Aaron was confident the game was made for him, and that is what led him to accept a blind game which eventually brought him to where he was.
He had been scrolling on his phone in his Instagram account. Being a well-known player, he had so many fans, and he never had the time to respond to all the messages sent on his DM.
On that Thursday afternoon, a message from an anonymous person caught his attention. He went through the profile, which was full of illustrations of one playing mortal combat.
He replied back with a message, and the owner of the account replied, challenging him for a game. Aaron was reading the message as he was smiling to himself.
Aaron was smugly thinking how he would wipe the face of the person from the face of the earth till he never showed his face to anyone again.
He told Erick Janis, his best friend, about the contest, and Erick told him not to stress over it.
“The guy has got guts. Doesn’t he know have be
“Because technically, if dad doesn’t arrest anyone, you won’t have anyone to represent as a lawyer,” Aaron answered, shrugging his shoulders.“It’s because of a case I am working on,” Mary said.“Okay, mom. Can you just get this done with once and for all? What do you mean? I can’t take puzzles at this moment,” Antonella said.‘I’m representing a client who was threatened by a drug cartel to take the blame for some narcotics. Do you remember the case of $10 million cocaine that was discovered on our borders months ago?” Mary asked.Who didn’t know about the case? It had been televised on all national channels for weeks until the public started tweeting against its airing.The encounter between the police and the drug cartels had turned out to be so ugly that three police officers lost their lives, and so did four cartels. Only one cartel survived.&ldqu
“Excuse me,” Julia said, bringing back Aaron from reverie. She saw how he had stared at her, and despite being uncomfortable, she had somehow been rooted where she stood.“Are you new here?” Aaron asked, casually, for lack of something to say.She nodded. “Today is my first shift,” Julia answered before asking, “Is there anything you might need?” She didn’t want to divert from her work.“Not really,” he replied nonchalantly.“Good, excuse me now,” Julia said.“How was it today?” Lucy asked when the two were at home.“Not as bad as I thought it would be. Do you don’t know whom I met?” Julia asked.“Spill,” Lucy playfully demanded as she got comfortable on the chair.Julia answered casually, “‘Aaron Tide.”“Are you for real?” Lucy asked while looking at her suspiciously.
“You must have charmed the guy. He is never that silent,” Ben told Julia.“How have I charmed him when we barely talk. I only serve him and disappear,” Julia responded. She was fed up with Ben’s nagging of Aaron and her.“I don’t know, you tell me,” Ben answered, then added, “You must be really lucky and am jealous.”“Hahaha. Jealous. Why? What for?” Julia asked.“If he were gay, I would pounce on him as a lion pounces on an antelope,” Ben answered, and Julie began piecing things together.Ben was so obsessed with Aaron, not because he was jealous of the number of girls who clung to Aaron but because he wished Aaron was gay and would at least be interested in him.“Try your luck someday,” Julia said though she didn’t mean it.Erick was with some of his friends when he saw a text from Aaron asking to see him. He was the only friend of
He stood and walked into the captain’s office with his heart in his hands. He didn’t trust himself to keep quiet if nothing much wasn’t being done to ensure their security, especially now that his family was falling apart.“I know why you came…” the captain started before sitting down. He then was looking at Dennis thoughtfully.“I thought so,” Dennis replied with a force smile, but his voice was cold and distant, and the captain could tell that he was trying to be cool.“I have enlisted the help of a trusted private detective and some IT expert. The IT guy has been trying to track down the IP address from which the emails are sent, but it’s private,” the captain said.“On any other day, your sentiments would have appeased me but not today. The guy might execute his threats any day, and I will have no one to blame other than myself,” Dennis said.“I understand your
The smile shocked Erick. How could Aaron smile about such a thing?The game started, and Erick was by Aaron’s side, encouraging him that all would be well. Halfway through the game, Aaron had regained his confidence but only to a small extent.Erick kept on telling him that all would be okay, and Julia was by his side as well.The game ended, and Aaron had successfully completed all his conquests and defeated his opponent.“I told you,” Erick and Julia said at the same time, hugging Aaron.He was so happy, and his heart swelled in pride.He removed himself from Erick’s embrace and hugged Julia so hard she almost screamed in pain.“You’re squeezing me,” Julia said while scowling at him.“Sorry,” Aaron said, placing a kiss on Julia’s cheeks.Erick excused himself when he saw how high the emotions were, and that was the cue Aaron and Julia had been waiting fo
“Of course it is,” Sally said, screaming and punching Dickson on the chest.Nelly took that as a cue to run away.Julia got home and found that Lucy wasn’t around. She got to the bathroom to take a quick bath, and Aaron flashed before her eyes.“Not now, please,” she told herself, applying soap all over her body. Everywhere she touched reminded her of Aaron’s touch, and she felt herself craving for his touch.She had felt so good being touched by him, and she felt she needed his touch daily. Her mind went back to her ex-boyfriend, and she started comparing him to Aaron.John was tall, good looking and had a light complexion. It had been love at first sight, and John was everything Julia wanted in a guy until she found out he was gay.“Are you kidding me?” She had asked. She had applied for a job at a hotel, and as fate would have it, John had been in the same building with his lover. “Wha
“No. what about her?” she asked. Anything about the tide family was of interest to her, especially after Julia beat Aaron in the game. “Word has it that she has handed over her resignation letter. She said something about moving out of this place,” Sandra said. What do you mean? Lucy thought. How could that be possible? If the whole family was moving, was Julia even aware? Maybe not, she thought to herself. She would have mentioned it to me. “It’s the grapevine. We are still not sure about it,” Sandra said, and when she saw Mr. Gory, the firm’s manager, walk towards them, she told Lucy that she would see her later. Lucy reached out for her phone from her handbag and sent a message to Julia asking her if she had heard anything special about Aaron. “No. Why? Is everything okay?” Julia texted back. “I think so. No cause for alarm. I will talk to you tonight.” Lucy didn’t think much of what Sandra said unt
“I wanted to for you,” Erick said as he looked at her solemnly. He added, “I really want to get to know you better.”“Ask a question then,” Lucy replied, and Erick said that it would be fun if they played truth or dare.“Good point,” Lucy said.That was the cue Erick had been waiting for. He sipped his wine and poured more into Lucy’s glass.“Don’t feel shy. It’s just you and I,” he encouraged her.Lucy sipped more and more, and despite the fact that she started feeling drowsy, she couldn’t stop herself.“How close are you to Aaron?” she asked but immediately regretted it.She looked at Erick’s face, but he didn’t show any sign of being shocked.“He has been a good friend though I have been jealous of him,” Erick answered.He knew the only way to get Lucy talking was to spill a few of his own secrets.
She knew she was. She made heads turn, and her presence alone could make even the strongest man weak to his knees. Single men, dating, married, poor or rich all wanted her, but she went for Paul thinking he was the saint he portrayed himself to be.She could have said no, but she was confused. He might change, she thought, but now he wasn’t going to.He proved that over and over again. Dorothy got tired but didn’t know how to break up with him, and she was grateful he was finally gone, although she didn’t like the circumstances surrounding that fact.“Here is your tea,” she said as she placed the cup of tea on the table before Aston in his studio. She took a few sips of hers before placing her cup on the table too. “The weather outside is beautiful today.”“Yes. Yes, it is,” Aston confirmed, although his eyes never left Dorothy. “How about we go somewhere else while this dries?” he suggested.“Sure.”Together with their teas in their hands, they walked out of the studio. Instinctively
Stella observed the interaction between the two, and once again, she knew she had lost Aston to Dorothy because he never looked at her the way he was looking at Dorothy, and that spoke volumes.Stella stood up and straightened out her dress.“I’ll check on you later, Aston, and nice to meet you, Dorothy,” she said with a smile and walked towards Steve.They bid each other farewell, and she left the room.Steve sat down in the chair Stella had just left vacant, crossing his arms over his chest again. He said with a strange emotion in his voice, “You mentioned something about you thinking Paul would change. Has he done something like this before?”Dorothy let out a heavy sigh before replying, “Yes. Yes, he has. Many times.”“Will you be able to testify against him in court?” Aston asked as calmly as he could.“Yes, I will. I think I’ve had enough of him,” she finalized.“Well, I admire your courage, my lady,” Steve commended, further encouraging Dorothy. “By the way, did you meet the pa
‘’We caught this young woman trying to force her way into the ward, and we suspect she might be part of the paparazzi,” the first police officer answered.Steve observed Dorothy noting that she looked familiar then he remembered her. ‘It’s fine, boys. Let her through.The police officers released her arms, and Dorothy threw them a disdainful look, then sent a grateful one Steve’s way.He opened the door for her, and she walked in, thanking Steve with a smile.Steve closed the door with a gentle click and faced Dorothy. “He’s right this way. I’m not supposed to say this, Dorothy, but he’s been expecting you.”Expecting her? Did he want to see her? Did this have something to do with her, or did he just want to see her? She wished it was the latter.Wait, this is Steve, Aston’s best friend and the owner of ‘From Our Hearts’ gallery, but how did he know her?Steve seemed to sense her conflicting thoughts. He sighed and then said, “I can assure you that there’s nothing to fret about, and w
She opened her eyes and brought her fingers up to see them coated with her juices— and Aston hair she had been supposedly pulling happened to be her shower curtain.She just fantasized about Aston pleasuring, but it was better than anything she had ever had with Paul, and the best part —she didn’t regret it.She wanted more of it. She wanted to make it real, so much that she was started to became inpatient and frustrated.The reality of her situation dawned on her when she got out of the shower. She stared at the ring on her finger, and for the first time, she felt trapped.The ring became heavy on her finger, and it began to feel like a heavy burden on her. She slipped the ring off her finger and placed it on the drawer bedside of the bed.Suddenly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Paul. She closed her eyes to picture Paul in her life as she had always done, but this time, Paul was replaced with Aston.And that moment, it became apparent to her that she w
Dorothy turned around to see Paul standing there, arms folded across his chest and his eyes shooting daggers at Aston, who ignored him, by the way.“So I’ll call you and let you know how it goes, okay?” Aston asked while looking at Dorothy, who nodded excitedly like a kid.Aston smiled and then replied, “Bye Dorothy, and take care of yourself.”“Okay!. Bye Aston, and thanks for visiting. It really means a lot,” Dorothy said, as she walked him to the door.He stopped for a moment and took a look at Paul, who was still standing in the doorway.“And you too, Paul. It was nice to meet you,” she added, and with that, he walked out of their flat without waiting to hear Paul’s grunt of a response.Not wanting Paul to ruin her mood, Dorothy hopped past the grumpy Paul happily to their bedroom, humming a song.The only thing in her head was that her art was going to be at an exhibition– something she never expected to happen.For the rest of the day, Dorothy was in high spirits humming a favor
Dorothy turned around with a smile. “Hello Mr and Mrs Harris. Wonderful weather we have today, yeah?”“Absolutely,” Mrs. Harris chirped while Mr. Harris only nodded.“Let’s go in,” she said to Aston leading the way. “How do you like your tea?” Dorothy asked as they entered her flat, locking the door behind them.“Anything is fine, thank you,” he replied with a smileDorothy walked to the kitchen, and moments later, the sound of a kettle whistling was heard, followed by cabinets opening and closing.Aston took this time to observe the interior decor of the flat. It was an average-sized flat with clean white walls decorated with prints of beautiful paintings.Different artifacts, frames, flower vases, and books sat well arranged on the shelf.Wine-colored drapes framed the windows, and the inner lace curtains remained drawn, allowing the sun rays to enter, casting a golden sheen into the living room. The decor was simple yet beautiful and welcoming.This reminded Aston of the typical co
“Oh, thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. And believe me, when I say coming from you means so much more,” she said.“I thought I was doing horribly, so I stopped painting for a while. I only began painting again when I came across your works in a gallery. I was in awe of hyperrealism. It was magnificent, and I knew I wanted to know how to paint like you,” she explained excitedly. “Meeting you here might be the best thing that has happened to me this year.”It was Aston’s turn to feel flattered, and he did ever so much. He had received a lot of compliments, but in a weird way, Dorothy appreciating his art made him feel he did something for someone, and it made him feel good.“I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from this class, and I can give you pointers if you want.”“You know I didn’t exactly enroll for this class. Mrs. Michael is my aunt, and she just allows me to join in and last week was my second time here.”“That makes sense. I didn’t think you paint. I though
For heaven’s sake, he wasn’t some teenager going through hormonal changes, so why couldn’t he stop thinking about Dorothy’s body and, even worse, smiling and blushing at the memory.‘’I guess we can now deduce my idea wasn’t laced with foolishness after all,’ Steve said with the smug look still on his faceAston scoffed, rolling his eyes at him, and said, “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I am still not convinced the class will do me any good.”“We’ll see about that, mate. We’ll see.”The whole weekend felt like torture to Aston. He longed to see Dorothy again, and it seemed the weekend was taking too long to end.Everything was confusing to him; what he was feeling about Dorothy and why he was feeling that way didn’t make any sense to him, but he just wanted to see her again.When Monday finally came, Aston could hardly wait till 3 pm when classes started, and by 12 pm, he was already at the building waiting for Dorothy to show up, but she didn’t.Class started, and she was still nowhere
In one swift moment, a bang was heard, and the whole dining table came crashing down, sending a wave of shock throw Dorothy.She had seen this happen so many times, but she could never get used to it. He promised to change.He said he was going to be better, but after two years and nothing had changed.The last time, it was the TV that suffered it, which took a while to replace, and now, the dining table had also felt the impact of Paul’s fist.The table was ruined; dinner was ruined too.“You love being a whore, eh? You love letting different men run their hands all over your body under the guise of art, right?” He barked the vile words pacing the dining room.The words made her feel she had just been prickled with over a hundred pins.“I am not a whore, Paul!. I am not! I love art, and you know it!” She yelled at him.He scoffed before he said, “Oh c’mon. You’re just using art as a cover-up. You enjoy the way these so-called artists of yours touch you.”He then grabbed her shoulder