Chapter 3: The Scorned man

2003, Dublin, Ireland

Rumpelstiltskin Gold

It was a relatively warm September night. Everything in the atmosphere started to turn from light to dark. I remember this very Monday evening as rainy. A storm passed over the North of Dublin. I didn't live in the city; I used to live in a less crowded part of Dublin. I didn't know how long I had lived her. I was born in a hospital in the heart of Dublin. Ever since that moment I had never been far from the city. Except for that one rare moment in college, otherwise, I hadn't gone on any vacations. My friend, David, lived on the end of the road. I loved everything about Dublin.
Yet I don't remember that very September month as positive. I recall it as the most terrible moment in my entire life. In fact, that previous night might be the worst Sunday I had ever gone through. It started like any lovely Sunday. I had a date with my beautiful girlfriend Milah.
She was truly the most beautiful girl in whole Dublin, maybe even the entire part of Ireland. I adored her, at least I believed I did. That evening I walked into the restaurant. From the other side of the table, she stared at me. Her expression showed a certain tension. One which I couldn't explain. It was our anniversary. A year ago, we went on our first date. That was an occasion I really wanted to celebrate. Little did I know, that she had no occasion to celebrate. She was there with a very clear goal. Dump me as fast as she could.
"Rumple…" She crossed her arms. I could feel a certain tension in her voice.
"Milah," I repeated.
She smiled for a moment, slowly she reached for my arm. I knew her; she was a girl who liked to ignore confrontation. If she reached for my arm, something bad was about to happen. I felt a tension coming to my body.
"Rumple, it's going nowhere soon. I think we should break up."
I didn't know what she said after that. I zoned out. Maybe I didn't hear her apologize. I didn't hear her say how sorry she was for breaking up on our anniversary. I didn't listen to a lot of things because my mind went on writing awful things it could find. I don't know if I stormed out of the restaurant. I just knew that I was home, writing my anger on a piece of paper. You would be surprised how much of relief this can be. People who aren't writers don't understand the joy, to write away any anger you feel. I wrote down everything. Ever piece of vulgar language that I had to me.

It was the morning that brought new pain to me. It seemed that I finally understood what had happened last night. I understood that Milah had dumped me. Somehow I started to think about everything that I had gone through. I began to think about how I felt towards Milah. I noticed how not only my relationship was a problem, but my whole life. I always wanted a career. I wanted to make it big with my band 'the Monsters.'
I had started it with my bandmate David. There were three other boys in the band Graham, Neal, and Robin. I was their lead singer; we weren't that famous. Sometimes we would play in small pubs. That was about it. I had never been recognized for my amazing lyrics or anything else. To most people, my songwriting was an absolute secret. I thought of myself on tour, my guitar by my side. I would find love. A beautiful girl with brown hair and blue eyes. That was the moment that I never truly had been in love. I was 26 and a virgin in love. I off course believed I was in love with Milah. Yet after the break-up, I noticed that it didn't hurt like it was supposed to. I mean of course it hurt, but I didn't feel like I couldn't go on. Like my life was over. Maybe all my love songs were just beaten down versions of the real thing; I might never experience.
I was 26 years old . Music is and had been my whole life. I went to conservatory in London, in my pastime I studied rock music. I was happy. That was until my mom died about two years ago. That was the start of a dark time. The one I was still in the middle of. Some of my songs were bathed in darkness; music was the only thing that kept me happy.
I couldn't see what was happening in my future. I couldn't see what was coming.

Success came faster that I thought.

2005, London, England

I remember everything about this September night. There were loud guitars; there was smoke. A large audience is watching me. I was the center of attention. A year was nothing in a human life, I understood. I never believed we could become moderately successful. That was what they called it in the biz. We had moderate success in more places than one. They didn't consider our music for the garage, yet we were not considered mainstream media. We were somewhere in the jolly middle, and we enjoyed it. Graham loved being the hot one of the band. He enjoyed that if he needed a date, he could just pick a random girl from the public.
David didn't enjoy being away from his girlfriend. He and Mary Margaret had been dating for a year. They were the truest couple I had ever seen, and true love was written all over it.
I was believed to be the romantic lead singer. However, I didn't belong in that tight picture. When everyone talked to me, I did not see that fantasy I had for all these years, so I just refused to date them. So after a few months, I was known to be ice cold.
I wasn't sure I liked being away from Dublin. Somehow I always felt that my home was too far. Yet I liked being on tour. I liked seeing new cities; I loved hearing people convey emotions when they heard my songs. Yet still, I had not experienced real love myself.

In a week, we were starting our tour in the US. I had been looking forward to the US. We began in New York. It was a city that I dreamt about ever since I was a little boy. Somehow I believed it was the city that would bring me, love. Yet fantasies like that could never be brought real. I needed to come to terms with that.
When I walked off the stage, I could see Mary Margaret by the stage. She was telling something shocking to David. I knew it was life altering news. I hoped she wasn't sick. Stories about cancer were regular these days. It seemed that everyone got it and a significant portion of this people died for it. I hoped that was not the case with David and Mary Margaret. I saw him nod; he placed his hand on his forehead. She did the same and stepped outside for air or something.
He walked towards me. His eyes fixated on the ground.
"She's pregnant." His eyes were wider than I ever saw them.
"Who?" I realized the stupidity of what I had just said.
"Mary Margaret." David sat down. "She wants to keep it."
"Wow, unplanned I assume."
"Yes, I mean I did think of having children. That doesn't mean I ever told her or anything." He replied. "She said, she didn't expect anything from me. She said she could do it all by herself."
"David, you're not…"
"of course I'm not going to let her do this by herself," David replied. "In the end, this would have been the plan. I mean, it's just faster."
"A whole lot faster…" I added.
"I mean I can do this." He nodded his head. "I mean there are more people who have children who are even younger than I am."
"Mary is coming with us to the US. It turns out she always wanted to go. She thinks we should have enough adventure before the baby comes." David replied. "After that, she doesn't expect me to quit the band. She's awesome like that. We're figuring this out."
"You two will figure it out."
At that moment, I realized, life could change in just a split second. One time you were a carefree man. The next moment your significant other was pregnant with your child. I didn't know what the future would bring me. All I knew was that in a week I would be in New York. The city that never sleeps.