Mr Big

Mr Big

Mr Big (proper noun) - a man who dips in and out of a girl’s life, usually wealthy. He has no intentions to marry her or develop any sort of relationships. Often already attached, he creates havoc and quickly retrieves.

‘Dinner tonight, no excuses! Need to talk! Disaster!' - read the message from Emily.

My heart sunk. Emily doesn't do dramas, but the message indicated there was one. This definitely called for an emergency dinner.

We met after work in our favourite restaurant in the heart of the city, and as soon as the wine was poured she started her story. 

Bored, battling January blues, and following a major argument with her boyfriend, Emily was in desperate need of a romantic fix. So she arranged to meet Mr Big for dinner.

They have known each other for years, flirted, played the ‘shall we, shan’t we’ game so many times that in the end they decided not to and remained friends and each others’ guilty pleasure. 

Both Mr Big and Emily are attached. He has a girlfriend, whom his oh-so-wealthy family adores, but she is cold and unaffectionate. Emily has a live-in boyfriend of six years, who loves her but doesn't know the first thing about romance and lets her down on a regular basis.

Mr Big didn't let her down. He was early and had her favourite Dirty Martini waiting for her on arrival. He also made dinner reservations. In Le Gavroche.

Emily was impressed. Starved of romance and chivalry, she went along with the night and let herself to be carried away.

They ate exquisite food, drank exorbitant cocktails; they talked and laughed, the inhibitions were lowered and Emma let Mr Big take her back to the Four Seasons where he just happened to have booked a suite.

In the morning over a lavish breakfast, he promised he would keep in touch. One last kiss and Emma hurried to the tube to get to work. Nobody knew, no harm done. Or so it seemed.

I knew exactly what Emily wasn't saying and what was eating her away. She needed to convince herself that the mind boggling one night stand won’t ruin her relationship, that it didn't matter and she didn't tell her boyfriend.

And now Emily was sitting in front of me draining glasses of wine one after another, as if the solution to her moral dilemma could be found at the bottom of the bottle.

Emily’s story astounded me. My brain was struggling to process and file away all the information it received. For the first time in our friendship I didn't know what to say. 

As I sat there, opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish, I couldn't help but wonder, when it comes to relationships, if the grass is always greener on the other side, then how… I mean who can possibly afford a suite in Four Seasons? How did Mr Big get a reservation in Le Gavroche within 24 hours? Who is he?

The waitress brought another bottle of wine, I didn't even notice when Emily ordered it. I looked at my gal, there were so many emotions in her eyes - confusion, remorse, excitement. Yes, it was a one night stand but Emily needed to decide whether or not to tell her boyfriend, what it meant for their relationship, what it meant for her. What if she was in love with Mr Big…

As I finally snapped out of my trance and found my voice, I looked Emily in the eye and asked that important question that any good girlfriend would ask: “How was the food in Le Gavroche?”