You've Had Your Fun, Ariel
1267 Words
Six years later
A stressed, but beautiful young lady sits opposite a man in his late sixties. From the look on her face, one could see she was extremely uncomfortable.
The man scrutinized her from behind his glasses which were hung atop his nose. After a few minutes, he raised his head again and took hold of the document on his table.
"I love the way you channel all of your emotions into your writing. It's sure to keep the readers captivated, Nathalia." He finally said with a smile and the lady smiled.
Ariel tried to keep the nervousness off her face when she saw him drop the paper again. "So, what do you say about having dinner with me tonight?"
"My schedule for the rest of this week is so tight I'm afraid I can't squeeze out any—" She was saying when the man sighed.
"It's unfortunate you don't want your writing to get in front of the newspaper headlines. You will be surprised to know the copies you'll say this week if we have dinner tonight." The man butted in, revealing a wolfish grin.
Ariel swallowed forcefully. From her first day in this company, the manager, Andrew Hoffman, kept trying to sleep with her.
She knew it was a bad idea to stay, but this was the only place HE hadn't discovered.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hoffman, but I can't." She quickly said and made to get up, but his henchman who was in the room appeared beside her and pressed her down to the chair.
She could no longer hide the fear in her eyes as she stared at the elderly man.
"Stop with this pretense, Nathalia, you know you want me just as much as I want you. Besides, I've known you for about six months and I know you don't have a boyfriend. Or do you have one, but you're ashamed to tell your colleagues about it because he's poor?" Andrew scoffed as he got out of his seat and walked towards her.
Ariel nodded vigorously. "Yes, I do have a boyfriend, but he's not as buoyant as my colleagues' boyfriends."
"Then aren't you tired of being tied down by him?" Andrew asked, stopping in front of her. He lowered his face towards hers and extended a finger to touch her face.
He trailed it all the way down to her cleavage which was exposed a little. l**t filled his eyes, but he held back.
"Tell you what, you can be my mistress and I will treat you better than my other mistresses. I'll get you all the things your wretched mistake of a boyfriend can't afford." He added and retrieved his hand.
Ariel swallowed forcefully again. She felt so hot despite the air conditioning in the office. But she managed to ask, "Can I think about it?"
Andrew wasn't in a hurry, so he shrugged and walked back to his desk. He picked up the hardcover novel which was just beside the document he had gone through and raised it up, "The availability of your novel depends on your response."
A knock sounded on the door before it was pushed open. His secretary walked in. Andrew's henchman was yet to let go of Ariel which gave the secretary a bad feeling.
She knew all about her boss and his numerous bad habits. She just didn't know he'd target such an innocent person like Ariel.
Andrew followed her gaze. When his eyes settled on his henchman still holding Ariel, he waved his hands. "That's no way to treat a lady, Jones."
Jones nodded and let go of Ariel. He walked back to his previous position which was behind Andrew.
"What is it, Cassandra?" Andrew asked, directing his gaze at his secretary.
When she recalled why she was there, Cassandra hurried towards him and showed him something on the paper she was holding. The man quickly became nervous as he sprinted out of the room.
Ariel sauntered out of the office as well and straight to her desk. As fast as she could, she wrote a letter of resignation. Then she submitted it at the front desk before leaving the company.
Once outside, she breathed out in relief and took out her phone to call someone. The phone was answered on the second ring.
"I'm in the hotel room already. Room 357, Sparks Hotel and Suite." A man's voice said from the other end.
"I'll be there soon." She muttered a response and hung up. Then she flagged down a taxi.
As the taxi headed towards her location, she reminisced on her life for the past six years. She didn't regret running away from Ezekiel on her wedding day. What she regretted was not planning her escape well.
For the past six years, she has been on the run from Ezekiel, taking off every six months whenever he gets too close to where she stayed. But just last year, he seemed to have gotten impatient as he raided her house and almost caught her.
Luckily for her, she wasn't at home and had gotten a call from her landlord about a burglary in her home. She needed no one to tell her it was Ezekiel. Hence, she got into the first train she set her eyes on.
It brought her straight to New York, a city she has been relieved to be in for the past one year because thanks to the population, Ezekiel was yet to find her.
She wanted to put an end to this running so she made up her mind to sleep with a handsome man who she was sure was free of any disease. Surely, no one would want to marry a woman with a child.
With that thought in mind, she had scheduled the time and day for their meeting. The taxi came to a halt outside the hotel and she got out of it.
She paid her fare before turning to look at the gigantic building. The hotel had been built a year ago by a business tycoon who she didn't bother to look into.
She walked into the hotel and conversed with the receptionist. After showing him her identification card, the receptionist handed her a card before directing her towards the direction of the hotel room.
She got into the elevator and imputed the number for the floor with the room's number. This was her moment of truth and she was willing to live with the cutie she'd give birth to for the rest of her life.
The elevator stopped and dinged open. From where she stood, she could see the hotel number she was after glaring right at her face.
She hesitated a little in front of the door before sliding her card on the card holder. It beeped and the red color changed to green before a click was heard.
"Hello?" She called out as she walked into the room. The room was dead silent. She hadn't bothered to know his name, so she called out again, "Hello?"
When she got no response, she frowned and dialed his number again. She heard it ring somewhere and followed it.
She almost shrieked when she saw the gigolo with his eyes wide open and a bullet hole in-between his eyes.
Her heart tripled in fright and she raced out of the room. However, on her way out, she bumped her head on a hard wall.
Unexpectedly, the wall smelt so familiar. So she looked up to see it was her nemesis.
"I believe you've had your fun, Ariel, cause it's time to have mine."
- Writer
