Chapter 4. New SIM

LATTON was sitting in front of a thick glass surrounded by metal borders on each side. It looks like an open phone booth with a phone hanging just below the glass. She waited patiently in the visiting room. She's uneasy, her heart is pounding as if it wants to explode. Soon a man with chained hands shows up in front of her. The man is in his late 30s but looks older. When the man saw her face he hesitated a bit but in the end, sat in front of her only a thick glass separating them.

She gestures for him to take the phone so he could hear her voice. Which the man did.

"Do you remember me?" She asks. Her voice is a bit shaky, sounds like she's about to cry.

"Yes, the girl from 10 years ago"

"12! It was 12 years ago."

Both of them stared at each other.

"Right. What do you..." Before he could finish the sentence she cut him off.

"I forgive you!" She says then heaves deeply as if the weight of the world just got off her shoulders.

"I did not apologize."

"It doesn't matter. I finally moved on and that's what matters. I can now live a better life, knowing that you no longer have a hold on me." She said with certainty and control.

She then stood up, walked away, and never looked back. A smile of triumph is written all over her face.

"One down," she mumbles to herself.

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Several days after that.

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Her father finally got a hold of her, after days of dodging him and the men he kept on sending to follow her. He found her and he got her cornered. He froze all her accounts even the ones that she personally owned. Using his connections she can't even apply for a job. As she no longer had funds to keep herself afloat she had no choice but to return home within the week.

Hesitantly she starts packing her things. The short freedom she has now comes to an end. She emptied her bags to remove the trash inside, and a piece of paper fell. She was about to throw it away but she saw it was Blade’s contact number. She was thinking if she should contact him.

"I still have 4 months before I get married, committing sins with him will make it easier to accept my death sentence. I mean marriage." She said to herself while staring at the paper.

She took her phone that was on the table and dialed his number but changed her mind.

"What if he’s clingy and tries to stalk me?"

"Now you think of these things: he already slept with you and nothing bad happened."

"You enjoyed it."

She smiles realizing she is talking to herself.

She sat on the sofa and sighed deeply, an idea came to her mind. She went outside to purchase a new SIM card and order lunch.

After getting the items, she went back to her apartment.

While she was waiting for the takeout to cool down a bit, she inserted the new sim card into her old mobile device and added Blade’s contact number.

"In her mind, once we are done I can simply destroy this sim and forget all about it."

"But can I forget about it?" Thinking that she was frowning while she was eating.

It’s 2:00 pm and she’s done decluttering, she finally dared to text him.

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Lucian is having a late lunch with John. They got caught up with the operations and finance meeting regarding the budget for a project.

They ordered takeouts and sat across from each other in an empty conference room. John shared how stressed he was and it was only Monday but was happy that her girlfriend Vivian massaged him every night to relieve his stress and then advised Lucian to make amends with Malena so someone could take care of his needs.

Lucian then stated that his needs are something Malena cannot provide. John felt sad when he remembered what Lucian’s needs were.

"Get married secretly then you can be with the love of your life and make babies every night," John suggests.

This is something Lucian can do but he won’t do it because he loves and respects his parents. He values all their sacrifices and he wants them to learn how to trust the woman he loves.

What they need to do is work on how Malena will win his parent's trust. The main problem that his parents see is that she stopped her career growth after being with him for a year and that was 5 years ago.

He offered her a scholarship to various universities to get a master's degree, but she declined. He then offered her a job in a friend's company but she said she wanted to work around him. He said no, as her background is not suitable for the company, and his father won’t allow it and this became a huge issue.

They became on and off but today she’s not his main priority since he has a lot of work to do.

Their conversation got cut short when Lucian’s phone received a notification.

~

LUCIAN TOOK his phone out and saw it was Malena. He’s already stressed out with work and they are not on good terms so he hesitates to answer the call but John persuades him to answer it.

He said she might want to make amends. Lucian sighs deeply and then answers the call.

"Hey!"

"Lucian!" A soft voice could be heard from the other line.

"Are you busy today?" She added.

"Yes, why?" He says it matches her soft tone.

"Drive me to Maisie’s house. Like right now." She says with a demanding voice

"Is it an emergency?" He asked in a worried tone

"No, she’s having a party and I want to go there in a luxury car to shut them up! You’ve always been busy with that good-for-nothing company of yours." She says with an angry tone.

The tone of her voice irritates Lucian and she speaks to him as if he’s not doing anything important with his life. He then said to her, "Book an Uber Black and never call me for these trivial things." He then disconnected the call.

The grip on his phone tightened and John felt the annoyance in his eyes. She might have her period, he says, trying to make his friend less irritated.

He was about to put the phone back in his pocket when he heard a text notification.

He glances at the screen and it's an unknown number. The text reads;

2:15:10pm Hey! It’s me, the girl from Tavern. A few nights ago.?

His face lit up a bit and responded;

2:15:30pm See you tonight at Tavern?

In her mind, wow he responds that fast?

2:16:02 pm Sure, 7 pm?

2:16:18 pm Yes.

After sending that message, he locks his phone and puts it in his pocket. John got curious, he just saw him get annoyed then now he has a faint smile on his face.

"Who’s that?"

"My stress reliever!" He says while cleaning up the takeout boxes and leaving John in the room.

At exactly 7 pm Blade arrived at the Tavern, he parked his car and texted her.

She then responded that she was around the corner, he got out of the car to meet her, and he saw her first. She was wearing a knee-high black skirt with a dark gray turtleneck.

She waved at him when she saw him. At that time, he had time to change his clothes to a much more casual one, he was wearing denim pants, rubber shoes, and a white tee. He was also carrying a backpack.

They walk a foot away from each other as if they don’t know each other (Basically they don’t).

They arrive at the room and instead of kissing each other as the door closes like they did before, they sit on the bed. Blade is at the foot of the bed, while she sits across from him and leans on the headboard.

Then he told her about the rules he set up. If she wants to continue seeing him.

Rule number one: When they cross each other outside and they are with someone they will act as if they don’t know each other.

Rule number two: No excessive communication (phone calls/texts).

Rule number three: She can only sleep with him till she gets married.

She agreed to his terms since that’s the same thing she wants. That made him happy, he then asks her for her name but instead of answering him, she asks him if Blade is his real name.

He laughs and then says, "Yes!"

She chuckles, she does not believe him one bit. "You liar, that’s not even a name. It’s an item for cutting," she says to herself.

"Then call me Sieve. Can I add a rule?" She asks.

He nods in agreement.

"Rule number four: No sharing of any Identifiable Information, we can share stories but not complete names of persons, places, events anything that will point you to me and vice versa.

I’m a deranged person with lots of daddy issues. I can be crazy at times and I might stalk you" — She says while staring at him seductively.

Then she smiles from ear to ear, "I’m kidding," she added.

Her demeanor aroused him and he quickly grabbed her foot and pulled her. Her head slightly bumps on the headboard, he pins her down and kisses her on the lips while still gasping for air she mutters, "Lastly, rule number five: Never fall in love."

"I won't."

"I know you won't. You’re way out of my league." She said to herself while smiling faintly.

He then removed her top and saw the faint marking he left on her neck.

He then moved to add more markings, and she released a soft moan.

After the mood is set up, he pounds her in different ways. From missionary to Spooning to cowgirl style.

Her moans became shaky along with her body as he roughly inserted his into hers.

He opened one condom to another till the bedside was filled with its wrapper.

While both of them are lying down, he asks her when is her wedding. She then answered, "it's supposed to be in 2 months from now but I’m able to move it to October 21, so 4 months away."

"That’s good I can have you for 4 more months."

Without him noticing, she was blushing.

"Can I ask you something?"

He hums in agreement.

"How many girls have you slept with? Like 100? And how sure are you that you’re safe? I know it’s late for me to ask about it but I just want to make sure we’re clear."

She says while staring at the ceiling.

He then moves to her side to look into her eyes. He then said, "More or less maybe 80, and we are safe. I'm using the best-grade condoms money can buy, you cannot easily poke holes in them, I tried. I also have monthly checkups, so you don’t need to worry about it."

He then patted her on the head.

He moved to the other side of the bed grabbed his bag, took out four boxes of pills, and gave it to her.

Astounded, she stared at the boxes in his hands but she gladly accepted them.

"Drink one every day."

"I want to continue banging you without using those," pointing at the condoms on the nightstand.

She nods in agreement.