Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me.
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Debbie meant all of what she told Aditya. She believed in all of what she said. She just didn't say all of what she believed.
She told him to let Joe go, so he could go before he got hurt again; before reality tore apart his tenuous dreams.
What she didn't tell Aditya was that a small, selfish part of her wanted him to let Joe go so her husband could finally be fully hers.
Debbie resented Aditya for many things, and tried not to feel ashamed by it. He had his palatial house that breathed quiet expense, and his beautiful, elegant wife with her manicured hands that had never worked a day in her life. Debbie had had hands like that once, hands that were now roughened by labor and that always reeked of fish.
But most of all, Debbie resented Aditya for the fact that, for ten years, she hadn't seen Joe smile a real smile that reached his eyes. Before, before things went sour, Joe had been bright and happy, because he had her with him, he had his music, and he had his best friend. For the last ten years, Joe had still had two of those three—Debbie could do the math. For the last ten years, Debbie had gone to bed with Joe, his despair a silent bedmate, and tried not to think about the root of his sorrow.
What Debbie didn't tell Aditya was that sometimes she almost hated him, because for Joe, for the last ten years, she just hadn't been enough.
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