Chapter 7

As we walked out of the police station, Cindy opened the door and got into the back seat. Before I could get into the car using the same door that Cindy used, the strange lady appeared to me again, she was standing across the road. I froze and stared at her, ‘is she a ghost or something?’ I thought to myself. I froze at looking at the strange lady, not moving or anything and then she seemed like she beginning to approach our car. As she was coming towards the car, I felt cold and it was as if I was dreaming and everybody had faded away.

“Steve?” Cindy shook my hand.

The minute Cindy shook my hand, the strange lady disappeared and I was back to my senses.

“huh?” I replied.

“What’s the matter?” Cindy asked with a surprised tone.

“Did you see that?” I pointed at the direction that the strange lady was coming from.

“See what?” Cindy asked as she also looked that direction.

“Never mind” I got into the car “bro, take us to a great spot where we can find food” I instructed my driver.

My driver was a patient guy who wouldn’t ask questions or say a word to you. Yours was to just command to him to take you anywhere and he would. I think that this is how Charlotte taught them. At some point I thought of asking him more about Charlotte but he since wouldn’t even answer my petty questions then he would never answer the bigger ones.

My driver took us to a nice cozy spot where we could find food, drinks and some entertainment. Cindy and I had finished eating and now we were just seating on a quiet table. I checked time on my wrist watch and my driving lessons were in 3 hours so I had enough time to still chill with Cindy.

“Why aren’t you rude this time?” I asked.

“Was I rude to you?” she replied as she played with a toothpick.

“You’ve always been rude to me” I answered while calling the waiter with the wave of my hand.

“Maybe I was just trying to see through you…” the waiter interrupted her as she cut her sentence short.

“Yes sir?” the waiter said with a humble gesture when he got to our table.

“Please prepare a take away for me and make sure that there’s a lot of meat. I will take it before I leave” I said as I took out my black card paying for the order.

He nodded and left our table, Cindy started giving me strange looks.

“You want to go home?” I asked her.

“No, the question is ‘Do you want to go home?’” she smirked 

“Well no” I tried following her tricks trying to see where they were taking us.

“Okay then, there’s a guest house right next door” she said as she got up from the chair and walked to the door and waited for me outside.

I went to the waiter who took the order and told him to take it to the car and give it to my driver. I then went after Cindy as she led the way to the guest house. To my surprise, she never paid for a room but instead she just greeted the receptionist and passed. When got to a certain room, she took out a key and unlocked the door.

“Wait is this a guest house or what” I asked her as I slowly walked into the room and closed the door behind me.

“It’s a guest house” she replied as she pushed me against the wall and took off her shirt.

She had a scar that I could recognize right below her belly button. In my mind it was like I’ve seen the scar somewhere but it was not clear where I’ve seen, I just recognized the scar but everything was just blank. I found it weird that I could recognize the scar but I couldn’t remember where I saw it. She kissed me and that sent chills down my spine as my conscience began to yell at me.

“Wait!” I stopped her.

“What?” she asked with a disappointed tone.

“You know I got a girlfriend, right?” I assured her.

“Charlotte?” she scoffed.

‘She knows Charlotte?’ I thought to myself.

I never said a word after she said “Charlotte” but instead I just grabbed her and we kissed. The fact that she even knew my girlfriend’s name gave me a relief and the confidence to cheat in peace. I just assumed that the fact that she knew who my girlfriend was, made it clear that our relationship was never going to be a permanent thing, it was just a fling and she seemed to be okay with it.

45 Minutes later……….

So here I am cheating on the best thing that has ever happened to me, but this here was worth the risk, and I assumed that Charlotte would never find out about Cindy and I. Cindy and I cuddled for a few minutes and my phone rang I reached out my hand and took it.

“Hello” I picked up.

“Mr. Steve, it’s Detective Smith here” he replied from the other end of the phone call.

“Oh, I’ve been expecting your phone call sir” I said as I rubbed Cindy’s shoulder with the palm of my hand.

“Thanks for dropping the books, I will check them then I will bring them back first thing tomorrow morning” Detective Smith explained.

“Okay, no problem sir” I replied.

“Thank you very much sir” Detective Smith said.

I ended the phone call, then the lock screen of my phone appeared and on the wallpaper was Charlotte. Cindy glanced at it and smiled.

“You have a very beautiful girlfriend” she complemented.

“Yet, I just had sex with you” I said with guilt piercing through my chest.

“Relax, it was just sex. I won’t tell if you don’t tell” she replied.

This sent a sense of relief to me as it confirmed to me that Cindy was in for the ride, at this point I realized that she was not even concerned about the fact that I dated Charlotte.

“Okay then” I said as I kissed her on her forehead.

There was a slight silence as I touched the scar under her belly button.

“What happened here?” I asked with curiosity running through my mind.

“Well, my ex-boyfriend happened” she replied.

“Which one? Lesly or Kat?” I brought out more questions.

She stared at me “Lesly, but if it was not for Kat, I would’ve died that day” she sounded sad.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Lesly stabbed me and Kat saved me” she said with a low tone.

I moved her from my chest, we sat up and faced each other.

“Wow, this Kat must’ve been a superhero or something” I giggled.

Cindy waved her hand and shook her head to show me that she did not want to continue with the topic.

“Anyway, how did you and Charlotte meet?” Cindy changed the topic.

I thought of lying to her but my trust for her was beginning to grow. Maybe it was because she gave me the forbidden fruit and at that point it was more like her leverage, but it didn’t matter she was going to know how I met the girl that meant the world to me.

“Well everything is blank” I took my phone and checked time.

“Blank how?” Cindy asked once more.

“I’m getting late for my driving lessons” I said as I got off the bed, grabbed my jeans and put them on “You want me to drop you off at home?” I added while putting my shirt on.

She shook her head and lied on her back on the bed to show that she was sleeping at the guest house. Cindy looked like she owned the guest house we were in or she was related to someone who owned it but I didn’t bother to ask questions. I put my shoes on and grabbed my wrist watch and phone. Cindy glanced at me and now it was getting awkward because I didn’t know if I had to say “I love you” or just to say a simple plain “goodbye.”

“Okay, since you’re not leaving with me take this” I threw $300 on the bed.

“Okay, then” she stretched hand and took the money.

“Thanks for a good time” I said with a smile on my face.

She nodded without saying a word and I walked out of the room we were in and she was left behind. Well I got into the car, my driver gave me a few glances and I noticed that he wanted to say something.

“Thanks for the food” my driver mumbled.

I was surprised when I heard him speak, for the first time I heard him say something to me. A sense of relief hit me, and I was glad that he was starting to be free around me. Something was wrong with Charlotte’s employees; they were like robots. Your job was to command and they would just do without asking questions. You would go months and months without hearing them say anything, even to each other they wouldn’t have any type of a conversation.

I touched him on the shoulder “It’s a pleasure bro, take me to the driving school” I instructed him.

He started the engine and drove off.

Hours later……

After my driving lessons we drove home. Well today’s driving lesson was not complicated like the first one. Now I could at least change the gears while fixing my eyes on the road, my instructor was a little big impressed about my progress and how fast I learn. The lessons were done and I was going to face the problem that I left at home, at least Cindy helped me forget for a few minutes but reality was reality and I wasn’t going to run from it. At that moment besides Charlotte being the problem, I had carried another problem in my chest which was guilty. I had to stop by the shop and get Charlotte her favorite chocolates and flowers hoping she would speak to me since we never spoke the whole weekend.

When I opened the door, there was a smell. Not just a smell, it smelled nice as if someone just cooked. I threw my bag on the sofa and headed to the kitchen where the nice smell came from. And Charlotte was just rinsing the pots and putting them into the dishwasher. She turned and stared at me shyly, she was a little ashamed of her behavior. I assumed that this was her way of asking for forgiveness.

“Look what I got you” I handed her the Chocolates and the flowers.

Reached out her hand and took them “Thank you” she mumbled.

“I love you” my words were accompanied by a kid on her forehead.

“I love you too” she replied.

“I hear it’s smelling nice here, what did you cook?” I asked.

“It’s Angela who cooked, I just told her to knock off a little earlier today” she took two bowls that had some of the food “Come with that bowl and those plates” she instructed me.

I took the third bowl and the plates as she said and followed her to the dining room, I pulled a chair and sat down while she dished up. Charlotte handed me my plate then she also pulled a chair and sat down. I took the first bite on the meat and Angela’s food was just outstanding, I had no idea why Charlotte never allowed her to cook more often. I glanced at Charlotte and she was just staring at me not touching her food.

“So, you don’t want to talk about it?” she pushed her plate away.

“About what?” I asked her knowing very well that she was talking about our big fight.

“About what happened on Friday” she replied.

I stopped eating and stared back at her “Babe, all the time I bring up my memory you get annoyed and I have no idea why you get anxious every time ask about this Kat guy”

“I thought you were happy with me” she said.

“I am happy with you; I love you and I’m grateful. But I want to know who I really am and you promised to help me” I explained.

“I didn’t know it was that important to you, and since it is that important to you, I will help you” she replied.

I nodded, she took her fork and knife while I stared at her hoping that she would tell me about Kat but I realized that she wasn’t planning to, and this time I was never going to let it slide.

“What about this Kat guy?” I said.

She dropped the fork and the knife and stared at me “What about him” she asked.

“Who is he? Why do you get alarmed every time when I mention his name?” I asked as I watched Charlotte’s face get anxious once more.

“Okay uhm, Kat was my boyfriend and how our relationship ended wasn’t good at all. I actually found out that he was also having an affair with my sister so I had to come up with a way to make them both pay” she explained.

“Make them pay? How?” I asked.

“Well I, uhm” she paused “I had them filmed them while having sex and then later blackmailed them” she added.

“So, what was in that folder was the sex tapes?” I giggled.

She laughed out loud “Yeah” she nodded.

I shook my head “women and drama” I joked.

She laughed stared at me with a smile as I smiled back at her. 

“I’m guessing that you’re welcoming me back into the bedroom” I smiled some more at her.

“Yes” she nodded with a big smile on her face.

“I’m full, let me go take a quick shower” I got up from my chair.

I kissed her then left the dining room and went all the way to the shower. I tried to recall what Charlotte said about Kat and what Cindy said about him, there were no similarities so there was no way that these two were talking about the same guy but my guts told me that Charlotte wasn’t telling the truth. On the other hand, I had my own assumptions that there was a possibility that Cindy and Charlotte were siblings. But I guess I was just being silly, or maybe I was right. Anyway, this time I was happy that Charlotte and I were fine, on top of that I was cheating on her with Cindy. A sense of guilt clouded me all the time I thought of that fact but I justified myself by the thought that Cindy knew that I loved Charlotte and what I had with her was just for fun.