Chapter 535: Reviews

After dinner, Lucy took Josh to his bedroom to tuck him in, while Tom sat in the living room with Jamal and Dawn.

"So, about your trip..."

"Before that, let’s talk about what happened between you both," Tom said with a serious expression, looking from Jamal to Dawn.

They both looked at him, knowing that he was being serious now because Josh was no longer in the room.

"Although you’ve both resolved things, and I’m glad. But this incident showed a lot of cracks in your relationship. Do you both not trust each other?"

"We do," they said in unison.

"Do you? Because that is exactly what went wrong. You were afraid to tell him the truth," Tom said, looking at Dawn, then turned to Jamal. "And you were too hurt to listen when she finally tried to explain. If you trusted her you wouldn’t react the way you did simply because you saw her holding hands with another guy."

"It’s more complicated than that," Jamal said defensively. "I didn’t react that way solely because I saw her holding hands with him."

"We had a misunderstanding the night before," Dawn explained.

"About?" Tom asked.

They exchanged a look, then Dawn sighed and told Tom what led to their misunderstanding and Jamal explained how his reaction had led to everything else.

Tom frowned as he listened to them. "What you both have is special. Why would you want what others have or compare what you have to theirs?"

"I was not comparing. I just want us to have more excitement," Dawn explained.

"Me too," Jamal said, reaching for Dawn’s hand. "We are still getting to know and understand each other. And we are still figuring out what works for us."

Dawn nodded as she smiled at Jamal.

Tom stared at them for a moment then nodded.

"So, do you plan to remain here?" Tom asked Dawn.

"Where else would she go?" Jamal asked with a scowl. "This is her matrimonial home."

Tom snorted. "Indeed."

Dawn laughed. "As long as you don’t mind, I’ll stay here."

"He has no reason to mind," Jamal assured her making Tom and Dawn laugh.

Dawn rose, "I should check on them," she said, referring to Lucy and Josh.

Both men gave her a nod and she walked away.

"And while we are on the subject, since Dawn and Josh are here already, how about we get married?" Jamal asked Tom.

"Two days ago you were asking for a break and now you want to get married?" Tom asked incredulously.

"Well, the fact that we did not end up breaking up should tell you we are never going to break up, shouldn’t it?" Jamal asked with a grin.

Tom looked at him for a moment. "Do you really think you’re ready to get married right now? Emotionally and otherwise?"

Jamal exhaled. "Yes. I love Dawn. And I know you’re going to say that love is not enough, and I know that. But we will keep learning. What happened taught me a lot of things about myself that I didn’t even realize and I’m going to work on it. I will both work on myself and together Dawn and I will work on our relationship..."

"And what did it teach you about yourself?" Tom asked, curious to know if Jamal had really learned.

"That I’m not as good a communicator as I thought I was. I realized that I tend to feel attacked when I receive a negative feedback and so instead of listening I get defensive. I also learned that I am an over-thinker like my mom. I’ve always thought too much, but I didn’t realize just how much it could affect my relationship until now. I took an ordinary situation, made assumptions about it, then started reacting to those assumptions as though they were facts," Jamal said, shaking his head.

Tom nodded slowly. "At least you got to know yourself better from the experience."

"Yeah. I did. And I can assure you that I learned my lesson."

Tom stared at him for a longer moment this time. "So, what will you do about these lessons?"

"I will work on it..."

"How? I want to hear the practical steps," Tom cut in.

Jamal was quiet for a moment.

"I’ll start with communication," he said. "When Dawn tells me something I don’t want to hear, I’ll make an effort to listen instead of becoming defensive. I’ll ask questions instead of making assumptions."

Tom nodded but didn’t say anything.

"And when something bothers me, I’ll talk to her about it instead of keeping it in my head and allowing it to grow into something bigger."

"Good," Tom said. "What else?"

"I’ll also stop making decisions when I’m emotional. If I’m angry or hurt, I’ll give myself time to calm down before I respond."

Tom nodded approvingly. "That is important. Never make permanent decisions because of temporary emotions. Like giving your partner a break to meet other people."

Jamal smiled faintly. "Thankfully she refused."

Tom leaned forward, his expression serious.

"And there is something else you need to understand, Jamal. Dawn needs to know that she can come to you with the truth without being afraid that you’ll be mad or punish her for it."

Jamal nodded. "I understand."

"Do you?"

Jamal remained silent.

Tom continued. "If you marry her without fixing all of these problems, these same problems will come back other forms."

Jamal nodded slowly. "So how do I fix them?"

"By making honesty safer than secrecy."

Jamal frowned slightly.

"Do you imagine that you’re perfect?" Tom asked, holding his gaze.

"No one is, but I try to be the best I can be," Jamal said honestly.

Tom nodded. "Why do you think companies generally ask for reviews for their products or services? Why does HAJ studios ask their customers for service reviews?"

Jamal shrugged. "So we can make improvements in areas where we might be lacking."

Tom nodded. "You need to learn to treat feedback from the woman you love as information, not an attack. No matter how perfect you might think you are, you will always be lacking in certain areas. There will always be need for you to make adjustments if you really want to be perfect. A person that truly wants to be perfect must embrace feedbacks whether positive and negative, especially from loved ones. Because that is the only way you can make the needed improvements and upgrades."