WHERE DID THAT SWEET BOY GO?

Having been instructed by the doctor to rest the entire day, I lay on the bed, hoping for a miracle to get me out of that mansion. It was a wish made in vain. I knew really well that nobody was going to help me with escaping my circumstances.

Defeated, I shut my eyes. It was then that I recalled my very first and sweet encounter with Noah. I wasn’t sure why my mind raced back to that moment. Maybe it was because I wanted to think about the man I once loved. I wanted to assure myself that Noah wasn’t as vicious as he was trying to be. There was still some good left in him.

Within Noah, there must be some part that resembled him from the past. The part that must’ve protested when he had hurt me the previous night. The sweetness of the relationship that we had shared previously couldn’t have been so easily poisoned by his newly generated hatred.

The very first time I saw him was during middle school. He usually used to keep to himself, but interacted with others once in a while. That was why I was taken aback when he had approached me in the library. He sat next to me on my desk, and passed a thin slip of paper, which contained questions about how I was doing and if I would like to grab a cup of coffee.

Since I had been secretly in love with him from the moment I had laid eyes on his irresistible face, I couldn’t stop myself from accepting his proposal. We, therefore, went to a nearby café, ordered our favourite milkshakes, and talked about how he thought I was the most wonderful girl he had seen.

The date had ended with him offering me my handkerchief, something that I had forgotten in the library the other day, and he had picked it up. It was the sweetest thing that somebody had done for me in a while. Thus, I was swooned and didn’t take long to accept his feelings.

Noah eventually became my escape. Whenever I used to have a bad day at home, I would run to him, and he would make it okay for me. From butterfly kisses to bear hugs, he did everything to make me feel loved and accepted.

In the process of enjoying his unremitting attention and care, I began to completely forget about the unfairness that I was subjected to at home. I no longer cared about my parents’ neglect. As long as I had Noah to support me, I didn’t desire anything else. This codependency was what made it excruciating to accept his marriage to my sister. That was particularly why I struggled to accept that the only person who always had my back was going to choose another woman to love throughout his life.

Upon being forced to mull over the past because of my sad circumstances, I discovered my eyes tearing up. It made me realize that I was still hurt from what had happened between Noah and me. I was still upset about him choosing my sister over me.

Before I could wipe the tears off my face that could’ve made me appear less pathetic, Noah entered the bedroom in a visibly better mood from the previous day. He sat on the bed next to me and offered me his handkerchief to wipe my eyes.

I did what was required and asked him about the purpose of his visit. Looking anything but bothered by the anxiety that prevailed on my face, the man answered, “I don’t need a purpose to come and see you. You will be carrying my children in your belly for me. It should be, therefore, easy to understand why I keep checking up on you, Christie.”

“How can you make that decision all by yourself?” I protested, unhappy about being considered a mere means to meet a particular end.

“It’s either bearing my children for me, or confronting your family for sleeping with your older sister’s husband,” declared the man, placing his hand on my left cheek.

“Didn’t I already tell you that I was drunk when I texted you to spend the night with me on the day of your wedding?” I asked, hoping to put some sense into the cruel man. “Since you’re already aware of how it was a consequence of my drunkenness, why must you torture me into further betraying my sister by having your children?”

While bringing his face closer to mine and dropping a kiss on the forehead, he revealed, “I just don’t want you to find another man. Since you’ve clearly ruined my life, I want you to bear heavy consequences for it as well. After becoming my mistress and becoming pregnant with my children, I doubt you’d be able to seduce any men.”

“That’s so cruel, Noah,” I said, hurt by the intensity of the hatred that he carried within his heart for me. “It’s one thing that you didn’t want to spend your life with me, but how can you do something as wicked as ensure I never find love again?”

“It’s something that you brought upon yourself,” declared Noah, certain about making me the mother of his children.

“I will be shamed by society for carrying children without being married. You can’t do this to me, Noah,” I continued to resist him by placing my hand between his lips and my face.

Bothered by my hands that kept his lustful gaze away from my trembling body, he removed his belt and tied it around my hands. Once he grew certain that I wouldn’t be able to resist him, he got on top of me and unbuttoned my shirt to reveal my bare chest.

“Don’t do this, Noah,” I begged, unwilling to steal the honour that his wife deserved of bearing his children. “You cannot betray your wife like this. She will despise you. Society will also call you a monster for betraying your wife.”

Unbothered by my warnings, he began pecking my neck, leaving me wet and cultivating a desire to have him. The thought, however, about my sister’s displeasure upon finding out about my dealings with her husband encouraged me to keep pushing him away.