The Best of Dimitri's Effect

Chapter One

Dimitri

            ''Just buy her what she wants!'' I exclaim on the phone, eyes wandering around to find that a few people have turned to look at me which causes me to smile at them; muttering an apology under my breath before walking down the aisle, ''She's pregnant. What do you expect? Just buy her whatever she wants. Put your lazy ass aside,'' I add, quietly.

          Aidan sighs deeply on the other line, ''Don't get me wrong, man. She can eat whatever she wants and I can buy her whatever she needs but I just got back from work, she wouldn't even let me change, for god's sake—she was literally dragging me out the front door before I accidentally got pissed off and now she's locking herself in our room.'' He replies.

           ''Just . . . just, knock on the door and say that if she steps out, you'll take her out to buy whatever she wants.'' I mutter, looking down the aisle for Brody's favourite cereals. ''You have got to understand that pregnant women tend to get pretty sensitive and you have to deal with that for the upcoming months. Just—''

           He cuts me off, ''—shut up, you're nagging. I hate it when you're nagging,''

          ''Well, you asked for it!''

          ''Whatever, I'll just text or call you tomorrow on whatever happens later. You're right, I need to give in and just understand her more especially when she's going through a lot of changes with her body. Thanks, man.'' He continues to speak as I hear him walking, letting me nod my head and mutter 'thank God' under my breath for cutting off the conversation.

          ''Later,'' I hang up the call before turning around to see an old woman staring at me with her lips curved up into a smile, causing me to smile back at her as I awkwardly grab onto my son's favourite cereal.

          ''Have a nice day,'' I nod my head as I slowly turn around to walk away, furrowing my brows in confusion at the sudden sight of her before heading straight towards the cashier to pay. As soon as I hand him over the total amount, I grab onto the paper bag and walk ahead towards the exit, heading straight towards my car or more precisely, towards where my car was.

          My eyes wander around the parking lot to find my spot is currently empty before finding a note with the same exact handwriting that I've been receiving for the past couple of months with my belongings missing, 'I like playing games. Do you?' I read, slowly crumbling it.

          This whole idiotic mess has got to stop, it has been going on for months and I've never once gotten to the stage where I find clues because every time I end up losing something, there's always this note with different words but same handwriting which makes no sense. At the same time, why would someone even bother to stalk me around and end up stealing my stuff?

          ''Great . . . just great,'' I mutter under my breath.

          I unlock my phone to go through my contacts but to my surprise, my phone shuts down, signalling for me to charge it immediately in order to continue using. Just like that, my grip around my phone starts to tighten with my anger slowly rising up but I breathe out, trying to control myself from throwing anything onto the ground.

          Within seconds, I'm already walking down the busy streets of New York without being bothered by the people surrounding me, only letting me walk down with my grip tightly onto the paper bag in my hand—with one thing on my mind, head home with this cereal safe so that Brody can enjoy a nutritious breakfast in the morning.

          ''Crappy day at work, ran out of cereals, best friend called to talk about other best friend, got my car stolen, have to walk about fifteen blocks. Yeah, yeah, how bad can this day get?'' I mutter under my breath before looking up to find the streets with less people, making me walk faster so that I can reach home faster with another thing on my mind, 'my bed must've missed me.' which causes me to smile, knowing that this whole crap will be worth it at the end.

          My eyebrows furrow at the sound of someone muttering curses under her breath which causes me to look around, searching for the source.

          ''He's going to call back, he's going to call back, he's just busy.'' I continue to walk down the road, seeing a beautiful figure standing near one of the apartments, seeing her holding tightly onto her phone as she run her fingers through her dark, long hair. Just as I take a few more steps ahead, I am left mesmerised by her exotic features.

          Her dark brown eyes are staring down at her phone screen as her eyebrows furrow, with her hair in a beautiful mess as her long legs stretch down the stairs, waiting for the 'person' to return her calls while I take my time to appreciate the beauty she holds. For some reason, she seems to be exact woman that I've once described to Kenna, except that she has long hair and dark eyes but everything else fits.

          ''Where is he? Why did my calls went straight to voicemail?'' She sighs deeply, ''Come on, come on, I've been waiting for hours—where are you, damn it? Just pick up the phone,'' She continues to speak with her eyes almost tearing up as her fingers fidget as she brings one hand through her hair, seems to have a habit of it.

          ''Trouble in paradise?'' I ask, frozen at my spot as soon as her eyes meet mine.

          Both of her eyes linger longer onto my face before they start to wander down my body, seeing me holding onto my paper bag with nothing else in my hand but my phone. ''Excuse me?'' She raises an eyebrow, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she stands up, leaning closer towards the door. ''This is my home,'' She adds.

          ''It's cold. Why aren't you getting inside?'' I ask, causing her to get caught off guard as she clears her throat—letting me take a moment to eye down her outfit, seeing her standing in a pair of summer jeans, dark blouse and casual brown fashionable boots; not exactly the perfect outfit for this kind of weather which makes me wonder if she's from around here, at all especially at the sight of a luggage near her.

         Her lips are slightly apart, ''Who are you? I can get inside whenever I want, excuse you. How about you try minding your own business and walk along?'' She looks away, showing a few signs of being uncomfortable while I stay still at my spot; finding her interesting.

         ''My name's Dimitri—''

         ''I didn't ask for your name,'' She cuts me off.

          I scoff, realising that I'm actually finding this conversation between two strangers, somewhat intriguing. ''You just asked me who I am . . . so I told you my name and I can't seem to be minding my own business when you're being too loud talking to your phone,'' I point down at the phone in her hand, ''You're disturbing others. Besides, it's cold outside and it's only going to get colder especially in that outfit of yours, why don't you get inside or at least change into something much more . . . warm?'' My lips curve up into a smile at the end.

          Just as she's about to say something, she immediately changes her mind by going through something in her bag. ''Oh! I completely forgot my keys, must've left it in my car. Thanks for your concern, Derrick but I don't need it anymore. So, if you would just leave and—''

          I immediately cut her off by chuckling, ''—wait, wait, a minute. Did you just call me Derrick?'' My question seems to have caused her to raise an eyebrow.

          ''Isn't that your name?''

          The way her dark brown eyes stare back into mine, it leaves me hanging to think that this stranger in front of me is someone I barely even know. For instance, I don't even know her name and that's telling me something but it's odd how she can make me feel all sorts of things just when she looks at me like that or by how she talks back, it's awfully intriguing. For some reason, it leaves me wanting more and more in this conversation, even if I just get to hear her voice but it's somewhat pleasing.

           I let out a soft chuckle, ''First of all, Derrick is nowhere near my name. Second, are you sure you don't know me? You've never seen my face anywhere? Somewhere? Because that's likely impossible, especially if you live in New York, in that apartment, even if that's your apartment.'' I raise an eyebrow, seeing her roll her eyes at me in annoyance; somehow showing how she's slightly defeated.

          ''Look, Derrick, I don't know you. You don't know me and that means we can just move on like how we were doing a few minutes before you started talking to me,'' She replies.

           ''My name's not Derrick, for god's sake. I'm not Derrick,'' I pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling myself pissed off by this girl who seems to have made me feel a lot of things just by the past few minutes which is somewhat worth questioning.

          Just as she's about to say something, someone else seems to have caught her attention as her eyes wander off to a figure behind me, causing me to follow her gaze—landing on an man who has a girl clinging onto his arm, they seem to be around the same age which causes me to turn back towards the woman in front of me, seeing her eyes water with her fists clenched.

          ''Hey, this girl is completely mesmerised by—'' I say before quickly cut off by her to pull me behind the building, causing me to frown at the sight of her hand on cupped on my mouth as she shakes her head, trying to peek at the two people behind us previously.

          As soon as she removes her hand, ''I like what you have in mind, love but I think I deserve to know your name first before we get started.'' My lips curve up into a flirtatious smirk.

          ''Shut up, Derrick.'' She whispers.

          I roll my eyes in annoyance, ''For the third time, for god's sake, woman. My name is not Derrick and never will be Derrick. It's not even hard to pronounce my name, it's—''

          ''That son of a b***h!'' She exclaims, causing my eyes to widen in surprise before remaining silent. ''That motherfucker, that asshole, that lying freak! He—he's cheating on me. No wonder he didn't answer my calls or reply to my damn text messages because he was with that ugly brunette! She's not even near as pretty as me,'' She says angrily before running out, straight towards the man—I assume is her boyfriend.

          I step out from behind the building to watch the whole drama happen.

          The man seems to have caught her running towards them which causes him to immediately let her second girlfriend to step inside the house before closing the door, letting his first girlfriend A.K.A the stranger I know, to push him to her heart's content while I watch her running her fingers through her hair, roughly.

           ''Wow, wow, Sophia. Calm down, baby.'' The guy says, grabbing onto both of her arms while she tries to extract her claws as she reaches out for his face.

           So . . . the beautiful girl's name is Sophia which makes me to look down at her figure, seeing her standing tall, probably around five foot seven or five foot eight but honestly, if I ever lay eyes on her just like how I did earlier, I would've guessed that she's kind, sweet and probably even honest. I mean, the honest part is correct but kind and sweet is probably not even true because she's much more on the feisty side.

          ''Calm down? Calm down? You lying bastard!'' She continues to punch onto his chest which causes him to block her every attacks, ''You're cheating on me with some idiotic looking girl, you manipulative asshole! How could you even consider doing that? How could you even hurt me? You told me you loved me!'' The way her voice cracks at the end, leaves me to recall back the memories of I once go through . . . when I was in her situation.

           ''Hey, hey, Sophia, and what I told you was true. I did love you and I meant every word I said but things've changed which means that you and I are no longer a thing. I'm sorry for not answering your calls or reply to any of your text messages for the past few weeks but I don't want you to ruin this for me. Don't ruin my relationship with Brianna,'' He places one hand on her cheek as her mouth goes wide.

          ''Even her name sounds like an i***t!'' She responds.

          ''I know that you're angry and you have every right to be but now that you've found out the truth about Brianna, it's best if we end things like this, yeah?'' He continues to talk as he makes his way towards his front door, making Sophia's eyes widen before she starts to grab onto his hair, pulling him closer towards her as he groans in pain, trying to release himself.

           ''You think you can just get away from me like that, huh? Let me beat your ass first!'' She starts to push him down onto the ground which causes him to fall before sitting on top of him with her hands attacking him in every way possible as he continues to block her attacks but it appears that her nails are sharper than it looks, causing a cut to appear near his right eyebrow.

          ''Sophia, you're hurting me!'' He says.

          ''What about what you did to me? You have hurt me in so many ways possible that it feels like my heart is going to explode!'' She stops, letting the tears fall down her cheeks as people walk down the streets to turn and look at them. ''After everything that I did to make sure that we're happy, you end up hurting me as if you've just stabbed me behind my back. I loved you, you f*****g asshole and this is what you gave in return!'' She shouts, continuing to cry.

          To my surprise, he starts to push her off which causes her to fall onto the ground as he creates a distance between the two of them. Just like that, I walk straight towards her to help her up with him looking down at both of us, ''Do you want to punch him? Just say the word,'' I say, looking down at her as I watch the tears stream down her cheeks while she rubs onto her elbows that have redden slightly.

          ''No, just let him go. If he deserves to be punched, it'd be me doing so.'' She replies, wiping away the tears.

          ''You're crazy, man.'' He says towards the damsel in distress in front of me before running straight into his apartment, closing the door shut while she continues to cry her heart out especially after what she heard him say.

          People are walking down the streets as they continue to look at us, throwing me dirty looks as if I'm the cause of this whole destruction which causes me to slowly place one hand on her back, not knowing how to react as she starts to grab onto my shirt, letting her tears fall.

           ''Hey, hey, don't cry. He doesn't deserve you,'' I whisper near her ear, trying to soothe her down but her cries are only getting louder. ''Just so you know, I'm not good with crying women and that explains a lot by how I'm trying to comfort you.'' I add, causing her to look up at me.

           She chuckles, ''You're terrible at it.''

           ''I told you. So, instead of just crying here in the streets, why not I buy you a drink and you can continue crying then?'' I ask, one of my hand on her waist as she continues to wipe away her fallen tears while she takes her time to think on whether going to the bar is a good choice or not.

          As soon as we've arrived at one of my favourite bars in the city, we've already sit face to face as we continue to gaze down at our drinks. I take a sip of my beer while she continues to stare at hers, not knowing whether she should take a sip or gulp the whole thing, ''Are you hesitating on whether you should drink it or not?'' I ask, raising an eyebrow.

          ''I'm not a good drinker,'' She replies, her eyes meeting mine in an instant.

          ''Are you saying that you get drunk easily? Is that it?''

          Sophia nods her head, ''Exactly. So, if I say things that may come out as insane or stupid, please just don't get bothered by it. It's just that . . . I get drunk easily and I have a habit of saying stupid things when I'm drunk,'' She continues to speak, her hand reaching out for the glass before gulping the whole thing, causing my eyes to widen.

          ''I think you should take it easy,'' I blink a few times as she slams the glass back onto the table.

          ''Another one, please!'' She says, causing the bartender to nod his head before continuing to refill her glass beer—letting me eye her confusingly. Then, she continues to drink her beer without even bothered to stop even though she gave me a warning earlier which leaves me to slowly drink mine, wanting to make sure it's fair if I keep up the pace.

          I glance down at my wrist watch to find it's almost ten to ten which causes me to think about Brody, knowing that he's probably waiting for me at home. ''You shouldn't drink too much. You said so yourself,'' I say, trying to grab her glass beer but she pulls it away from me, almost spilling it onto the ground.

          ''Live a little,'' She winks as she continues to drink.

          Just like that, we never seem to realise as the time passes by quickly as we both continue to drink, letting the waves of pleasure to accompany us with our consciousness slowly fading away. It feels good to drink away all the sorrows and problems even though we both know that drinking won't be able to solve our miseries but it feels great to be able to forget for a little while.

          ''So, your name isn't Derrick?'' She looks up at me with droopy eyes, showing that she's not even anywhere near being sober even though she has only drank about two glasses.

          ''Sadly, no but my name also starts with the letter D,'' I reply, my eyes gazing straight at her as I take a sip of my drink—wanting to slowly feel the alcohol go down my throat as I enjoy this night out with someone I barely knew other than my two best friends without having any intention to sleep with them.

          To my surprise, she starts to lean forward with her dark eyes gazing deeply into mine, causing me to glance down at her lips for a few seconds as soon as her lips curve up into a seductive smile. ''Daddy?'' She asks, puckering her lips.

          I laugh before taking another sip, ''Kinky but no, it's Dimitri.''

          She leans back in her seat, ''Bummer. Thought it'd be best to call you daddy. I tried that with my stupid ass boyfriend but he hated it . . . do you hate it, dad—I mean, Dimitri? Do you hate it if I call you daddy?'' She pouts, showing off her already luscious and full lips.

          The way her eyes are already red with tears which matches her lips, I can't help but think that this woman in front of me is already drunk enough to begin with because before I can even utter a single word, she has already cut me to it. ''Oh my god . . . did you see my stupid ass boyfriend, with that ugly dark-haired? They were holding hands and just by thinking about them makes me want to rip his head off,'' She groans, slowly placing her head on the table.

         ''Don't get me wrong, she was kind of hot.'' I wink, thinking back about how her dress clings onto her body as she walked down the street.

          ''You're disgusting. You don't even know the definition of hot!'' Sophia replies, her eyes widening as she points out at my chest. Within seconds, she is already stepping down from her seat to make her way towards me, both of her hands going down to reach for her blouse before pulling it up to reveal her flat stomach, ''This is hot. This is sexy. Not that stupid b***h,'' She says, turning around to slowly lean her back against my lap which causes me to clench my jaw.

         ''What are you doing?'' I ask, frowning.

          Surprisingly, she starts to wrap her arms around my neck as her face is inches away from mine, causing me to grab onto her waist as soon as she starts to stumble near me. With both of my hands on her waist, I can somehow feel her skin without even needing to lift her shirt up, only hearing the sound of my heart beating fast due to this closeness.

          ''Do you think I'm sexy? Do you find me attractive?'' She leans forward, her face resting near the nape of my neck.

          ''I think and find you a lot more than just sexy and attractive. That's me being honest,'' I answer before awkwardly shifting my body, not knowing on whether this position is even going to make me feel any better because having a beautiful girl in my arms as she leans close to my body, it feels like an opportunity to make this whole night better but I'm pulling back.

          ''Then, why are you pulling away?'' She furrow her brows, seeming upset at the sight of me slowly moving my hands away as I try to grow the distance between us.

          ''You're drunk. This is not right,'' I mutter under my breath as I try my best to not glance down at her lips but I fail miserably as soon as I find them being close to me, feeling them meet the side of my face, causing my body to remain frozen at my spot. ''Sophia . . . we're not supposed to do this, you don't even know what you're doing.'' I add.

          ''Just let me kiss you,'' She replies.

           My eyes pierce deeply into hers before blinking a few times, wanting to make sure that this is not me dreaming about wanting this whole fantasy to be real but no, everything in front of me is real and so far . . . so is the woman. She still has her arms wrapped around my neck with her lips slowly trailing near mine, causing me to turn my head slightly, not wanting her to kiss me and end up slapping me afterwards for accuse of taking advantage.

          ''We can't—''

          She cuts me off by grabbing onto my face before landing her lips against mine, moving passionately and roughly at the same time which causes me to remain still but it's only provoking her more. My heart continues to beat utterly fast due to her sudden action as I try my best to resist the temptation but I fail miserably as soon as she starts to bite onto my lower lip, causing me to grip around her waist before pulling her close in order to deepen the kiss.

           The way she moans through the kiss causes my whole body to weakens, letting me run my fingers through her long hair as I trail kisses down her neck—letting her lean her body towards me, her hand running down to sneak under my shirt, causing me to groan.

           ''Now, that's hot.'' She leans back, whispering in my ear before falling down onto the ground with a loud thud, leaving me breathless and confused at the sight of her being unconscious.