"Savi! Savi, wait a minute," Jayden called after me. A few meters down, he caught up with me.

"I don't want to talk to you," I snapped back.

I was filled with inexplicable anger. I didn't even want to look at him.

"Isn't it a bit early to be jealous?" he asked me with a small smile.

"Don't flatter yourself! You know what? You seemed like a nice guy. But it turns out that you are no different from all men. Cheating bastard!"

Jayden giggled, though he tried to hide it. It made me even more annoyed.

"Leave me alone!" I yelled at him.

He threw his hands up. "Okay. Okay."

I turned and ran back to the motel. I entered the room and slammed the door hard. A fury had welled up in me that I could not control.

"All men are the same!" I shouted.

I grabbed the shopping bag I had left on the bed and threw it against the wall. The bedspread met the same fate. I paced the room like a madman, throwing every object my eyes alighted on. I was pulling my hair out in anger.

"You are all the same! I hate you!" My cries grew louder. "I hate you, Dominic! I hate you! I hate everyone!"

I didn't know exactly how long my tantrum lasted, but there was a knock at the door at some point.

Startled, I turned in the direction of the sound. I tried to straighten my messy hair and opened the door.

Evelyn stood before me. "Are you all right, Savi? I was told that screams were coming from your room."

"Everything is okay. I am sorry," I replied curtly and closed the door.

I leaned my back against it and slid down until I sat on the ground. I thought I was out of tears, but they started to fall again.

I folded my legs and wrapped my arms around them. "I hate you, Dominic," I kept repeating. "Damn you! You and your bitches... Be damned!"

My body trembled uncontrollably. From the cold? Out of pain? Of anger? Of fear? Out of desperation? Or maybe from all the creepy feelings together that completely possessed me.

I reached over, pulled up the bedspread I had thrown on the ground, and wrapped myself in it. I leaned my head back against the door, still crying. I couldn't stop. The hours passed. And I remained curled up on the ground.

There was no strength in me to get up.

Gradually darkness replaced the light. The night came uninvited. And it carried so much more pain with it.

When I'd met Jayden the night before, he'd helped me to stop thinking for a while. But I was alone again, caught in the memories of my lost life.

***

The sun greeted me good morning with its warm rays. But I couldn't enjoy them.

"It's a new day," I whispered to myself and got out of bed. I didn't even know when I'd gotten into it.

I collected the scattered items from the ground and arranged the clothes in the wardrobe.

Then I walked into the bathroom and put the toiletries on the small shelve. I looked in the mirror at my swollen, bloodshot eyes. Do I deserve this? I asked myself.

But perhaps there was no answer to that question.

I washed my face and applied the cheap cream I had bought the day before.

My stomach reminded me that I hadn't eaten anything in nearly thirty-six hours.

I headed out of the bathroom but returned to stand in front of the mirror. My reflection stared back at me again. I took my makeup from the case, put lipstick on my lips, and mascara on my eyelashes. Nothing could restore my self-esteem that had crashed to the ground, but at least I tried to give myself a little bit of a decent appearance.

Then I left the room.

But to my surprise, the girl I had seen with Jayden the day before was sitting on a motorcycle right outside, talking on the phone.

I looked away and walked around her, but after a few steps, she called after me, "Hey, hey. Wait." I stopped and turned to her, and she came closer. "Hello," she greeted.

Her voice was kind. Her large green eyes were warm and sweet, though the piercings on her eyebrow and nose, combined with the tattoos visible under her crop top, made for a bad girl look.

"Hello," I replied.

"You're the girl from yesterday, aren't you? You were talking to Jay."

"Yes," I answered.

"Why did you leave so quickly?"

This conversation was strange. Why did she care why I'd left? I wished we hadn't talked at all, but the fact that we did, reawakened a dose of anger toward the male population in me.

"Because... Look... I don't know you. It's certainly none of my business, and I'm sorry you have to hear it from me, but Jayden cheated on you. We had sex."

I didn't know why I uttered these words. Perhaps, I wanted to open this girl's eyes before she herself caught Jayden like I caught Dominic and experienced what I experienced.

"Wait. You think Jay and I..." She gestured with her finger to herself and then out into space as she spoke. "That we're a couple?"

"Aren't you?" I asked in astonishment. "I saw you kissing..."

She started laughing. "This is not this kind of kiss. Jayden and I greet each other like that. But we're not... Wait a minute. You two had sex?"

I felt terrible about that whole ridiculous situation. Why had I even opened my mouth? "Can we forget about what I told you?"

"Okay. Whatever you say. And by the way"—she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly to the side—"thanks for the strange confession. Although, as I said, Jayden and I are not a couple, so he didn't cheat on me with you. But I appreciate your honesty."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything at all. I don't know why I did it. I don't know you. God, I barely know Jayden." I ran my hands through my hair. "I'm sorry."

I turned to walk forward, but the girl grabbed my arm. "Hey. Relax. Nothing happened. Why did you freak out?"

"I did not... I didn't freak out. Please, let's forget about this conversation. It was nice to chat."

I turned again and started walking down the street.

"Jayden and I were married." The girl shot out of nowhere from behind me, catching up to me. "Let's have coffee, and I'll tell you the story. I'm sure you want to hear it."

I couldn't understand why this girl wanted to communicate with me persistently. But they were married? Or divorced... I was a bit curious, although the conversation was getting weirder and weirder.

"Um... I was just on my way to breakfast."

"Well, great. I'm hungry too. Come on!"

The girl winked at me and got on her bike.

I wasn't sure about it, but I climbed up behind her. For a second time, I was on a stranger's motorcycle without knowing where exactly they would take me. But in those moments, I welcomed anything that managed to tear me away from the pain and self-pity that occupied my mind.

We stopped in front of the restaurant where we had seen each other the day before and sat at one of the outdoor tables.

I ordered an omelet and an espresso, and the girl ordered chicken wings.

Chicken wings? At nine in the morning?

"Well?" She turned to me. "I didn't even catch your name. I'm Carmen."

"I'm Savannah," I told her back.

"Super! Nice to meet you, Savannah. So... You and Jayden... Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm dying to know!"

So, that was it. How could I have told her about Jayden and me? And what did it really mean, Jayden and me? The very fact that I had sex with him was so unreal. I didn't know why I had done it. Maybe I'd just wanted revenge on Dominic...

"I don't want to talk about it. Jayden... He helped me a lot the night before, and it just... it just happened."

"This is my Jayden. You are lucky to have met him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Carmen began but stopped just as we were being served our meal. She immediately picked up a wing—still steaming hot—and took a bite. "Mmmm, it's so delicious."

I looked down at my plate—and at the knife and fork in my hands—then looked back at her. Her fingers were dirty with the sauce covering the wings, but that didn't bother her at all. She was just enjoying the taste of the food.

"So..." She continued. "Jayden and I were married for four years. But our marriage was a sham. Don't tell anyone." She looked at me with a smile for a moment and then continued to eat, speaking at the same time. "Well, the whole town knows. Only the immigration authorities don't."

"Oh..."

"Yep..." Carmen licked her fingers one by one. "If it wasn't for Jayden... I don't know what would have happened to me. I would probably have been deported a long time ago. And I probably wouldn't even be alive now... But here I am now, a proud American citizen, doing my best to be a useful member of society. There is no other man like him, you know. He is always ready to help anyone. Honestly, I'm still mad at his ex-girlfriend for what she did to him. If only I were into his type... I'd never leave him!"

"His type?" I asked curiously after chewing the morsel in my mouth.

"I mean the male type." She laughed.

"So, you're..."

"Lesbian. Yes," Carmen answered proudly.

"Oh..."

I continued to puzzle over the development of the situation. Why was Carmen telling me such personal things without even knowing me?

"And can you imagine?" She continued, interrupting my thoughts. "Sophia and Jayden had been together for a year after we divorced. They'd even lived together. Maybe that is why things ended between them—the caravan. I keep telling him he needs to get rid of it and live like the rest of us. Anyway, like most girls born in this town, Sophia dreamed of living in a big city. Jayden did not want to leave. I've never understood why he likes it here so much. He wasn't born here—he joined us seven years ago." Carmen paused for a second just to take another wing and continued after that. "I suppose they weren't meant to be, seeing as neither of them was willing to compromise."

A few silent seconds followed. Carmen looked at me, expecting me to say something, continuing to eat in the meantime. How was she even talking and chewing simultaneously?

"Well, perhaps not..." I replied with a shrug.

But on that point, she was probably right. When you love someone, you are ready to do anything for them. At least, that's what I believed. That's what I did. I had given up everything to be the wife my husband wanted me to be.

"Yeah, that's what I keep repeating." Carmen snapped me out of my thoughts. "But Jayden didn't deserve to be hurt by her. Although he did not admit it, he pined for her for a long time. I was so mad at her even though we were friends. Honestly, I'd kill a man for Jayden!"

I was amazed by Carmen's words. She was describing a true friendship. Did such a thing exist?

I used to believe that it did. But then my best friends showed me how wrong I was by stabbing me in the back...

"Hey, Savannah, why are you sad?"

I hadn't even felt the tears falling from my eyes again.

"Everything is fine. Um... I'm gonna go."

I took money out of my purse for the bill and left it on the table.

"Do you want me to take you back to the motel? I'm going there anyway. I wanted to see Evelyn, but she wasn't there earlier in the morning."

I shook my head in response. "No, thanks. There is something I need to do."

❤️ A/N ❤️

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