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She picked up her phone and called Ryan. He picked up in the first two seconds, which was a surprise. Was he sitting there with his nose in the phone?
Ryan’s voice came through the phone and said, “So, you remember me now?” He sounded a little…  on the brink. He merely wanted to start a brawl.
She questioned him instead, “Where are you right now?” because there were more important things going on.
“Almost there, Ryan said, “to the highway that goes outside of Velden.”  “Why? Do you want me to turn around and tell you something before I go?”
Lola raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. “I’m actually outside Damien’s door, and he’s answering. Ashley sent him divorce papers and left the country without saying anything. So…”
Ryan seemed worried when he said, “Do you think he might be in the middle of killing himself or something like that?”
Lola thought her nose was becoming longer. But she wasn’t really lying. In a nutshell, she was just letting someone guess what they wanted.
She said, “Please don’t call the police or ambulance until we’ve checked,” just to be safe.
“Don’t worry. I’m already halfway there as I’m speaking to you.” Ryan remarked, as the sound of his automobile engine accelerating up echoed through the phone. “That freaking Romeo! I’ll be there as soon as I can, babe. Don’t worry too much.” He hung up.
She looked at the phone for a long time after taking it away from her ear.
Did Ryan call her babe? What the—
The door of Damien’s flat suddenly burst open.
Lola wasn’t ready for this, so she startled and spun around, almost dropping her phone.
“I can’t believe you’re lying about me right in front of me!”
Ah! Dami boy has finally come into the world.
Later, Lola, Ryan, and Damien were all in Damien’s living room.
Damien sat there with a blank look on his face, staring at a pair of women’s slippers near the front entrance. It was easy to figure out who they belonged to. It was evident how shattered the person was from the bags under his eyes, the dry, cracked lips, the crumpled clothing, and the sad droop that covered his whole body. Lola had never seen him like this before, even when he had an infatuation on Lena that didn’t work out.
Ryan sat next to Lola and remarked, “He looks sad, but not like he’s going to do what you said he was going to do.”
Lola didn’t say anything in response. Instead, she paid attention to Damien. “Do you know where Ashley went?”
Damien’s face stayed the same. “Yes, China. I phoned Rollan, Ashley’s supervisor. He mostly plans her yearly travels. I asked him to tell me where she is. She simply left a message saying goodbye and called me right before the plane she was on took off. He stopped in the middle of the sentence, as if he was struggling to hold back his tears.
Lola lifted her eyebrows. “Then why are you still here, my friend? I know you’re hurt, but you should be on the first flight to where she is—”
“Do you really think I didn’t?” he said with a laugh. “Right after I got the papers, rushed home, and got the note, I was on my way to the airport, but—”
“But?”
“But?”
Ryan and Lola both stated the same thing.
“I went over the speed limit, got chased by the police, hit a lamppost, got a ticket, and my license was suspended for fifteen days,” he said with a sigh and put his head in his hands.
“Whoa,” Ryan said, looking pleased.
Lola was also surprised. “That just made me think of a scene from a climactic movie.”
Damien’s voice trembled at the end as he said, “But it was all for nothing because I should have known that her flight had already taken off.”
Lola took out her phone and started typing. “No worries, man,” she said. “We only need you to get on the next available flight.”
“For what!” Damien ran his fingers through his hair, shivering with wrath and disgust. “The divorce papers she gave me already have her signature on them. The more I look at them, the more I see that she wants to end our marriage and get rid of me. She doesn’t love me the way I love her.”
“I agree,” Ryan said.
“Shut up, both of you!” Lola yelled at them, staring at them back and forth. When Ryan put his hands up in surrender, she looked at Damien again. “And you, how do you know Ashley doesn’t feel the same way? Did she tell you herself?” She kept scrolling and typing on her phone the whole time.
“Her behavior says enough—
“Maybe not,” Lola answered, looking sternly at Damien. “You have to go and talk to her yourself to find out.”
Damien didn’t fight with her this time for whatever reason. He merely looked at her.
Okay.
The bell rang. The men only stared at the door, but Lola ran to open it.
Jude came in with a luggage. “Come on, friend, let’s go catch the flight! We don’t have much time. Why are you still sitting? Have you fainted with your eyes open?” he yelled at Damien, forgetting that they were both professionals. After that, he turned to Lola in the same hyperactive way. “Can you help me pick him up and get him on the plane? It’ll be hard for me because he’s taller than me.”
Damien angrily said, “Lola? What’s Jude doing here?” before Lola could say anything.
“Dami boy,” Lola said with a lot of force. “I had both of your tickets confirmed before I got here. I was just texting Jude to tell him to hurry.”
“Well,” Ryan said, clapping his fists. “You’re the best at planning lovers’ reunions, Lola!”
Lola raised a hand to tell Damien to stop when she saw him open his mouth to say something that might be useless and waste more time. “You’ve been acting like a child by not picking up calls, going to the office, or even eating properly the past few days. So, I’m not to blame for making Jude go with you.”
“I’m going to take good care of him, Lola,” Jude said as he stood up straight. “You don’t have to worry at all.”
Ryan grabbed up his phone and informed Lola, “I guess I need to call a taxi now,” while Damien was clearly attempting to understand what was going on and was starting to feel better since he was going to chase his wife.
Lola shook her head. “A taxi driver won’t understand how serious the situation is and will make sure we get them to the airport in the next thirty minutes.”
Damien abruptly sprung up as if someone had poked him in the b**t. “It will only take me two minutes to pack and get my passport.” Then he went into his bedroom.
Ryan remarked, “So, how do you think he would get to the airport now? Have you forgotten that he doesn’t have a license for the next fifteen days? And you and Jude can’t drive—”
“But you can,” Lola answered with a smile.
Ryan was quiet for a while, moving about on the couch and looking up at Lola. He thought about it until it finally hit him. “No. No way!”
Jude was a quiet listener, gazing back and forth and reacting to what they said.
“Why not? You can drive, you have a car, and you know how bad things are—”
Ryan stood up and walked closer to Lola. “I’m going back to Velden today,” he said.
Lola put her fists on her hips and lifted her chin. “Well, forget that. One of your friends needs you here.”
Ryan was immediately looking into her eyes, and it looked like he was hiding a smile. “Say please, then.”
“Huh,” she said, astonished.
He said again, “You have to say please if you want me to drive.”
“I wouldn’t say please to my shadow. Why do you think I would say please to you?”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Someday you will, if not today.”
Lola pinched her brows in confusion.
Strange man!
At that time, Damien stepped out of the room carrying a duffel bag. Then, in a hurry, all four of them got into Ryan’s car and drove to the airport, blasting a song from Fast and Furious.
One of the roads had a lot of cars on it. Lola rolled down the window on the passenger side and yelled, “Get out of the way, you motherf***er! Were you a sloth in your past life, lazy hag? Move out of the way, or I’m going to shove my knife up your…”
All three males in the automobile shivered at the same time.
Jude murmured from the backseat, “I feel blood coming out of my ears.” Damien stayed quiet, but he looked very impatient next to him.