Saturday morning seemed like an ordinary day. It was warm and sunny like most weekends but Jess seemed particularly happy. Her father even noticed that she was humming to some music when she was making breakfast. This was unlike her usual behavior. They ate breakfast together and she cleaned up the house quickly. When she started preparing ingredients for lunch, her father decided to find out why she was so happy.
“Are you ready to start work tomorrow?” he asked tactfully. He did not want to seem like he was prying into her life. She replied with a long explanation of how ready she was and then she detailed her itinerary for the next morning. Her father laughed in amusement because Jess’s excitement was visible.
“You need to fuel the car full tank today so that you don’t have to worry about that in the mor
Jess’s career was turning out to be as pleasant and exciting as she had anticipated. She woke up looking forward to going to the office each morning and she loved her job. Her immediate supervisor was very demanding but Jess found that her concerns were often fair and constructive. The supervisor encouraged her team to be proactive and to speak out about any issue that they found wanting. She also followed the policies in the company strictly, and required the same of her subordinates. Thursday began as an ordinary day for Jess except that it was the first time she would be present for a major meeting. This was the first departmental meeting held that month. The company leaders would get a chance to interact with the subordinates as they reviewed the progress of the department. Jess had been limited to interactions with her entry level colleagues and her immediate supervisor. The meeting was held in a large conference room where the staff were seated
Warning: explicit content coming up "This party is so boring, "Leslie said. "I want to drink so badly." The ladies were at a huge VIP lounge in a 5 star hotel. Leslie had booked it for her party and she had invited many of their old friends. People were still trickling in because it was only 4pm. Saturday parties often took off at night so most people were just snacking on the food and drinking light beers. "It's not so bad and I'm not drinking either. Why did you want to have a party anyway? It's not lIke it's your birthday." Jess said. "I wanted to get Todd’s attention. He’s always talking about this baby and he never asks about me. Guess what he bought me for a present last week? A baby stroller. This baby isn’t even showing yet and it's already stealing all my attention.”
Jess woke up in an unfamiliar room. The sun was shining from the wrong side of the bed and the window was in the wrong place. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. It was then that her senses came back and she remembered that she was in the penthouse. A warmth washed over her as she remembered being with Pete last night. She hugged herself and imagined his tender touch on her body. She wondered where he had gone as she sat up on the bed. She had never felt as confused as she did right now. She did not regret giving him her virginity and was happy, but she was also scared. What if he didn't want her again? She got up and put on a bathrobe that had been placed on the bed and then she headed to the bathroom. She stopped before she opened the door as she heard water running inside. She walked to the other bedroom to shower when she realized Pete was in this shower. She was surprised to find more items of clothing in the room that had a rack full o
"Who are you?" Jess asked the strange woman she found walking around the house. She had come home from work only to find a strange woman walking around the kitchen while opening and closing the cabinets. "I'm viewing the house," the lady said with a dismissive attitude."Who let you in?" Jess continued."The owner. Who are you anyway?" the lady asked in a loud voice. Margaret rushed in from the direction of the stairs when she heard the raised voices. "Is there a problem?" Margaret asked."What's going on? "Jess asked her in response."Let me finish with the guest. We can talk about this later," Margaret said. She walked the lady out of the house and Jess watched them from the window. Something did not feel right. Her father came into the room jus
The hospital corridor was dimly lit and gloomy as hospitals often are. Pete was walking in slowly as he convinced himself to finish what he had started. He finally got to the VIP wing and looked at the door for a while. He finally convinced himself to take a step and get in. He walked into his mother’s private room and was surprised to find a well spread bed with no personal effects anywhere in sight. His heart skipped a beat when he thought that he had been too late. He walked to the armchair by the bed and sat down with a downcast mood. Just then, he heard the toilet flush and then the washroom door opened. His mother came out. She was dressed in ordinary clothes and not hospital attire like last time. "Sonny?"she said in surprise. She used to call him Sonny when he was a child. "I came to see you and I thought...."he stammered then kept quiet. He couldn't finish the statement yet and he breathed a sigh of relief as he looked
The apartment was dark and quiet, and an observer would assume that no one was home. However, a closer look would reveal that one room still had the lights on. A man sat at the computer working on a complex system that would revolutionize the black market. He was creating a messaging app and platform that would come to be known as the crime resort. The platform operated by users trading cryptocurrency exclusively instead of real money. The users would exchange foreign currency and any other illicit goods. People were buying and selling drugs, organs, exotic animals, smuggled art artifacts and many other forbidden treasures on this platform. It was the first day of launching the program and yet, the creator had already made half a million dollars brokering several deals.The customers were only identified through user names which often only described what one was selling or buying. Any attempt to cut
Jess had never appreciated her bed as much as she did at this moment. She had a late night working, and she had barely had enough time for a simple meal. A glass of juice and some cookies had been her dinner because she had been too tired to cook when she finally finished her work. She got into bed and slept immediately, partly due to fatigue and in part because of the effects of the warm shower she had taken. It felt like she had barely slept when the persistent ringing of the doorbell woke her up. Jess was confused for a minute, and then she dragged herself to the door thinking that Pete had worked a late night just like she had. He spent every other night here and they often joked that they were kinda living together. She smiled as she got to the door, but nothing prepared her for the shock that met her sight.When she opened the door, Pete was just barely standing, and there was a man holdi
It was Thursday morning and Jess was leaving the house to go to work. She had called Ben to organize for assistance as she didn’t want to leave Pete alone. He had been responding well to the medication but he had spent most of the last 48 hours sleeping and taking toilet breaks. She had blended some fruit for him and he had drunk a little in addition to the soup. Jess had the chance to sleep in intervals of four hours so she was not too tired. She felt particularly alert as every little thing came to life. The sky seemed more blue and the traffic noises were so loud, everyone was moving around too fast and the bus seemed to be more efficient than usual. These basic observations seemed to be the most elaborate and captivating things today. She only remembered feeling this way once in her life.Many years ago when Jess’s mother had died, she had been a little girl. She remembered their hous