Between Day Nine and Ten

The weekend was filled with some tears and new happiness. Writing about the past with James has been tough for me. In fact, on Day Nine I looked at our videos when we went to my friend’s wedding in May and our time in July. James didn’t like being filmed nor photographed, but he had an exception with me. The deal was that I wouldn’t put them put on Facebook for people to see; James is a very private man. So our memories, pictures, even voice recordings are stored in my phone and camera.

Yes, I said voice recordings. When I had the chance, I would record our conversations together without James’s consent. I also have another silly confession: I even recorded James’s sleeping next to me in audio for 45 minutes so I could replay it someday while I was in Warsaw as if he was sleeping next to me. Sounds creepy, right? Geez, I can’t believe I let you in on that secrete.

My plans for Saturday were suppose to be going out with an ex-student of mine by the name of Jan. However, I had a slightly feeling he was going to cancel on me. I then remembered that I belong to a certain website where people meet from all over the world and sleep at their houses for free. I checked in and saw that they had a get together on that same evening just minutes from my flat! I clicked the ‘yes’ button to attend this get together. I had two hours to get ready.

I showed up to this meeting and couldn’t find anyone. I walked around for a bit, and still no one. Then about 10 minutes later, a Hispanic looking male came up to me.

‘Are you looking for the get together group?’ he said. I sighed with relief, ‘Yes! Oh I thought I was the only one. I’ve been looking around and can’t seem to find this group.’ He pulled out a cigarette. He was at least content that he wasn’t alone in this situation. ‘Oh good,’ He said. ‘I’m just here for one night. I just arrived from Canada and leaving somewhere else tomorrow. You’re the first person I meet in Warsaw’.

Within 5 minutes, another couple showed up and then slowly everyone had came in. By one hour, it was at least 15 people from all over the world talking and discussing things. Within this group I met George who was from Scotland. I was intrigued since he was from Scotland and I don’t really have Scottish friends, but it was nice to hear someone speak English fluently and I really enjoyed his company.

I hope it wasn’t rude, but I didn’t speak to many other people but George and two others. I kept it more interested with George since we seemed to have things in common like recent heartaches and breakups. I told George a bit about James and he fully understood. Our 8pm meeting went on till past midnight. I was getting cold and tired, yet I didn’t want the evening to end. It was very nice that George was very talkative and friendly.

At the end of our evening, George accompanied me to my flat since it was towards his direction of his flat. I could feel he was getting closer to me from the side bumping into me. George’s body language was telling me to be prepared for something.

We arrived at my gate entrance to the flat. We both were a bit nervous.

‘So, this is where I live’, I said. I pointed to the direction he should walk. ‘If you keep going up this street, you’ll get to the river and you then turn to your left and you’ll see your bridge.’

George smiled and nodded. ‘Alright, well thank you. I think I’ll find it.’

I opened my arms in front of me not knowing what to do. ‘Um, well how do we say “Good-Bye”? With a hand shake or hug?’

George came towards me, got me by the arms and gave me a light peck kiss on the lips. Pause. Kissed me again. Pause. And then full on in a gentle nice way. I clearly wasn’t expecting this, but I went with it. It feels nice to be kissed softly. Reminded me of when James would kiss me in bed after making love.

I didn’t want that night to end. The thought of having a male with me to cuddle me and spend time together was something I needed. I missed being next to a man. The last man I was with was James. The idea of having the scent of a man near me, to comfort me, to hold me, to kiss me in bed under the covers, to touch the back of my neck and hair while kissing me…are the things I miss with James. But James isn’t here. He left me empty. I needed a temporary fill-in.

‘Ok, well…now that you kissed me, I was thinking if you would like to come up with me to my flat and have a cup of tea. Also, you can spend the night with me, but I personally do not want to be sexual.’ George knew where I was coming from and he understood. He came up with me, had a good conversation over tea, put my pj’s on, watched a Simpson’s episode on YouTube, kissed for a bit and went to sleep.

Day Nine

Last night I had a surge of energy and came to a conclusion: James needs me to boost him up because he’s not happy man.

Last year around the same time he left me when he didn’t need me (he was travelling around South America).  For this reason of leaving me , I don’t know if he’s involved with someone else or he felt he just couldn’t handle me anymore so maybe he thought ‘Well that’s enough for me’ and instead of being a man of his word (promising me things that he would never let me go, that he would never go for someone else, work very hard on this long distance relationship, and that he would never leave my side), he pushed me away again.

James cried during our break up because he was letting go and finally on his own. He didn’t need me anymore. Through his eyes I was sucking his energy when he didn’t give me much; I had to supply the relationship’s energy for the both of us.

But it’s so odd that it has happened again to me twice during the same time. It was in late December of last year that we started to get closer again and I don’t know why I feel this odd feeling he’ll come back into my life again after November.

James comes in waves not sure of what he wants. He has a complicated mind. I think he wants simplify, but can’t obtain it. He likes to be pampered and loved. He also likes a lot of attention from his partner. I would give him attention by telling him sweet words such as ‘I love you my cute fucking sexy pale ginger’ and constantly love pleasing him by cooking him Mexican spicy food, baking for him cakes and pleasuring him. I don’t know how much more he wanted from me, but it was good enough for him to toss me because he had enough.

James needed me to give him this sense of hope. Though he says that he thinks he’s handsome, I think it’s the opposite for him in his head: he’s not handsome; He’s an average looking male. And if you compare him next to me in pictures, well…not to brag, but I’m a good looking woman next to him.

James also proved to me something that I didn’t know: He’s a weak man. I assumed he was a strong guy since he loves traveling around the world and doing some cool things, but deep inside, he’s a weak emotional man. He can’t express his thoughts and feelings at the moment so he suppresses them and when the moment is wrong (when it’s too late to fix) he brings it out.

How is James ever going to find someone else who can tolerate his ways of life? He’s a very stubborn man.

I never hate you for not loving me anymore. I hate myself for still loving you.

I am a very happy and loving woman. I am funny and full of energy. With him next to me, I brought life to him. He needs a woman who is more vibrant than him. But when the real ‘James’ comes out, it’s intolerable. We had a couple of mini arguments over text; his argumentative words are as if he was right and you were wrong or he caught you in something and you are looked bad to him.

Clearly, I overlooked all that because I love him. However, if you take the love out and the way James was talking to me, clearly it’s not of a friend, but of someone who didn’t trust me (someday I’ll have to put up the last year’s conversation online so you can understand how he responded to me when I said I had visions of us being together. He’s a dream crusher!)

I had the chance to be happy with Ben in June. I really did. And because of his fear of moving on with my life (losing that energy I gave him even as friends) he decided to sell me this dream of us being together and maybe leading to marriage if I agreed to be his girl. And as stupid as I was, I took his words and let Ben go.

Before breaking up, James asked me in person, ‘Are you talking to Ben again?’ I looked at him puzzled,’ Why would I talk to Ben again? Ben is not on speaking terms with me. I picked you as my boyfriend and not him, therefore we are not talking.’

I guess James was thinking, ‘Right, if Ara is talking back to Joe, then maybe she will have a chance with him again.’

What the fuck was he thinking? As if Ben was waiting for me with arms open? I hurt a man who really loved me and let him go for James’s selfish ways. OF COURSE, BEN’S NOT GOING TO TAKE ME BACK!

Clearly I need a man who is strong enough like me, or near my level. I get scared at dating people at my level, but I’m thinking now it’s time for a fresh start and a new chapter in my life. The thought of dating weak men turn me off, and I just couldn’t believe that James is a weak man.

Ben is a very strong man. We are chatting on Twitter here and there about topics, but nothing much. He’s dating someone at the moment, but don’t know anything else. I confessed to him that I was sorry for what I did, but he’s moving on and there is nothing I can do to gain him back.

For now, I daydream about James and the moments we had together. I wish I could compress them in a video with a background song which I love called Dogwood Blossom by Fionn Regan. A song about depression created by someone (I believe). All I know is that I wish I could hold him now again and relive my last weekend with him. It’s now a faded memory because I had to push a lot of it out of my head in order to keep my sanity. Maybe tomorrow I will try to write about our last days together  in London together in a brief outline so I could at least keep what is left in memory forever.

Keep climbing into my head without knockin’
And you fix yourself there like a map pin – Fionn Regan’s Dogwood Blossom

Day Seven

It’s my first official week being single.

And it’s my first day being pissed off at him. Finally, I’m angry at James for what he did to me.

I started to think why did he get with me on June 22nd? Why did he decided to take a leap of faith?

On June 4th, I broke up with my ex-boyfriend Greg. I had to let him go to see if it was true love between James and I. I had text James that day that it was over with Greg and he was out shopping for his world cup holiday with his buddies around Europe. Though there was someone else who consoled me during this break up.

This is where Ben comes in. Ben was a guy who I met in Radom, Poland last year while walking on the street on my first day living in Poland. Sweet guy, young, can be a bit naive, but very handsome with big arms, arrogant and confident.

Nothing like James. James is the opposite: thin arms, bit of a belly with a bit of man boobs, thin hands and feet, somewhat attractive with a double clef chin and big ears and not so confident.

So, Ben and I were chatting a lot during this time. In fact, he got very close and told me he was very interested in me. I kept him there and loved chatting with him. It was though around this time when I got single that he decided to do something daring while texting through Whatsapp:

Ben: Well in order to cheer you up, I would like to see you for you birthday in Warsaw. What do you think about that?

Ara: No I wouldn’t dare. You don’t have to.

Ben: But I want to. It would be great to see you again. And I can treat you out for your birthday.

Ara: Can you buy me a lamp? I need one for my room.

Ben: Umm….how much are lamps in Poland?

——————————————-

Yes, I wanted a lamp at that time, but don’t need one since I bought one myself at IKEA.

But yes, there was a moment after this break up that I was free and Ben was taking it up and loving it versus James, who kept quiet and not so communicative with me.

I had a friend who advised me to do the following: Ignore James.

———————————————————–

Basic Rules for showing James that I don’t need him and having a fun time with other people:

Rule number 1: Don’t text him.

Rule number 2: Don’t reply to him till hours or next day.

Rule number 3: Keep the text short and simple.

Rule number 4: Post pictures and check-in’s up on FB and brag on how you are having a great time with friends and having fun.

Rule number 5: If you see him online, don’t say hello. Wait till he does. Just don’t make the first move.

———————————————————-

I was very close to Ben and close to say yes to him. However, I wanted to play these rules to James as a one last attempt make him open his eyes. I did these rules while he was on holiday and believe me, I had him where I wanted. I got this message at around the early hours from him through Facebook:

James: Oh. If there is someone new what can I do? Nevermind I guess I regroup then go again.
This is why I can’t do distance. If someone is there they are there. That’s worth more. You cannot compete.
From this situation, came an argumentative chat on Facebook which lasted about one hour and it involved a lot of crying and frustration. At the end this came out:
I said to him, ‘James, no you don’t care about me because if you did, you would take me now.’
James said, ‘I can’t take you now you are too far. If you want to make a plan then i will help you. I said I would’
From those talks came out even more two days later and that’s when we made it official. James wanted to work it out with me and have a chance before any other man came into my life to take my heart. He wanted the chance.
I gave James my heart, the chance to be with me and give him everything. James failed me at the end. He wasn’t strong enough to carry me through. In fact, I’m a bit sad now to think that I took a huge leap of faith to just get hurt after all these strong words with James. James said that my passion knocks him over at times. I guess I was too much for him.
Whatever the case is, tonight I will cry on my pillow and think of him. Looking back at these messages gets me back to the moments when I was so happy. I thought ‘Finally, I have won over his heart.’ But it wasn’t much.
True love means not giving up on their partners.

Day Six

I sent him a text last night.

I know I shouldn’t had, but I did. This is what I wrote:

Ara: Hello. I hope you are doing well. I’ve been going through my juicing reboot and well with work it keeps me busy. I’ve been approved for student loans, but it’s a pretty good sign so far I might head to London soon. Thinking of you. Have a good night.

I got James’s text this morning:

James: Morning. Glad you are doing well and keeping busy. I’m fine, plenty on work too with work and other admin bs. Take care.

I personally thought he was going to tell me to fuck off or not even reply, but I was surprised he wrote that. He said ‘other admin bs’ and if I was with him, I’d reply back with ‘ah babe you can do it! this is the life of a freelancer so deal with it’ or give him some sort of support, but today, I felt like I had some sort of power over him. He said ‘Take Care’ as to end it, but the whole of him putting ‘bs’ is like wanting me to question it. I know him.

I didn’t reply 😀

Day Five

I have been thinking a lot the past 24 hours about James. I think he had someone else on the side.

When I was over in London about a week ago, I went through his wallet while he was sleeping. I don’t know why, but I wanted to go through it.

I found two receipts on two evenings he told me he was out with friends. The dinner was a bit late and also, it looks like he paid for two and not for himself. Isn’t that odd? I never questioned it because I trusted him. But now thinking of what has happened, it seems like he went on some sort of date.

You see three weeks ago, I caught him on OK Cupid. On his profile it said, ‘Single’ and the last time he checked was that day at midday. I was on OK Cupid because I was getting messages that there were guys interested in me, when I remember I deactivated my account about a year ago. I checked if he was still on (because he told me he was deactivated) and of course, he was still active.

That was my warning sign. I should had seen it.

I’m thinking he went on a date with this girl and it went great. Then maybe he kept in touch and who knows what he told her, ‘Oh I have a friend over from Warsaw for a couple of days, so I won’t be able to see you, but hopefully we will soon’ I could just picture it now what he said. And it gets me upset because I trusted James. I trusted him with all my heart and soul and to think that he could be capable to doing this is unbelievable. I say it’s FUCKING selfish of him!

We broke up when I started to a) plan the flights to see him often and b) when I got accepted to grad school in London.

Yes, I have been accepted to grad school in London 😀 And I found out on a Wednesday. James broke up with me on a Thursday.

My mother, who I love very much said, ‘Pos de dejo porque tu de hibas a mudar para Londres y como tenia otra vieja, pos de dejo!’ (Well he left you because you were serious to move to London and since he was seeing someone else, he let you go)

I feel stupid because I really think he did this to me now. It makes me want to go on OK Cupid just to spy on him to see if he’s checking out other women. I know him. I’m thinking he doesn’t need time to heal what he did to me; he was already maybe dating someone.

But we had a great time I tell you when I was there for six days: I made love to him every night and believe me, a man who is guilty of thinking ‘oh shit I’m going to break her heart’ wouldn’t be doing that to me. He broke up with me cause he said he couldn’t live knowing this and this was depressing him….now don’t you think he would had told me or shown it during this time?! Not even once! He kept holding my hand, kissing me in public and being the boyfriend that he was; it just doesn’t make sense.

Last night I spoke to a very good friend called Angie and she told me to heal first and love myself first before going out into the world.

Ara, you must ask God for forgiveness and accept him back into your life. He knows what he’s doing for you. Trust him.

I started to be a bit of an atheist because of James. He has no hope, pessimistic and an atheist. And I’m the opposite. I guess opposites attract right?

So following my friend’s advice, I went to meet my ex- Polish boyfriend, Greg at the regular Starbucks we used to meet while we were dating in the center of Warsaw. He looked very nice, gained a bit of an extra belly, but his eyes and his face looked very well. He was serious looking, (like many Polish people) and just listening as I did the talking. I wanted to see him to express my sincere sorry for what I did to him.

————————————————————————————–

Greg and I had a great relationship at the beginning, however we had communication problems due to him having English as a second language, which made our relationship at times hell. What made our relationship more separable from each other was James.

I was still in love with James. I got with Greg in 2013 about a year ago. James pushed me off in late September telling me I was obsessed with the idea of us being together, so then with a broken heart, I decided to move on and got with Greg. During the 3-4th month of dating, James came back into my life. We started to text again and from there we started to do Skype meetings. I then went in February 2014 to visit him and well…..

I think you know what I did next.

From that moment I knew I was in love with James still and not with Greg. It was a very cruel thing to do and I feel really bad about what I did, but if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t had known what James and I had. It had to be discovered. And the worst part of it all: I have no regrets.

I left Greg in June of this year because I need to figure out what James and I had. I had to do it. It was killing me. And it was very hard to let him go, but I had to. And also we didn’t get along majority of the time. I blame it for being in love with James and wanting to be in London and not in Warsaw.

——————————————————————————————–

We met today for two hours and talked about the past. Well I did more of the talking than he did, but I was nervous laughing about the times when he made me cry or when we would have a huge fight.

He wasn’t laughing.

‘Sorry, Greg for laughing. I’m not laughing about the situation, but it was a long time ago and I’m nervous’

‘Why are you nervous, Ara?’

‘I don’t know.’, I said wondering if what I will say next won’t make me feel weak. ‘I just been thinking a lot about the past and the way I left you…the way we ended things…was terrible and it’s something that I live knowing. And I’m sorry about it all. You did everything in your power to save the relationship and I didn’t I failed you. And I’m sorry.’

He looked at me with this serious face,’ Well that was a long time ago, Ara so I can’t feel anything.’

‘Um…Greg, that was three months ago’

‘I know but everything has changed and I have moved on and you have moved on. And nothing has changed for me, Ara, so I still feel the same’

So my ex wasn’t moved by my words, but I shed a tear when I told him how deeply sorry I was. I hurt two people during this process of having James in my life. I risked love twice and for what? To walk out with emptiness.

But as my friend Angie says, I need to ask for forgiveness in order to be able to find peace in my heart and move on. The only one I can’t forgive at the moment is James.

My love and passion is now turning into being deceived, lied and cheated. Is that wrong of me to think this way?

Tonight I plan to send him a text. I want to tell him that I got the Direct Loan approval that my credit is good and that I could receive a student loan. I know he would be happy to hear this, yet don’t know how to do it. I’m not ready to have a conversation with him. Just want him to say ok great and good night. It’s all I want to hear.