Love and war

The Haven was a place for everyone.

Playboys, gigolos, casual flings and so on. It was also a celebrity Hotspot and most days it was filled with paparazzi pretending to be customers.

The Haven served as a restaurant by day and night club by night. It was placed at the top of the trend. It was where scandals were made and secret affairs were created.

An attractive woman took her seat in a more private section of the club. There was only one sofa and a round glass table. The lights in the club kept switching from blue to purple; as if to compliment her personality. Her fashion sense screamed socialite and influencer. It was a simple red dress that hugged her body and showed off her curves. Every man that walked past her table almost always looked twice in her direction.

Maria Jones' Twitter handle had over a million followers but for a socialite, she lived a very private life. She was happy with having only a few friends and Diana was the only friend that mattered the most.

It was quite easy for Diana to spot her best friend the moment she walked into the building. Diana's eyes lit up and she navigated her way through the hoard of dancing drunk clubbers until she reached Maria. She hugged Maria tightly and held on for a while before they separated and sat down opposite each other.

"You look like hell baby. If this is what being married does to you, then it's seriously time to let go," Maria said as she scrutinized Diana's choice of fashion.

Diana was in a purple turtle neck which was tucked in a pair of blue baggie jeans. Her legs were clad in a limited edition of purple Jordan airs. She had on a black face cap to cover her face. She had on a pair of round dark Raybans glasses to complement the look.

Maria scrunched her nose up in disgust.

"Don't look at me like that. I don't feel like having a dress on today," Diana defended herself.

Maria shook her head in disapproval and remained silent. She examined her face instead for any hidden emotions. To a stranger, Diana looked beautiful enough but to Maria; nothing could miss her judgemental stare.

They took their seat and Maria ordered a mild alcoholic drink for the both of them, Diana tried to decline but Maria ordered anyway.

"If you are really going through with this, you will need to loosen up. Matteo had it coming a long time ago and I won't lie to you, your husband is not the kind of person that lets go easily. Diana, I need you to know that it's going to be a messy divorce," Maria finished.

Diana thought of what her friend told her before. She loved Maria dearly for that, her best friend was a blunt realist behind her social media persona.

"Call the waiter back MJ. . ." Diana began and Maria was about to protest when Diana continued. ". . .So we can change our orders into something stronger," Diana concluded and gave her best friend a knowing stare.

"That's my girl!" Marie Jones exclaimed and moved her body to the music. She raise her hand in the air and waved the waiter over. There was now a large smile on her face.

The waiter soon came over with the drinks. As Diana took her first cup, Maria challenged her. "I dare you to take off your wedding ring!" There was a mischievous smile on her face.

Diana replied instantly. "I am married, why?"

Maria said nothing as she waited for Diana to realize her mistake. Diana widened her eyes and smiled suddenly, "I am no longer married, am I?" She smiled at her mistake.

She took off her twenty-four-karat wedding band and dropped it in her pocket. They had not gone more than twenty minutes before an expensive bottle of wine was brought to their table.

"From the gentlemen over there," the waiter who had served them earlier said. As he gently opened the bottle, Diana and Maria looked in the direction the waiter pointed and saw the gentlemen.

Two men were dressed impeccably in custom-made suits. Maria poured herself and Diana the wine from the gentlemen. She raised her glass towards Diana. "To the new you!" She proposed.

Diana took her glass cup and raised it. "To the new me."

Maria smiled suddenly as a thought came to her head. "Diana baby, let's go say hi to the gentlemen. I mean it would seem rude to ignore their gesture and besides, you technically aren't married anymore, so let's go!" Maria proposed as she wiggled her brows at her.

Before Diana could reply, her phone rang. She checked the caller ID and Matteo was written boldly. She hesitated as she felt her heart skip a beat. Then she showed it to Maria.

"I told you he would choose the hard way, didn't I?" Maria reminded her.

"What do I do?" Diana frantically whispered as the men who sent the drinks were approaching them.

Marie Jones took the phone from Diana and pressed the red button. Diana gasped in surprise."He is gonna be so mad at me!" Diana shout-whispered.

"Do you give a damn?" Maria asked.

Diana still felt nervous but she shook her head in response. When Maria saw that they were past it, she went back to trying to help her friend loosen up.

"Okay, let's have some fun and mingle with those fine gentlemen coming our way."

Maria returned Diana's phone and smiled at the approaching men. Maria practiced free love. Nothing serious, private and relatively short. She liked her men them young and she had a kink for dominating every sex decision.

Diana watched as Maria flirted shamelessly with one of the men called Chad. Diana's interaction with the other guy Harry was quite awkward. Diana had not been on the dating market for three years so it was very hard to keep the conversation going, plus Harry's pick-up lines and charm seemed fake.

Diana jolted slightly. This was because her phone had rung again. Matteo was calling her for the second time. Diana hoped that Harry had not noticed.

Diana's phone kept vibrating in her pocket and thought of what to do. She looked at Maria and saw how happy she was talking to the total stranger. Diana retrieved her phone from her pocket and declined Matteo's call.

Even if Harry was not being genuine, Diana figured she could play along and keep the conversation interesting. Diana hoped her actions tonight would send a message to Matteo that she was serious about leaving.

Here she was, getting drunk with her best friend and talking to strangers. She had never thought once that she would one day be this free. Diana was loving the freedom and hoped that it would last.

"We should go somewhere private, quieter," Harry broke into her thoughts again.

At this, Diana concluded that she did not like him, she had mentally compared him to Matteo. While Harry was trying and failing to be funny, witty and flirtatious, Matteo was a natural at attracting women. While Harry was suggestive and asked permission, Matteo was dominant and confident.

Diana did not want to think about her husband again neither did she want to follow gameless Harry anywhere. In truth, she was being polite; she could not bear getting to physically spend time with another man, she had been through a lot of traumatic episodes in her marriage and she was not sure she had healed.

Maria on the other hand seemed to be enjoying her time with Mr. Chad whose parents owned a yacht company. Her hands played with his suit as he spoke and Chad kept smiling at the attention.

"No thank you, I'm good here," Diana declined Harry's offer.

"I love the way you're playing hard to get. It's sexy," Harry whispered into Diana's ears before smiling.

Diana found his response creepy. Her phone vibrated and she instinctively looked at it. It was her lawyer. She was about to excuse herself when Harry muttered, "he must be worth it."

The statement made Diana so mad, but her lawyer was the important one right now. So she excused herself vowing to call Harry out when she was done.

"Hello Diana, how is your weekend going?" George asked from the other end of the phone.

"It's okay, has it been done?" Diana asked pensively.

"I have sent the divorce papers to Matteo, now we wait," George answered.

"Keep me posted and thank you so much," Diana responded.

"Diana?" George called for my attention.

"Yes, George?"

"Matteo is not the monster you think he is. He just doesn't know how to love. He wasn't nurtured like a normal child. I wish you good luck, have a wonderful weekend, Diana." George hung up.

The lawyer's words got to her. Diana found herself intrigued by the new information she got about Matteo. She did not know anything about the man she had lived with for three years. She returned to the table and saw Harry's smug and entitled face.

"You took your time," Harry pointed out with a hint of mockery.

"How much is the wine?" Diana asked abruptly and loudly. The men were a bit shocked by the question. "The wine you bought for us, how much did you get it? " Diana pressed in a cold tone.

Chad recovered first."You don't have to worry about that, we took care of it."

Diana glared at the men. She was already drunk and now pissed off by the unfortunate events in her life.

"Mr. Chad? Was it? Yeah, a very suspicious name by the way. Who are you to tell me what to worry about? You expect me to sit pretty and accept everything you say. Laugh at your jokes too because you bought a bottle of wine? Is this what gentlemen do these days? I'm disappointed. Gentlemen, I can buy my own drinks. So you can either sit and pretend that your shitty wine is not compensation for fucking women or get your asses off this table!" Diana exclaimed.

There was a very long awkward silence before Maria burst into laughter."My baby is brutally honest when she's drunk!" She happily proclaimed.

Harry remained sullen the rest of the evening while Chad heartily laughed at Diana's earlier outburst. Diana did not seem to care about Harry's emotional state at all.

Diana's phone rang out and changed the atmosphere. It was Matteo again. Even Maria was getting worried. Diana was no psychic, but she knew there was trouble coming. She knew Matteo was fuming with rage. Diana remained bothered as she watched the phone ring.