The Claimed Promise

Working

In the afternoon I text Lindsey and check in on her. She is still lying in bed with the worst hangover she’s ever had. Laughing, I just shake my head and don’t bother her further. The best thing for her is to just sleep it off. Mandi still has not returned home, I assume she’s asleep and trying to rid herself of a bad hangover as well. To keep busy, I head out to the yard and do some work; mowing and weed eating the front and backyard. The home was owned by Mandi but purchased with funds from a home I had sold left to me by my grandparents. Mandi had insisted that the home left to me was not big enough for us and had convinced me to sell it. To make her happy, I had indeed sold it and given her the money to purchase a house that would make her happier. When the purchase was made, I opted to not be on the mortgage. There was around 150k left on the home after she used around 200k I had given her. Mandi always needed the best of the best and I was not willing to be associated with any unnecessary debt. That’s all this big house was unnecessary debt. It takes almost two hours for me to finish the yards and I’m pouring sweat. Time for a shower.

The hot water runs down my body and only now do I realize I’m sore I assume from the dancing. My mind wanders to Samara, her beautiful face and her shocking confession to me. What I wouldn’t give to have someone who truly wanted me the way she described, someone who would treat me as a queen. As if having salt rubbed into a fresh wound, I hear the front door slam shut and Mandi screaming.

“Kora! Where the hell are you?”

“I’m in the shower, I’ll be out in just a minute.”

“Hurry up! I need to talk to you, now!”

My heart rate quickens, and guilt instantly floods my conscience. There’s no way she could know. As soon as the rest of the soap is rinsed off of my body, I’m out of the shower, dried and dressed in a t-shirt and jersey shorts. Within seconds I’m downstairs and in the kitchen, staring at Mandi sitting at the table, casually scrolling through her phone.

“What’s up Mandi?” My breathing is a little uneven from my haste.

Her eyes meet mine and immediately she’s glaring at me. “Why is it that I come home after letting you hangout with that b***h and nothing is done? The house isn’t clean, there’s no dinner, nothing.”

Anger begins to surface, replacing the guilt. “Are you kidding me? One, I took care of the yard, something you never do and two, why the hell would I cook something when I had no idea when you were even going to be back? It’s not like you communicate with me!” At this point, I know my face is flushed red from how angry I am.

“Don’t you dare yell at me! You knew I was going to be gone most of the day recovering. There should have been some assumption that I would return home to eat with my girlfriend.” Now, her voice becomes quieter and I know the waterworks are soon to follow. Instead of watching the spectacle, I turn and pull chicken from the fridge to get it ready for the grill. I hear the scoff of defeat as she stomps out of the kitchen and to the bedroom.

Dinner goes by quickly without anymore arguing and soon Mandi is complaining she’s tired. I’m not too surprised since she is still nursing a hangover.

“Just go up to bed and I’ll be up in a bit.” I give her a reassuring smile.

“I was planning to. If you want to stay up, that’s your deal. I need to sleep.” She huffs and heads towards the bedroom. No thank you for dinner and no kiss goodnight. Why do I even try with her? I sigh and pull out my Playstation controller. Time to take my mind off of everything and just enjoy myself for a bit. After a few hours of mind-numbing videogames, I turn on a movie and get comfortable on the couch. Talking myself into sleeping next to her wont work tonight after the crap she put me through. I hunker down and doze off almost immediately. My dreams are filled with the image of Samara and the smell that draws me so desperately to her. It feels so real it’s like she’s sitting next to me. I shoot up in the morning and frantically look around. The house is quiet, and the sun is peaking in through the windows. Samara isn’t here and my heart feels heavy and sad. I’ll never see her again, never understand these feelings and it hurts. Enough feeling depressed. I need to get ready for work. Once I’m showered, I stop in the kitchen and grab an apple and an energy drink from the fridge. Mandi is still asleep so I don’t bother waking her to say goodbye and head off to my part time job. My parents own a coffee and baked goods shop called The Coffee Cake. It’s a very popular hangout for college students and a regular spot for morning commuters to stop for their dose of caffeine and some breakfast. As soon as I arrive my mom looks absolutely relieved to see me. The café is packed and extremely busy.

“Kora! Thank goodness! Grab your apron and come help your father and me get these orders out.” A large smile is spread across her beautiful features. We look very similar and have been mistaken for sisters. My mother’s name was Kathleen or Katy for short. I head behind the counter and my dad throws my apron onto my head.

“Took you long enough to decide to show up.” He laughs and elbows me. My dad is a very fierce looking man, he has strong handsome features, dark black hair and grey eyes. I laugh and pull the apron over my head. “If I’m not here it seems like you can’t get anything done, dad. Sheesh, you’re so helpless.” I elbow him back and get to work on pushing out orders. Within 15 minutes we are all caught up and the line has finally died down.

“Oh, thank goodness it finally slowed down.” My mom laughs and leans back onto the counter and takes a sip of a coffee.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier; I had a rough night again with Mandi.” I sigh loudly and my parents both look at each other knowingly.

“Kora, she’s no good for you. Aside from her asinine idea of selling your home, she also treats you like literal dirt! I don’t want to leave my daughter this very successful business knowing she has a leach attached to her that could ruin it.” My dad’s expression was very serious, and he was becoming irritated as he talked more about her. Soon, my mom was patting his shoulder and shushing him. “That’s enough, Sam. It’s not like this will do any good.” I gave her a smile of appreciation and quickly changed the subject. “When do we get our review for the café?”

The irritation disappeared from my father’s face and was replaced by excitement and anxiety. “Soon, I hope. I just know once we get this review things are going to be even better for us.” He beamed proudly. We were expecting a review of the café that would help advertise the business and get the name out there more to secure our place in this bustling city. What I hadn’t told my parents was I didn’t want to take over the business but rather, I wanted to move away from the big city life. My dreams were to be somewhere surrounded by nature. Once I had expressed this desire to Mandi who quickly shot it down. “How stupid are you, Kora? You want to give up everything just to go live in the damn trees?” The memory had left a sour feeling in my heart that I had never fully let go.

“Well, I’m sure it will be soon dad. Don’t worry.” I smiled and noticed some customers coming in and went back to work. The day went by quickly and soon it was 6pm. Our night employee would be here soon. He was a very nice guy. Tall, skinny with orange hair and brown eyes. His name was Ben and he had worked for my parents for about 5 months now. The door opened and he sauntered in, his head down looking at some handheld gaming system. I considered myself to be nerdy, but Ben took the cake. In his free time, he did a lot of roleplaying and would not talk out of character no matter who he was speaking to. Once he was behind the desk and clocked in, I started gathering my things to leave. Ben was taking his time in the back getting to a save point on his game and soon, I heard the bell at the counter. Uh, I swear I’m going to yell at him after I take this customer. Grabbing my apron, I begin throwing it over my head and heading to the counter as my eyes come up to greet the client standing there. “Hi, welcome to… to…umm…” There in front of me is Samara. I recognize a few of the guys with her from the club and for at least 10 seconds I stand there speechless.

“Hello, Kora.” Her smile and the sound of my name come from her brings me back to reality. Heat flushes my face as I realize how stupid I must look to her. “Hello, Samara. Welcome to The Coffee Cake. Can I get you and your friends something?” My ears feel hot, but I keep my smile plastered on my face and remain as polite as I can.

“Sure. We would like to try the coffee cake and a specialty coffee please.”

I nod and turn to complete the order. Her eyes burn into the back of my head as I work, and I know she is still staring at me. What do I say to her? I’ve regretted not hearing her out, maybe I should try to talk to her about it?

“Here you go, Samara. I hope you and your friends enjoy your cakes and drinks.” I smile brightly at her and wait for her to pick them up, but she doesn’t.

“There’s one too many here and how much is it, Kora?” She raises an eyebrow at me.

“Umm, well, they’re on the house. I kind of hoped we could have coffee together and talk for a few minutes. I’m actually off work and we could sit down here if that’s ok?” My face again heats up and it feels like steam will start blowing out of my ears at any moment.

A large smile appears on her face and she motions for the men behind her. They pick up all of the drinks and food and head over to the corner of the café where no one else is and take two tables. “That sounds great. I was hoping we would get a moment to talk again where it was quieter. I’ll meet you over there when you’re ready.” With that, she turned and headed towards the tables.

As soon as her back was to me I ran into the back and threw my apron off. “Ben! Get your butt up here and run the front! I’m clocked out now and I’m not taking anymore of your customers, ok?”

“Yes. Sorry Kora. I didn’t realize that took me so long. Please forgive me.” His head dropped and I could tell he was frustrated with himself. Sighing I just laughed a little. “It’s ok Ben. I just need to go over and talk to some friends for a few and I want the counter to be manned. Everything is ok though.” I give him a smile and head towards the tables. Samara is sitting with her back against the wall in one of our booth tables and her friends are all sitting at the other table.

“Thank you for agreeing to talk with me tonight.” I smile and sit across from her.

“I should be thanking you. I’ve been hoping for another opportunity for us to talk.” Her eyes penetrate mine and soon I’m looking at the table, my face flushed again.

“So, why don’t you go first and tell me what you wanted to talk about?”

I nod and clear my throat. “Well, I was kind of hoping for an explanation to these feelings I have towards you. I know you said something about mate but, that just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.” My face crinkles as I tried to process the idea of a mate. Only animals have mates, right?

“I’ll try to put this as simple as possible for the time being. My people live far away from here and sometimes, we have to venture away from our home in search of our mate. See, we are gifted one mate for a life and when we find that person, our souls connect, and we become one. The draw you feel, we both feel, is because we are destined as mates. I’ve been searching for a long time for my mate and now that I’ve found you, I do not plan to just let you go.” Her get darker and a possessive look spreads across her face.

“I understand what you’re saying but I guess I don’t understand how this is possible. It’s so hard to grasp these feelings, the smell; I’ve never experienced anything like this before.” My eyes search desperately in hers for more answers.

“Kora. Come with me. Give me the chance to show you what it really means to have someone who loves you unconditionally. We’ll start slow, dating if you will. That is what you called it before, correct?”

I nod and can’t help but laugh. “Do you not know what dating is?”

She frowns slightly. “No. We do not really date. We meet our mates and stay with that person. There are situations of mates being rejected but that is a story for another time.” Panic sweeps over her face as soon as the word rejection is uttered. I know what it feels like to be cheated and rejected. Without a second thought, I reach out and grab her hand into mine. Sparks shoot through my skin. “Please, don’t be sad. I don’t know what all of this means but I am not rejecting you. I just need some time to think and figure out my own personal matters. There is someone I am dating, as I told you before but, we aren’t happy and haven’t been for a very long time.” My eyes return to the table and I loosen my grip on her hand. Before I can pull free, she tightens her grip and clasps my hand between both of hers.

“Well, I promise to never make you feel the way you’re feeling now. And I promise that I never plan to reject you. You are beautiful, and w-… I want you as my mate.”

A large smile now covers my face and I can’t help it. This kind of desire is something I have always wanted from the person I’m with.

Before I can talk anymore with Samara, my phone rings and to my surprise, it’s Mandi.

“Where are you?”

“I’m still at work Mandi. Some customers came in before I could leave so I stayed and helped.”

“That’s what I love about you Kora. You’re the nicest person.”

“Umm… thanks.” The surprise in my voice was hard to hide.

“Well, are you coming home soon? I would really like to talk to you about something important.” A hit of desperation was evident in her tone which caused me to worry.

“Ok. I’ll head home right away. Be there in a few.” As soon as I hung up, my eyes met the eyes of a very frustrated Samara.

“I’m sorry. I have to go.” I stand and turn to leave but feel my hand being grabbed.

“Kora, wait. Will you still think this over? I can wait for an answer, but I just want your promise that you’ll think about things.”

I nod immediately. “Of course. Give me some time to figure out what this means to me and what I want to do. One way or another, I’ll have an answer for you soon.” I give her a reassuring smile and rush home.

“Mandi?” I holler for her as soon as I’m in the door. The smell of food overwhelms me, and I head towards the kitchen.

“Kora! Hey baby!” Mandi rushes over to me and kisses me deeply before heading back over to the stove.

“What’s going on?” I my head c***s to the side involuntarily in surprise.

“I’m making my amazing girlfriend dinner. Is that a crime?” She winks at me and starts prepping plates. “Well, come on, let’s go eat at the table.”

I follow behind her to the table and find it’s already all set and a beer is waiting for me at my spot. She sets a plate down for me and I sit and open my beer scanning the food, steak, potatoes and asparagus.

“Looks very good Mandi but, what’s up? Tell me what’s going on, please.”

“Well…” She clears her throat and looks at me seriously. “I’ve been thinking a lot about us and I know we’ve had some downs lately, but I think it’s time to try and make a move to make things better again.”

My mouth gapes open as she speaks. “I know this is sudden, but I’ve really given it a lot of thought. I think we should take the next step in our relationship and talk about getting married and…” She pauses and tears well up in her eyes. “… I want to have a baby. I want to have kids with you, and I’d like to start getting serious about trying to find a donor.”

I sat there, speechless. What do I even say to that? Would this fix our relationship? What about Samara?

“Umm… ok Mandi. I’ll think about it.”

“Well, baby, I started looking already for some donors and I could go in this Friday. Do this with me, Kora, please.” Tears streaked down her face.

Sighing, I just nodded. “Ok, Mandi. Go ahead and go see the Friday. But you have to promise me that we really work on this together. Things need to change, and we need to better to each other. You need to be better to me.”

“I promise, Kora. Things will change for the better.” Soon, she’s up and has embraced me into a hug. “Thank you so much for taking this step with me. I can’t believe I’m gong to be a mom!” The only thing I could do was smile as she began planning for a baby. My heart sank knowing that moving on wasn’t going to happen now. I’d have to say goodbye to Samara… I’d have to reject her. The exact thing I had promised her I wouldn’t do.