The blank sheet

“Did she sanitize this?” Ranya asked, wearing a puzzled look as he stretched the empty paper towards Valerie. She took it and brought the blank sheet to her nose.

She coughed slightly, perceiving a deeper scent than expected. “It’s sanitized, sir. The card is too,” she replied, handing the sheet back to him.

He accepted the blank sheet, bewildered by why she would send it along with his keys.

“Sir, are there any threats of any kind? Should I inform the police?" Valerie asked, watching her boss intently. She couldn’t help but wonder what business he had with the lady in shades.

She did not say anything when she arrived because Mr. Windsor had already informed her that a lady would be returning his card, and she was to take it.

“I thought I gave her a week?” he asked, walking into his office, scanning through the sheet in his hands to see if she left any hidden message. Valerie watched her boss walk away with surprise overly written on her face. She had never seen that look on him before. She knew her boss to be expressionless.

“Is this harboring a secret mess...” his phone rang, interrupting his investigation on the empty blank sheet delivered to him by Calista. Without glancing at the caller ID, he picked up the phone and brought it to his ear.

“Why did you leave without properly telling me that you wouldn’t be taking the case?” Damian's angry voice cut across the phone. “I gave the minister my word that I’d have you do the...”

“What do you think receiving a blank sheet symbolizes?" Ranya inquired, his gaze fixed on the sheet. He approached the window, peering intently at the sheet to discern any hidden meaning, but it remained devoid of any content.

“What?” Damian asked, confused. “What does that have to do with what I’m saying?”

“You don’t get it?” Ranya cut in abruptly. “Can you unravel a puzzle of a blank sheet?”

“You’re not communicating to the best of my knowledge, man,” Damian replied.

“I mean...” Ranya groaned. “A friend of mine...”

“You have a friend that’s not me?” Damian interrupted calmly, his voice laced with surprise.

“Can you just shut up and let me explain?” Ranya asked impatiently. “He’s not actually a friend, but a client. You can’t be so dumb. Plus, I never considered you a friend, so just listen.”

“You’re willing to tell me a confidential secret of a client. Aren’t you breaching the line of your profession?”

“God,” Ranya breathed out defensively, Damian is of no good. Highly no good.

“Let it out anyway. A politician’s advice may go a long way.”

“Then shut up and listen,” Ranya said in a warning tone. “I will not repeat myself, and you better have a good response to this.”

“Can I come over to your office, then?” he asked, forgetting his reasons for calling.

“No,” Ranya replied, frustrated but determined to know the answer to Calista’s choice of goodbye. “A fri... Client of mine had a lady he kind of had some intimate contract with...”

“Contact or contract?” Damian asked, causing a loud sigh from Ranya.

“Contract... some legal contract of intimacy...”

“You mean BDSM?” Damian gasped across the call, “The Submissive and Master sh*t?”

“No... not that kind,” Ranya said almost immediately, taking the call away from his ear. “Just companionship that does require intimacy with... no strings attached.”

“Ranya...” Damian called simply.

“What?” Ranya answered, his face furrowed at the interruption.

“You’re spluttering. That’s so unlike you.”

“We’re done here...” Ranya replied, his coldness returning in full. “You’re a total waste of time.”

“Now that sounds like you. I can’t bear the new kind of shyness you have... I’m listening.”

Ranya sighed, feeling tired already. He talked this much only in court, defending a case.

“Well, the contract ended, and the lady sent an empty sheet of paper with nothing inscribed on it. What do you think that means?”

“Ehm... Maybe some weird ritual or so.”

“What?” Ranya asked, feeling like he had totally wasted his time asking Damian.

Damian burst into laughter, causing anger to surge through him. Was this some kind of funny joke to him? He was about to end the call when Damian spoke quietly, sounding a bit serious.

“Probably she wants nothing to do with him ever again. He must have been a real bad, grumpy, and selfish dominant.”

“What?” Ranya inquired, feeling somewhat hurt by those words. Maybe sometimes he could be grumpy, but he wasn’t selfish. He helped Calista have a nice life. He was also kind to her and let her finish in bed. And most importantly, he wasn’t dominant... Not in the slightest.

He had never whipped her. He never asked her to use safe words while inflicting pain on her. He only had sex with no emotions, and she was okay with it. Just once he tied her to prevent her from touching him, she learned not to explore his body afterward. Vivian alone was the woman he could bear her touch with.

Does that make him a Dominant? He’s only a sadist who had sex with no emotions!

“I read about dominances that are quite aggressive and submissive.” Damian continued, unaware of the wave of rage coursing through him.

“Enough, Damian... That’s enough!” he cut in coldly. Damian stopped, understanding that the man he was talking to across the phone was no longer in the mood to joke and play around.

“Is anything the matter?” he asked, a bit afraid he had said something unlawful.

“We will talk later; I need to go somewhere,” he announced lightly, feeling the excessive urge to go home. Calista didn’t actually send in such a message to tell him she’s out of his life forever.

“Are you taking up your brother’s case? Please...” Damian asked hopefully, but Ranya’s words cut through him, causing the last bit of hope to vanish.

“I told you already, Damian, I’m a lawyer and not a liar,” he said, ending the call.

Ranya immediately turned to his table and grabbed the card he had placed there a few minutes earlier. For some reason, he needed to find out if she was truly shutting herself away from his world.

“Probably she wants nothing to do with him again.”

Damian’s voice echoed in his head as he hastily took his steps to the door of his office. He opened it and stepped out. Valerie stood the minute she saw him.

“Tell Vivian I’m out on a business trip if she comes down. I don’t want to see Damian or anyone from the prime minister here, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied, bowing before taking her seat. He rushed out of the company and down to his car, driving with intensity to the apartment.

Ranya couldn’t fathom why he felt this urgency to go home. He just couldn’t help the fact that Damian might be right. She had a week to clear her things, but she did it in a day or maybe two.

Why did she sanitize the blank paper? Why isn't her scent visible on the card? What on earth was her motive, and why is he so bothered?

He walked calmly upstairs to his apartment. He owned the building but had lived with maids around, tending to the apartment. He had dismissed them all because of his relationship with Calista.

He put in the lock code, the one she knew, and the door beeped. His hands gripped the knob as he turned gently, not wanting to give in to his curiosity.

The door opened, and his lips slightly parted at the barrenness before him. “What in the world?” The words tore from his lips at the sight that left him dazed. His heart sank in dissatisfaction as the familiar scent of sanitizer filled his nostrils. “Is your heart made of stone, Calista?” he mumbled to himself, his legs gently pushing him further into the room.