Janet's Loss

It all started in the morning, a cold windy quiet morning in which wind roared loudly as if to awake me from my sleep in place of my alarm. The cold burst through my thin cotton sheets and this sudden change did not give me an opportunity to register and respond. It simply puzzled me and I was fascinated by it. The days before were extremely hot and humid that it made it difficult to cope. I could barely breathe in such humid conditions. While I processed all that had surrounded me, Janet, a close friend of mine had come to the door. It seems she may have come to check up on me based on her knowledge of the challenges I faced physical in such tense weather conditions. Despite the fact that I did not expect nor plan for her visit I was glad to have her over. She was such a sweet soul. But Janet had problems of her own. It was only after a long while friendship that I had realised to what extent these problems had gone.

When Janet arrived at my house on that morning she was barely dressed. A tattered short black sequence dress squeezed her body causing it to flush in certain areas. Moreover, she wore blood red heels to compliment her look. It was evident from the choice of clothing and the time of day in which she had graced my house with her presence that Janet had been out the previous night getting her mind off things in the very worst of ways. Despite having this feeling in my gut I decided to give her a benefit of a doubt. It seemed like a good idea to probe further into this unusual choice of morning attire. Thus I proceeded to ask a few questions about how she felt.

“It’s Frank again,” she began. “He has been travelling all month and his pay is not even reflective of the number trips. I have had enough. I just needed to get my mind off things.” She suddenly posed as if to weigh my response before she could proceed. This was already confirming my suspicions. However, I decided to affirm her actions so that I could get further information. “I completely understand. “ I started while holding her shoulder. “It must be frustrating to not reap the fruits of your husband’s hard work, especially when you stand by his decisions in all circumstances.” “Exactly!” she exclaimed. “I have had enough and I needed to blow off steam. Derek is the perfect way for me. He simply understands a woman’s needs.”

Those statements were enough to confirm my suspicions that Janet had turned to her obsession for relief and she felt her husband’s absence was enough to justify such actions.  Selfishly she returned to her former lover and clearly her personality had not changed from who I had always known her to be. I knew Janet as a beautiful, young and curvy 27 year old who believed that education was a complete waste of time, and that her appearance could achieve everything for her. Just as a famous song goes, “what you wear is all that matters ”, she believed appearance beyond reasonable doubt would land her millions. Thus she insured that she looked her best, spent hours in the mirror, and spent even more hours on her phone. She focused on her skin, her clothes, her hair, and her shoes. Furthermore, she made sure she had kept in contact with potentially successful men, which included Derek.

On the evening of their encounter Derek arrived with a bouquet of flowers and he offered to take Janet to dinner. After having wined and dined out Derek offered to drive her home. It was at this point that Janet had been reminded of the nights he would drive her home. Reaching out to kiss him, he had been receptive and the night took a turn for the worst. They had somehow managed to reach Janet’s bedroom and clothes flung off their bodies like they were in search of treasure. In a few moments the deed was done, with its close came a realisation of what had just occurred between them. In the heat of the moment they had both forgotten that they had lives outside of that situation. Upon realisation of what was at stake if they were caught, Janet slowly sneaked out onto the road outside her house which she had decided to walk uphill 5 blocks to my house where she was currently explaining to me the events of the night before.

After she left my house I stayed back reviewing all that had been said to me. I thought of how Janet had simply continued her story with Derek as though they had not both moved on to their current marriages. It was simply perplexing that he had reached out to her at such a crucial time in his life. It seems he had been guilty for playing with Janet’s emotions because she was only 23 and may have been too young to understand at the time they were together. Derek explained how he felt he was taking advantage of how naïve she was and he also felt it was his responsibility to give her closure. She often bragged to Janice about how her choice in men was exceptionally good in comparison to Janice. However, Janet and Derek ended right before they started. Derek claimed he wanted Janet to finish her education before he could completely commit to her. Janet, on the other hand believed that she was ready to bear children and keep a home clean and healthy.

The next day Janet had spent most of her time tidying up to ensure that no trace of Derek was left. However, he had already been smart enough to leave no trace of his presence. Aware of what he could possibly lose, he quickly gathered his clothes before he left that night. At about 5pm Janet‘s husband had returned and he reached out to me to surprise Janet. The following days were bright and the cold had disappeared. Bright gold balloons hung from Janet and Frank’s apartment balcony. We were all dressed in white and red. Ready to surprise Janet for her birthday. Frank had bought and decorated Janet’s Volkswagen with red and white ribbons. It was the perfect surprise because she had always hinted to him how much she wanted a new car because she was tired of her broken down car.

The time had come and Frank was ready to surprise her. Her face had lit up with so much joy when she opened the door. She couldn’t believe that Frank could pull off such a surprise. But other emotions lingered in her mind. Janet wanted out of her one year marriage because she was already tired of commitment. She was always like this in previous relationships and everyone except Frank was aware of her decision and her actions once she was fed up of a relationship. But something even more surprising had happened before she could express any emotions regarding her gift. Before he could show her the Volkswagen, Frank fell to the floor and everyone was stunned.

He woke up the next day in ICU and the doctor had informed us that he was recovering from a deadly poison. From my knowledge of her desire to move on, I was convinced that Janet had decided to end her marriage in a way that Frank would not have a chance to fight back. She had decided to poison him through food. To my surprise it came to be known that Frank had been aware of Janet’s actions with Derek and that Derek wasn’t as smart as I thought. At least not as smart as Frank was. Frank had always been convinced that Janet’s promiscuous behaviour would return and that the moment Janet felt a sense of insecurity financially she would turn to other men who satisfied her desires. Because of all that he was aware of, Frank had attempted to end his own life.

Evidently, a lot of gaps were not filled from what Janet had told me. Allegedly on that fateful night that they had laid together in Janet’s matrimonial bed, Derek had forgotten all about his cufflinks. When Frank was getting ready the very next day for work he had spent a little more time ensuring his suite and tie had fit perfectly. To ensure that he looked presentable he gazed at himself in the mirror and a bright reflective light hit his eye. It was a simple silver cufflink that lay under their bed. A glare of sunlight hit it right were Frank could identify exactly where it reflected from and Frank proceeded to pick up the cufflink. Typical of Derek to have initialled his cufflinks DB which stood for Derek Bolger. From my knowledge of Frank, who always did his homework, coupled with his knowledge of his wife’s past and her ability to keep in touch with exes on social media, it was a simple puzzle to solve. Both of these aspects had provided a perfect platform for him to identify which of these many exes she has had in their matrimonial home the previous night. Frank was hurt by his wife’s actions and it was too difficult for him to stomach.

During Frank’s stay in the hospital, it came to our attention that one of Janet’s close friends, Brenda, had just given birth to a beautiful set of twins. She had explained to me her need to congratulate Brenda and her contradicting desire to avoid her and it had been so long since they had seen each other. As we concluded our discussion we decided to visit Brenda in the hospital, a few Cubicles from where Frank had been receiving care. What a coincidence that Brenda had given birth just as Frank had almost lost his life. I couldn’t seem to understand why Janet was hesitant to visit Brenda because she and Janet had always been very close. But Janet later explained to me that they once dated the same guy, Derek. Talk about repeat of history in the wrong ways. After Janet had broken up with Derek, she followed his life like a series and from this stoking a friendship was birthed between the two ladies.

As we continued down the Hospital aisle to Brenda’s cubicle Derek walked out of one of the rooms and accidentally bumped into me. Almost knocking me over. He was in a very hurried mood. He hardly murmured “sorry” to me and I couldn’t fathom why he couldn’t take a minute to apologise and put himself together. Right behind me Janet was avoiding eye contact. It all made sense now. Janet was avoiding Derek because he was her friend’s husband and she had played a role in his infidelity.

Brenda seems to have been well aware of their recent encounter. It was no surprise to her that they had both clearly avoided each other in her presence. I simply could not understand how they managed to have a friendship, considering that they both had an interest in the same man. It seems Brenda was no angel. She had done a lot of research on Janet and Derek. Her marriage to Derek was simply based on her desperation to avoid spinsterhood. Brenda was almost 30 years old when she met Derek. They both studied architecture and it seemed easy to seduce a man of the same wave length. He wouldn’t suspect foul play. Janet had not been aware of Brenda’s history. Despite having their very friendship based on their ability to take advantage of men that had a weakness for attractive women; Janet was not aware that Brenda had known her prior to their friendship.

It can be inferred from this that Brenda was an investigator. There is no surprise that she knew of Janet’s betrayal because she was a similar person. She always followed Derek and Janet closely, and from their actions in her hospital room it was clear that something more recent had occurred. They were both guilty beyond any doubt and Brenda was not going to tolerate it. She waited for us to leave before she confronted Derek and demanded an answer. He yielded to her anger and confessed to everything that happened on that night. Finally, a false friendship was ended. Brenda and Janet were never to see nor speak to each other.