The Justification Of The Human Trail

Olivia returned from her little outing with Dr. Liu, on a very perplexing note. She got to discover a whole new side of him, which was sensitive, sweet, caring, and understanding, unlike the sarcastic doctor who she believed had an attitude problem. Let's be real here. He is not the one with the attitude problem. You know it. I know it.

She swiped her keycard and switched on the lights to find Vincent sitting on the rolling chair with his legs on the center table and a glass of wine in his hand! Her eys widened as she was startled and frightened by how he managed to get into her room without the key.

"Ahh! God! How and why did you get here, you creep?!" Olivia screamed at the top of her voice as she quivered.

"Let's skip the cha cha and talk about why I am here." Vincent answered with a look of indifference spread across his face.

"Isn't that what I am asking you right now?" Olivia questioned as she dialed her voice down after catching a breath.

"Not what I am doing in your room. I meant, why did I come to Vietnam?" He clarified.

"I already know that. You came here for Trung Nguyen, right?" She replied. Her mouth then dropped down open slighty as she realized that ever since they stepped into the country, Olivia has been busy in her meetings with Kindred, whereas she never even asked once what he did during the day and always saw him in his room, ready for a dinner out with her.

"I am here to talk about Samar. I know everything." Vincent responded as he set the wine down on the glass table on which he previously placed his feet. He rose from his seat and walked towards her with a stern expression on his face, while his eyes were easy on her. "The guy is broken, Olivia." He said.

"What are you suggesting that I am the one who broke him?" She questioned as she folded her hands.

"In your shoes, no. In his, yes." He started to elucidate as he placed her hands on her, thus gently and slowly unfolding it. "Your strength did. You're determined. You're damn good at your job. But your so involved in it that you don't have any time left for him. He is lonely, Olivia. As a friend, I always try to be there for him but there are certain things that you can do as his wife. He thinks that you are so strong on your own that you don't need him anymore. He feels like he doesn't have a role anymore."

Olivia's eyes were filled with tears as they gradually turned red. She closed her eyes as the drops rolled down her cheeks and went down her chin and neck. Her mind flashed back to the time when Samar and Olivia were jovial in their married life. The time when he hoisted her up in the air and surprised her with breakfast in bed after every late night shift at the hospital. The time when Samar was giving a crucial lecture at the university and he happened to forget his lunch. She pressed a peck on his cheek and all his students were gasping in awe as they saw their love. The time where Dr. Liu presented the exact same argument a few minutes ago when she was with him seeing the meteor shower. She then fluttered her eyes open to see Vincent's palm on her face as he gently wiped her tears.

"I know you don't like this either. I know you are stronger. So maybe this time, why don't you try to mend the bridge?" He suggested as he retrieved his hand, inserted it into his pocket and stepped away.

"What is there to mend? What do I have besides this strength you talk about?" Olivia articulated as the tears started to flow again. "I can't be like any other women. I can't cook. I don't have the time to clean. I can't keep my hair long. I don't have the time to dress up nicely and go out. I don't have the time to do my night care because I have to go to work. The bags under my eyes never go away because of my job. I don't have all these attributes that men expect women to naturally have. These are all minor issues, but I can't blame Samar for holding all that against me. My job is all I have that I know is under my control. I can't control the fact that I can't even give him a baby..."

Vincent whirled around as he raised his eyebrows. He traveled all the way to Vietnam to stand up for his friend and say the things that he was too ashamed to say. Vincent was shocked to realize that Samar entirely omitted her part of the story. That's when he recognized that Olivia was fighting her own battle against him. He rushed towards her and pulled her into a firm embrace and stroked her hair repeatedly.

"I... had... no... idea..." He stammered.

"Vincent?" Olivia said.

"What?" He asked.

"You said you wanted to be my friend, right?" Olivia inquired.

"More than anything." He responded.

"Then here's a secret. You're the only one who knows about this. Samar doesn't. Can you please keep this between us?" Olivia replied as she clutched onto the back of his shirt and placed her head on his shoulder as she was breathing heavily.

"I promise." He affirmed.

"Where were you by the way?" He asked in curiosity.

"I was with Dr. Liu." She answered.

He pulled her closer than she was and his grip became tighter and firm. His expression became more stern, shocked, and severe as her response caused his prevailing thoughts to rise and surface again at the top of his head. He thought, "The days pass by. I spend more and more time with her everyday. Why is this becoming even more harder?"

If you are wondering how did I know whatever he was thinking, the answer is, unlike him, I patiently sat down and heard all the sides of this story.