Page 1 of David's Love

1

DAVID

Earlier

At the businessdinner in New York

Ping after pingechoes in my pocket, making people around the table glance at me with curiosity.

I reach inside my jacket and pull out my phone.

I don’t need to check the notifications to know it’s her. So, flashing a smile, I mute my phone, excuse myself, and walk away from the dinner table.

“Good evening, sir,” the hostess says as I slide past her and seek a quiet corner to check my phone.

Moments later, I walk onto the terrace.

A cold wind sweeps over the handrails, lifting up a handful of wet leaves. My gaze trails down, my thumb gliding over my phone screen.

Picture after picture pops onto the screen. Beauty and sweetness flash across, too.

She is so innocently unaware of how stunning she is with her soft eyes, red hair, and lips made for sin.

It would be so easy to destroy her and transform into someone else.

There is such a delicate balance between everything she has to offer and the sledgehammer of life that could come down at any time, mercilessly crushing her.

It stirs a deep need in me to protect and raise guardrails around her. And that is an old, familiar feeling. Something I haven’t felt in a very long while. Since back when I hadn’t been prepared and couldn’t anticipate the unfortunate ending looming in front of me.

But things are different now.

I am different. I know more about life––so much more. I lost that innocence that had gotten me into trouble the first time around.

A lot has happened since Anna and I smashed into the big wall of life and bounced away from each other.

Despite being as old as time, that story has cast a shadow over my life, impacting my decisions and shaping me into who I am today.

In retrospect, things happened the way they did for a reason, although I still can’t make sense of her untimely death.

That shocking twist added more grief to an already gruesome, dark story.

I made peace with all that, and now I have a different perspective on things. I haven’t kept a grudge despite the damage done.

In some of my best times, I was still that man who had once been let down, unexpectedly and brutally, with a finality that I couldn’t explain.

There was nothing I could do about it.

Some of the damage done couldn't be scrapped away or forgotten.

It’s still in me, tucked in the nooks and crannies of my soul, not hurting me anymore.

Not potent and consequential as it was.

Although here I am.

I’m taking a beautiful woman like her on an unpredictable journey while hiding behind the uncertainty of an erratic game and making baby steps toward a different and hopefully normal life.

The damaged man has exercised his power for so long. And I learned to love, understand, and accept him for who he was.

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