Five

Simone's pov

"Simone." Mrs Gua called again, this time with an urgency to her voice.

"Coming." With that, I skidded across the kitchen and head to the living room to see her standing there with her hand holding onto the telephone.

I accept it and placed it to my ear.

"Dad?"

"Sweetheart. How are you?"

"Um… I'm fine dad." My face clench in worry and I turn to Mrs Gua. But she's smiling and I wonder why. It looks like she got some exciting news, but at the same time I could note the nervousness in her eyes.

"How was school?"

This time, I could clearly note the uneasiness in his voice and I couldn't take the suspense anymore.

"Dad is everything okay? Are you okay? Why do you sound like something happened? Did anything happen at work?"

There was a brief silence over the phone, before he spoke up.

"Something did happen at work, Simone. But it's actually good news and that's why I called… "

It was good news, but why was that uneasiness still in his voice.

"Dad… " I called, stressing out the vowel in his name to show that I still wasn't buying it.

"Simone you know I promised you that some day I'm going to make you proud and earn money so that you would go to any college of your choice and live the life you've always dreamed about… "

"Yeahhhh." I drawled, still stressing out the vowel.

"And I also mentioned there was a promotional project at work and the CEO was picking a limited amount of workers for the project."

"Yes.. you also did." My heart raced as the thought of what he was about to say came to mind.

"Well, I got enlisted as one of the workers."

"What?!" Excitement was visible on my face as I found myself jumping up and down with my other hand clasped around Mrs Gua's hand in sheer happiness. I had never been happy as I was not today, and I had never been more proud of my father.

"Wow dad… I'm so happy for you! But don't you think we could have celebrated together. I was thinking when driving home from work you could stop over and maybe we… "

"Actually Sweetheart I… I can't come." His voice lost all the filters which he had been using to hide the obvious uneasiness, and I could note the graveness in his voice now.

"What are you talking about dad… " my heart resumed pounding almost immediately as I turned to see Mrs. Gua. She had a grave expression on my face and wouldn't meet my eyes.

At that moment, Thomas walked in, running a hand through his hair as he shut the door behind him. But when he saw the grave expressions on our faces and the cold silence, his eyes grew panicky and were filled with worry.

"Sweetheart… the project… the CEO didn't inform us early enough. Time was limited and… we weren't allowed to.."

"Dad what are you saying… " I swallowed nervously. "Where are you?"

"I'm in North Korea." He said, and at that moment, it was the world had stopped spinning for a second. But yet, it was like I was getting dizzy by the seconds going by.

My knees felt weak and my hand grew numb before the telephone dropped from my hands. Though, it was saved fr crashing to the floor by Mrs. Gua who looked more worried for me than for the phone.

"Simone!" I could hear her worried voice in the background as my knees dropped to the floor. I could hear her talking frantically with my father on the phone.

It was like their voices were fading- just like my eye sight.

The last thing I remembered was the smell of blueberries and sandalwood cologne drifting up my nose before I fell into unconsciousness.

*

I didn't know how long I was unconscious, but when I groggily opened my eyes, without turning, I knew where I was.

Thomas's room.

Picture's of rockbands on posters were scattered across the wall and soft music was blaring from his stereo.

I reach out for my glasses and put them on,

and as I groaned, trying to sit up, I felt an arm across my belly.

I froze, and with my head aching, I turn to the side, and my heart skips a beat when I see Thomas sleeping next to me with his arm flung across my stomach.

His hair is perfectly and sits still in a ponytail behind his head, and his eyes are closed, his long lashes carressing his cheeks as he sleeps.

I know I was supposed to be sulking and fuming over my dad abandoning me and flying half way across the world without informing me, but Thomas was like an eye candy. His features were hypnotizing and I found myself admiring God's gift to women without thinking of the seconds going by.

When almost five minutes had gone by, I decide it's time I leave his room before he wakes up and find out I've been awake long ago and had been staring at him like a creep.

Cautiously, with my tongue sticking out the side of my lip, i slowly, with the slightest of care, grab his hand and lift it up, but each time I wrap my hand around his wrists, he mumbles sleepily and moves, and I'm forced to freeze until he's breathing steadily again.

However, this continues for a while before I hear a voice very close to me.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I gasp and turn to lock eyes with dreamy ocean blue ones .

Thomas!

"I.. I was.. was…j- just.."

He doesn't leave me to finish and suddenly pins me to the bed and towards over me with his hand holding down mine on the bed on either side of my head in seconds.

My heart drops to my stomach which does a flip, annd I think my face must have gotten all red from seeing his face hovering close to mine, his hot breath fanning my face. My blood is pumping hard in my veins, and I'm aware of how bad I'm yearning for him now.

God I've fantasized about this. About him kissing him now and tearing my clothes apart before popping my cherry. I've imagined the scene so many times.

Was my fantasy about to become a reality?

"Just what? I'm guessing you aren't just waking up now."

"N- n.. No." If I had wanted to lie, I couldn't. Not with his eyes staring deeply into mine like he was looking into my very soul.

"What have you been up to since?" A smirk crawled up his face as he stared at me, and just for a second, I swear I thought I saw him run his eyes down to my lips.