bring out and show strength - prompt 169

Hello, coffee lovers!

Coffee shops are that almost magical space where, despite being surrounded by people, you feel completely alone, and that's why we talk about the most important things in our lives.

That happened to me one day with a good friend I had… or still have, although she's no longer in the country. In fact, she lives abroad now, because of the conversation we had.

It turns out that she, a singer with a beautiful, powerful, and perfectly pitched voice, projected an image of a confident, self-assured, and empowered woman. And yet, she was quite the opposite.

She had been living for over two years with a man who cheated on her with every woman he could. My friend knew it, although she stubbornly refused to admit it. I never said anything to her about it, since it was her decision, and although I didn't agree with it, I respected it.

But that day at the coffee shop, I noticed handprints on her arms. Someone had squeezed them there, leaving bruises. That's when I couldn't hold back and asked her, "How long will this go on?" She was stunned.

She didn't see that question coming, since we had been talking about music up until that moment. So I repeated it: "How long are you going to put up with this humiliation?"
That man wouldn't let her sing at the evening events, he cheated on her, he told her she was a nobody, that she would never amount to anything without him. He had destroyed her self-esteem, and now it was becoming physical. She tried to give me a reason to leave, so I decided to tell her what she needed to hear.

I told her how beautiful she was, how intelligent, and what an excellent artist she was. I told her about the many admirers she had and that she never needed, nor has she ever needed, any man to be someone. Rather, her husband needed her to feel like a man. And I ended by telling her that if she left him, I guaranteed her career would take off.

We talked for a long time, and before the weekend, I had already left him. A year later, her career took off, and now she's touring Asia. I think that was the most serious and necessary conversation I've ever had in a coffee shop. No one noticed a thing. We were protected by the magical veil of intimacy that coffee shops offer.