“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” -Oscar Wilde
You pay for everything one way or another. If you are lazy you will pay with the pain of failure. If you love to eat and indulge you will pay with the price of your health and self-esteem. Yet if you love ballet, if you wish to fly as if God had remembered to sew on your angel wings, you will pay in the pain of training, in daily dedication, sweat and struggle.
In this life, what are you paying for and how? The cost-benefit see-saw is always there.
"I loved Natasha and you drove her away from me, you loved Evelyn, so I took her away from you Xavier Knight…It was my revenge against YOU." Ethan gritted his teeth in the former line whereas an evil smirk formed on his lips in the latter.
Xavier's foot tumbled behind, whispering, "What? … What the fuck are you talking about?"
A wince escaped Ethan's mouth in smirking, and it took everything in Xavier to stop himself from hitting Ethan, again.
Wiping the blood from the cut formed on Ethan's lips, his eyes gleamed in unseen fury, "What the fuck I'm talking about! Don't you remember her, huh? Wait let me help you, Xavier?" Ethan exclaimed in anger while taking Xavier's name with profound hate.
A frown took over Xavier's face as he assessed Ethan's actions, while the latter pulled out his cellphone from his pocket, after a few moments; hurt, pain and love flickered in Ethan's eyes while looking at the phone's screen.
Xavier grew impatient, "What is it?!" He growled as his eyes grew red and his body started to shiver in anger.
Gritting his teeth, Ethan stepped forward briskly and shoved his phone in Xavier's face, showing the picture of Natasha Ramirez, "Remember? High School? Ring any bell?" Asked Ethan.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Xavier looked at Natasha's picture, saying, "Fucking yes! Now what?!"
Retreating his cell back, Ethan spoke through his gritted teeth, "Now, nothing, Xavier Knight!" Thrusting his forefinger downwards, continuously and furiously, Ethan continued, "I loved her! You knew how much I loved her. But you had to take her away from me-"
"I didn't do anything!"
"Yes! You did! Fucking liar! She was mine, mine! And yet you asked her to be your girlfriend! Kissing her, and God knows what else you did behind my back!"
"What? Have you fucking lost it?!" Yelled Xavier, as his veins were on the edge of bursting out.
What the fuck he was talking about? It was totally out of Xavier's reach to understand.
Ethan moved forward and grabbed Xavier's collar, "Natasha told me everything, how you asked her out on her birthday. I was going to propose her on that day, and you fucking knew it, why Xavier? Why did you have to ruin everything? Just tell me why?!" Exclaiming in anger, disgust, pain; Ethan pushed Xavier as he himself stumbled backward and fell on the couch.
Xavier tried to process everything in his brain, but this new and horrifying peace of information was much more terrible to digest. He stood stunned at his place, without any question, without any explanation; just numb.
A tear rolled down Ethan's cheek which he wiped away furiously, "When I asked Natasha, what was so special about you, she said your eyes. Years later, I got the same answer from someone else, you know who she is?" Ethan looked up and asked Xavier who too looked at him.
"Evelyn."
Just a name, it took just a name to crumble Xavier's stand, he had to take wall's support to stand.
A specific memory flashed in Xavier's eyes where:
"So, what did you like the most about my friend and your soon to be husband?" Asked Ethan.
"His eyes." A young Evelyn answered…
Xavier was tongue tied while Ethan continued, "I knew she loved you. But she was stupid and immature girl. I sure was attracted towards her, but knowing that she loves you, paved the way for my revenge. Throughout my life, I wanted to have revenge and at last I had it." Ethan gradually stood up, admitting the truth with a voice empty of any guilt.
Tears gathered in Xavier's eyes at hearing the truth, his heart clenched in pain in his chest. He didn't have any idea of Ethan's extreme hate towards him that it coated his wife, his love and his life. Ethan manipulated Evelyn into leaving him; Xavier believed Ethan over his Rose, his Evelyn, his wife. Even though Ethan too betrayed him altogether at another level, he didn't even give any chance to Evelyn for explanation.
"Where did you take her on that night?" Xavier asked, controlling his rage.
"Here in New York. She was not worth keeping, so I left." Revealed Ethan, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.
Xavier's eyes widened in shock as this time he couldn't control and threw another punch at Ethan's face, knocking him down on the floor. While Ethan winced in pain, "Where did she go?" Asked Xavier, his voice at edge.
Looking up sideways, "I-I don't-"
Before Ethan could complete the sentence, Xavier made him stand by pulling his collars. "Fucking hell! How can you leave a young girl alone in a place like New York?!" Xavier growled and pushed him.
Turning around, Xavier ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation. Rubbing his face, Xavier faced Ethan, "I never asked her out, never laid a single finger on her. Whatever she said was all a complete lie, she was the one who proposed to me and even tried to kiss me." Said Xavier in a low voice while Ethan looked at Xavier perplexed, "You know what I did? I told her that you, Ethan Forbes, love her. And you are my brother, I would never ditch my brother for any girl."
Ethan's eyes widened in shock, "N-No Y-You are lying…." Ethan's voice trembled as he was in denial.
Shaking his head, "Believe whatever you want to. But that's the only truth."
His face whitened as Ethan continued shaking his head in denial muttering, "No, no, no…."
In the midst of revealing secrets, Xavier's phone buzzed. Breathing out. He pulled out his phone closer to him. An unknown number flashed across it.
Picking up the call, "Hello?" His voice was hoarse from all the yelling and groaning.
"Sir, do you own a black Mercedes N*Y-777?" The man on the other side of the line said, his voice sounded urgent. Sirens could be heard in the background as well as the people shouting.
Xavier tried remembering the car-number, and he instantly recognized the car in which he asked his driver to escort Evelyn. He said, "Yes, I do."
"Sorry sir, there was an accident involving the car." Xavier straightened immediately on hearing this.
"W-What accident officer?" Xavier asked, his voice trembling in fear.
Fear of losing.
"The car, it's been busted up in flames." The officer informed him.
"A-And… the ... the driver and my… wife?" He asked, his voice breaking and body shivering.
Wife: such a small word yet a powerful one with lot of emotions embedded inside it. This was the first time Xavier allowed himself to believe that she is indeed a part of his life, his heart.
After a long stretch of silence, "I'm sorry, Sir." The officer said sympathetically.
His phone fell down from his grasp, along with him, Ethan witnessed the whole conversation and by the time Xavier fell down, he knew what his friend lost.
Mustering the courage, Ethan was about to move forward when, "Rose!!!" A loud scream erupted from Xavier's throat, filled with profound pain and hurt.
Tonight, in the midst of confrontation which should have been done years ago, Xavier Knight lost his love, his wife, his Rose, and this time, for forever.
Why do we take forever to confront the truth? Why? Isn’t it easy to let go of all hate and accept the truth, why we conceal it with a wall of lies and hatred that we had built?
Evelyn paid for her deeds, suffering for five years and tonight Xavier paid for his.