Chapter 3
711 Words
DAVID (low, clenched)
“I will not get married, Mom. Drop it.”
ROSLINA (soft, deliberate)
“I’m not asking you to fall in love, darling. Just… host a brunch without looking like a hostage.”
I almost smiled — the Blake family power dynamic was so sharp you could cut bread with it.
DAVID
“This again.”
ROSLINA
“You’re thirty. Successful. Handsome. But utterly emotionally bankrupt. That is not a way to live.”
The word bankrupt slid through the air like a knife dipped in honey.
DAVID (restrained anger)
“What do you want, Mom? It distracts me.”
ROSLINA
“I want a future for you. And that future needs more than boardrooms and protein shakes.”
He exhaled sharply — the kind of sigh that carried years of exhaustion.
DAVID
“I told you. I’m not wired for partnerships. Not the romantic kind.”
ROSLINA
“You are. You’re just putting different labels in your mind on your own.”
Then — a pause.
Not a polite pause.
The air shifted — heavy, thick.
I’d been in that air before, across her desk.
Roslina Blake had changed gears.
She wasn’t asking anymore.
For once, I was almost glad someone else — even her son — had to breathe that same air.
DAVID (pleading now)
“Next year, Mother.”
I smirked despite myself. He knew it. Losing battle.
ROSLINA (calmly, final)
“You should prepare yourself.”
Silence. Thick. Absolute.
ROSLINA (softly)
“I have a person in mind.”
DAVID (quiet, but bitter)
“Who is it?”
Another pause. Intentional. She wasn’t going to tell him.
ROSLINA
“You will know.”
DAVID
“You can’t assign me a wife.”
ROSLINA (with a hint of amusement)
“Who said anything about a wife?”
That… startled him.
Startled me too.
Not a wife?
What did that mean?
A bamboo wife? (Was that a thing? Please let that not be a thing.)
DAVID
“Then what is this?”
ROSLINA
“A chance to meet someone whose world revolves around you. That should be refreshing.”
Roslina couldn’t contain her baby-love for long. There it was — a confession in disguise.
She didn’t just want him to have a partner.
She wanted him to have a worshipper.
Poor girl. Whoever she was.
DAVID
“Mom, give me a chance. I will find someone this time.”
This time.
A phrase that carried weight.
He’d used that one before.
ROSLINA
“No, darling. I don’t want the replay of that bluff. I still cannot put my mind around the fact you had to pay a woman to act as your girlfriend.
Also, that Katrina. How could you do that? She couldn’t even stand a one-minute lie.”
DAVID
“That’s because she has threatened.”
Another pause.
The third pause.
By now, I could feel them. Like cliffs in a dark sea.
ROSLINA
“Don’t start me on that. It took no genius to figure out that the previous day you had no girlfriend, and the next day — a woman shows up professing her love for you. She couldn’t even finish one line.”
David laughed.
A small, fearless sound.
This guy. No fear.
Not of Roslina.
Not of the storm she carried in her voice.
DAVID
“Mom, I will not get married.”
And then—
I realized how close I was.
Close enough to see the sliver of light tremble against my hand.
Close enough that if they turned —
CREAK.
The door moved. Just slightly.
I gasped — too loudly.
I turned, ready to flee, but my stupid foot snagged on the rug.
The candle stand hit the marble — loud, ringing. Like a church bell calling everyone to see my death.
I was dead.
In the chaos, I tripped forward.
Straight — onto David.
ROSLINA (O.S.)
“Nice catch.”
I looked up.
David’s eyes.
Those same eyes that haunted me on and off for years.
Now — sliding down my face, my neck, and below.
I wasn’t ashamed of my Hello Kitty pajama set.
But right then, I decided to do the most intelligent thing—
RUN.
Because no girl wears a bra at night.
- Writer
