"Tony, I'm in love with Ronald."
I was in a state of shock for a moment. I was in the room with Joyce then I was not. She chuckled, a warm flush spreading across her cheeks, and quickly covered her mouth to hide her embarrassment.
She groaned and hid her entire face in her cupped hands. Then she began to explain some things. Her soft, full lips moved, uttering words that I couldn't hear. Only the sound of my racing heart reached my ears.
Joyce and I were both scholarship students at San York University, New Jersey. I was shy while she was outgoing, direct and a joy to be with. We became good friends. When my rent was expiring and my part-time workplace wasn't paying up, she said, "What are we friends for? Are you neat?"
"Uh, I can be neat."
"Fine! I don't like slobs. Let's move in together. I'll cover the rent for this month. Next month, we split the rent," she said with a grin and went about her business like it was nothing. She won my heart that day.
We did everything together and our friends teased us often, "You two should get married already!"
Joyce came from a broken home and didn't believe in marriage. I was comfortable with our relationship as friends slash housemates. I was comfortable with Joyce. Simple.
After graduation, while sorting my things, I realised my work visa would soon expire after which I would have to return to my country or be deported.
Joyce sat on my bed, munching on greasy potato chips when I waved the paper in the air. "Five months more to go."
"Oh. Hmm, why don't we get married? Then you don't have to return and some of my loans can be sorted. It's a win-win," she said between munching and scrolling on her phone.
I thought it was one of her funny jokes. I dropped the document, took away her phone and held her greasy fingers in my hand. We gazed at each other.
"Do you realise what you just suggested?" I asked.
She nodded, swiping her tongue around her teeth. "It's illegal and weird of me but—no, don't say anything. Listen to me. We must not get caught. You know how I feel about marriage but I want to do this for you, for us. I like our arrangement. Life's simple. Yea?"
And that was how Joyce and I got married surrounded by our friends who were exhilarated that their predictions came through. No one was the wiser to our marriage of convenience.
I wasn't leaving the United States anytime soon. I got a better job while Joyce pursued her PhD. Our relationship got better until a friend invited us to a formal dinner party at his house. We dressed up and it felt like a date.
Joyce was so beautiful in a lovely dinner gown. As she spun in my arms while dancing, chuckling with her eyes closed, I knew I'd fallen in love with my best friend.
I struggled for weeks on how to tell her. While mapping out a plan, she walked into my room with Chinese takeout, all smiles and a little flushed. That evening seemed like the perfect time to tell her…
Or not.
"Tony?" She shook my shoulder. "Are you listening to me? You seem miles away."
I somehow faked a smile and apologised for zoning out after the shocking news of her feelings for Ronald, a fellow PhD student. "Sorry, I'm not feeling too good, really."
"Oh," she said. We sat in an awkward silence for a long moment. "Tony, did I say something wrong?"
"Uh, no. I'm just surprised. You've never shown interest in dating anyone for the past three years that we've known each other."
"Yea, I'm surprised just like you but I like Ronald. He wants to take me to the Long Island for two weeks—"
"You should go." It came out stronger than I wanted it to. Joyce looked at me with concern, searching my face. She placed a hand on my shoulder and I edged away and stood up.
"I'm sorry, Tony. Maybe it's time we get a divorce."
Ending one:
Without giving a response, I stood up, picked up my car keys and left our apartment. I went to a bar and drowned my sorrows.
Flashes of the good times we spent together the past two years almost made me weep. Joyce had been a good friend to me when I had no one. Her happiness should be mine as well if I was truly her best friend.
So I drove back to our apartment and found her curled up on the sofa, asleep. I lifted her in my arms, took her inside her room and gently laid her on the bed.
She blinked her eyes open and smiled at me. "You'll always be my friend, Tony." I felt my heart split in two and faked a smile for her.
"And you'll always be mine."
Ending two:
"I don't want a divorce, Joyce—"
"What?" She stared at me as though I was a stranger. I gripped her hands in mine and confessed my feelings. When she slipped her hands from mine, I felt my world slipping away.
"But we are friends," she said.
"We still are but I am in love with you, Joyce. Give us a chance."
She shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. "I'm already in love with Ronald."
"Are you?" I asked and watched as anger flashed across her face. I held my hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry. Please give me a chance. What have we got to lose? We are married after all."
We gazed at each for a long moment and burst into laughter at the same time. "This is crazy, Tony," she declared between chortles.
And so I began to work at convincing Joyce, my best friend, that fate brought us together for a good reason.