THE LIAR

Shirley ran to the door at the sound of the bell ringing. She had been eagerly waiting for her best friend’s return. She opened the door. It was Liam. He walked into the house.

“So, what did she say? Was it her?”, she asked

“Can I have a glass of water first, madam, I am parched.”

“Yah, sure.”

She took a glass, opened the fridge door, took a bottle of water and filled the glass with it. Meanwhile Liam sat on a chair at the dining table. She could see he looked tense. She gave him the glass and watched patiently while he slowly gulped down the cold liquid.

“It was her.”, he said

“What the hell! You men to say that she lied to you about being in New York, on your birthday, while you were here feeling miserable about not being able to spend the day with her.”

“Yes.”
“But why did she lie?”

“She has fallen in love with someone else and wanted to spend time with him. That is the reason she lied about being in New York.”

“When would she have told you the truth? If we hadn’t spotted her outside the restaurant on your big day, we would have never known the truth.”

“She said that she was thinking of admitting it to me  some day soon.”

“After 3 years of being in a relationship with you she does this to you? I mean if things had continued maybe you both could have got married. She was the one, after all.”

“Shirley, our relationship was having some trouble since the last couple of months now. When she admitted the truth to me, I was relieved!  She was never the one for me. I was never going to ask her to marry me.”

“Wow! I never saw that coming. Where was I when your relationship was in the doldrums?”

“You see, you feel, you understand everything my darling. You just won’t  accept  or confront  it.”

“Rubbish.”

“Oh no! it’s the truth. On my way back in the cab, I thought this was one of the best things to have happened to me. It was my chance to finally face the truth.”

“OK. You lost me with that.”

Liam caught hold of Shirley’s hand, she looked startled.

“I am in love with you, Shirley – have always been. But didn’t want to loose your friendship for it. In these 3 years I had nearly lost you anyways. Do you think you could give us a chance?”

Small drops of tears rolled down from Shirley’s cheeks. Liam slowly wiped them with his hands, gazing straight into her eyes.

~ A Story By Fizaah Faiyaz, © 2015