This is a short narrative that centers around a man's experiences in love. He had one relationship but things ended on a bad note. And that has scarred him considerably. One day, when he thought he was close to finding it again, things took a turn for the worse, once more. Against all odds, he figured out what really mattered to him.
Adam has always been a righteous, responsible, and honest person. Take, for example, he would raise his hands to inform the teacher if he found his friends cheating in a class test. He would be quick to correct others of their wrongdoings. Thus, his personality left him with few friends and attracted the dislikes of masses. In school, people even called him a ‘loser’. He got into his first relationship when he was in his twenties. He was a traditional man and dense towards romance at the same time. Shortly later, Adam and his girlfriend, Laura, bought a house and lived together. Everything was doing alright until one day; he caught his girlfriend red-handed with another man in the house. Adam accused the man, but his girlfriend replied that it was mutual. Upon hearing that it was mutual, Adam pulled the guy over and asked him if he was serious and wealthy enough to take care of her? The man said, "of course" and Laura even told Adam not to worry about her. However, Laura knew that Adam loved her a lot and would even give up the house to her, so she played the guilt-treat game. Laura successfully tricked Adam into leaving the house behind for her and he left the house scarred, bitter, and with a broken heart. But Laura popped one more question to Adam, “Will you want me back if everything else fails?” Adam nodded, yes, at that time.
Meanwhile, Adam has been visiting an old man in the old folk’s home on a weekly basis. The old man was heartened to learn how kind-hearted Adam is. Adam knew that the old man was abandoned by his own children and thus, he knew that the old man would be lonely. One day, unbeknownst to Adam, the old man decided to have his will arranged with a lawyer. The will states to give a lump sum of $150 million to Adam. However, the lawyer fooled around and got himself drunk on that night, and all of his confidential documents were accidentally leaked to a woman named, Grace. To her surprise, she found out that a sum of $150 million was willed to give to a man called Adam. Upon closer inspection of the full name, she realized that the name reflected in the confidential documents was her old schoolmate! And when the lawyer realized that his documents had been disclosed, it was already the next morning.
Grace began to bear ill-intentions to get closer to Adam so as to become richer, and thus, she researched on Adam's whereabouts. She was successful in relocating Adam. She also remembered that Adam is a genuine and honest person back in school, so she planned meticulously to make use of his personality in the hope to get into his good books. She confessed to Adam about her plight and as planned, Adam fell for it by offering her a place to stay at his new home. In return, Adam also shared about his plight to her, and she took the opportunity to comfort him. At that point in time, he felt that she was genuinely concerned for him.
Just when things were going accordingly as planned for Grace – Adam’s previous girlfriend, Laura, was cheated of all her money and had to sell the house, which Adam left behind for her, away. Laura remembered that Adam would promise to take her back. Thus, she proceeded to research on Adam's whereabouts. Having relocated Adam, she proceeded to wait at his doorsteps. At that moment, Adam was with Grace, where both of them saw Laura standing at the doorsteps. Grace could strongly sense that that woman was Adam's previous girlfriend. And Laura, upon seeing Adam, burst into tears and hugged him. Adam, being nice and a man of his words, offered to help her by offering her a place to stay for the time being. Grace felt that Adam was a genuine "idiot" at that moment.
Both women continued to live with the Adam under the same roof. They had their own rooms while Adam slept in the living room. Several days later, Laura expressed intentions to reconcile with Adam, but he was hesitant. When Grace witnessed the entire episode, she stomped into her own room and cried. She could not comprehend her feelings. "I am only after his money, but why do I feel this way right now? I can't help, but to feel jealous, whenever Adam treats Laura nicely." cried Grace.
The next day, Grace accompanied Adam to visit the old man; the old man finally revealed to Adam that he has willed all of his assets to him. Adam was shocked and immediately rejected it. He even reminded the old man about his aspirations to donate this sum of money to start up a charity fund. But the old man replied, “I entrust you to do it for me, and some of this money can also provide security for your loved ones too!” Grace knew all of these before Adam, but she had to act as if she just got to find out as well. And it was at this moment, where Grace finally used up her luck; the lawyer turned up at the old folks' home to clarify the details of the will with the old man. The lawyer saw Grace but did not expose her on the spot, instead, he secretly told Grace to meet him at the Bar. On the same night, the old man, unfortunately, passed on, and both Grace and lawyer met up.
At the bar, the lawyer reminded Grace of her past career as a prostitute and threatened to sue her for going through all of his confidential documents. He told Grace, “Both of us know that Adam is an honest and gullible man, he will definitely follow the old man's wishes, so if you can cheat some of his money to split it with me, I’ll let go of this matter and not expose you at the same time. You are a smart woman, you know what's best for yourself.” Although what the lawyer proposed aligned with what Grace intended to do, she acquiesced. The lawyer even proceeded to take advantage of Grace for a sum of money. Under normal circumstances, Grace would have accepted it. But, this time, she resisted and even pushed him away. Grace thought to herself, “I can’t, I feel so wrong that I even have the cheek to cheat on Adam.” She ran out of the bar and was even more certain about her feelings towards Adam this time. What started out as a plan to cheat Adam’s money became a fateful development of true feelings for Adam.
The next day, Grace went to find her retired school teacher for some advices. She admitted how she wanted to get close to Adam for his money.
“Do you still bear this intention to cheat his money?” asked the teacher.
“I don’t anymore, and I think I even developed feelings for him” replied Grace. “I do not know how, but it just happened”
“Then, that’s good. Just be honest with Adam on how you intended to cheat his money initially but no longer want to anymore and regarding your past-career as a prostitute. No one is perfect. Most importantly, remember that the last thing you ever want in your life is to do something that makes you regret for a lifetime, and worst, you think about it at your deathbed.” comforted the teacher.
“Alright, yes, you are right.” replied Grace.
Remember the lawyer? As Grace consulted her retired school teacher; that evening, the lawyer, feeling all bitter and sore about what happened last night, went to Adam’s house to expose everything about Grace. At first, Adam refused to buy the lawyer’s story but the lawyer brought in witnesses and pieces of evidence to support his claims. This time, Adam felt even more devastated as he thought he was close to finding his true love, but things took a turn for the worse, once more.
Shortly, Grace also turned up at Adam’s house with the intention to confess everything. But when she realized the lawyer and the witnesses were already there, she knew that she was one step slower than them and that the situation no longer favored her. Shamelessly, she confessed her intentions to cheat Adam's money from the start and regarding her past career. And there followed a brief silence in the house. Just when the lawyer and the witnesses felt that their objectives were achieved, they made a quick move, leaving just Grace and Adam in the house alone. For your context, Laura was out dating another man at this moment.
“Adam, now that you know the truth about me. There's still one more thing that I wish to confess and that is I have developed feelings for you.” confessed Grace. “I am standing right here for you to give me your verdict."
“Erm, Grace, please do give me a while.” replied Adam.
Adam, being dense and gullible, ran into his room and called his sister to seek for advices.
“Sister, can you advise me on what should I do now?” asked Adam.
“Adam! You’re old enough to decide for yourself. But if you ask me, I will ask you to let go of her because if she can cheat once, then, she might do it again” chided the sister.
“But, what if, I trust her and have developed feelings for her too?” replied Adam.
“Regardless of the feelings, if I have to choose, I will choose to leave her” replied the sister.
This moment, Adam was so afraid of getting hurt again and thus, he toughened to protect his heart.
“Grace, I never loved you before, if you are wondering about everything that I’ve done, it was simply out of sympathy towards your plight.” replied Adam.
Grace cried and ran out of the house immediately. And a tinge of sorrow within his heart followed instantaneously.
“Sister, I have let her go” said Adam. “But I am so afraid that I will regret this decision.”
“Adam, what’s there to regret about? She didn’t genuinely love you to begin with. She came with the intention to cheat your money! How sure can you be that she isn't lying or won't do it the next time? Furthermore, there are so many girls out there and with the money you have, why do you have to limit your own choices?” replied the sister.
A brief silence was observed in the call.
“Sister … whatever I’m going to say next may sound really absurd, but I think I realized something about myself, and that is, I am willing to let her cheat on me once more, if she wants to.” affirmed Adam.
Adam hanged up the call and immediately ran out of the house in the hope to catch up with Grace. Unfortunately, he never got to see Grace ever again.
--- The End ---
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