The Unfriendly Friend

Both of them were successful. They were well behaved young men, grew up in a Christian home; Peter Yale and Franklin Dee, but Franklin was very much ahead of Peter, both in riches and in fame. Though they were very close and shared all their secrets together, Peter started developing a dangerous jealousy towards Franklin because Franklin was gaining much more attention than Peter and every time they went for a party, seminar, or a conference, the one who always got strong recognition was Franklin Dee.

Ladies were always all over him, shouting out his name, uuh Frank, is the best, uhh how I wish Frank is my husband. And the men looked up to Franklin, respected him and had him as a role model. And all these things were killing Peter so softly on the inside. Franklin the innocent fellow never knew the inner battle Peter his dear friend was going through.

Peter had a younger sister, who was getting married, and he could not attend his sisters wedding without his beloved friend Franklin. Dee was always available when it came to anything that had to do with his friend Peter. So they attended the wedding together, they almost wore the same suits just with different colors.

At the wedding reception it happened that Franklin and Peter fell in love the same lady and that was when the real battle started.

The day after the wedding, the two friends, Franklin and Peter met at a bar to discuss about the wedding of yesterday, and Franklin started to explain how he had found a young lady that he was ready to enter a serious relationship with that will lead to marriage. As Franklin was explaining and describing the lady, Peter realized that it was the same lady he had fallen in love with that Franklin was talking about, and instead of opening up to his friend that it is the same lady he has fallen in love with, Peter kept quite and started dying within, wounds upon wounds. Franklin went on telling Peter, how they had exchanged numbers and fixed their first dinner meeting and the name of the young lady, Carolina.

Lovely enough, Carolina was single and her heart started beating for Franklin and she did not hide it at all.

When both of them departed, Peter was in great sorrow, and went home angered, and full of regrets for his life. Time went by, weeks and months and the relationship between Franklin and Carolina was blooming. They had started holding hands together even in front of Peter. Peter was no longer enjoying their friendship , and he started blaming himself.

He regretted saying, that he should have told Franklin about his feelings for Carolina the very first day. Since they are close friends Franklin would have not involved himself with Carolina, knowing that even his friend Peter also was having a crush on her. Ohh, why did I keep quite... I am in agony.. Peter blamed himself every day. He started loosing weight because of much thinking, and people around him started to get worried. Friends and family of Peter kept asking him, why he has not been eating well, when he has enough money, food and all that he needed. But no one, actually understood what was going on in the heart of Peter. But Peter summoned courage and decided to tell Franklin what had been going on.

They met on their normal meeting place and before Peter could speak out his mind, Franklin smiled and said, please my brother and my dearly loved friend Peter; Before you speak, I want to give you this great news. Carolina and I have agreed to get married. So please I know I do not even need to ask you, but just to inform you to get prepared to be my best man.

At the hearing of the wedding news, Peter started sweating and was short of words. He managed to behave himself, but was not able to speak for a while. He did not have enough strength to confess his heart to Franklin again, instead he said; Please, what I wanted to tell you can wait, let us go and grab some pizza and celebrate the good news about you and Carolina. This time Peter was provoked to anger and it was as if smoke was coming out of his ears while he was thinking. Upon the anger and provocation, Peter went home deeply sorrowful and troubled.

The following day, Peter could not hold it in any longer. He took one of his car keys, switched off all his three phones and drove outside town, and headed toward a seashore. He spent the whole afternoon and evening there, thinking and planning on how to rise above his friend Franklin, in fame, in riches. He also started thinking on how to do something that can separate Franklin and Carolina without him becoming a suspect or exposed.

At sunset, Peter drove back home, entered his house, took his bath and went straight to bed. That day he did not eat at all because things were getting out of hand. He did not understand why it has to be Franklin and not him.

To be continued...