Raymond walked into the restaurant and the first person he saw was Charmaine. She was sitting with Tavia and Jessica and looked up at him when he entered but quickly averted her eyes. Joe was nowhere in sight. He saw the sorrow in her eyes but she had already made her decision and so had he. There was no point in going over it again. He walked towards Ron, who sat alone at the next table. “Why aren’t you sitting with Tavia? I thought you two were inseparable?”

Ron folded his hands nervously and said, “We had a fight.”

“Tell her you’re sorry and make it up to her,” Raymond said as he poured himself a drink.

Ron sighed and took the bottle from Raymond, “If only it was that easy.”

Raymond took a sip of his drink and looked over at Charmaine, “If you wait too long things will only become complicated.”

Ron looked in the line of Raymond’s view and saw that he was looking at Charmaine. He sat glumly in his chair and said, “If I’ve done something to you that’s really bad, would you forgive me?”

Raymond grinned at Ron and said, “It depends on what you mean by bad? But to answer your question I would forgive you. We’re buddies!”

Taking a deep breath, Ron said, “Charmaine should be with you and not Joe. If it wasn’t for me, she would still be with you now.”

“What are you talking about?” Raymond asked bewildered by Ron’s words. “Charmaine and I broke up because I cheated on her. I had way too many drinks and acted out on my own impulses. It had nothing to do with you.”

“Ray, I…,” Ron began but was interrupted by Joe, who stood behind him with a wide smile plastered on his face.

“Hello guys,” Joe greeted loudly. “Why are you sitting over here? How come you’re not sitting with us? Isn’t that the usual routine?”

Raymond stood up and glanced over Joe’s shoulder at Charmaine, who was looking at them. Matching Joe’s light mood, Raymond joked, “I figured you wouldn’t want me near your fiancé after the way I behaved the other day.”

Joe laughed, “I’m not that narrow minded. Besides I don’t blame you for your infatuation with Charmaine. She is a remarkable woman but I do trust her. I am a lucky man.”

Raymond felt an emptiness within him as he thought he should be that lucky man and not Joe. Fighting back a wave of jealousy, he kept his tone light and said, “I hope then that you will recover quickly from your illness so that you can take care of her properly.”

Joe hesitated a few seconds as he looked closely at Raymond. Then he chuckled and said, “Are you referring to my cancer?” He then leaned in to whisper into Raymond’s ear, “I don’t have cancer. It’s all a lie.”

Raymond felt his blood boil at the admission. He stared angrily at Joe and hissed, “I knew it! That’s the only way you could get her to stay with you.”

Joe laughed then, “So what? It worked didn’t it! Even if you told her I was faking it, she wouldn’t believe you. Which reminds me, I have to thank the doctor, who happens to be a very good friend of mine’s, for going along with my plan.”

Raymond never felt such rage in him as he looked coldly at Joe. He wanted to punch the daylights out of Joe but refrained from doing so. Instead he pushed Joe aside and walked towards Charmaine. When he was upon her, he said a brief greeting to Jessica and Tavia. Looking straight at Charmaine, he said urgently, “I have to speak to you alone. Right now.”

Charmaine saw the blind fury in his eyes and with confusion got up and followed him to a room next to theirs. She cast a glance at Joe and found him watching them out of the corner of his eyes. When they were alone, she asked, “Raymond, is something wrong?”

“Yes!” Raymond nearly shouted. “You can’t marry Joe! He just admitted to me that he doesn’t have cancer!”

Charmaine looked at Raymond sadly, “Why are you doing this? I thought you have accepted my marrying Joe.”

Raymond clutched her arms, “I will never accept it! The only reason why I planned on leaving was because I honestly thought that Joe did have cancer. But he doesn’t! He’s only pretending to get you to marry him!”

“I don’t believe that,” Charmaine said with determination. “He would never lie to me about something like this.”

Raymond squeezed her arms and begged, “Please believe me. I wouldn’t lie to you about this.”

“Raymond is telling the truth,” Ron said as he walked in unannounced and looked at Raymond. “I overheard what Joe said to you.”

“B-but the doctor at the hospital…” Charmaine said.

“He’s a friend of Joe’s. Joe told me so himself,” Raymond said anxiously as he saw the doubt on her face.

Charmaine didn’t say a word as she tried to come to terms with what they were telling her. She didn’t know who or what to believe. She looked at Raymond and saw the love and sincerity on his face and yet she was there when Joe had the relapses. It was so real! Could he really have been faking it? Before she had a chance to question Raymond further, Joe walked into the room.