Karma Served Cold

She left the restaurant in a huff, and gave me the silent treatment most of the way home. Normally when she would pull the silent treatment on me, I would try to get her to talk to me. But towards the end of the trip, she realized that I didn't want to talk to her either and it got her worried.

"Babe, are you mad because I said no? You are still my boyfriend... we can still have sex tonight... it's not like I'm breaking up with you," she kept trying, but I wouldn't say anything.

Lately, she had been sleeping with me at my apartment off campus, so she got even more worried when I pulled up to her dorm to drop her off.

"Babe, talk to me. Are we ok?" she asked.

"I think we are done... I'd like my key please..." I demanded, holding out my hand expectantly.

She took the spare key off of her keyring and angrily thrust it into my hand.

"I'll box up your things and give them to you later, goodbye Diane."

She didn't say anything, she just stormed off to her room.

I think it shocked her that I would dare break up with her. Maybe she thought that since I had all of this love and devotion for her that I was weak. But that was never the case. I really had nothing to complain about up until that point and I guess she mistook my easy-going attitude towards our relationship as me being submissive.

She called me up crying later on that night but I told her that if we weren't getting married and she couldn't at least explain why, then I saw no point in our continuing our relationship. Our relationship without the possibility of marriage was nothing better than a fuck-buddy relationship and I felt too strongly about her to continue with no future.

I didn't take her calls or her texts for a week after that and on a whim, I finally did respond to her Skype. She seemed to be going into sexual withdrawals, I guess the old adage you don't know what you got until it's gone was true for her.

"Come on, Mike. Just because we aren't getting married doesn't mean we can't still see each other," she said. "I miss you! Let's kiss and make up."

"Does this mean, yes, you'll marry me?"

"No, I, I can't."

"Explain to me why and I'll consider it," I responded.

"I can't, if I did..."

"Well then there you go! It's not me that's being unreasonable here, Di," I said angrily, and she nodded her head like she knew. "I don't have time for this. You know I love you, Di, but I can only love you as much as I love myself. The more you disrespect me, the more you disrespect my love for you. And I can't have that. We are through."

She seemed to drop into a deep dark depression after that. I would see her around school and I noticed that she was gaining weight again and not taking care of herself. I still had feelings for her so I decided to offer my friendship, So, I approached her one day.

"Hey, Di! How you been?" I asked, concerned.

She seemed to brighten up and it looked like she was going to ask if we could get back together again, but I stopped her before she could say anything.

"Listen, Di. Just because we aren't seeing each other doesn't mean we can't be friends," I said, and she looked disappointed. "Why don't I take you out to lunch? ... As friends."

She smiled grimly but then said she nodded with a forced smile.

After I took her to lunch, we talked over things. She wouldn't talk about why she wouldn't marry me but we did talk about everything else. I convinced her to get back into training with me and she did. When we didn't see each other on campus we would talk on the phone or text. I could tell she missed the sex because she would "joke" about us becoming fuck buddies. I would always tell her I couldn't do that with her especially considering our history and how I felt about her. She would wave it off like she was just kidding, but we both knew she wasn't.

After a month of us being just friends, we surprisingly grew closer. We were hanging out in November and Thanksgiving break was coming up. I think she was just making small talk and asked me what I was doing for the holidays.

"Nothing," I responded.

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing?"

"I mean, I'll probably order a pizza and watch some Netflix or something."

"Why don't you go see your relatives or something? Thanksgiving is the time to see your family."

"Don't you remember when we met, I told you my mom died?"

"Yes, but she can't be your only relative..."

"She was all I had." (I didn't mention my sister).

"Ohhhh, I, I didn't know that... I feel terrible," she moaned. "Why didn't I know that?"

"You never asked, and I never brought it up. Our relationship was always about YOU, Di. YOUR plans, your aspirations. You barely asked anything about me... And, I was too in love to care."

After that day, she made it her mission to rectify that and she seemed to want to know all about me. It's funny how little she knew, like she knew I was majoring in math after all I was her math tutor, but she didn't know I was double majoring in Computer Engineering, too. Although my focus was chip design, I was enjoyed software development more. She didn't know I had a sister whom I hadn't seen in years nor my efforts to find her without success. She didn't know that my dad ran out on us before we were born... but the more she learned, the better friends we became.

Finally, the day before Thanksgiving she said, "Mike, you are coming home with me for Thanksgiving... As friends of course. Mom always makes too much to eat and I need to show off my best friend."

"I'd love to, but I can't afford the plane ticket..."

"No worries, I got you a ticket, my treat... I owe you that, at LEAST, for how I treated you," she said, but I looked doubtful. "Come on, Mike. The tickets are cheap. We are only flying from SFO to LAX..." she said as if that made it ok.

Stanford was just south of San Francisco and her family lived in Bel Air.

I was going to cave in but I threw in one last argument, "You think your family would be ok with me coming?"

"Sure, sure," she hurried. "I called mom and let her know I'd be bringing home a friend. Besides, I'll have a bunch of other friends over too so you won't be alone. My childhood friends from the neighborhood are coming, Dave and Nancy... Also, my BFF Heather will be there too. So, you won't be the odd man out."

"Fine, when do we leave?" I asked, and she responded by squealing, clapping and jumping around excitedly.

After packing a carry on, we took an Uber to SFO then flew to LAX where there was a guy with a sign waiting for us.

*******

Christmas 2017 - Dave and Nancy's house

I was out in the hallway and I had murder on my mind. I thought meticulously of various ways to kill them and get away with it. My rage was so great I was hyperventilating. My thoughts changed to suicide, then murder-suicide. Then it morphed to not only killing them but which way would give me the most satisfaction. Torture, maiming and disfigurement entertained me for a few minutes, I'm ashamed to say.

You have to understand that the whole time, I heard my wife moaning, groaning, and continuously spewing out betrayal after betrayal, twenty feet away. It of course didn't help that I my supposed good friend Dave was saying all kinds of demeaning things about me all the while treating my wife like a whore.

Her pronouncements and declarations of love got her worked up. His dominant caveman bullshit where he called her his 'bitch' and his 'whore'... she loved it. Finally, I threw up, and heaved over and over again all over the patterned rug in the hallway.

One of my jobs as a sensei at my dojo was to teach angry men self-discipline, and the principles were coming back to haunt me. I had both the strength and know how to tear them limb from limb so, it was with great reluctance that I remembered the teachings I tried to instill in my students when faced with rage. The first rule was to separate yourself from it, run away if you had to so you could take stock and evaluate your options. So that's what I did, I ran back to the study and slumped into a small loveseat.

It helped that I couldn't hear them anymore and my rage quelled slightly. All I could think of was, what I did wrong. How could she hate me so much? Then I started thinking of how long it was going on. That migrated to logistics of when and where. I got up suddenly when I realized that they had probably christened the very loveseat I was sitting in. I bet they even violated our marital bed.

I counted to ten over and over again, until, despite my rage, I was able to evaluate my options and take stock of my life. There was a lot more at stake here than vengeance, other people would be affected by how I decided to handle things - other people I loved. My new Mom and Dad, my sisters-in-laws and my nieces, to name a few.

So, I opened up the gun-safe once again.

*****

Thanksgiving 2009

"Well, hello! You must be Mike," Maurine, Diane's mom exclaimed, with a look like she didn't know what to do with me. "Well, come in, Mike," she said as if she just decided it was ok.

"I thought you said your Mom was expecting me," I said.

"I did. I think she just needs to get to know you," Diane said, with confidence I didn't feel.

As soon and we entered the foyer, I heard a scream as a beautiful blonde woman came rushing out and threw herself at Diane. After their ritual kisses, ministrations and small talk I was finally introduced, almost as an afterthought.

"Heather, I'd like you to meet my friend, Mike. Mike, Heather," she said, looking at her as if seeking approval from her.

"Friend, huh? Does this mean you two..." she said, pointing to us?

"No, we um, decided to just be friends."

Heather then leaned in to whisper something to Diane, her eyes never wavering as she inspected me with lust. Diane kind of blushed, and nodded. I had no clue what they said but it probably wasn't good.

I suddenly felt a hand on my back and I turned around to see a beautiful, radiant and very pregnant lady with her hand extended out to me.

"Hi, I'm Elizabeth," she introduced, saving me from what was brewing to be an awkward or embarrassing conversation.

"Oh, yes! Diane's sister, Beth," I exclaimed, with a lot of relief. "Nice to meet you. My, you look like you're about to pop... are you at nine months already?"

"No, not quite. Eight," she said, then gesturing to her belly, "Twins."

I turned to say something to Diane but she seemed to have left me to fend for myself.

"I'm sorry about that. My sister has no sense of decorum," Beth said with some annoyance.

"Yeah, I noticed... I wish I could figure her out sometimes," I declared, which garnered a brow raise.

Beth hooked her arm in mine and led me into the house and said, "Let me introduce you to everyone. We aren't all barbarians in this family," she said, and I smiled.

Beth led me around, and I met her husband Jake first. He seemed a real salt of the earth kind of guy, definitely not raised in Bel Air. I liked him immediately. He was ten years older than me and already owned a successful CPA (accounting) business. He was no millionaire but he did alright for himself, and I could tell Beth adored him. I couldn't help but like him and her choice in husband endeared her to me too. From what I heard later, her father cut off her trust when he married him, but she didn't care. It said a lot to me that a wealthy woman like Beth loved and respected Jake so much. She gave up her wealth for him but didn't think twice about it. It gave me hope for Diane and I, (false hope it turned out).

I was guided over to meet Mom. From the way she treated me at the door I felt like she didn't like me at first. But as me and Maurine conversed Beth was attentively listening. This was a change in pace for me, I didn't even get that much attention from Diane when we were going out. I was a little peeved that Diane invited me there, but it wasn't her introducing me to everyone. Not only that but Beth actually listened to what I said during conversations and picked up on things about me that I didn't realize I said.

"Mike here is a double major, Math and Computer Science (Beth didn't know that until after we broke up and her sister picked it up in the first ten minutes of meeting me). He got into Stanford on a partial scholarship," she gushed.

"Only partial?" Maurine began, then she realized how rude she was being and turned beat red. "I, I'm so sorry, I don't know where that came from. I just get so defensive when it comes to my babies."

"No, worries," I said, "If it will make you feel any better, I was sick my freshman year of high school and I flunked out of my home economics class because they were afraid I'd infect the food. I tried making up my grades, but despite all the AP classes and nothing but A's my GPA never fully recovered and so I got beat out for valedictorian by Tanya Choi by one one-hundredth of a point. My 4.23 to her 4.24..."

"Oh, I see," she said, a little happier. "It doesn't matter, I still had no right to say something like that."

"That's ok, I suffer from foot-in-mouth disease, it must be contagious," I joked, and from that she got a grin and knew I was ok. "I had full scholarships to other Universities but I really wanted to go to Stanford."

All of the sudden, a vision of beauty so awe inspiring that I was struck dumb, appeared from behind mom. The first time I saw Gloria, Beth had to elbow me in the ribs to break me from a spell she put me under. Gloria was a contrast to Diane in so many ways. She was taller, 5'10 to Diane's 5'6. Her hair was raven black, to Diane's dull auburn. In every way Diane lacked in physical stature, Gloria seemed to have in spades. Bigger breasts, tighter more voluptuous body, and an angelic face. She looked like she could be a model.

"Hello, Mike. I have heard absolutely nothing about you," she said, sarcastically. "Tell us more about you, since obviously we aren't going to hear it from Diane."

"What do you want to know?"

"What are you willing to share?"

"I'm an open book and I never lie."

"Oh really?" she asked, "Challenge accepted."

Gloria then hooked her arm into my left side, where Beth still had not let go of my right and both ladies led me into an "interview room" (a small breakfast dining area off of the kitchen).

"Girls! No water-boarding, he's our guest after all," mom joked, and she continued chopping some vegetables in the kitchen.

Gloria had me sit down and she sat to my left caddy corner from me at the table. Beth seemed to be struggling with her chair so I immediately got up and helped her sit down and grabbed a few pillows so she would be more comfortable.

Gloria was beaming at me as if I had just passed a test.

"So, Mike. Where're you from?"

"I grew up in Huntington Beach... Although not the nice part, you know the part closer to the 405..."

"Got any wives, girlfriends, or fuck-buddies we should know about?" she smirked.

"Never been married, no girlfriends right now and I haven't slept with anyone since Diane and I split up."

"Ohhh... so you two WERE an item, eh?" she said triumphantly. "Figures."

"We were going out for more than a year, I'm surprised... she never mentioned us? And what do you mean by 'Figures?'"

"You're a good-looking guy. I get it. Didn't want to be tied down to my sister? Did you break her heart, Mike, or did you let her down easy?" Gloria said kind of angrily.

"Come on, Gloria. Mike's a good guy. Why don't you hear his side of the story before you judge him?" Beth defended.

"No, she's right, I guess I did 'dump' her. Although, it wasn't really a dumping per se it was more of her refusing to move forward."

"What does that even mean?" Gloria asked.

"I love Diane, I have been in love with her for almost two years now, and at the beginning of the semester I asked her to marry me and she said no," I said, a little dejected. "She wouldn't even give me a reason why. So, I told her there was no point in us seeing each other anymore if she couldn't at least tell me why."

I went on and told them the story of how we met and how I came to fall in love with her. I told them of my doubts and how I suspected that she didn't have anything more than sexual feelings for me and a strong friendship.

Gloria to her credit was very apologetic, but I told her not to worry about it. I understood. She was just being protective of her sister.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a pain, but where IS your sister?" I interrupted my story.

"Oh, she took off with Dave as soon as he walked in the door and said she had to get something from the store and would be right back."

"Dave? Who is Dave?" I asked, maybe sounding a little jealous.

"Dave is one of our childhood friends, he grew up in this neighborhood and don't worry," she said pointing to a beautiful blonde-haired woman. "That's his girlfriend..." Relief washed over me as I saw a gorgeous Nancy for the first time, there was no way anyone would cheat on her.

*******

Christmas 2017

I disassembled the guns in minutes then reassembled them without the firing pins. I then hid them in the dirt of a potted plant.

I made my way back to the room where I discovered them still going strong. I pulled out my phone and started recording and I invited my whole contacts list. The funny thing was, Dave and Diane's phones went off too, but they ignored it. Too bad for them really or they would have seen the porn they were making.

Dave went from fucking Diane from the side to switching to doggy. Diane loved it when we did it doggy, I guess she didn't discriminate with whom either.

"Honey," I began, "You're missing the part where Ralphie gets 'SOAP POISONING'!"

"Oh my God, Mike!" she yelled, as she looked behind her.

"Don't you dare, fucking move, Dave! Not if you want to live. You too sweetheart!"

I showed them the gun and made sure that no one watching the video could see it, by holding the camera past the gun. They didn't know it had no bullets or firing pin but that was the point. The no bullets and firing pin were for me not for them. I had no intention of killing them, and I didn't want to do anything stupid like pulling the trigger in a flash of anger. But I needed answers and sometimes you can only get the unvarnished truth when the fear of God is injected into the interrogation.

"You are going to shut up and speak when spoken to. If you answer my questions truthfully, you'll live. But don't you FUCKING move! You keep that dick in her the whole time, you hear me Dave?"

"Y, ye, yes!" he stammered.

"So, how long has this been going on Diane?" I asked angrily.

She was sobbing non-stop and she was trying to answer.

"Before you answer, I think I have an idea..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Answer, my fucking question! Nothing else. How long?"

"We started to see each other romantically..."

"Romantically? There's nothing romantic about what you two were doing. You started to fuck each other, you mean?!"

"OK, please don't kill us, Babe! We started fucking each other the summer before we broke up!"

"Yeah I figured as much. He was the reason you said no, wasn't it? It wasn't your parents after all, like you said."

"Yes!" she cried.

"Why? Why did you get back together with me then? We had a clean break. We could have been friends, obviously you didn't love me."

"I thought I DID love you. I still DO love you. When you broke up with me I realized that. BUT I have been in love with Dave since we were kids... I, I just loved him - MORE."

"He had a girlfriend! He married her for Christ's sake. I don't give a flying fuck what you say, you don't make someone you love into a cheater! And you did that, to the both of us," I said pointing to her and back to me, "AND Nancy!"

"I know, but I couldn't stop once we started. I tried, I mean for the first year of our marriage we kept away from each other. But then we started going on vacations together, and we found ourselves alone a few times... and we got carried away."