Truth Warrior – The Final Paragraph

“I don’t know what time I’ll get home, my love. I’m still at the office. We need to sort out the photographs,” Palesa lies. Then she switches off her phone, takes off the rest of her clothes and climbs into the hotel bed – where Eddy the photographer is waiting for her.

I can’t stop laughing.

“You dumb, lying cow, Palesa!” I say in my empty bedroom. “Get real! Admit it: you are not a warrior for truth! No! You are a self-righteous hypocrite!” But my laughter is sounding a little hysterical – even to my own ears.

I catch sight of myself in the dressing table mirror. And I stop laughing. It seems this escape into a magazine short story was not so perfect.

“You dumb cow, Kaz!” I tell my reflection. “Get real! Admit it: you are not a woman deeply in love. No. You are a thief, stealing a man that belongs to someone else!”

It is an awful thought – but, hey, it is the truth.

And if I am a thief, then what about Etienne? What is he? That is harder to answer. Because when I think of him, my heart still melts, I can still feel the strength of his arms around me. I remember all the things he said to me. ‘You are my missing half, Kaz. You are the only light shining in my darkness.’

A message comes through on my phone. From Etienne of course.

Hi Kago. See you tomorrow around one-thirty.

Be ready, OK. I only have an hour free. And don’t

forget that red thing you promised. Can’t wait!

So – what is Etienne? I know the answer, even if it is hard to say the words out loud. He is a cheat, a liar, a manipulator. Yes, that is the reality. A control freak too, if I am honest.

He wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants the best of both worlds: a wife at home taking care of his children and a mistress waiting faithfully and passionately in sexy lingerie for any moments he has spare.

And this is the man I want to have a baby with? I must be crazy!

“Get real, Kaz,” I tell my reflection again. “He doesn’t love you, not really. The only person he truly cares about is himself.”

It is hard to accept this. I have loved Etienne for so long now. My whole life has revolved round his calls and his messages and the few hours, the few nights, we spend together. How will I survive without him?

So much for magazine stories being an escape! Mr Tsiana was right after all. Reading has forced me to examine my life. And it is painful. I hope Socrates was right too: that a life examined is a life worth living.

I dial Etienne’s number. Even though it is almost midnight by now.

He answers after the second ring. “Kago,” he whispers. But I can hear anger in his voice. “Are you crazy? I told you never to phone me at home! What are you trying to do to me? Destroy my life?”

See? A real manipulating control-freak! Why did I never realise this before?

“It’s Kaz, not Kago,” I say. Loudly. “Let’s stop pretending. There’s something I need to tell you, ET.”

***

Tell us: What is Kaz going to tell Etienne?