Part 7 - Choices

"You're watching too much of the Young and Restless sweetie", Nina said to me.

"Honest to god Nina, this is true. I know how it sounds but Matt was seriously in the shit", I replied.

Nina got up to clear the table, coffee cups that we accumulated from the two hours sitting there, used sugar sachets all curled up into disfigured little balls of paper and coffee stains left on the table.

"I'll clear this up for another round, if you're up for it", she asked as she walked away to get a tray from the bar.

"I won't say no to coffee. Sure I'll have another one." I said getting up from my chair to have walk around the café. My bum was aching from sitting for far too long.

I walked to the window of the café and stared out into the dark Perth night. During the day, I could see the beach from where I was standing but now the only indication of a mass body of water not 200 meters from me was the moon shimmering off the ocean and the occasional white foam of waves crashing onto the beach. The rain had picked up again and the heavy drizzle brought with it the whistling and howling of the wind, the nearby trees rustling and swaying to the violent rhythm of it. It reminded me of a place I once called home, a place where I was happy and at peace somewhat. The moon now disappeared to rest behind the dark rain clouds and the rain battering onto the window now blurred my vision of the Perth beach.

"So Jasmine and Matt sorted things out or did they just got rid of it, the baby I mean?" Nina suddenly asked.

I turned to face her, trying not to remember the beach and the emotions it brought with it every time I saw one.

"They kinda sorted it out. Matt came to terms with the fact that Jasmine was married although he was never happy with the fact that he had to share her with someone else. It always bugged him that at the end of everyday, she went home to someone else, and it was not the one she loved. Jasmine, on the other hand, was confused. She was trying to patch things up with her husband but her feelings for Matt was just too much to ignore. It did cross her mind to leave the marriage and be with him, and the fact that she was now bearing his child, made her seriously consider that option. But Jasmine came from a broken home and so divorce was something she thought to be taboo. She never wanted to end up like her mother. She considered it a massive failure."

"Right, so they could have just kept the baby, divorced the husband, got married and everything would have been ok", Nina said with the simplest of logic.

"Yes, but life is never that simple, is it? We will never know why people make the choices they do and we never know how the decisions we make now can affect us in the future. That was exactly what happened to them. Both made their decisions at the time based on, looking back on it, what I consider to be gut feeling. Whether or not it was the correct decision, well, I don't know."

We both sat down again with hot steaming coffees to keep us warm as the story continued. Nina was just as curious as when she first sat down to listen to me ramble on about a story. We both sat there for a while, pondering on what I had just said.

"He left her you know", I told Nina.

"Matt left her?" Nina asked, a little outraged.

"The bastard!" she added.

"It's the decisions we make, isn't it?" I replied.

"They had seriously talked about settling down and even named the baby. She was to be called Isla. Jasmine just knew it was going to be a girl. But one day Jasmine said she aborted the pregnancy and that crushed Matt to pieces. At the time it was everything he ever wanted. His college crush coming back from oblivion to have this wonderful two month love affair, to bear his child and live happily ever after. It's what fairytales are made of, isn't it? But life is never a fairytale." I said.

My lips quivering slightly and my eyes were starting to fill with tears. I looked down to hide the emotion and to keep myself in control. I loved her with every beat of my heart.

"Did he at least say good-bye?" Nina asked, her lips pursed and a frowned expression her face.

"He did and she gave him a book to remember her by. It had a note on the front page" I explained

"Take care of yourself. Send me a postcard from wherever you are. Loving you always, Jasmine" I continued.

"And with that he left…to an island." I said and Nina gave a small smile then she whispered,

"Langkawi."