Jason nuzzled closer to her arrestingly warm body that seemed to fit with
his in a way that he felt certain was the inspiration for every cheesy
romance novel ever written. Allowing her soft hair to fall upon his face,
Jason continued to close the distance between his body and hers. Finally
content that he was close enough to her sleeping figure, Jason took a
moment to appreciate how soft her strawberry scented hair felt against his
face. He had no idea who had ever thought of inventing fruit-scented
shampoo, but he felt certain that person had been a genius.
A smile came to Jason's face as he watched Mimi stir in her sleep. It was a rare smile, and it truly felt good. Of course, Jason knew that he should feel anything but good about his current situation. Though the rest of the world would probably always see him as Jan's heartless follower, he had finally let Mimi see the real Jason Welles. And, to his amazement, she hadn't turned away.
Wiping the smile off his face, Jason reminded himself that what had happened would never be able to happen again. He might not have a problem betraying Jan, but that didn't mean that Mimi was ready to jump into some affair with him. Not to mention the fact that Jason assumed Mimi's husband would probably be less than thrilled.
Of course, Jason should have known that it was only a fool who made assumptions about affairs of the heart.
Pushing all thoughts of the impending losses out of his mind, Jason ran his index finder along Mimi's bare shoulder. Like her hair, it felt incredibly soft. He secretly wished that morning would never come and that the sun would stay forever hidden. Jason knew that the coming of dawn would bring Mimi's departure, and that his bed would be empty again.
Only to himself could Jason admit that Mimi truly meant something to him. Of course, he wasn't exactly sure what that something was, but he knew it was quite special. She wasn't like the others that he had taken to his bed over the past few years. She was so remarkably different from the woman who had worked at the strip club, the waitress from Chicago, and the flight attendant he had met on a trip to Los Angeles. Those women had no real connection to Jason. They were not a part of his past, and most certainly not a part of his future.
Mimi was nothing like them. She did share a past with him. Mimi was the very same girl he had taken to his Senior Prom, though it had not exactly been planned. However, that didn't mean that Jason wasn't more than grateful for that all too short evening.
Jason fondly recalled the night that could have, perhaps should have, changed his life. Instead, it became just another missed opportunity. With only an hour before he was scheduled to pick up Jan, the phone had rung. To Jason's dismay, Jan had contracted a stomach virus and was far too sick to go anywhere, including her own prom.
Jason had quickly weighed his options. He could either skip the prom entirely and just show up at the parties or he could go stag. Fortunately for Jason, Shawn and Philip were both at his house getting ready. The original plan had been for all three guys and their dates to share a limo. After the battle of wills between Jan and Chloe, the plans had been finalized.
When Shawn had learned that Jan was ill, he had conceived what he thought was a brilliant solution. Since Mimi did not have a date, Shawn had thought that instead of both Jason and Mimi going alone, they could go together as friends.
It had taken Shawn a good twenty minutes to convince Jason to take Mimi. It had been the best decision Jason ever made.
Even if there had been no decorations, no elegant gowns, no music, the evening would have still been mesmerizing for Jason. For a few short hours, he had a loose grasp on happiness. Never could he have imagined how much he would enjoy Mimi's company. He had quickly found her giddy laughter contagious, and her quick wit captivating. And, for the first time, Jason noticed just how beautiful Mimi truly was.
Like all good things, the evening had come to an end. For Jason it was the end of more than just a night out with a friend. It was the end of his denial that Mimi was someone completely wrong for him. It was the end of Jason telling himself that he didn't want Mimi, even if it meant corrupting her. It was the end of the life he had previously known with Jan. It was a night that ended with the only kiss Jason would give Mimi until he ran into her on a rainy night more than five years later.
Mimi kept her eyes tightly closed. She was well aware that once Jason knew she was awake, she would be expected to leave. Mimi had spent several years becoming quite familiar with rejection, so she knew to how to brace herself for it. Mimi understood that when she worked up the bravery to open her eyes, she would slip out of Jason's bed, out of his arms, and back into the life she had swiftly grown to hate.
Behind her closed eye lids, Mimi could feel fresh tears wanting to spill down her face. She couldn't let that happen, she couldn't let him see that happen. After years of secretly pining for Jason, Mimi had finally gotten him. Sadly, Mimi feared that Jason would remember it as nothing but another one-night stand. It broke Mimi's heart to think of herself as just another tally mark on Jason's headboard, just another girl who too quickly fell for his charms and too slowly learned of his game.
Finding the courage she needed to move, Mimi carefully pulled away from Jason and was surprised when, for only a second, he fought to keep her close to him. Before she could analyze the grip of his arms, they were gone from around her, and she was free to leave.
Mimi silently found her clothes and moved to the adjoining bathroom to get dressed. It took all the strength that she still maintained to not burst into tears. Splashing water on her face, Mimi reminded herself that she had chosen to live this life. She'd made her bed and it was now time to lie in it - without Jason.
~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~
Glancing at his watch, Shawn realized that he had been just a little too eager to see his family. He doubted that his mother would enjoy being torn from her sleep before six o'clock in the morning. Shawn also doubted if he would continue to draw breaths if his mother found out that he came all the way to the door and then turned around and left.
Deciding that he might as well not wake the entire house just yet, Shawn reached to his right and retrieved the spare key from its place under one of his mother's hideously ugly plants. He never did understand why she insisted on placing something so completely unattractive on their front porch.
Shawn took great care in quietly unlocking the front door and entering the house that he had spent his teen years calling home. In more ways than one, Shawn still considered it home. His family was here. His fondest memories were here. And, those were the things that Shawn believed truly made a home.
Shawn nearly made violent contact with the living room floor when he came precariously close to tripping over a remote control car that had been left in the floor. Barely catching himself before falling, Shawn said a silent prayer of thanks that he hadn't tripped and woken everyone. Picking up the car that he knew belonged to his younger brother Isaac, Shawn felt a new round of guilt. He had conveniently missed out on a great deal of Isaac's life. He wanted to believe that it was all the result of his desire to have full independence, but Shawn knew that wasn't the truth.
Some part of him would never forget the pain caused by learning that J.T., the brother he had loved more than life itself, wasn't even his own brother. Next had come the revelation that Isaac Carver was his true brother. Just when Shawn had thought that he could take no more, the final blow had rendered him irreparable. John Black, Belle's father, had fathered Isaac. Shawn's parents, as well as Belle's, had known the truth and purposely kept it from him. He had simply been a pawn in their game, as they had once been pawns in Stefano DiMera's games. How ironic was that?
Placing Isaac's toy car on the coffee table, Shawn decided that he didn't want to think about the unhappy details. He'd spent far too much time dwelling on those things before he had left Salem, he saw no reason to continue. It was past time to forgive and forget.
Willing himself to think only of the good times he had enjoyed in Salem, Shawn threw his tired body onto the couch and resolved himself to wait until someone came downstairs. Until then, he would simply relax and try to formulate a plan of action. Shawn Brady was a nice guy, but that didn't mean he was a pushover. When he truly wanted something, he knew he could find a way to get it. And, Shawn wanted to find the happiness that had continually eluded him over the years.
~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~
The early morning air felt refreshing against Chloe's face as she made her run through the park. For most, a morning run simply meant running to a specified destination and then returning to the starting point. Chloe, however, ran to nothing and from everything. Her only destination was a presumably nonexistent place that would allow her to escape her own thoughts and feelings.
With each stride she took through the park, Chloe attempted to distance herself from the day ahead of her. Just because the day provided more distractions than the night, that did not mean she enjoyed it the slightest more. In fact, she hated the days the most. That was when she forced herself to face the world and all the hypocrites it contained. She would go to work and face her boss and co-workers. Sometimes, Chloe would go so far as to place a false smile on her own face. None of that mattered, Chloe was just passing the time.
The time till what? Well, Chloe wasn't sure. All she really knew was that there would come a day when she would wake up one morning and instead of using her morning run to flee from her problems, she would get out of bed and face them.
Keeping her breathing steady, Chloe pushed herself even harder through the park. The people around her were of no consequence. They had no control over her destiny. They had no control over her heart.
She'd had the dream again last night. It was always so vivid, so intense. Chloe would find herself standing in the center of an endless hallway, a silky midnight blue gown clinging to her the curves of her overwrought body. Her breathing would become labored as her fear rose. The cold, stone walls seemed to be threatening to crush her between them.
Then, when she was dangerously close to losing her remaining composure, she saw a figure emerge from the dark of one end of the hallway. Though his face remained hidden in the shadows, Chloe became instantly calmed by his presence. As a compact mist began to float around her feet, Chloe saw her mystery companion near her, his finely tailored white suit never failed to comfort her. His face suddenly free of the dishonest shadows, she recognized him.
In the dream, he always smiled, showcasing his gorgeous dimples, then whispered suavely, "I promise that I'll love you for all of eternity and then all the time that may follow." Slowly, Philip would take another step toward her and extend his hand. Chloe's heart fluttered as she reached out her own hand to meet his. Just before contact, there always came the footsteps.
From the opposite end of the hallway, a figure dressed in a striking suit of black swiftly approached her and pulled her to him, waiving the dramatics that Philip had used. With her body pressed firmly against his, no words were necessary. Chloe would instantaneously be drawn to his blue eyes that possessed her with an unspoken love.
Suddenly, the love would disappear from Brady's eyes and a coldness would take its place. Almost needing the warmth that Brady had temporarily given her, Chloe quickly freed herself from him and turned to Philip. Invariably, she only turned to find an equally callous stare. Through gritted teeth Philip would yell, "You did this. You did this to all of us!"
Chloe habitually woke from the dream with the urge to scream, to scream until her own throat burned. Of course, she didn't. She merely turned her face to her pillow and cried herself back to sleep, knowing that the past was over and couldn't be changed. And, that the old wounds would never heal as long as she kept running.
Pushing her body to its limit, Chloe bolted through the park, trying to lose the memory of the dream in her speed. However, the faster she ran, the farther away her escape became. Slowly, Chloe came to realize that she was not even able to seek shelter in her own dreams.
~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~
Arriving back at her own building after wordlessly leaving Jason's apartment, Mimi fumbled with her keys as she tried to open her front door. She could not help but wonder what her contemptible husband would have to say about the disappearing act she had pulled the previous night. She was skeptical if he cared at all. Mimi doubted if he had even considered going into the rainy night and searching for her after she had left following their argument.
He hated her, and Mimi knew it. He had probably always hated her and didn't care who she was with as long as it wasn't him. Though she loved her husband as little as he loved her, Mimi couldn't help but be hurt by the fact that his worst regret had been ever laying eyes on her.
Mimi wanted to be able to play the wronged party, but she couldn't. Her shattered marriage was her fault as much as it was his, if not more. From the moment she had started flirting with him that New Year's Eve more than three years ago, she had just been using him. She had never really wanted him, but had wanted what she had hoped manipulating him could bring her - Jason. She had been a fool to think that Jason would be jealous of her and another guy. Mimi firmly believed she had been in an asinine state of mind to think that Jason cared any more for her than her unsympathetic husband.
As she entered the penthouse, Mimi violently threw her keys on the stand by the door. She hated this charade that she lived. Because she had taken her crush on Jason too far and tried to make him jealous one night, Mimi was now trapped in what appeared to be a nearly perfect life, but was nothing more than a nightmare she couldn't wake from.
Feeling as if the penthouse itself was trying to suffocate her, Mimi decided to step out to the balcony. Not only would she be able to find some fresh air, but she would also be able to avoid seeing her husband for just a little while longer. Mimi glanced over the edge of the balcony as her feelings of desperation grew. How many times over the past three years had she stood in that very place and contemplated what it would be like to simply thrust her body over the edge?
On one hand, she would have so many unfulfilled dreams, so many hopes that were never achieved. She would be required to leave her parents and her younger brother. Suicide would also mean that she was allowing all of them to win. All the people who had hurt her would finally have triumphed.
On the other hand, she would instantly be free of all the lies and deceit that choked the very breath out of her. There would be no more despair at her dismal future. She would never have to endure another party at the Kiriakis mansion, where she pretended to be the good wife. She'd never be forced to see the artificial smile her husband gave her when they were around others. Even better, she'd never have to witness the distant look in his eyes when he thought about the woman who still haunted his heart. She was a woman that Mimi wished she had never attempted to compete against.
A thought suddenly occurred to Mimi that almost made her laugh with despair. Part of the reason she was here now had been her blind love for Jason, but the rest had been the reprehensible desire to seek revenge on Chloe. Now, anyone looking at Mimi's life would assume that she had everything that Chloe Lane had hungered for. Mimi had the expensive penthouse, Belle as a best friend, and, unfortunately for so many, Mimi had the man that Chloe impetuously threw away. Mimi seemed to be so lucky and loved. Yet another false appearance.
A smile came to Jason's face as he watched Mimi stir in her sleep. It was a rare smile, and it truly felt good. Of course, Jason knew that he should feel anything but good about his current situation. Though the rest of the world would probably always see him as Jan's heartless follower, he had finally let Mimi see the real Jason Welles. And, to his amazement, she hadn't turned away.
Wiping the smile off his face, Jason reminded himself that what had happened would never be able to happen again. He might not have a problem betraying Jan, but that didn't mean that Mimi was ready to jump into some affair with him. Not to mention the fact that Jason assumed Mimi's husband would probably be less than thrilled.
Of course, Jason should have known that it was only a fool who made assumptions about affairs of the heart.
Pushing all thoughts of the impending losses out of his mind, Jason ran his index finder along Mimi's bare shoulder. Like her hair, it felt incredibly soft. He secretly wished that morning would never come and that the sun would stay forever hidden. Jason knew that the coming of dawn would bring Mimi's departure, and that his bed would be empty again.
Only to himself could Jason admit that Mimi truly meant something to him. Of course, he wasn't exactly sure what that something was, but he knew it was quite special. She wasn't like the others that he had taken to his bed over the past few years. She was so remarkably different from the woman who had worked at the strip club, the waitress from Chicago, and the flight attendant he had met on a trip to Los Angeles. Those women had no real connection to Jason. They were not a part of his past, and most certainly not a part of his future.
Mimi was nothing like them. She did share a past with him. Mimi was the very same girl he had taken to his Senior Prom, though it had not exactly been planned. However, that didn't mean that Jason wasn't more than grateful for that all too short evening.
Jason fondly recalled the night that could have, perhaps should have, changed his life. Instead, it became just another missed opportunity. With only an hour before he was scheduled to pick up Jan, the phone had rung. To Jason's dismay, Jan had contracted a stomach virus and was far too sick to go anywhere, including her own prom.
Jason had quickly weighed his options. He could either skip the prom entirely and just show up at the parties or he could go stag. Fortunately for Jason, Shawn and Philip were both at his house getting ready. The original plan had been for all three guys and their dates to share a limo. After the battle of wills between Jan and Chloe, the plans had been finalized.
When Shawn had learned that Jan was ill, he had conceived what he thought was a brilliant solution. Since Mimi did not have a date, Shawn had thought that instead of both Jason and Mimi going alone, they could go together as friends.
It had taken Shawn a good twenty minutes to convince Jason to take Mimi. It had been the best decision Jason ever made.
Even if there had been no decorations, no elegant gowns, no music, the evening would have still been mesmerizing for Jason. For a few short hours, he had a loose grasp on happiness. Never could he have imagined how much he would enjoy Mimi's company. He had quickly found her giddy laughter contagious, and her quick wit captivating. And, for the first time, Jason noticed just how beautiful Mimi truly was.
Like all good things, the evening had come to an end. For Jason it was the end of more than just a night out with a friend. It was the end of his denial that Mimi was someone completely wrong for him. It was the end of Jason telling himself that he didn't want Mimi, even if it meant corrupting her. It was the end of the life he had previously known with Jan. It was a night that ended with the only kiss Jason would give Mimi until he ran into her on a rainy night more than five years later.
Mimi kept her eyes tightly closed. She was well aware that once Jason knew she was awake, she would be expected to leave. Mimi had spent several years becoming quite familiar with rejection, so she knew to how to brace herself for it. Mimi understood that when she worked up the bravery to open her eyes, she would slip out of Jason's bed, out of his arms, and back into the life she had swiftly grown to hate.
Behind her closed eye lids, Mimi could feel fresh tears wanting to spill down her face. She couldn't let that happen, she couldn't let him see that happen. After years of secretly pining for Jason, Mimi had finally gotten him. Sadly, Mimi feared that Jason would remember it as nothing but another one-night stand. It broke Mimi's heart to think of herself as just another tally mark on Jason's headboard, just another girl who too quickly fell for his charms and too slowly learned of his game.
Finding the courage she needed to move, Mimi carefully pulled away from Jason and was surprised when, for only a second, he fought to keep her close to him. Before she could analyze the grip of his arms, they were gone from around her, and she was free to leave.
Mimi silently found her clothes and moved to the adjoining bathroom to get dressed. It took all the strength that she still maintained to not burst into tears. Splashing water on her face, Mimi reminded herself that she had chosen to live this life. She'd made her bed and it was now time to lie in it - without Jason.
~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~
Glancing at his watch, Shawn realized that he had been just a little too eager to see his family. He doubted that his mother would enjoy being torn from her sleep before six o'clock in the morning. Shawn also doubted if he would continue to draw breaths if his mother found out that he came all the way to the door and then turned around and left.
Deciding that he might as well not wake the entire house just yet, Shawn reached to his right and retrieved the spare key from its place under one of his mother's hideously ugly plants. He never did understand why she insisted on placing something so completely unattractive on their front porch.
Shawn took great care in quietly unlocking the front door and entering the house that he had spent his teen years calling home. In more ways than one, Shawn still considered it home. His family was here. His fondest memories were here. And, those were the things that Shawn believed truly made a home.
Shawn nearly made violent contact with the living room floor when he came precariously close to tripping over a remote control car that had been left in the floor. Barely catching himself before falling, Shawn said a silent prayer of thanks that he hadn't tripped and woken everyone. Picking up the car that he knew belonged to his younger brother Isaac, Shawn felt a new round of guilt. He had conveniently missed out on a great deal of Isaac's life. He wanted to believe that it was all the result of his desire to have full independence, but Shawn knew that wasn't the truth.
Some part of him would never forget the pain caused by learning that J.T., the brother he had loved more than life itself, wasn't even his own brother. Next had come the revelation that Isaac Carver was his true brother. Just when Shawn had thought that he could take no more, the final blow had rendered him irreparable. John Black, Belle's father, had fathered Isaac. Shawn's parents, as well as Belle's, had known the truth and purposely kept it from him. He had simply been a pawn in their game, as they had once been pawns in Stefano DiMera's games. How ironic was that?
Placing Isaac's toy car on the coffee table, Shawn decided that he didn't want to think about the unhappy details. He'd spent far too much time dwelling on those things before he had left Salem, he saw no reason to continue. It was past time to forgive and forget.
Willing himself to think only of the good times he had enjoyed in Salem, Shawn threw his tired body onto the couch and resolved himself to wait until someone came downstairs. Until then, he would simply relax and try to formulate a plan of action. Shawn Brady was a nice guy, but that didn't mean he was a pushover. When he truly wanted something, he knew he could find a way to get it. And, Shawn wanted to find the happiness that had continually eluded him over the years.
~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~
The early morning air felt refreshing against Chloe's face as she made her run through the park. For most, a morning run simply meant running to a specified destination and then returning to the starting point. Chloe, however, ran to nothing and from everything. Her only destination was a presumably nonexistent place that would allow her to escape her own thoughts and feelings.
With each stride she took through the park, Chloe attempted to distance herself from the day ahead of her. Just because the day provided more distractions than the night, that did not mean she enjoyed it the slightest more. In fact, she hated the days the most. That was when she forced herself to face the world and all the hypocrites it contained. She would go to work and face her boss and co-workers. Sometimes, Chloe would go so far as to place a false smile on her own face. None of that mattered, Chloe was just passing the time.
The time till what? Well, Chloe wasn't sure. All she really knew was that there would come a day when she would wake up one morning and instead of using her morning run to flee from her problems, she would get out of bed and face them.
Keeping her breathing steady, Chloe pushed herself even harder through the park. The people around her were of no consequence. They had no control over her destiny. They had no control over her heart.
She'd had the dream again last night. It was always so vivid, so intense. Chloe would find herself standing in the center of an endless hallway, a silky midnight blue gown clinging to her the curves of her overwrought body. Her breathing would become labored as her fear rose. The cold, stone walls seemed to be threatening to crush her between them.
Then, when she was dangerously close to losing her remaining composure, she saw a figure emerge from the dark of one end of the hallway. Though his face remained hidden in the shadows, Chloe became instantly calmed by his presence. As a compact mist began to float around her feet, Chloe saw her mystery companion near her, his finely tailored white suit never failed to comfort her. His face suddenly free of the dishonest shadows, she recognized him.
In the dream, he always smiled, showcasing his gorgeous dimples, then whispered suavely, "I promise that I'll love you for all of eternity and then all the time that may follow." Slowly, Philip would take another step toward her and extend his hand. Chloe's heart fluttered as she reached out her own hand to meet his. Just before contact, there always came the footsteps.
From the opposite end of the hallway, a figure dressed in a striking suit of black swiftly approached her and pulled her to him, waiving the dramatics that Philip had used. With her body pressed firmly against his, no words were necessary. Chloe would instantaneously be drawn to his blue eyes that possessed her with an unspoken love.
Suddenly, the love would disappear from Brady's eyes and a coldness would take its place. Almost needing the warmth that Brady had temporarily given her, Chloe quickly freed herself from him and turned to Philip. Invariably, she only turned to find an equally callous stare. Through gritted teeth Philip would yell, "You did this. You did this to all of us!"
Chloe habitually woke from the dream with the urge to scream, to scream until her own throat burned. Of course, she didn't. She merely turned her face to her pillow and cried herself back to sleep, knowing that the past was over and couldn't be changed. And, that the old wounds would never heal as long as she kept running.
Pushing her body to its limit, Chloe bolted through the park, trying to lose the memory of the dream in her speed. However, the faster she ran, the farther away her escape became. Slowly, Chloe came to realize that she was not even able to seek shelter in her own dreams.
~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~ * * ~
Arriving back at her own building after wordlessly leaving Jason's apartment, Mimi fumbled with her keys as she tried to open her front door. She could not help but wonder what her contemptible husband would have to say about the disappearing act she had pulled the previous night. She was skeptical if he cared at all. Mimi doubted if he had even considered going into the rainy night and searching for her after she had left following their argument.
He hated her, and Mimi knew it. He had probably always hated her and didn't care who she was with as long as it wasn't him. Though she loved her husband as little as he loved her, Mimi couldn't help but be hurt by the fact that his worst regret had been ever laying eyes on her.
Mimi wanted to be able to play the wronged party, but she couldn't. Her shattered marriage was her fault as much as it was his, if not more. From the moment she had started flirting with him that New Year's Eve more than three years ago, she had just been using him. She had never really wanted him, but had wanted what she had hoped manipulating him could bring her - Jason. She had been a fool to think that Jason would be jealous of her and another guy. Mimi firmly believed she had been in an asinine state of mind to think that Jason cared any more for her than her unsympathetic husband.
As she entered the penthouse, Mimi violently threw her keys on the stand by the door. She hated this charade that she lived. Because she had taken her crush on Jason too far and tried to make him jealous one night, Mimi was now trapped in what appeared to be a nearly perfect life, but was nothing more than a nightmare she couldn't wake from.
Feeling as if the penthouse itself was trying to suffocate her, Mimi decided to step out to the balcony. Not only would she be able to find some fresh air, but she would also be able to avoid seeing her husband for just a little while longer. Mimi glanced over the edge of the balcony as her feelings of desperation grew. How many times over the past three years had she stood in that very place and contemplated what it would be like to simply thrust her body over the edge?
On one hand, she would have so many unfulfilled dreams, so many hopes that were never achieved. She would be required to leave her parents and her younger brother. Suicide would also mean that she was allowing all of them to win. All the people who had hurt her would finally have triumphed.
On the other hand, she would instantly be free of all the lies and deceit that choked the very breath out of her. There would be no more despair at her dismal future. She would never have to endure another party at the Kiriakis mansion, where she pretended to be the good wife. She'd never be forced to see the artificial smile her husband gave her when they were around others. Even better, she'd never have to witness the distant look in his eyes when he thought about the woman who still haunted his heart. She was a woman that Mimi wished she had never attempted to compete against.
A thought suddenly occurred to Mimi that almost made her laugh with despair. Part of the reason she was here now had been her blind love for Jason, but the rest had been the reprehensible desire to seek revenge on Chloe. Now, anyone looking at Mimi's life would assume that she had everything that Chloe Lane had hungered for. Mimi had the expensive penthouse, Belle as a best friend, and, unfortunately for so many, Mimi had the man that Chloe impetuously threw away. Mimi seemed to be so lucky and loved. Yet another false appearance.
