black and white image, and in the middle, there was this little tiny fetus, but he didn’t

show any kind of expression. On the other hand, Thomas was very happy and he hugged Amina and didn’t stop saying that he loved her.

Amina’s mother changed since that moment, she began to be supportive, attentive, she started to love the baby. Otherwise, her father started to change as time passed, it wasn’t an immediate switch, but he realized that what he was doing wasn’t the right thing to do, he is Amina’s father, and he needs to be with her in any situation or adversity.

One day, Amina called everybody to the living room. Thomas was sitting next to Amina’s mother and father. When all of a sudden these words left the three of them speechless;

“I need to confess something. Do you remember the day when I arrived home and I told you that I was pregnant? That I said that I came from the hospital? Well, that wasn’t true, I never went to that place. I was never pregnant, this is all fake. Instead, that day I went to an agency that helped me plan all of this, and I was able to fake everything; the pregnancy test, the ultrasound, the whole thing. I did all of this, to test your loyalty, to let me see if you would be by my side even in the worst situations.” Amina said firmly.

Nobody said a word, Thomas felt betrayed at first, he thought that wasn’t the right way to test those things, but that he still loved her. Her father felt bad because he realized that he hadn’t been a good father for her, that he needed to show Amina that he was loyal, and he would be by her side no matter what because he was her father. The same thing happened to Amina’s mother, she felt bad, and guilty, that it was her words and actions that led Amina to do such a thing like fake a pregnancy to test someone’s loyalty.

Since that day, things changed. Amina stayed in a relationship with Thomas, and she strengthens her relationship with her parents, they got even closer. Amina learned also

something from that experience, that she needed to protect herself when she wanted to have an intimate moment with somebody. Always trust people who would be there by your side no matter what situation, if it’s real love, they would never leave your side.