When The Bully Falls in Love

say or do. She tried to sit but couldn’t, her heart was heavy wit

was. I was blind; I didn’t see it coming,” Maria said, sitting on h

” Emelda found words finally. “This is n

, God forbid,” she sobbed. If Emelda had noti

Would I ru

melda patted her on the shoulders. “Doctors sai

rs? Some of them ar

ides, Gee Hospital is known

t mean they

lda scrunched her face. “But how sure are yo

and doesn’t work on Saturdays. When I came back, my sister had travelled and my husb

“But don’t you think something prompted this act?” “Have you

passively befo

?” Emelda said, her fa

f the day, too striking for late afternoon. She had left her wristwatch but guessed immediately t

eliver an extempore speech. It had not been easy for her but she had to cope while she l

e still had some time to be with her, sympathize with her, and do all tha

ging very quickly and so while Maria spilled venom on her sister for poisoning her

n with her now, badgering her with questions to understand f

her elder sister, Juliet, had dated her husband during their university days. But it was p

ery cagey with information that would nail her. But she, Emelda, had discovered to her dismay that Maria’s husband had promised to

of them came from the same family. The man couldn’t have chosen someone else after he visited Juliet some years past an

Besides, she seemed too carried away with a spate of emotions that speaking out was hard

” she said drama in the way that Emelda looked at her with susp

e mind’s construction in the fac

she wasn’t happy with the marriage. She should have told me every

houghts. I am sorry, I shouldn’t be siding with her, but I want you to understand she might h

mind than she had appeared. She didn’t feel Maria was wrong to have accepted the marriage because

enetrating her eyes. Immediately she spread the cotton, she came back to settle. And for the first time, Emel

s and appearances. Those eyes, those beautiful eyes; there must be something beyond her eyes he saw, anyway, Emelda fought her dirty th

was strikingly clear but all of a sudden cloudy. She had agreed— after getting a call from her boss that the

though she would have loved to retire home early today, she would

he ground. They were living—Maria and her husband— on the second floor of a three sto

the craze was all about. Or why, she would say, she had accepted to live a life

ot spoilt and she would have to climb down to fetch some water. Clambering up the stairs

hem on the verandah. I saw them hangin

the rain on the roof, the room gloried in silence. The heavy downpour had ended their conversation. The

arm your body before you

Emelda

ldness. I am catching a cold. We ne

ong with some memories and the accompanying cold made it all seem exact—the exact day, so many years ago—she had

here was a heavy downpour and she had to stay back; besides, night had approached

r’s corridor. That having people was twice important as having only money. It dawned on her, yes; she would have cried but didn’t. Who would have

leagues were calling their relatives who lived within or on the outskirt of the school. Some were calling their boyfriend

an Angel from above – sent to save her f

ever as amazed at such a kind gesture. All the memories c

the hospital. Emelda imagined what if she hadn’t taken the hot tea, how worse it