She was so sure of her decision, she believed everything would turn out right, and honestly, I wished it did.....
Her name is Laila, and she was my friend. We've been friends since I was 7. She was way older than I, and it was fun having an older person to be your friend; you always got more experience.
I was so excited when one day I took her phone and saw a guy asking Laila out, it was a dream come true for me, I wanted to be in her bridal train, but she promised to make me her chief bridesmaid.....
I knew the guy, he was "our" friend and I had been sensing their secret affection, and I'm glad that he was finally able to brave up and approach her, I couldn't wait for her to see the message.
When I heard her coming, I quickly left the message unread and kept the phone back, pretending like I hadn't just been touching it a few minutes ago, I wanted her to discover it herself, so I pretended to be very busy on my phone 🤣.
She picked up the phone and I stared at her with my side eye as she opened the phone. I think I saw a slight frown on her forehead before it turned into a smile. I ignored the frown I saw later, and my heart fluttered with joy, and I saw her type away a reply.
He was a good guy, his name was Ryan, and I knew that he was going to take good care of my friend, so I let the relationship grow...
I felt that he would be able to take care of her very well, and I was excited knowing that one day they were going to get married.
One day, I overheard a conversation Ryan was having; he planned to propose to Laila. I overheard the setting and everything, and I was sure she was gonna cry her eyes out, after the surprise, I couldn't wait
They were almost always together, don't get me wrong, they were courting and they always had time for each other, but he went to pursue an extremely urgent business deal, and he was going to be back in the next week.
I told Laila that she should just wait patiently and that everything was going to be all right, and that he would be back, but when I thought that everything was going to be okay, everything turned out wrong.
Laila suddenly became distant to him, she began ignoring his call, and one day I couldn't take it and asked her....
***"Laila! Ryan is calling you, he practically has for the last two days...."*** I screamed out at her
***"I know, girl, it's just...."*** She hesitated to talk, and then I knew she was hiding something from me. I went close to her.
***"What's wrong, Laila? You've never hidden anything from me. Did you guys fight? I can help."*** I told her
She then moved toward a locker and slid it open, bringing out a ring, the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. It was spectacular, it had beautiful diamonds on it, they were light blue, and they sparkled. I was appalled. I put my hands over my mouth in surprise and screamed...
***"Oh my gosh! Laila! Did Ryan give you that? Oh my God, it's beautiful..."*** I squealed
She had a distant look in her eyes as she smiled...
***"It's beautiful, right, it shows he loves me, doesn't it?"*** She said
I looked at her and sensed that something had gone extremely wrong.
***"Laila! It's not Ryan that gave you that, he was still planning to propose to you, Why would he give you that ring?"***
I looked at her very intensely, a gaze I knew she wasn't going to resist...
***"Remember Lucas... The guy at the party we had two months ago?"*** She asked
I scanned my mind and took it back to a reception party that was held some months back.
I remember he had approached Laila and was talking to her, for some reason, I never got a good first impression of him, he looked like someone who had a secret personality...
***"That Guy! Why did he give you a ring?"*** I honestly had to ask her...
***"He proposed to me yesterday, and I accepted, I can't help it, I love him"*** She said..
To be honest, I was startled, I had to pinch myself to be sure I'm not in a very bad dream...
***"He did what!!! When your fiancée is basically on a one-week trip, you choose a stranger over someone you have known since forever? Are you even taking careful consideration, or have you decided to throw caution to the wind?"*** I was shocked, I didn't believe my friend could do such a devilish thing, I only see these kinds of things in movies
***"It doesn't matter how long I've known him, Love is Love! and yes I'm throwing caution to the wind if that's what you call it, that's exactly what I'm doing, I feel different with him and he treats me better than Ryan, and he's almost technically more financially bouyant than Ryan"***
She said
I looked at my friend like a different person, had Lucas taken a toll on my friend's actions, really?, She changed so much and I didn't even see it. She was about to make a reckless decision, and I felt terrible...
***"I thought I knew you, turns out I didn't, 10 years, Laila! 10 years!"*** I said before I stormed out.
We were pretty much cold for the next two weeks. I couldn't even look Ryan in the eye. he came to me in tears, I understand how he felt, but I told him to move on.
I received a wedding invitation, I was shocked, a three-month relationship, and they were getting married, they hadn't even been friends before.
For the sake of our past friendship, I attended the wedding, but then I saw that slight frown on her forehead again when she was saying **"I DO**", and I tried to remember when last she had that....
Oh right! When she read Ryan's message when she was already obviously in a relationship, so what could be wrong now?
Months passed, and I honestly thought that she made a great choice, even though she threw caution to the wind; maybe it came back in her favor.
But 1 year later, I was a little bit bigger and I heard devastating news, Laila had died!!!!!
I was at a loss for words. I asked what happened, but when we made our findings, it turned out that she killed herself because her so-called Lucas was a womanizer and also beat her a lot, she couldn't tell anyone because she was warned....
I felt so bad, it took me a while to get over it, but I took a resolve, never to decide without thinking of the consequences....
Throw caution to the wind... With what results?
@ivoryluv
· 2025-07-09 13:37
· The Ink Well
#nonfiction
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