Charmaine scanned the faces of the crowd with Tavia and Jessica. She recognized Michael immediately, for he was Tavia’s god-brother. To his right stood a man that looked strangely familiar but she couldn’t place where she had seen him before. She turned to the other man and was shocked to see it was Raymond and he was staring right at her. She quickly controlled her emotions, despite the feeling of distress of having to face him after all these years. If she had her way, she never wanted to lay eyes on him ever again. She has not forgotten how he betrayed her and she had a scar on her left wrist as a reminder of his unfaithfulness. With her heart pounding fast, she kept her face carefully blank as she and Joe slowly approached them.

Joe extended his hand to Michael, “I’m glad you were able to come,” he said enthusiastically. “Looks like we have a full house tonight.”

“Yes we do and I did say I was definitely coming, didn’t I?” Michael answered smoothly as they shook hands.

Joe flicker a glance at Raymond and Ron then turned to Charmaine. With a possessive arm across her back, he propelled her forward, “Charmaine, this is Michael. Behind him are his assistants Raymond and Ron.”

Charmaine smiled at Michael then turned to Raymond and Ron. Raymond waited for a sign of recognition from her but when she only looked at him fleetingly, he was disappointed. In fact, she smiled so casually at him it’s as if she never seen him before. The idea that she had forgotten him caused Raymond to feel nauseated.

Michael smiled and looked at Joe with amusement, “I know her already. She’s my god-sister’s friend.” Turning to frown at Tavia, he said tightly, “What I didn’t know was that you guys know each other and that Charmaine’s boyfriend was Joe.”

Tavia didn’t understand why Michael was acting this way, “Does it matter? I didn’t realize I have to report my friends’ boyfriends to you too.”

Joe laughed loudly, “What a small world it is?!” He turned away from Michael and noticed that Raymond was staring at Charmaine intently and that irked him. Walking up to Raymond, he leaned in and said quietly into his ear, “Find your own girlfriend to ogle Raymond. This one is mine’s and I’m keeping her.” With those words spoken, Joe returned to Charmaine and kept an arm securely around her waist. He lifted his eyes to Raymond’s in challenge and found the other man’s eyes boring into his with unhidden dislike.

They continued chatting about unimportant subjects for a few minutes. A while later, Joe took Charmaine’s hand and tenderly said, “Let’s find our table and I’ll get a plate of food for you.”
Charmaine nodded and smiled briefly at the others telling Tavia and Jessica that she’ll talk to them later, before allowing Joe to lead her away.

Raymond remained where he was, watching Joe and Charmaine take their seats at their table. A waiter passed and he grabbed two glasses of champagne off the tray and gulped them down one right after the other.

Ron detected a change of mood in Raymond but didn’t know what caused it. Slapping his friend lightly on the arm, he said, “Let’s head to our table.” When he didn’t get a response, Ron just pulled him along.

Throughout the evening, Raymond’s eyes were fixated on Charmaine. He watched as she and Joe walked onto the dance floor. He felt a tug in his heart when Joe pulled Charmaine into his embrace and hugged her close to him. When Joe leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips, Raymond clenched his hands into fists, wanting to strike out at something. Suddenly he was up and was striding purposefully towards the couple on the dance floor. With determination he tapped Joe lightly on the shoulder, “Excuse me, but may I have a dance with her?”

Joe was surprised and irritated at the interruption. He gave Raymond a hard look and with a politeness that was required in a room full of people, he turned and looked inquiringly at Charmaine.

Charmaine smiled reassuringly at him before turning her attention to Raymond. With the same friendliness that she had bestowed on him earlier, she said, “I’m sorry but I’m tired and we were on our way out.” She bent her head slightly, a goodnight gesture, then walked off the dance floor hand in hand with Joe.

Raymond was staggered by her rejection. Her indifference to him was like being stabbed repeatedly. He would have been happier if she had at least shown some hatred towards him. As he stared after her, he realized that she had put him behind her and moved on. Her having no feelings at all towards him hurt him more than her being with Joe.

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Raymond and Ron returned to the apartment that they shared after the ball. It was already in the wee hours and Raymond was on the verge of passing out. He had way too many drinks, which was good, because it would make him forget about her. At least he thought it would. Swaggering into room, Raymond fell onto his bed rubbing his eyes. He heard Ron moping around outside and cursed at the noise.

Sitting up, he opened the top draw of his nightstand and took out a book. He scanned the pages until he found what he was looking for. Picking up the picture of Charmaine, he leaned back against the headboard of the bed. With his fingertips he lightly traced the face in the picture. How he miss her. If only he had been more careful or perhaps more secretive. If only he didn’t fool around. If only he didn’t flirt with that woman. If only… he stopped with the ‘if onlys’. There was no turning back time. Defeated, he brought the picture up close and gently kissed it. Lying down he took the picture along and placed it on his pillow. Staring at the picture of Charmaine, he whispered, “I love you,” before falling into unconsciousness.