The Fallen Diamond

Short Story

The Fallen Diamond

By Lawrence Kadzitche

Charisse was freshening her make-up in front of the mirror over the sink when Janet came into the ladies’ room. “Seriously, I don’t like this, Chari,” Janet said while staring disapprovingly at her in the mirror. “You’ve a loving and caring husband, why should you cheat on him? One day he’s bound to find out and what do you think will happen?”

Charisse stopped putting her lipstick and glanced at Janet over her shoulder. “Aren’t you being a bit of worrier, Janet? I’m not boasting, but you see I hold the ace. I’m beautiful and even if he can leave me I can find another husband very easily.”

“But does that give you a license to be unfaithful to your husband?” Janet asked gravely.

“Yep,” Charisse replied without equivocation. “I’m like a diamond, a stone that is precious to everyone. Roy would be a fool to give me my marching orders if he can find out that I’m cheating on him.”

Janet regarded her friend thoughtfully. Charisse was indeed amazingly beautiful by any standards. But her biggest weakness was she was as conceited as she was beautiful.

“Still,” Janet said at length. “If I were you I’d call it quits while I’m still ahead. Your extra-marital affairs will only bring you grief.”

Charisse’s euphoria dissolved before her friend’s concern. “All right. I’ll think about it,” she said, resuming applying her make-up. “As for this evening I’ve already phoned Roy that I’ll be working overtime. Grover is taking me out.”

“Let’s hope this is for the last time,” Janet said, getting out of the ladies. “It’s almost five. See you tomorrow.”

Janet’s hopes were to be realized that very night. Charisse had grown very careless – maybe because she was convinced that her husband would not leave her even if he discovered her infidelity or because she had fallen more and more deeply in love with Grover.

Whatever the reason, Roy found out about the affair. He had begun to suspect her consistent need to work overtime and her weekend trips to seminars. This was what mainly tipped him off that Charisse was messing around with her boss, Grover Dzimwe.

So that day when she told him that she would be working overtime, he decided to investigate. A few minutes to five o’clock, he drove to Charisse’s workplace and parked the car where it could not be noticed. Then he got out to watch Charisse’s office block.

He watched staff leaving the block for home but his wife was not among them. After thirty minutes all cars had left the company’s parking yard except one. It was the big black Mercedes Benz of the company’s General Manager, Grover Dzimwe whose secretary was Roy’s wife.

Roy patiently continued his watch and it paid off. At 6.00pm Grover and Charisse came out and got into the Mercedes Benz. Grimly, he followed the Benz at a safe distance. The big black car came to a halt outside a posh night club.

Grover and Charisse got out and walked hand in hand into the night club. So this was what she meant by “overtime”, Roy thought angrily. He called out the countless number of times she had told him that she was working overtime and he had believed her, the scheming, conniving, double-crossing bitch!

Seething with anger, Roy went into the nightclub. He found his wife and Grover dancing in close embrace. The sight of the two holding each other as they swayed with the rhythm drove him mad.

He could no longer think. He was past thinking with anger. He found himself rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he approached Charisse and Grover. He was now a puppet, his motions controlled by his fury.

Suddenly Charisse looked over Grover’s shoulder and saw him coming. “My husband!” She screamed, her face a mask of both surprise and fear.

As Grover swung round, he crashed face on into Roy’s fist. He toppled over backward and fell against the wall. Roy worked him over pretty thoroughly. He hit him with his hands, head, elbows, knees and feet.

People came and stopped the fight. Without speaking to Charisse, Roy went out, got into his car and drove straight home.

That night Charisse slept at a friend’s house. She arrived home the following morning. She begged Roy to forgive her. He told her flatly that they were through for good. He was going to divorce her.

“You’ve betrayed my trust, Charisse. There’s no way we’ll ever find our love again. Doubts and suspicions will always stand between us.” Roy told her.

“Please forgive me, my dear husband. I made a terrible mistake. I love you. Grover was nothing,” Charisse said.

Roy let out a terrible short laugh. “You went into all the trouble to deceive me that you were working overtime in order to go out with him and you say he was nothing? You’re a liar and a betrayer. A scheming double crossing beautiful woman. That’s what you are!

That made Charisse fly off the handle. “Who do you think you are, Roy? You should consider yourself lucky that I accepted to be your wife considering the number of men who wanted to marry me. I’ll have no difficulties finding another husband but you’ll be lucky to find another woman like me!”

“Beauty isn’t everything, Charisse. If you don’t change your behavior, you’ll never get married again.” Roy said.

“Don’t preach to me. I’m going. I’ll soon find another husband much better than you, bastard,” Charisse said angrily.

She packed her things and left in the afternoon. She went to put up in a rest house.

“Darling, my husband has left me.” She told Grover over the phone. “I want you to find me a flat or house.”

There was no immediate response from the other side. When Grover answered, his voice was harsh. “I don’t know why you’re telling me this.”

“What?” exclaimed Charisse.

“After what happened yesterday it’s best that we should end our affair. You know I’m married and I’d to do the devil’s own job to persuade my wife not to leave me. So I don’t want to jeopardize my marriage by continuing our affair,” Grover explained.

Charisse was shocked. “Grover, you can’t do this to me…”

Grover jumped down her throat. “And the way things are, I’ll have you moved to another office immediately so that we should no longer see each other frequently.”

Charisse still couldn’t believe that this was the end of her love affair with Grover. “What’ll I do without you, Grover?” she pleaded.

“The best thing you can do is to go and apologize to your husband. He’ll take you back,” Grover said carelessly.

“He won’t, Grover. I betrayed his trust.”

“Then you’ll see what you can do. Involve me no more in your sordid affairs,” Grover said with finality and hung up.

Charisse stared at the receiver, her mouth agape. She cursed earnestly in Chichewa and two other local languages she knew.

She told herself that she was beautiful and would easily find another husband. But months crawled by. No one proposed love to her.

She realized that married men avoided her because they were afraid that she would drag them into marriage. When she had been Roy’s wife, they knew that she had been out only for fun. But not now. She also found out that the respect she had previously commanded in society as married woman was gone.

She began dressing to the nines to attract young men but this did not help. Instead this sent them away as they thought she was too expensive to maintain.

It quickly dawned on her that she had made a terrible mistake, she had though that she was a diamond, a priceless jewel that would easily find a market anywhere. Roy had dropped the diamond. Yet nobody, surprisingly, was willing to pick up the fallen diamond. It was possible that the diamond could stay where it had fallen forever without anyone picking it up.

She had learned a bitter lesson. Roy had been right. Beauty wasn’t everything. She recalled her happy marriage with him which she had wrecked and regretted her actions. Her mind clicked to a decision. She would go back to Roy and apologize. If he took her back she would never be unfaithful to him again.

The End