My Friend Toothache

My friend Toothache

Vance: you are not worthy of my heart,a cheater like you doesn't deserve genuine love.

Blair: Are you saying you’re leaving me? just like that?

Vance: Exactly, That’s exactly what I’m saying. Blair, I’m divorcing you.⁠

Blair: Are you divorcing me just because of a fling? A passing phase?⁠

What about you, vance ? Are you a saint?

Vance: Are you truly the woman I loved? My eyes never looked at another woman,

Not even in my dreams, Why? Am I bound to you? Or do I just love you? Your betrayal is a bitter pill to swallow, Blair! I am walking in a daze, unable to believe that you cheated on me... right when I needed you by my side the most!

Blair: I understand what you are saying, But my feelings for you are over, and you did not even notice, you failed to realise that the woman beside you has been cheating on you for weeks!

Vance: How could you? Was not I your lover!

Blair: you were, I told you before that my feelings are unstable.

Vance: And you say this after four years of marriage?

Blair: Enough of this, Stop playing victim, you do not have feelings for me either.

Vance: I do not have feelings for you? Does that give you the right to cheat on me?

Blair, Wasn’t I faithful to you? Are you breaking my heart now?

Blair: What does it matter to you? Do you care about the timing? If I had cheated on you at any other time, would it have hurt you less?

Vance: You’re out of your mind, Blair, You're a fool,Blair go away I don’t want to see you anymore, you have lost a man who loved you with all his heart, I don’t want to see you, I am not angry, all I feel toward you now is nothingness, and I can’t even explain this nothingness.

Blair:vance, you do not mean that! You did not just say you do not want to see me anymore, right?

Vance: I did say it, Blair, I can’t even look at your face, All I see is a stranger.

Blair: Vance you do not realize what you are saying, you will calm down tomorrow, and we will talk …….

Vance interrupting her: There is no tomorrow for us, Blair. No tomorrow, Go wherever you wish.

Vance crossed the street recklessly, He strode down , looking like he was running,desperate to get away, from what , and to where?He did not know, He walked as if he were clutching his own shattered chest in his bare hands, each heavy step a desperate attempt to outrun the agony snapping at his heels, Striding blindly into the cold night, he fled from a pain he knew would eventually catch up to him. He didn’t know where his feet were taking him, nor did he care. The cold air bit at his face, but it was nothing compared to the roaring fire in his mind. He was completely trapped inside the dark vacuum of his thoughts, wandering the indifferent streets, trying to outrun a reality he was simply too broken to accept He fled from a pain that might catch up to him, Blair’s Voice chased him, Trying to reach him,

Blair: Vance, do not go! Let’s talk ! Vance , come back!

Her screams echoed whether out of regret , Or to ease her conscience, It was unknown.Perhaps Vance kept running because he knew that if her voice traveled from his ears to his heart, He would return, He would surely return, after all, she was Blair , Hislover of six years, and his wife of four , It was a decade of knowing her blue eyes, her slender frame, and her brown hair .Vance kept running , Or perhaps walking, He could no longer tell, He crossed one street after another, His eyes blurred with tears mixed with the raindrops falling on this freezing night , all he could see was the blurry glare of streetlights and cars, andumbrellas moving along the pavement,He paid no attention, heard nothing, He saw and walked involuntarily, Vance kept running through the freezing rain, desperately trying to outrun his own shadows and the heartbreak that threatened to kill him.Clutched in his hand was Blair’s necklace , which he had recently seen at Steve’s house, a friend who had recently offered him a job, Steve had tried everything to get close to him, And now, Seeing her necklace at Steve’s house cut him to the quick, making the reason for that sudden closeness painfully clear.A small piece of jewelry, yet it carried an immense toll. Vance could not tell if he Was holding a delicate chain or a heavy stone , He had never imagined that this Token would one day be stripped from his lover’s neck. He had gifted it to her on Their very first Valentine's Day a sacred symbol of their love and shared memories. Vance reached a bridge hovering over the center of the city, and his legs simply gave out. His feet stopped moving. There was no emotion, no conscious thought, no deliberate decision just a sudden, physical halt. He stood there for a full hour, motionless, thoughtless, and numb, resembling a living corpse. Everything around him maintained its rapid pace; the world did not pause for a single second, yet he stood entirely still. He stood there, frozen to the spot for seventy minutes, staring into the abyss of his thoughts, debating whether to throw away the necklace or jump himself. Should he cast it into the abyss, or cast himself? Should he keep it, or jump? A strange, chaotic conflict raged within his mind. Can a human being truly debate between discarding a silver necklace and ending their own life? Vance pondered this deeply. That night felt longer than a year. It was a harsh, bitter November night freezing cold with light snow beginning to fall. A strange sense of longing drifted through the winter air, the kind that makes a soul crave companionship, while the local cafés were packed with people holding warm mugs of coffee to shield themselves from the chill.

Vance entered his house, entirely unaware of how he had managed to arrive there perhaps driven by pure muscle memory. He pulled the key from his pocket and attempted to unlock the door, but it slipped from his frozen, trembling fingers. Unbothered and acting purely on instinct, he picked it up, unlocked the door, tossed the keys onto the table, and shed his heavy coat. He pulled out a chair, sat down in the dark, feeling the walls closing in on him,terrified that a lingering memory would flash before his eyes.Was he calm?No, he was not even truly present; his physical body occupied the chair, but his soul was entirely absent.He sat in absolute silence, as if he had faded out of existence, or perhaps this was the quiet prelude to a total psychological collapse. Vance had lost his fortune and his job months ago, yet he had never endured such an oppressive silence before. It was as if his wife, Blair, had been the thin line separating his reality from absolute nothingness. Her betrayal had shattered that boundary, leaving him entirely displaced. With his fortune and job already gone, Blair's betrayal meant he had finally reached the end of his rope ,In the dead center of this silence, something suddenly pulled Vance back to reality. A sudden, piercing toothache jolted him from his trance, dragging him out of the void. His fingers tightened instinctively around the necklace he couldn't bring himself to throw away. He glanced around with fleeting, disoriented eyes, wondering how he had even managed to reach home. As his gaze fell upon the necklace, painful memories tried to invade his consciousness, but fortunately, the physical agony reached him first. He tried to bottle up his emotions to face the physical torment, but the unyielding toothache only added fuel to the fire But the toothache was completely unyielding. He realized his broken heart would simply have to wait until his tooth stopped throbbing. Vance stood up and stumbled toward the first-aid. kit,frantically searching for a painkiller to numb his jaw and silence this physical distraction so he could tend to his fractured soul. This was no time to be bothered by a mere toothache. He threw the medications around, tossing the box carelessly to the floor, but found absolutely nothing. He paused for a moment …….. Where could he go .He needed time to process the betrayal, and this blinding pain was obstructing his thoughts. He checked his watch, his hand still gripping the necklace.

Vance: It’s 11:00 PM. How am I supposed to find an open clinic at this hour?He collapsed onto the couch, utterly exhausted and depleted. Attempting to ignore the physical ache, his mind began to drift back into the agony ,When did Blair stop wearing her necklace?When did she start neglecting it?Or did she neglect it at all?When did she begin to feel that I lacked feelings for her?What did I do to give her that impression?Was it entirely my fault?Before he could formulate any answers, a severe, agonizing wave of pain struck his jaw, shifting the toothache into its most brutal phase.

Vance (frustrated and raging ) : Why now? Why does it have to hurt right now?

With immense effort, he pushed the pain aside once more and forced himself back into his thoughts.

Vance: Since when had Blair even know Steve? She claimed she’s been cheating on me for weeks …..

Damn this tooth! This is not your time !

He stood up and began pacing frantically up and down the living room, trying to reconstruct the pieces of his shattered life. His period of silence had expired , he had now transitioned into the stage of frantic analysis and processing. Pressing his palm firmly against his cheek to soothe the throbbing, he spent an hour walking back and forth. He felt that the constant movement might somehow lessen the physical torment. But had this pain truly emerged from nowhere? The tooth had been delivering mild warnings, but Vance had turned a blind eye to them, just as he did with Blair’s late night phone calls and her recent, detached behavior. Whenever she had wanted to talk, his response was always a dismissive,

Blair, honey, I am occupied right now, let's discuss it later. He used to take a dose of painkiller for his tooth, and another dose for his failing marriage, never finding the time to visit a professional.Vance stopped abruptly in the center of the room, his eyes locking onto theirwedding photograph hanging on the wall. He stared at it blankly, experiencing an overwhelming rush of emotions he had never encountered before profound regret for not taking her warnings about her unstable feelings seriously, blinding anger, a suffocating silence, a desperate craving for answers, heartbreak, and total disorientation. It was a long, unexplainable stare. If it were not for the brutal toothache, he would have stared at that picture until his eyes gave out. He still had not fully digested the shock. This numbness was a defensive psychological mechanism his body deployed to protect him an involuntary reaction forged through thirty five years of life and past survival of trauma. This mechanism anesthetized his emotions to provide temporary relief, but its severe side effect was a form of amnesia following every major emotional shock. For instance, he had completely forgotten his first job where he had worked for two years, retaining only four isolated moments from that entire duration, and he possessed only a few scattered, fragmented memories of his childhood. This amnesia did not imply forgetting faces or identities entirely, but rather erasing the traumatic and painful details surrounding a shock. Over time, This mental defense mechanism would slowly consign the traumatic details to oblivion, eventually wiping people completely from his mind. This forgetting did not happen overnight , it allowed him to survive the initial impact of the trauma first, then slowly dissolved the agonizing parts much like when his mother abandoned him at seven years old , he now possessed only two mental images of her from his entire childhood. Suddenly, his tooth entered its most agonizing phase, perfectly mimicking the intense pain in his heart. He was not merely unlucky to suffer two distinct agonies in a single night , it was the ultimate price of ignoring the warning signs.

Vance (groaning in agony) : I wish I hadn’t ignored it from the start. I wish I had fixed it from the beginning.

He sank heavily to the floor, his back hunched against the wall, unable to move as theintense physical pain forcefully dragged him out of his emotional void once more. Pressing harder against his burning cheek, he inadvertently released his grip, dropping the necklace onto the couch the token that had not left his hand for hours. He did not even notice he had let it go, he just kept groaning in the dark.

Vance: Does a man truly cry out like this? Is there no end to this torture?

At that exact moment, Vance bitterly regretted not throwing himself off the bridge

when he had the opportunity. Now it was too late , the physical pain had paralyzed him entirely.

A look of pure, unadulterated rage filled his eyes. He stood up to vent his pure fury, smashing everything in sight. To make matters worse, he smashed a juice glass, the TV remote, his phone, and a crystal vase filled with withered, lifeless flowers. How long had those dead flowers been sitting there? It was the last time he had gifted flowers to Blair, three long months ago. He hurled the vase violently against the wall, and it shattered right over their wedding photograph. He stared at the broken glass for a few seconds before the throbbing pain overwhelmed his senses again. He lay twisting on the floor, striking himself in frustration, crawling back toward the first aid kit in a desperate, futile search for a pill. Finding nothing, he collapsed entirely, resting his burning cheek against the cold, hard floor.

What should he do? Should he end his life? Should he return to analyzing Blair’s betrayal? Or should he brave the freezing night to find an open pharmacy? After debating with himself for half an hour, he resolved to go out. He forced himself into his coat and grabbed his keys, his hands trembling violently with pain. He looked at his palms. Where is it? Where is the necklace? Where did I put it? Glancing around the chaotic room, he saw it lying forgotten on the cushions of the couch. How could his hand have let go of it so easily after holding it so fiercely for hours? He had finally managed to tear the lingering love for her out of his heart. He had harbored a faint glimmer of hope,but her presence in his existence was officially over. Surveying the destruction around him, the ruined room and the shattered wedding picture Vance muttered to himself with a hollow voice,

Vance: Can a mere toothache truly be greater than the agony of Blair leaving?

Vance suddenly realized that the brutal toothache was a blessing in disguise , it became his ultimate salvation and escape.He turned back, tossed his keys onto the table, shed his coat, and lay back down on the floor, twisting in agony. One moment he rolled to the right, the next to the left,desperately seeking a comfortable position. He would sit for a brief moment, thenstand, rubbing his cheek, pacing erratically between the chair and the couch. He could not even bring himself to change rooms or go to the bedroom, he just lay on the living room floor. He thought of absolutely nothing but his tooth, no Blair, no lost job,no past traumas, no financial stress. The throbbing tooth was his entire universe.He stayed awake through the entire night,unable to find sleep or rest, a state that persisted well into the next afternoon. This absolute distraction was exactly what he desired acomplete psychological escape. He

tried to brew a cup of hot coffee and swallowed it with extreme difficulty, unable to consume any solid food. But even without the toothache, could he have eaten anything after his life had been utterly ruined? Absolutely not. The outcome was identical, but the source of the pain was different. He could tolerate the physical toothache, but he could not bear the emotional heartbreak. Blair was not just his wife; he was deeply, profoundly in love with her. The following day, Vance continued to toss and turn on the floor. He refused to visit a doctor, he refused to think, and he adamantly refused to call her. He did not want to hurt over her anymore. He stopped searching for answers to unanswerable questions, focusing his entire consciousness on the physical pain. Two days passed in this agonizing state until he reached his breaking point.To end this torture, Only two days back, a suffocating stone had lodged itself inside his heart; tonight, that same crushing weight had migrated straight into his skull,

Vance declared:

Vance: I can endure a toothache for a day, but I will not tolerate Blair's betrayal ten times over.

He took his keys and walked to the clinic at 7:00 PM. Blair had only attempted to call him twice. She had not returned to the house which was her home too for eight days, using the hollow excuse of staying with friends,

Hi Blair, where are you?

Their marriage had been on thin ice for months as they silently drifted apart, their conversations reduced to hollow greetings.

Hi Vance, I'm at my friend's place.

Okay, see you.

That was the absolute extent of their interactions. But everything had changed when Vance went to Steve's house to get updates on the promised job. While Steve was in the kitchen brewing coffee, Vance had glanced around the living room out of casual curiosity. On a small corner table, he spotted a familiar necklace. He picked it up, assuming it was just a regular piece of jewelry, but as he examined it closer, his heart plummeted. He looked at the back of the silver pendant and saw a tiny engraving of a boat , the very symbol of her unstable feelings she had described to him long ago. He had jokingly told her back then that she was just like that drifting boat. The necklace also bore their engraved initials The engraved necklace was the smoking gun; there was no room for doubt, it was Blair's , he had confronted his friend.

Vance: Steve, what is this necklace doing here?

Steve: Do not worry about it, buddy. It belongs to my girlfriend. She must have left it here last night.

Steve knew perfectly well that Blair was Vance's wife.

Vance (dazed and breathless) : What do you mean? Your girlfriend?!

Steve: Calm down, it is just a regular necklace.

Vance had grabbed Steve by the collar in a fit of absolute fury.

Vance: Who are you calling your girlfriend?! How did Blair's necklace get into your house?

He had ripped the necklace from the table and stormed out to confront his wife.

Vance: Hello, Doctor.

Doctor : Hello, Vance. How can I help you today?

Vance: Please, Doctor ….

Bring me back to life.

The doctor carefully examined his swollen jaw.

Doctor : Why didn't you come on the very first day of pain?

Vance : I thought this pain would successfully erase another pain for a while.

Doctor : And did it erase it?

Vance : It did, significantly. If I could have endured it for another day, I would have stayed home.

Doctor : Well, Mr. Vance, you have a severe infection and swelling, and I cannot treat it immediately. The tooth must be extracted. Remember, Vance, you must eliminate the things that hurt you if there is no hope of fixing them. Don't let time run out on you.

Vance : What does that mean, Doctor? How long will this agony last?

Doctor : I will prescribe some heavy painkillers and anti inflammatory medication until the swelling subsides, then we will extract it.

Three days later,

Vance returned to the clinic to have the tooth pulled. As the root was extracted,he experienced an immense wave of physical relief, as if a massive weight had been lifted from his body. As the physical pain faded, the floodgates opened, and the emotional agony rushed back to fill the void.

Vance (to himself) : Alright …..

perhaps I can rest a little now.

He returned to his messy, chaotic house, seeing the destruction clearly for the first time. He began cleaning up the debris, trying to arrange his physical surroundings so he could think with absolute logic. He had been running away from facing himself and processing the betrayal. He finally sat down on the chair.

Vance (smiling with a faint, bitter irony) : Now that the toothache is gone …. Is it truly less painful than Blair leaving? What happens next?

A week of constant internal shattering had passed, and Blair had only called him once.Why? Had her feelings for him completely vanished into thin air? Vance dialed her number at 9:00 PM. She did not answer initially, but on his second attempt, she picked up.

Blair : Hello, Vance. How are you? Have you finally calmed down?

Vance (confused by her tone) : Blair ….. I am fine. How are you?

Their formal conversation felt like the calm before the storm as a heavy, suffocating silence fell between them -not one between two people who had once shared a bed.

Blair : I am fine too.

Vance (breaking the silence) : Are you free tomorrow morning?

Blair : Yes. Do you want to meet? Shall we go to our usual spot?

Vance : Yes, let's meet at 10:00 AM, but at a different, small café in the neighborhood.

Blair : Alright, no problem. See you there.

Vance : Goodbye.

Blair : Goodbye.

Vance hung up. He attempted to sleep, but it was entirely futile, vivid memories of their beautiful moments together flooded his mind. He had never expected to lose her like this. He asked himself: If I had been the one who cheated, would she have granted me another chance? Would she forget what happened? Maybe, or maybe not. She would be foolish to give me a chance after such a betrayal. And Blair is not foolish at all. Betrayal is betrayal, whether committed by a man or a woman. Her betrayal was permanently etched into his mind and heart. If she had neglected me the way I neglected her, would I have cheated?He had firmly made up his mind to separate from her from the very first moment, but now he asked these questions not to orchestrate a reconciliation, but simply to find closure and keep her image untainted in his eyes, rather than to orchestrate a reconciliation. There is no valid excuse for betrayal, whether by a man or a woman. I loved you, Blair , I could never have broken your heart even if you neglected me. It did not matter now. He had to let her go, just as she desired. I cannot cage someone I love. I don't know what I will be next free or a prisoner.

On Sunday morning, Vance departed his house early at 7:00 AM, carrying Blair's necklace to return it to her. His appointment was scheduled for 10:00 AM, so why leave so early? He suddenly remembered how he used to head out hours early in the past, just to wait for her to appear. Where did he go? He went straight to Steve's house and rang the doorbell repeatedly. Steve opened the door and Vance caught Steve completely off guard with a brutal punch, before seeing Blair walk out, catching her red-handed , Blair walked out of the bedroom, adjustments to her clothes frozen in shock.

Blair : Steve, what’s going on here? Vance?!

Vance heard her voice, the voice that used to instantly wash away his exhaustion. He lowered his fist, looked up, and stood there dazed and shocked. Had Blair always been this profoundly cold?

Vance : What are you doing here?!

Blair asked with a strange, chilling calmness, her voice entirely devoid of shame, guilt, or regret, as if he had merely ruined a casual romantic date rather than catching

her red-handed in betrayal :

What brought you here? Didn't we agree to meet at ten?

Vance (smiling with bitter, hollow disappointment) : Yes... at ten.

Vance turned and walked out of Steve's house holding his head high. He was completely broken inside, but he managed to keep a stiff upper lip. He walked the streets, purchased a simple cheese and tomato sandwich and a hot cup of tea from a street vendor, then enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee at a local café before heading to his actual appointment with her.A few minutes later, Blair arrived at the neighborhood café and sat opposite him.

Vance: Blair, this is the absolute last time we will ever see each other. Until yesterday, I was trying to convince myself to keep your beautiful memory alive in my heart... but I don't care anymore. My heart holds absolutely nothing for you now.

Blair: Do you want to just talk, or will you actually listen to me? Have you not asked yourself why I did this? Am I truly the only guilty party here? For months, Vance, you did not even see me.

Vance : I do not want to hear a single word. All I know is that those who truly love do not betray,

whether they are a man or a woman. You are entirely free from me now, just as you wished, and I am finally free from your betrayal. We will finalize our divorce in a single session. Go wherever you want, you are entirely free.

Vance gathered his belongings and walked out, his internal defense mechanism shielding him from processing the full weight of the trauma. He walked the city streets, reading billboard signs, watching passing cars, and buying food from street vendors, though he possessed no appetite. He was actively trying to distract his mind and fill the massive void inside. He engaged in casual conversations with strangers on the road, then returned home and finally fell into a deep, natural sleep after ten agonizing days of insomnia. His mind was buffering the shock to protect him from losing his sanity, programming himself to survive , We will hurt tomorrow , let's sleep today. We will think tomorrow, let's eat now. It was a temporary emotional evasion to preserve the remaining pieces of his psyche, even if it cost him vital parts of his memory. A month of severe depression and intense internal conflict passed. Vance’s life was completely unstable. He lay on the couch wearing only a single sock, surrounded by takeout bags, cluttered clothes, and chaotic furniture. Suddenly, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen with cold indifference and ignored it. It rang a second time. He finally stood up and answered the unfamiliar number.

Vance : Hello? Who is this?

Voice : Hello, am I speaking with Mr. Vance Rolland?

Vance : Yes, that is correct. Who is speaking?

Voice : I am a detective from the Miami Police Department. You filed a severe fraud report a few months ago, correct?

Vance : Yes, I did.

Detective : We have successfully apprehended the organized gang run by Frank, the man who defrauded you. They scammed over two hundred citizens out of millions of dollars. Your assets and property have been fully recovered, Mr. Rolland. Can you come down to the station on Monday to complete the legal procedures and reclaim your money?

Vance: Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much, Officer.

After a month of intense depression, this phone call was the light at the end of the tunnel, bringing a spark of hope back to his life. His lost assets valued at seven hundred thousand dollars, were fully restored. Among them was a magnificent estate with a sprawling garden and a stunning view that he had recently purchased before the fraud.

On Monday morning, he dressed in elegant clothes fitting his new life and went to the police station to officially reclaim his home and fortune. Two days later, his divorce from Blair was finalized in a single, quiet court session. Vance legally signed over his old house to her, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it or the memories haunted by her lingering scent.

He moved into his new estate, thoroughly cleaned it, and planted fresh, vibrant flowers and greenery in the expansive garden to breathe life into the property. He opened the heavy curtains on a warm, sunny spring morning, allowing the radiant light to flood every corner of his new home. The morning sun felt harsh and unforgiving at first, stinging his eyes, but Vance welcomed the sting. He took absolutely nothing from his old life not even his old clothes. He explicitly informed his attorney that Blair was free to do whatever she pleased with the remnants. He started completely fresh With an excellent new job, Vance was finally rebuilding his shattered life. The traumas of his past were not gone the scars on his soul still throbbed on quiet nights but he had learned how to carry them, He no longer ran away from difficult confrontations, nor did he bury himself in hollow relationships to ignore his problems. He treated everything that had transpired as a vital lesson to learn from. Vance also began regular sessions with a professional therapist to heal his soul, fully aware of the mental exhaustion he had endured.