continuation...
She left Bong in a state of wanting to deny what he had just heard and confront Ellen about it at the same time. Is this a confirmation of what he had feared of knowing before? Was he really blind or did he see it coming and just ignored it? He thought of the many times they were together and something or someone – phone calls here and there which she had to take out of his earshot, tons of text messages, a car waiting for her outside the school and lots of alibis for all occasions - would suddenly come and mess up his plans for the day. He began to connect the pieces of the puzzle he’d been trying build up before but never had the will to finish. He just nodded after every piece fitted. He knew the moment he saw the picture. He knew but hoped he was wrong, that he was just imagining things.
Ellen saw him in a pensive mood while holding his bottle of beer so she approached him. “What’s wrong? Is the beer cold? It’s supposed to be cold, right?” She knew something was disturbing him. Her attempt at humor didn’t make him laugh or smile. Bong finished his beer hoping it would knock him out of this situation and wishing maybe, just maybe, it was all a dream and that he would wake up in the library staring at the picture without the other woman in it. But everything was real. How stupid of me to think of this as a dream! Besides, he needed a dozen bottles of beer or even more to overcome his tolerance level. Then Toto’s I Won’t Hold You Back played in the background after a series of upbeat tempos filled the airwaves after dinner so he asked her to dance with him without saying anything more. Eyes were on them as they headed toward the center of the dance floor, right under the rotating ball of glass. The chitchat around grew louder and Bong didn’t care nor did Ellen. She always didn’t. She was the kind of woman who could take any word said against her. Is this the reason she doesn’t care if I find out she wasn’t telling the truth about herself and the other woman? Why is she very confident that I wouldn’t mind? He decided he would finally ask her.
(to be continued...)
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