Unexpected
"Lysander, don't you get it? My father is dying and I can't see him because he has
disowned me for marrying you! I need to see him", Hermia told Lysander, pacing back and forth around their living room.
"Hermia, I can't do anything about it", Lysander responded calmly touching Hermia's shoulder to try and calm her too, but that only made it worse. Hermia was becoming angry because Lysander didn't care about her feelings, or at least thats what she thought.
"Yes you can, you can let me go see my father", Hermia told him in an annoyed tone of voice.
"Hermia, it's not that I don't want you to see your father, it's just that if you went to see your father, he would want you to stay with him. Do you really want that to happen, and not see me again?" Lysander asked her frustrated.
"If that's what it takes for me to see my father, then yes I am willing to stay with him and not seeing you anymore."
Lysander's eyes darkened all of a sudden and looked at Hermia as if he was about to kill her. "Get out of here before I forbid you to go and see that father of yours!", Lysander said with a harsh tone of voice that Hermia had never heard before. "And when your poor father dies, don't come crying back to me because I won't accept you."
"I would rather be alone for the rest of my life, than to be with a monster like you!", Hermia told Lysander with confidence and went upstairs to pack her bags. She was feeling good about herself for standing up for her father. Hermia tried to pack all of her belongings, but she realized that it was going to take a long time, so she only packed the important things. Once Hermia finished packing, she came downstairs and left without saying one more word to Lysander because she knew that would only bring more conflict.
Two days after Hermia left Lysander, she arrived at her father's house, she was exhausted from the trip and and was afraid of how her father might react. She thanked the carriage driver for bringing her home, right before she entered the house Hermia was about to get back on the carriage and go back to Lysander, but then she decided to open the door and see her father. Once in the house, the first thing Hermia did was go into her father's room.
"Hello father" Hermia said almost unable to be seen by her father because she was hiding behind the door. Hermia could feel her cheeks were pale and she was lost for words. After she realized her father was waiting for her to talk she tried to speak, thinking nothing was going to come out of her mouth, she blurted the first thing she thought of ."I have come here to see you again and also because I have been notified of your sickness and have come here to stay with you", Hermia told her father with innocence in her voice.
"I don't want you here, I thought I made that very clear to you the last time I saw you, before you decided to be with Lysander" Egeus told her sternly without even looking at his daughter.
"Father, I know you don't want me here, but I'm very concerned about your health", Hermia told him with tears in her eyes.
"Don't you understand? You chose Lysander instead of your father. The only reason I would accept you is if you stayed here with me and never saw Lysander again". Egeus said while turning around and facing the window instead of his pale and scared daughter.
"I knew that would be your condition, so I decided to come here and not see Lysander anymore. I must rather be with you than to be with someone who doesn't appreciate me", Hermia told her father.
"What made you change your decision all of a sudden?", shocked Egeus asked teary-eyed Hermia.
"I realized that you are more important than being with someone that doesn't love and support me, and that does not love my family. I know that I took a long time to realize that, but it's better late than never", Hermia told her shocked father.
"I guess I believe you, i'm upset that it had to come to this extreme for you to realize that, but like you said better late than never. You can stay, but only if you promise me never to see Lysander again. Even if I die!"
"I promise father", Hermia said sincerely, but almost regretting it after she said it. "Alright, come give your old father a hug. I've missed my little girl", Egeus said almost in tears.
"I've missed you too father. Do you need anything?", Hermia asked her father changing the subject and realizing she couldnt change her decision anymore.
"Now that you mention it, I do need something. I need bread and wine. Since I was diagnosed with the plague, I haven't been able to leave the house to buy what I need, all I have been eating is cheese. The money you need is in the counter, don't get sidetracked on the way there", Egeus told her.
"I'll be back as fast as I can, don't worry", Hermia told him. Hermia entered the kitchen and grabbed the money from the counter. "Bye dad", Hermia said once again as she took her pink coat from the hanger.
"Bye princess, see you soon" Egeus said as Hermia left the house. "Love you" Egeus whispered.
On her way to the plaza, she encountered someone who she didn't expect to see.
"Hermia? Is that you? What are you doing here? Is Lysander with you?" Helena asked her. Helena was one of Hermia's best friends before she betrayed her once she ran away with Lysander. Helena had long, brown hair, she was very tall and she had fair skin. Helena always envied Hermia because Demetrius loved her and not Helena. .
"Oh Helena, you haven't changed at all have you?", Hermia asked Helena with hatred in her voice.
"No I haven't, and it looks like you haven't either. It's nice to see you", Helena told Hermia sarcastically
"Only if I could say the same thing to you dear", Hermia told her clutching her fist. "How sweet of you to say such things. Now answer me, what are you doing here and is Lysander with you?", Helena demanded Hermia to answer with her eyebrows raised and backing away once she saw Hermia's fist.
"Not that I owe you any explanations, but if you are so interested, I'm here because my father is sick. And no, Lysander isn't with me, he stayed behind we split up for good". Hermia told Helena, about to punch her in the face but didn't because people were walking through the plaza and she didn't want to cause a scene.
"I heard about your father, and for that I'm deeply sorry." Helena told her with curiousness as to why Hermia and Lysander had split up.
"Don't pretend to be sorry for my father, he doesn't need either want your pity, Hermia told Helena making her point come across clearly.
" I don't care whether you believe me or not and I don't have time for you to insult me, I need to go home to my loving husband" Helena told Hermia with a smirk on her face.
"Husband? But what person in their right mind would want to marry you?" Hermia asked Helena, laughing and in disbelief at the same time.
"Not that I owe you any explanations" Helena mocked Hermia "but I married my loving Demetrius. And the last time I checked, Demetrius is in his right mind. He wasn't for awhile, which was the time he loved you, but he is now since he married me", Helena told Hermia with a smirk evident in her face.
"Helena you are such a great liar! Demetrius could not possibly be your husband. He never loved you, he loved me. He can't marry someone who he hated for almost his whole life!", Hermia told Helena, still unable to sink things in.
"Well, it's your choice if you want to believe me or not. Demetrius might not have loved me before, but when you left, he realized that he did love me and that you were a waste of his time." "Whatever, I will not believe you until I speak with Demetrius myself. Now I have to go buy some things for my father. Goodbye Helena." And with that Hermia left and Helena was left standing alone smirking to herself because she had the feeling that she had made Hermia jealous. After she felt satisfied, she decided to go home to Demetrius.
Hermia made her way to buy the wine and bread. " Excuse me sir, do you have RedSweet Wine?" Hermia asked the store seller.
" No, sorry try the next store". That was all she asked throughout town and that was all she kept hearing "No, sorry try the next store" until she finally found it, on a little corner next to an abandoned house. After she bought the special wine and bread, she made her way back to the house. When she arrived at the house she put the wine and the bread away and went to see her father.
"Father, I'm back from the plaza and I brought you your favorite wine", Hermia informed her father.
"Finally! what took you so long? I told you not to get side-tracked" Egeus told Hermia with an angry look on his face because Hermia took too long to get back home.
"Sorry father, I got distracted because I saw Helena and she wanted to 'chat' with me" Hermia told her father and gave him her best puppy-dog face that always convinced her father when she got in trouble.
"Alright you're forgiven. Now what did Helena want to 'chat' to you about?" Egeus asked Hermia as Hermia sat down next to her father on the bed. She was about to tell her father that she was about to punch Helena, but she decided not to.
"She wanted to know what I was doing here and why Lysander and I separated" Hermia informed her father.
"Well what did you tell her?" Egeus asked his daughter while grabbing her hand and trying to comfort her. Egeus could sense something was wrong with Hermia because she wasn't being herself.
"I told her that I came here because I wanted to be with you and that Lysander and I separated" Hermia answered Egeus. "Good, but I don't want you talking to that young lady, she is nothing but trouble." Egeus told Hermia.
"She also told me she married Demetrius, is that true?" Hermia asked her father.
"I'm afraid it is true darling. Once you left to be with Lysander, Demetrius realized that he had lost you and he settled for someone else. Unfortunately that someone else happened to be Helena", Egeus told Hermia in a sad tone of voice.
"So it is true, well i'm happy for them. Goodnight father, I'm going to go to bed," Hermia told her father as she yawned and with that she went to her room, to think about the life that she could have lived if she married Demetrius instead of Lysander. Hermia kept on moving from side to side and after about two hours of trying to fall asleep, she decided to stop thinking about what her life could have been because that was keeping her awake. She finally fell asleep after hours of trying.
The next morning Hermia woke up feeling like everything that had happened yesterday was a dream. But unfortunately for her, it wasn't. She went to see her father as soon as she woke up and realized he had company.
"Good morning father how—Demetrius?" Hermia asked her father as she was coming down the stairs and was interrupted when she saw who was talking to her father. Once she realized that Demetrius was really there, she had no idea what to say. She stood leaning on the was shocked and embarrassed that she had no idea what to say.
"Hermia, how are you? I've missed you" Demetrius told Hermia.
"I'm good now that I'm with my father. But what are you doing here?"
"I found out you were in town and I wanted to see you", Demetrius told Hermia. "I'm going to leave you two alone so you guys could catch up" Egeus told both of them before going to the kitchen to eat some breakfast and hoping that what he wished before would come true now. From time to time, he would try and listen to what Hermia and Demetrius were talking about, but he stopped trying after the third time because he was unsuccessful.
"So Hermia, how long are you planning to stay here?" Demetrius asked Hermia. "I think I'm staying until I have to" Hermia answered Demetrius.
"But what about Lysander? Demetrius asked concerned
"It's a long story. Lysander and I decided to stop seeing each other because I wanted to see my father and Lysander was treating me poorly", Hermia told him with tears in her eyes. "That idiot! How could he do this to the most beautiful, smartest, talented girl in the world?" Demetrius asked Hermia surprised. "Wait, you still think I'm beautiful?" Hermia asked shocked that Demetrius had called her beautiful. "Why of course! Why wouldn't I?" "Well, I met with Helena yesterday in the plaza and she told me that you thought I wasn't beautiful anymore, that's why you married her" Hermia responded Demetrius. "That's not true at all! I married her because I felt lonely and broken. I still love you Hermia. I always have." Demetrius told Hermia while holding both of her hands. "I might not have loved you before, but I love you now. I believe you've changed for good." Hermia told Demetrius sincerely. "My Hermia, if you want I will leave Helena to be with you." Demetrius proposed to Hermia. "That would be lovely, but Helena would hate me for the rest of my life. And I would feel responsible for ruining a marriage." Hermia told Demetrius "We will run away together! We don't have to stay here, that way you don't have to see Helena ever again. Or even better, we can send Helena away, she can be with Lysander." Demetrius started proposing crazy ideas to Hermia, but for some reason Hermia didn't think they were crazy ideas. She actually considered marrying Demetrius. "Alright, I will talk to my father about it. I doubt he will oppose because he always wanted us to be together!" Hermia said "I'll go with you and we will talk to your father together." Demetrius said grabbing Hermia's hands and leading her to the kitchen were Egeus was.
"I see you two have talked things through" Egeus told Hermia and Demetrius. "Yes we have father. Demetrius and I want to tell you something" Hermia told her father. "I want to marry your daughter Egeus" Demetrius told Egeus. Hermia and Demetrius weren't sure that Egeus heard them because he looked at them both with a blank expression on his face. After several minutes, Egeus finally spoke. "I've been waiting for this day since you two met! Of course you have my permission. But only in one condition" Egeus told them "Sure sir, anything." Demetrius told him. "You two have to get married before I pass away" Egeus told them looking straight at Hermia. Hermia's eyes became watery. "Father we will get married before you pass away. Promise." Hermia told her father. "Well I'm going to go talk to Helena and tell her that I don't want to be with her anymore" Demetrius informed Hermia. "Be careful, and don't fall for her lies" Hermia told him. Hermia hugged Demetrius and Egeus shook his hand before he left.
-"Helena, where are you?" Demetrius asked as he walked into his house. "I'm in the kitchen," Helena told him. Demetrius made his way to the kitchen and started to think of what he was going to tell Helena. "Look Helena, I don't think our relationship is working." "What are you trying to say Demetrius?" Helena asked confused. "I'm trying to say that I don't want to be with you anymore." Demetrius told her looking away. "It's because of Hermia, isn't it? I knew she was going to try and ruin our marriage if she ever came!" Helena said holding the knife up in the air. "Helena calm down! It's not Hermia's fault. This relationship is just not working! We married each other because we felt alone, not because we were in love" Demetrius tried to explain to Helena. "Whatever you say, but I know it's because of Hermia!" Helena told him. "We can still be friends though" Demetrius suggested. "I don't want to be friends, I just want to leave town." Helena told Demetrius. "Do you think you would want to be with Lysander?" Demetrius asked. Helena was shocked because Demetrius was being very generous! He was letting her go with Lysander; she wasn't going to give that opportunity up. "Alright, I'll go with Lysander." Helena told Demetrius. "Good, but I don't want to hear from you or Lysander ever again. Is that clear?" Demetrius asked Helena. "When do I leave?" "If you want you can leave tonight. I'll arrange everything for you." Demetrius told her. "I'll get packing then." Helena told him.
-Demetrius arranged for Helena to leave at night. "Helena, where are you?Come over here! the carriage is waiting for you!" Demetrius yelled for Helena to hear. "Coming!" Helena responded back. Helena made her way downstairs and said her goodbyes to Demetrius. "Goodbye my dear Demetrius. Best of luck" "Thank you Helena, luck to you too. Now remember I don't want to hear from you or Lysander ever again." Demetrius told her. "Don't worry." And with that she got in the carriage and left. Demetrius then left and went to see Hermia and tell her the good news.
"Hermia, I'm back." Demetrius informed Hermia. "How did it go?" Hermia asked desperate. "It went very well, Helena left to be with Lysander. You don't have to worry about neither of them anymore." Demetrius told her. Hermia had the biggest smile plastered on her face. "Perfect! Now I have to tell my father the good news", Hermia said excited and ran out of the room to go tell her father the news. "Father! Guess what? Demetrius is free again!" Hermia told her father excitedly. "That's great darling. Now it's time to start planning the wedding." Egeus told Hermia, in that moment Demetrius had walked in the room and he had heard the conversation. "Your father is right Hermia, we have to start planning the wedding." Demetrius told Hermia. "I'll start planning right away then!" Hermia informed the men excitedly. "Hermia, can you do me a favor?" Egeus asked her. "Of course father, what is it?" Hermia asked him. "Can the wedding be next week?" Egeus asked her. "If that's what you want father, then yes the wedding will be next week. Is that fine with you Demetrius?" Hermia asked Demetrius. "That's perfectly fine with me darling", Demetrius informed Hermia.
The week passed by so quickly and it was already the wedding day. "Hermia, are you ready?" Egeus asked Hermia before walking her down the aisle. "Yes father I'm just a little bit nervous to see how everything turned out. I want everything to be perfect." Hermia told her father. "Everything will be don't worry", Egeus reassured Hermia. Egeus led Hermia down the aisle to where Demetrius was and Hermia realized that she didn't have to worry about a thing. Everything was perfect. The flowers were white and they smelled great, the carpet was red, the audience were dressed nicely, the lighting was bright and perfect and most importantly the groom looked perfect. When Demetrius helped Hermia up the aisle he couldn't believe that he was going to marry the girl of his dreams.
After the wedding Hermia and Demetrius were as happy as roses on water, until the next day, when everything came tumbling down. Hermia and Demetrius were sitting next to Egeus. "Dad, daddy, please don't leave me. I-I", whispered Hermia to her father as tears overflowed her eyes. "I love you, my little princess, and I have always wanted the best for you, and finally, my wishes have come true. You are a young and beautiful woman, Hermia. Remember to be good after i'm gone. And you Demetrius, take good care of her. I trust you to keep my princess safe". Those were Egeus's last words before he died. "I love you too father", Hermia told her dead father. Two days later,Hermia and Demetrius buried Egeus and started living their own lives together, like Egeus had wished. Lysander and Helena soon got married and thanked Hermia for uniting them. Everyone lived happily ever after.
The End