Susie had already prepared dinner, and when she saw Nathan enter the door that evening, she hurried to put out slippers for him. “Mr. Davis,” she said, “dinner is ready, but Ms. Crystal hasn’t come back yet. Would you like to have dinner first or wait for her?”
“I’ll wait for her,” Nathan said. “Susie, you can go home now.”
Susie’s daughter-in-law was pregnant and needed to be cared for, so Susie had to go home every night. So after Susie left, Nathan took a shower and went straight to the study, where he waited until nine o’clock, which was what time it was when Crystal arrived home.
Nathan heard a noise at the door, and then the study door was pushed open. Crystal staggered through the door. Her cheeks were glowing, her eyes were dim, and there was a murderous look in her eyes. When Nathan saw her, he frowned and asked her if she was drunk.
Rather than answer the question, though, Crystal pointed her finger at him and shouted, “You! You! You! You...”
“What about me?” Nathan asked innocently. And when she didn’t reply, he asked her how much she’d had to drink.
“What about YOU?!?!?! “Crystal hissed.
“Your question is hilarious!” And then she grabbed an ashtray and threw it at Nathan’s head. Nathan dodged the porcelain projectile, and it smashed through the French windows behind him. “What gives you the right?!?!!?!?”
“Crystal?” Nathan cried as she began to pick up other things to throw at him: a cell phone, a book, a pack of cigarettes; anything that was within reach, and not attached to something, seemed to be fair game. “What’s gotten into you?”
As Nathan took shelter behind his desk, a deck of cards hit him in the forehead, and he cursed. A potted plant hit the bookcase that was beside the window, and a rain of shrapnel came down upon his head and shoulders.
“You bastard!” Crystal bellowed. “It is all because of you. You got me kicked out of school and stole everything from me. Why are you doing this to me? Why? What did I ever do to you to deserve this treatment?”
Eventually, Crystal ran out of steam. She began to weep, and she collapsed on the floor in a fit of despair. “What do you want from me?” she cried. “Why can’t you just move out? I don’t want anything other than this house. This is the only home I have. I grew up here, and all of my memories are here! Why don’t you move out? It would be best if you weren’t my guardian. I’m almost eighteen! Why do I even need a guardian? We don’t even know each other!”
Now that it seemed safe to come out, Nathan crawled over to where Crystal was sitting with her knees drawn to her girlish-flat chest, bawling like an infant. Nathan grabbed Crystal by the arms and forced her to look him in the eyes. Her tiny face, he saw, was wet with tears, and only then did he realize how much she hated him. “Do you want me to move out?” he asked hoarsely. “Truly?”
Crystal flashed her innocent eyes and nodded without hesitation.
Nathan: “Do you want me to have the Guardianship Order overturned?”
Crystal nodded again.
Nathan: “Okay. I will. I promise.”
“Wait a minute,” she said. “I’d like to record that.” Crystal found her phone. It was on the floor, near Nathan’s desk. She’d thrown it at him, but it still worked. She found her camera App, quickly pointed it at Nathan, and said, “Could you please say that again?”
Nathan scowled. “Don’t you believe me?” he asked. “You don’t need the camera. Look me in the eyes and see if I’m lying.”
Crystal looked Nathan in the eyes, and when she didn’t see any lies in them, she put her phone away and said, “Professor Davis, I hope that you keep your word.”
Nathan smiled and said, “I always keep my word.”
Crystal: “You swear that you will give up custody of me and move out.”
Nathan: “I swear it! You impossible girl!”.
Crystal sighed and thanked Nathan. Maybe this will all finally be over, she told herself. But she was afraid to count her chickens before they hatched. That being said, for the first time since her mother had died, she was hopeful. All of a sudden, Crystal felt claustrophobic- I can’t breathe. I need to get out of this room! She stood up quickly, and without saying another word to Nathan, she ran to her room.
Once Crystal was in her room, with her door closed and locked behind her, she called up Serenity to tell her the good news. Dorris had been plotting to get rid of Nathan for a long time, and his concession was like a dream come true, and she felt silly for drinking the two beers earlier and getting drunk when all she’d needed to do was ask him to leave with conviction so that he knew she was serious.
When Crystal told her friend about the fit she’d had and how she destroyed his office and hit him in the head with a deck of cards, she was stunned. “And after all that, he’s giving you what you want?” Serenity couldn’t believe it.
“And he’s just going to give up custody and move out?” she asked incredulously. “Just like that? It sounds too good to be true. Do you think he’s tricking you?”
“It’s crossed my mind,” Crystal admitted. “I looked him in the eye, though, and I didn’t see any lies there. Anyway, whose side are you on? You are a real bummer...”
Serenity apologized and said, “Of course, I’m on your side. I was just playing the Devil’s Advocate. I am your friend, and I don’t want you to get your hopes up, just to be let down...”
“Don’t worry,” Crystal sighed. “I am just trying to stay positive: hope for the best and expect the worst, you know?”
There was a moment of silence, and then Serenity said, “Let’s change the subject. Did the thing I ordered for you online arrive?”
Crystal looked at the package on the dresser. “Yes, I got it this morning. What’s in it?”
Serenity: “Just open it and see.”
Crystal: “Well, I’ll open it later. I’m going to take a shower now. Talk to you later. Bye.”
Serenity: “Bye-bye.”
After turning off her phone, Crystal took off her T-shirt and jeans and stood in front of her long mirror, naked except for her pink cotton Hello Kitty underwear. She raised her hand and rolled up her hair, clamped it in place with her other hand, and turned to look at the package lying quietly on her dresser.
What’s in it?- she wondered. She was curious. It felt like too much effort to tear off the packaging to see what was inside of it, but her curiosity finally got the better of her.
Crystal brought the package to her bed. She sat down and made herself comfortable, cross-legged on her comforter, with her back against her headboard. She placed the package between her legs, and then she began to pull at the tape.
The parcel was from Amazon, which meant that the box opened easily. The package was rectangular, and there was a single strip of packing tape holding it shut. Crystal pushed one side of the box in, hooked her finger underneath it, tore it, pulled it away from the box, and tossed it into the wastebasket beside her bed.After sitting up straight again, Crystal pulled open the cardboard and wasn't surprised to discover that the box was half-filled with bubble wrap. Just like Amazon to use an oversized box and stuff it with bubble wrap- Crystal thought - What a waste. It is no wonder the package was so light!Crystal pulled out the bubble wrap, and when she saw what was underneath it (Serenity's gift!), her face immediately turned r
Crystal screamed at the realization that she had been, for all intent and purposes, playing with Nathan's genitals, and she pulled her hand away quickly, as a child might do after accidentally touching a hot burner. But, like a cruel mother who thinks that her child hasn't quite learned their lesson yet, Nathan grabbed her hand and held it where it was."Who's there?" Crystal shouted as she tried to withdraw her hand."It's me," Nathan replied, and then he began to laugh. "Who else would be wandering the hallway with their dingus hanging out?!?!?" Crystal stopped screaming and stammered in confusion: "Prof... Professor Davis?""Yes," Nathan replied. "Don't be afraid it's me."Crystal began to calm down, and she was surprised by how easily Nathan's words had settled her n
Crystal was at a loss for words, and she didn’t like the feelings of complete helplessness that were washing over her in waves. She recognized that her heart was racing, though, and that was one thing that she could control. She began to slow her breathing, and she counted backward in her head- ten, nine, eight, seven, and so on - hoping that if she could think straight, she could find a way out of her current predicament.Crystal didn’t know what to say to Nathan. It seemed like whatever she said, he twisted her words and used them against her. It doesn’t help that he’s much smarter than I am - a voice in her head whines so much smarter. After all, he is a teacher!After a minute, Crystal said, “That vibrator was a gift from Serenity. Didn&rsquo
As Nathan stepped out of the room, Crystal took the opportunity to peek into his more personal belongings. She looked around. This room that Nathan lived in had initially been a guest room in Crystal's home, and the patterns of black and white tones had not changed. Nathan had few personal belongings, she noticed. There was a book and a pen on the coffee table, though, which was something.Crystal leaned over, picked it up, and was disappointed to discover that it wasn't a diary or journal. The title on the book's jacket read: Howard's Amazing Adventure- and according to the back cover, the book told the story of an alien rabbit that had accidentally broken into the earth. Crystal picked up the book, turned a few pages randomly, and finally put it down indifferently.Nathan h
The next day, when Crystal came down for breakfast, Nathan was already sitting at the head of the table in the dining room. And to the right of him, there was a man in a black suit. The stranger was standing over Nathan, slightly bowed, and he was handing a document to him. From the way that the stranger carried himself in Nathan’s presence, it was apparent to Crystal that he was subordinate to him.When Nathan heard Crystal’s footsteps, he looked up from the papers and ordered her to join him at the table. Once she was seated, he introduced the man in black to her. “This is Mike,” he said. “Mike is my lawyer. Say hello to Mike.”Suddenly Crystal felt like a child, which, she supposed, she was, at least as far as these men were concerned. Her cheeks turned pink, and she looked at her shoes. “Hello, Mike,” she said
“All you want is to fuck me?” Crystal asked skeptically. “And then you will forgive my debt?”“No, not just fuck,” Nathan laughed. “I want you to give yourself to me, fully, as my wife!”Crystal gasped as Mike produced a marriage certificate. Nathan had laid a much bigger trap for her than she could have ever imagined. Crystal contemplated the proposal for a moment before addressing Mike, his lawyer. “I only have two questions,” she said. “The first question is this: if I sign it, does it mean that I don’t need to pay my debt?”Mike: “Yes. And your second question...?”Crystal: “Okay, I haven’t reached the legal age for marriage yet, so even if I sign it, it won&rs
Before today, Nathan had been completely confident that every woman in the world would want to marry him if they were given the opportunity. He had good looks, popularity, and money. What more could a woman want? - he wondered. The sight of Crystal crying on the lawn had thrown him for a loop, and nothing about the things she’d said had made any sense to him - But maybe Andy knows a little bit more about this than I do - he thought - After all, he’s been married for a year!Nathan eyed Andy impatiently as he waited for an answer. Finally, Andy said, “There... There are many reasons why a woman wouldn’t want to marry some
The Henry household lived in an independent villa with a big courtyard, and when Crystal arrived, the European-style patterned iron door was tightly closed to her. After taking a deep breath, Crystal put her hand on the doorbell, but before she actually pressed it, she found herself hesitating. Το press it or not to press it, that was the question. She would not be here except for the fact that her father had said that her mother had left something important for her.None of the people living inside the villa had a good relationship with her. Her father hadn’t even picked her up after her mother died. Her Stepmother, Jessica, had been the reason why her father had abandoned her and her Mother. Her half-sister Joyce had stolen her boyfriend, and Evan was Jessica’s son from her first marriage, so they weren’t even related by blood. Out of all of them, she hated Evan the least. T