At 55, I left my old life to rest and took a long vacation at an island my friend Lana suggested we should pay a visit. All I packed were a few pieces of clothes and my lap top which held my unfinished novel – two years of sleepless nights, sweat, and unspoken dreams.
The island was charming. I was greeted by the warm breeze and the soothing waves. The retreat, however, was a completely different story. It was loud, chaotic, and full of young people looking for fun and ready to party until late in the night.
As Lana and I explored the place, we noticed a man, around 15 years younger than me. He looked like he got straight out of a fashion magazine. Handsome and charming, he stood by the bar, and to my surprise, Lana said she knew him. We approached him and she introduced me to him. His name was Eric, and he was by far the most good-looking person I have ever seen.
Lana believed Eric and I could make a nice couple, and I decided to give it a try.
We had a lovely time together, attending dinners, taking long walks at the beach, and watching the sunset while sharing quiet conversations. Eric was everything I didn’t even know I needed in my life.
After a couple of days, I told him about my novel and how much time and effort I put in it.
I also told him that I needed to finish it, but the ending simply wasn’t coming, and it stayed there for quite some time, inside a folder on my desktop.
Eric, who loved literature himself, encouraged me to find motivation and publish my work, which he claimed he loved.
Believing it was about time I get back to writing, I opened my lap top, and looked for the folder named Novel, but it wasn’t there.
Scared that I might have lost years of hard work, I started running through the hallway in an attempt of reaching Lena. But once I approached her room, I heard Eric’s voice.
They planned to steal my work all along. That was why Lana suggested that island in the first place. Her plan was to publish it as though it was her own.
Crushed and disappointed by the betrayal of the two people I trusted the most, I packed my belongings and left the resort as soon as I could.
A few months later…
I never anticipated this day would ever come. My book signing. Plenty of faces, most of which unfamiliar, looking at me with huge smiles on their faces, lined up and waiting to meet me.
At what seemed like the end of the day, I found a folded note on the desk.
“Congratulations on your success. Coffee at the cafe around the corner?”
Eager to see who left that note, I went to the coffee place, holding a copy of my novel in my hands.
There, seated at the corner, was Eric. He looked as charming as I remembered.
“Why are you here?”I asked with anger in my voice.
“Look, Thea, I felt like you deserved an explanation,” he said, ashamed of his actions.
“Lana forced me to steal the manuscript from your lap top. She claimed she needed it in order to help you finally finish it. I had no idea she wanted to publish it herself. When I learned, I took the flash drive, but you were already gone.”
I was hesitant about his words. But he did send me my novel a few days later, so there was no reason I should believe his apologies weren’t genuine.
“Maybe save me a copy?” Eric asked, and I smiled. “Of course.”
Slowly, I rebuilt my trust in Eric. What started as a betrayal, turned into a relationship built on sincerity and understanding.
This time, what Eric and I had was real.
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Bored Daddy
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