CHAPTER 2: NEW PAWNS ON THE BOARD

Kali sat by the dresser, preparing for the day while Richard, her boyfriend, slept on the large king-sized bed. She watched him from the mirror while she dressed, trying to be quiet. She didn’t want to wake him. They had spent most of the week together, enjoying the summer heat and visiting some places in the city.

It was marvellous, but sadly it was over. There was a lot to do. She could not slink around in bed or stay any longer than eight.

As quietly as possible, she grabbed a pair of heels from the walk-in closet and put them on.

While she hustled with the buckle, a sound at the door caught her attention. She glanced up to find Richard looking down at her. His hair was hysterical, one side flattened against his head and the other side frizzy as if a bolt of current had shot through him. Sleep made his eyes red and puffy, and there were a few marks on his arm from the sheets.

She and Richard had started dating nine months ago. He travelled a lot, and as she worked from home, he was happy to include her on his trips whenever he could. Richard was an attentive boyfriend, respectful and, above all else, understanding.

“Morning. I thought you would sleep till afternoon.”

“I hoped,” he grunted with a loud yawn, striding over to kiss her forehead. “I am so exhausted. Where are you running off to so early in the morning.”

Kali laughed and swiped her earrings off the dresser. “Early? It’s past eight. I have some things to do today, so I can’t be late. I need to talk to a few clients and then stop by the bank to deposit money for my sister. After that, I have to check on the maintenance of my old apartment and see if…you know, I could refurbish and maybe rent it out. I haven’t stayed there in a while, so maybe I can, at least, let it work for me instead of just gathering dust.”

“That sounds like a full day.”

She snapped the clasp of her necklace shut, then tugged on her earrings, ensuring they were pinned correctly. As she grabbed her purse from the seat, Kali kissed him.

“It is a full day. I have to run.”

“Call me later?”

“Of course.”

“Let me walk you to your car.”

She touched his cheek softly, she agreed, and they walked out of the room.

“Finally.” They both jumped at the voice, and Kali stumbled as she turned towards the voice, hand against her chest. A woman sat at the table, watching them with unabashed interest. “I thought you would never come down.”

From Richard’s reaction, Kali quickly summed up that she was the only one lost as to what was happening. He had turned into a statue at her side. His eyes locked with the strange woman in a standoff that only they understood. His jaw was clenched, and his hand on her back fell away.

“I am sorry. Who are you?”

“No one of importance.” Richard quickly interceded as the stranger smiled with amusement, her fingers still drumming on the mahogany surface. “You have a lot of things to do. Don’t let us keep you.”

On any other occasion, Kali might have allowed herself to be led out of the house, but something did not sit right about the situation.

The doors had been locked since they went to bed the previous night. Neither of them had come down to open them. Her keys were even still in her hand. None of the maids had arrived. For the woman to be in the house, she had to have her own key.

As Kali snatched her hand away from his grasp, she turned and repeated her question. “I am sorry, but who are you.”

“My name is Ysabel. I am the owner of this house, and it’s my money that he is using to spoil you. I thought at least if he wanted to practice a polyamorous relationship, we should both have a say in the matter.”

Kali turned to Richard, her eyes searching his face frantically for any emotion that showed what Ysabel insinuated wasn’t true. She found none. In truth, he didn't look panicked and upset, but he didn’t jump to correct anything.

Like a waterfall, the force of what was happening hammered down at her as she staggered away from them. Richard tried to reach for her hand, but she sidestepped him, wanting to get as far away from them as possible.

“Unbelievable.” Was her hoarsely whispered parting word before she rushed out the door?

Richard followed after her, running down the stairs to reach her before she got to her car. He grabbed her arm, yanking her to him, and she spun, pushing hard against him until he finally let go of her.

They stood at the centre of the entrance, staring each other down hotly, their breathing ragged and harsh. Kali looked over his shoulder to see Ysabel standing at the door, watching them.

“You are married?” She pushed at him again, her fist clenched and her teeth locked. “Seriously?”

“I am not married, much less to her.”

“Do you think I am an idiot? What, she is just a friend that owns the house you live in? Gives you enough money to buy everything you have ever gifted to me?”

“Okay, she…we, I don’t know how to explain the relationship, but she and I are not married. I swear.”

“Don’t you dare swear a thing to me?” She seethed at him, stomping to her car and flinging the door open. She stripped off her coat and threw her purse into the back seat before stepping out and staring him down. “One thing you know about me is that I don’t like being cheated on. I know you know because I have said it to you before. How long have you been with her?"

“It’s complicated. I can’t explain it.”

“A while then. I am pretty sure long before I came along.” Kali looked at Ysabel again, still trying to hold on to the frail strings of her anger. “Go back, and tell your wife, girlfriend, or whatever she is that you are all hers. And if you love yourself, let me not see your face after this.”

She turned, and he stopped her again, pulling her back and grabbing her shoulders to make her listen. “Ysabel has no right to come here and act like I am cheating on her by being with you. She is not my wife, Kali. She is married, but to someone else.”

The sound stunned even Kali when it resounded in her ears. Her palms ached briefly from the force of the slap, and she watched him with furry as he stumbled back in surprise, a hand against his face. Slowly, her hand lowered back to her side. Her eyes fluttered back to the stairs then she inched closer to him, her fingers bunching the fabric of his shirt in a tight grasp.

“Every word that comes out of your mouth infuriates me right now. She is married and with you. So you thought you could be with me and her. Does that…does any of it makes sense to you.”

With a strong push, she shoved him back. He tried to stop her again, but she braced her feet on the ground and pushed him as hard as she could. She jumped into the car and burned rubber in her effort to get away. She wiped the tears from her eyes with an angry swipe of her fingers on her cheeks. When she held the steering wheel, her grip was so tight that the leather bit into the skin of her palm.

The car rolled into the underground parking space at her apartment, and she jumped out, slamming the door shut. The moment her door closed behind her, she threw her coat and purse on the sofa and began pacing.

The last few months raced through her mind’s eyes, and she had to hold back to urge to break something. It wasn’t even the fact that he had someone else that irked her; it was the fact that the woman had used the knowledge to humiliate her. And it was to humiliate her specifically. Richard didn’t even look offended.

With a growl, she grabbed a vase from the top of the table and flung it at the wall. The sound of the ceramic shattering from impact did little to cull her bubbling anger. Kali paced some more, thinking of ways to calm down and face the rest of her day.

She needed to work and focus.

"Forget them." She muttered to herself. She plunked down on the sofa and rested her elbows on her knees, tapping her foot furiously. "Forget them and focus on your work. They are not worth it."

A knock came at the door, and Kali leapt to her feet, listening intently. After some seconds passed, it came again. The same three knocks, firm but not loud. Thinking it was Richard trying to talk his way out of the situation, Kali marched over to the door and threw it open.

“Richard, I told you n-not…” Ysabel lifted a questioning brow, and Kali’s words stuttered into the air.

Both women looked each other down, but Kali acted first, using her body to block the entrance to the apartment. “I don’t know what you want from me, but I am in no mood for drama. Please leave.”

“I am not interested in forcing myself in or making a scene, but I also don’t want to find myself talking in the hallway. Let. Me. In.”

Kali stepped aside and allowed her in, closing the door and turning around. Ysabel walked around the room, her purse dangling from her fingers, she took in everything.

Ysabel stared down from the windows at the streets below them, nodding for reasons Kali did not care to know. She was sure of one thing, Ysabel was not there to extend an olive branch of any kind.

"You lived well here, I see." Kali rolled her eyes at the insinuation, not bothering to say anything in her own defence. "A woman as young as you with a man Richard's age is rarely for anything other than for maintenance."

"Back at the house, you could say anything you wanted to me because I was still in shock." Kali spat, deadly calm saturating her tone as she walked closer to Ysabel. "I would not allow you to do so here. If you have nothing better to do, please get out."

"You truly are beautiful. Shame you had to waste all that on someone like Richard."

"Trust me, we both share that sentiment. Now, are you getting out of here, or would you like me to throw you out? Respectfully, of course."

"I am afraid you can't throw me out of an apartment that I own," Ysabel stated factually. "See, I really don't care what Richard does with his life, but I would not be paying for your luxuries directly from my own pockets."

"What nonsense are you saying now?"

“This apartment is not one of the things you’d be keeping from your little highway romance. Thankfully, the car is in your name, so you can do whatever you please with it. Same for the clothes and any jewellery you might have. I figure there is no need to take those.”

Kali laughed, her hands dropping and slapping against her thighs. With a swift spin, she marched towards the bedroom with purpose, throwing the wardrobe doors open and sweeping as many clothes as she could off the hangers. She walked back to the living room and chucked everything in her hands at the woman.

She didn’t allow Ysabel to speak, speeding back into her room to yank the drawers of her dresser open and grab all the jewellery she could. In the same fashion, she tossed them at Ysabel's feet.

Raising her index finger, Kali rushed to her purse and picked out any credit card Richard had gifted her. Swiped the car keys from the table and hurled those at Ysabel’s feet.

“The apartment, the man, the clothes, the cards, all are yours.” She stepped over the clothes, bringing her face within a hair’s breadth of Ysabel’s. “This is where this ends for both you and me. If you ever cross my path again, I can promise you that there is no measure of how much and how long you will regret it.”

With that, she sidestepped Ysabel and snatched her coat from the sofa before thinking twice about it and throwing it aside. With her phone, wallet and the keys to her old apartment, Kali walked out of the room. She slammed the door shut behind her. There was no time to break down. She had too much to do; there was too much to do. Plus, she thought to herself as she wiped her face, Richard and Ysabel were not worth it. They deserved each other. To her, they were both sick individuals. Ysabel for her cynicism and Richard for his ego.

Not bothering to look back even once to check if the woman tried to follow her, Kali stood by the bus stop and waved down the first taxi that drove by.

“North Avenue, please.” She said the moment she entered the back seat. He nodded, and she leaned back on the seat, resting her head against the cool glass.