CHAPTER 5 - New SIM

LATTON was sitting in front of a thick glass surrounded by metal borders on each side. It looks like an open phone booth with a phone hanging just below the glass. She waited patiently in the visiting room. She's uneasy, her heart is pounding as if it wants to explode. Soon a man with chained hands shows up in front of her. The man is in his late 30s but looks older. When the man saw her face he hesitated a bit but in the end, sat in front of her only a thick glass separating them.

She gestures for him to take the phone so he could hear her voice. Which the man did.

"Do you remember me?" She asks. Her voice is a bit shaky, sounds like she's about to cry.

"Yes, the girl from 10 years ago"

"12! It was 12 years ago."

Both of them stared at each other.

"Right. What do you..." Before he could finish the sentence she cut him off.

"I forgive you!" She says then heaves deeply as if the weight of the world just got off her shoulders.

"I did not apologize."

"It doesn't matter. I finally moved on and that's what matters. I can now live a better life, knowing that you no longer have a hold on me." She said with certainty and control.

She then stood up, walked away, and never looked back. A smile of triumph is written all over her face.

"One down," she mumbles to herself.

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Several days after that.

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Her father finally got a hold of her, after days of dodging him and the men he kept on sending to follow her. He found her and he got her cornered. He froze all her accounts even the ones that she personally owned. Using his connections she can't even apply for a job. As she no longer had funds to keep herself afloat she had no choice but to return home within the week.

Hesitantly she starts packing her things. The short freedom she has now comes to an end. She emptied her bags to remove the trash inside, and a piece of paper fell. She was about to throw it away but she saw it was Blade’s contact number. She was thinking if she should contact him.

"I still have 4 months before I get married, committing sins with him will make it easier to accept my death sentence. I mean marriage." She said to herself while staring at the paper.

She took her phone that was on the table and dialed his number but changed her mind.

"What if he’s clingy and tries to stalk me?"

"Now you think of these things: he already slept with you and nothing bad happened."

"You enjoyed it."

She smiles realizing she is talking to herself.

She sat on the sofa and sighed deeply, an idea came to her mind. She went outside to purchase a new SIM card and order lunch.

After getting the items, she went back to her apartment.

While she was waiting for the takeout to cool down a bit, she inserted the new sim card into her old mobile device and added Blade’s contact number.

"In her mind, once we are done I can simply destroy this sim and forget all about it."

"But can I forget about it?" Thinking that she was frowning while she was eating.

It’s 2:00 pm and she’s done decluttering, she finally dared to text him.

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Lucian is having a late lunch with John. They got caught up with the operations and finance meeting regarding the budget for a project.

They ordered takeouts and sat across from each other in an empty conference room. John shared how stressed he was and it was only Monday but was happy that her girlfriend Vivian massaged him every night to relieve his stress and then advised Lucian to make amends with Malena so someone could take care of his needs.

Lucian then stated that his needs are something Malena cannot provide. John felt sad when he remembered what Lucian’s needs were.

"Get married secretly then you can be with the love of your life and make babies every night," John suggests.

This is something Lucian can do but he won’t do it because he loves and respects his parents. He values all their sacrifices and he wants them to learn how to trust the woman he loves.

What they need to do is work on how Malena will win his parent's trust. The main problem that his parents see is that she stopped her career growth after being with him for a year and that was 5 years ago.

He offered her a scholarship to various universities to get a master's degree, but she declined. He then offered her a job in a friend's company but she said she wanted to work around him. He said no, as her background is not suitable for the company, and his father won’t allow it and this became a huge issue.

They became on and off but today she’s not his main priority since he has a lot of work to do.

Their conversation got cut short when Lucian’s phone received a notification.