Too Little Too Late

Mina,

Even though it has been several years since our love became a distant memory, our lives having separated after that fateful day, I realize now that I cannot let you go. You were the one constant in my life even after you chose yourself over me, which I understand why, but I have not been able to stop thinking about you or your smile or the way you always made me feel as if I were the luckiest guy alive, no matter how hard I try. As the years passed, I believed I would get over you, move on with my life, and continue down the path I had chosen for myself, but that never happened. For almost a decade, I have been haunted and tortured by the memories of you and what was, but also what could have been, and I had to write to you before it was too late. I wish to apologize for putting what others thought about me or how they criticized who I had by my side, above you and how you felt, and turning a blind eye to the hurt I was causing you and I finally understand those were the reasons why you had to leave me behind. But I still love you, Mina. I have loved you since we were teenagers, despite what I was doing to you and the pain I inflicted upon you, I continued to harbor deep feelings for you while dating Jessica, and even more so now, but I hope to start over with you and do things correctly. Please, just consider it, if not for me but for yourself, Mina. I love you.

Sincerely,

Carter

My eyes stare at the neatly written letter in my trembling hands, my mouth hanging open slightly as I skim over the words several times, and all of my surroundings become distant and unimportant while I attempt to process the letter.

Carter Nelson.

My middle to high school bully and crush has sent me a handwritten letter, apologizing and professing his love to me, and I don’t know if I should feel happy that he apologized or angry that it took him this long to do it, but as I gaze at the flimsy piece of paper, all I can think about is how horribly he treated me.

Don’t get me wrong, when I first realized that I was crushing on him, we were friends. Actually, he was my best friend, and we did a lot of things together including several school activities, but I never treated him differently. He was first and foremost, my friend, and I never wanted to make him uncomfortable. After he discovered my crush, he even told me that he liked me too, though I hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t change our friendship, but that all went out the window once one of our other classmates became his girlfriend.

After that, he wanted nothing to do with me and was my worst bully. My life was miserable during my last few years of high school, considering Carter and his girlfriend practically ganged up on me and decided to belittle me and make fun of my crush on him together, but once I figured out that the Carter that I knew for a time was long gone, I moved on and did my best to be the greatest version of myself anyone had ever seen.

It has actually been ten years since I last spoke to Carter, no matter what he says in his letter, and all of a sudden he’s writing to me, confessing his love and apologizing for his wrongdoings, and I cannot seem to process this information.

“My Love, are you all right?”

My husband, Zayne, startles me from my stupor, causing me to jolt in my seat, and I flick my gaze up to him and my expression must be showing exactly how I feel because he is swiftly making his way towards me.

“Melina, what is it?”

The man questions, sitting next to me on the couch, and with shaky hands, I give my husband the letter for him to read. Zayne’s dark brow furrows slightly, but he gently takes the piece of paper from me, a weight suddenly lifting from my shoulders once the letter leaves my hands, and I wait impatiently for my other half to finish reading.

“Wow, he’s … Desperate.”

Zayne snorts after he places the letter on the coffee table, his attention turning to me, and his gaze softens while Zayne lifts his hands to cradle my face lovingly. His thumbs brush across my cheeks, wiping away the sad, dejected tears that I didn’t know were spilling down my face, and I lean into his touch, hoping to calm myself down.

“I don’t know what to do, Zayne. Why would he do this? What was the purpose of sending me a stupid letter containing his confession of love for me and a pathetic apology?”

“Mina, he is doing this because he believes that you waited for him. You haven’t seen each other since your high school graduation, which also happened to be when you were single, Baby. His ego is so big that he has convinced himself that you are still available even after all of these years.”

Zayne’s observation hits me like a truck, my eyes snapping open to lock with his beautiful eyes, and I can’t stop the humorless laugh that tumbles from my lips, realizing that Carter was trying to manipulate me, once again.

“I should have known he’d try to do something like this. The funny thing is, if I remember correctly, he is married, Zayne! He is attempting to hurt two women, and he hopes to get away with it.”

“Yes, Darling, he is. Now, what are you going to do about it?”

My husband questions, the mischievous undertone of his voice making me smile, then I snatch the letter from the coffee table, sauntering over to the bookcase in the living room, and I reach out to grab a manilla folder off of one of the shelves before opening it up to reveal the contents within.

Inside the folder is evidence that I have gathered on Carter, including the email receipts, photo evidence of him sneaking around with another woman, and one other letter he sent to my old address—that I never read—and I put the new letter with all of the proof that I’ve collected.

“I was going to do absolutely nothing, but since he won’t leave me alone, I guess I am going to sit down with his wife and hand over all of this evidence because I will be blowing up his “perfect” life. The bastard needs some humbling.”

“That’s my girl.”

Zayne praises me and when I spin around to smile at him, his arms are wrapping around my waist, and he is kissing the top of my head while holding me in his loving embrace. My husband may have entered my life long after I healed and improved my life, but his reassurance and support have provided me with the confidence I need to finally give Carter the karma that he deserves, and Zayne being right here with me will make it incredibly easy to hand over the documentation to Carter’s wife and not feel guilty about it.