Erik nodded, his hand rubbing comforting patterns on her back. When she told him the story between her and Cathelijn and Thies, he actually asked her if she wanted to go. The answer she gave him wasn't actually a proper answer but more of an explanation. Long story short, Hanne would rather sit at the bottom of a swimming pool for ten minutes than be here.
The way how he's seen Hanne treat herself made himself feel sad. She was this beautiful person inside and out who was doing all these things for people who never once told her of their gratefulness. It was like she was the scapegoat of almost all of her friendships—her and Anneliese's friendship excluded.
"We could just leave and explore Amsterdam. I've never been to Amsterdam or even the Netherlands, so you can show me around even though you aren't from area," he told her. All he wanted was for Hanne to be happy, not unhappy in a dreadful environment. "The idea seems pretty great to me—"
"Goedeavond, Hanne."
The two of them looked up to find Thies, no longer with a bottle of beer in hand, sit in the empty seat in front of them. He had a sincere smile on his face, and no one knew if it was because of the alcohol or if he was pushing the limits and was about to do something incredibly stupid.
Erik looked at the Dutchman cautiously, aware of his and Hanne's history. There was probably an unlikely chance that any of them would get into a fight, but he still didn't want to take any chances.
Thies put his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward, looking at the carpeted floor before locking eyes with Hanne. "Look, I really appreciate you coming today. And even though things aren't going so well, it's nice of you to stay anyways. For me."
"Yes, staying for the reception where the bride and groom already had their first fight," she said. "Like shit this isn't going so well, Thies. You already made your wife mad."
He looked at her, furrowing his eyebrows because he knew that she had better things to do but came in attendance for him. "You're angry."
"Of course, I'm angry! I don't want to be in a wedding where I see one of my best friends marry this blonde, spoiled bitch!"
Everything they said was in Dutch, and Erik could only seem to understand at least half of it, but he knew that Thies had made Hanne terribly upset. He's never seen her this upset since he broke her camera, and that was nearly a month ago.
"If you were a good friend, maybe you wouldn't have invited me," she spat out.
The Dutchman looked somewhat hurt, rubbing his arm like he had received a punch. "One—Cathelijn did that, not me. And two—what is a wedding without the one of the most important people in my life?"
Honestly, Hanne doesn't even know why Thies is trying to hide what he's saying. And she doesn't even know why he's saying this in front of Erik. She knows where this is going, and it's not headed towards anything good.
If this keeps up, Thies may very well end up kissing Hanne while Erik's arms are around her.
"Did you even want the wedding? Marry her?" Words flew out of her mouth like they were breathing for air the last three years. "Because the last time we talked about this, you fucking hated her."
Now, this made Thies silent. He's never faced questions that questioned how real it was for him. It was always Cathelijn that answered those, sugar coating the reality. "I don't know. The last time we talked about this, I was in love with you."
In her mind, Hanne was quietly panicking. She knew very well that Thies had feelings for her, but she never thought that he would confess them right now! In front of her and her boyfriend!
