A Valentine’s Lie
From all the lies I’ve been told, this was probably the most timely and least emotional lie.
Before I begin the story, I’m from Sri Lanka.
For those who don’t know about the country, It’s the small island right beneath India.
For those who don’t know about our culture, It’s very traditional. Anything related to sex is considered taboo and must stay between husband and wife.
Alright, to the story.
In the timeline of this story, I was in a misguided, toxic relationship which back then I considered being a dreamy one. To be fair, I was very young and didn’t know about the world and society. Valentine’s Day in Sri Lanka is probably the most expensive day for young budding lovers, they spend their parent’s money, they lie to parents, and go off on their adventures of love where most end up in a love motel, innocence lost, promises made 5o each other that’ll be broken on very next day but to me, it was a very ordinary day.
My girlfriend was very traditional and it took me 2 years of the relationship to have my first kiss. That was not on Valentine’s Day of course. She had this ritualistic mechanism where she finds a smaller mistake made by me and makes it a bigger issue when days like valentine’s and our anniversary coming up. She always made sure that on that specific day we won’t be talking.
So it was nothing new when two days ago she talked to me very upset. I knew what was coming. She told me she caught me cheating, which was an obvious lie but very new to me. She has never accused me of cheating before. So I kept listening for almost 30 minutes of her rant and then she said the famous words, “Have a nice life, I’m leaving.” and hung up.
I never really cared about it that much because I knew she’ll talk to me after 2 or 3 days. That’s how it always was. But this time I felt it was different. There was some hostility behind her words. But being the hopeless romantic I was, I didn’t pursue it further. Then comes valentine’s day. I was minding my own business and suddenly my phone rang, it was from a good friend of mine. He said I should come to the local park right away to witness something important. Since I was not doing anything I decided to go.
I met him there, and He showed me the main event. My girlfriend was celebrating her 1st anniversary with her “Boyfriend”. That was very refreshing to see because this was the same woman who told me that accused me of cheating. But to my surprise, I didn’t feel anything about it. I didn’t do anything and just came back home to continue with my work. They say that once love dies, it will never be reborn. Love is not a phoenix.
After few days she called me and said that she forgives me.
I knew what I had to do. I said I’m leaving. I told her about the scene and things I saw and how it made me realize everything. I wasn’t the least bit interested in talking with her anymore. So I said what I had to say and just hung up. That was just it. We both knew it had to be done and we did. She’s probably relieved to some extent. Following days everything came at me and I was feeling bad and depressed about everything but there was a silver lining about the decision I took. I was no longer stuck in a torturing cycle initiated by her and even in my state, I was a free man.
