Love’n’Lust

“I may hate you but I must confess, I like how calculative you get.” The man noticed that he was thinking to himself.

“We made an agreement.” Ben’s heart started to beat, so much that even when he tried to control it, he couldn’t because he was scared. He was scared for Belle. He was scared to lose her. He was scared for himself too; his life would be a mess if anything happened to her.

“And you assume that I am an ethical businessman like yourself?” The man laughed outrageously.”We made an agreement, yes, true but I’m a very dishonored person you know, I lied.”

“Count with me, three…,” He smiled maliciously.

“Two…,”

“What do you want?” Ben stopped him from counting.”Please, anything at all it is you want, I’ll give it to you, just let her go, I beg you.” Ben’s strategy was to keep the man’s ears busy so he wouldn’t do whatever it was he had in mind; at least not until Cjay took her to the prepared backups.

“What do I want?” The man scoffed roughly.”Let seeeeee,” he acted like he was actually straining to think but then broke out.”You still can’t tell who I am? Huh?”

The room became quiet after that question, and it was just Ben staring at him, trying to remember who he was but no memories came. He began to wonder if he had any business relationship with him because aside from that, he couldn’t filter out any other reason for someone to be angry at him to this point… but then, the face looked like one he had seen before. He knew he must have had an encounter with him but when? And what was the reason? How did that encounter end for him to come after Belle?

“I honestly can’t distinguish who you are,” Ben admitted. He saw the man pass the remote to one of the other men in the room and come to him. Squatting in front of him, the man laughed suddenly out of nowhere.

“Of course, you can’t. How would you? Hmmn? Tell me, how would you?!” The man got up and pushed his head backward.

Ben’s head bounced back to its normal position. He looked at the screen and saw that Cjay still wasn’t close to where the backups were. He should have brought with him a faster driver but he knew the man somehow had information on every move he was making. Bringing Cjay was the smartest way to look unharmful and peaceful enough for him to release Belle but he was just too slow in taking Belle to safety. He wished Randy’s arm was strong enough to drive since he visited the hospital but it wasn’t.

“What did I do to you? I seem to have hurt you quite a lot, and it’s funny that I don’t remember you, neither do I remember what I did to get you to this point.” Ben decided to keep him talking to give Cjay more time.

“Alex.”

“Alex? She is a part of this, isn’t she?”

“Beautiful, act like you despise her. You aren’t fooling me, I know the things that go on between you two.”

“What?” Ben was genuinely confused.

“You’re the reason she left me,” the man’s eyes got red.

“Richard?” Ben finally remembered. The man was Richard, Alex’s ex-fiance.

“Yes, finally! You remember me!”

“I do.”

“She did a lot to be with you, do you know that?”

“Look man…” Ben wanted to speak but he didn’t let him.

“No, let me talk!” Richard yelled at him.”When we were expecting a baby…”

****

Flashback.

“Babe?” Richard walked in on Alex sobbing while staring aimlessly at the mirror in their bathroom.”What’s the matter? What’s wrong?” He turned her around and made her face him.

“Come on, speak to me, please, what happened?” He begged for her to say something but she only sniffed from time to time.

“I’ve been feeling unusual for some time now, and so I decided to get a strip and run a test back here…”

“And?” He asked excitedly like he didn’t know what was coming.

“I’m pregnant, Richie.” Alex’s sobbing became louder.

“Is that why you are all in tears?” Richard hugged her amid her tears.”Isn’t that good news?”

“No. No, it isn’t.” She freed herself of his hug.”I don’t want to be pregnant.”

“What do you mean by that, I know you love babies.”

“Well, yeah I do, but doesn’t mean I want to have one right now. I can’t be pregnant, especially not now. It can’t happen.”

“Okay look, I guess you are not in a good mood and we need to talk about this when you’re much calmer. Do you want us to go somewhere you could relax your mind”

“I don’t want to go anywhere,” Alex was stubborn.

“But you need to calm down,” Richard told her worriedly.

“I am calm.”

“No, you are not.”

“Okay, fine! I am not calm! How could I be? I can’t be pregnant Richie!”

“Is it because we set our wedding date six months away from now? We could get married tomorrow if you want that.”

“It’s not about the wedding! It’s fucking not!”

“Then what is it about?!” Richard lost his calm at a point.”I’m trying to help you calm down and you just keep yelling. What is it about? Tell me, what?”

“I look fat and ugly…”

“What?” Richard stepped back to try and see what she was talking about but she looked the same as always to him.

“Haven’t you noticed? I got fat, and my face looks like I’m old…”

“No, it doesn’t,” Richard argued.

“Yes, it does. I can’t go to the charity event looking like this,” Alex sniffed.

“That’s still a month away, and why is that bothering you, you can decline their invitation and not go.”

“That’s the problem, you see. I can’t decline. Do you know how long I’ve been wanting this?”

“They invite us almost every year. We went together last year.”

“No, you don’t get it. I mean going with Ben, I’ve been waiting since forever to get the chance and now that I can finally be at his side at the event, I’m pregnant!”

“Hold on, going with Ben? Ben Larkson?”

“Which other Ben? Yes, Ben Larkson. I asked Jenna to help me out so I could be his plus one instead of those other models he picks to go with.”

“When were you going to tell me about this? All of this?” Richard asked her, his voice mixed with anger and jealousy.

“…” Alex became quiet.

“You did it again, Alex. Are we back to you making decisions without letting me know anything about it?”

“Why would I tell you, I know you. I knew you would react this way.”

“You knew I would react this way?” He snorted after repeating what she said.”Give me a reason Alex, give me a fucking reason why I shouldn’t react the way I’m reacting.”

“You are making a big deal out of nothing,” Alex shook her head and folded her arms.

“What do you mean I’m making a big deal of nothing?! You always do this, Alex. You always act like I’m nothing to you. Why?!”

“I’m not going to do this with you,” She said coldly and wanted to leave but he blocked her way.

“How would you feel if I just came home one day, and told you that I plan to go on a date with some chick? How would you feel?”

“I’m not going on a date with him, it’s a fucking charity event, a lot of people are going to be there!”

“You say that like you don’t know how you act around him. You lose yourself, Alex.” He reminded her but she only rolled her eyes.”You promised me that you were over him, didn’t you?” Richard resorted to reminding her of her promise to him.

“I am over him, it’s you who don’t trust me.”

“I trust you, I’m just not very comfortable to know that you would be with him the entire night that day.”

“You said you didn’t want to attend the event right? So why do you have an issue with me attending?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

” I don’t, I just don’t want you attending as his plus one.” He explained as simply as possible what he had been saying all the while.

Alex chuckled after his last words. Using her left hand to cover her mouth, she began to laugh uncontrollably like he just told her a joke. She had tears in her eyelashes from crying earlier but she laughed still.