DANGERIOUS LOVE

CHAPTER ONE

It was a very cold evening, the weather was one of intense outpour as the rain continuously made heavy noises with claps of thunder!

The City of Peterborough, is known for its funny atmospheric behaviour this time of the year.

Pedestrians could be seen that evening, running helter-skelter as the rain and thunder increased.

Not so far away from the main street, a certain couple did not waste time in utilising the cold evening. They warmed up themselves on the scattered bedsheets with passionate kisses and romance sweeter than a regular day!

“ahhh!” loud moaning and grunts could be heard, but who cares? The heavy downpour was enough reason one or two did not bang on the door of their apartment. Yes, the rain made way for the two man pandemonium deep into the night, only to stop when the watery precipitation ceased. The sound of laughter could then be heard from apartment 47 of the McDonald Street.

“When are we getting married?” Rosy could not help but ask the dire question which had been on her mind. “ I don’t want you to have the wrong idea about us. We have been engaged for three years now. I'm beginning to doubt your love for me... all we do is have s*x whenever we are together. Hope I'm not being played?” her voice shaking and filled with worry while she spoke.

Rosa's love life has been filled with one disappointment after another. She was so unlucky in love despite proving herself to be genuinely in love with her exes. A woman close to her 30s, she had every reason to be worried! Josh gave her an engagement ring on her 26th birthday. Her dream of being called a wife was very near, but little did she know that Josh had his own terrible plans. Four years now, and she has still not worn her dream gown, making vows to the man who had given her a promise ring on her 26th birthday.

“ Rosy, we have talked about this” Josh responded in his normal loving tune. “ Walking up to her, he held her up gently, embracing her warmly. “ I am really sorry my love, I am afraid because my past still hunts me. When I sleep, the worries that our marriage will only end in divorce as my first, are the dreams and nightmares that I face. I really want this to work”.

Truthfully, Josh and Rosy have faced the issues of relationship. Rosy had the problem of over commitment, Josh was not willing to be committed, as he no longer believed that getting married was worth the stress. Seeing top celebrities and friends who claimed to be in love, drag each other in a family court during divorce over custody of children and properties, was a normal scene for Josh as he was family lawyer.

“ I do not understand!” Rosy said as she broke his soft embrace and looked him deeply in the eye. “ You mean to tell me, that you fear I will leave you just like your first wife? We have been through a lot since we met. Have I ever shown myself to be someone that will cheat on you or leave you heart broken when you need me the most?” Josh was perplexed at the unexpected change of atmosphere and kept mute, unable to say anything meaningful. Meanwhile, pitter-patter!.... the sound of rain drops, moving wind and thundering could be heard again.

Josh stood in his underpants not knowing what to say, to change Rosy's mood. The more he tried to justify his nonchalant attitude towards their marriage, the more Rosy pushed away his soft touches as she was no longer interested in his pity statements.

Locking up the bathroom door as she wanted to shower, Josh stood close to the door...

“ Rosy, marriage is a delicate thing. Can we at least talk about this some other time? This isn’t the right time to be offended by anything” Josh said. “

“ Hmmm, I am not offended, I just do not see any reason to be close to you anymore for now. Your reason for not pushing through as expected is enough for me to give you some space... clearly, you still have a lot of thinking and maturing to do” her voice could be heard even as the shower was on. If Josh was not man enough to keep his word, she won’t be obligated to keep his ring. She looked at the mirror in the bathroom, imagining how life could have been different if only she did not care about someone. She loved Josh, but his love was now questionable to her. “ What am I going to do?” She asked, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Tears rolled down her cheeks: she cried silently and for the first time, decided to put Josh in his millionaire seat.

Coming out from the bathroom, her hair and body covered with a towel she went straight to the wardrobe, ignoring Josh and his advances: picked her clothes and was about leaving the room...

“ Where are you going?” Josh asked as he hurriedly closed the door, stopping her from leaving the room. He was surprised by the look on her face as there was disdain for him as he had never seen from Rosa before. “ Don’t tell me you are going home this time of the night... you can’t overact like this simply because of what I said. You judge me now simply because I told you my fears. You are angry because I brought my nightmares to limelight!”

Rosy did not seem to care about all what Josh was saying, she did not even look at him as he poured out his bag full of emotions on the floor where they stood! “ Goddammit! Just shut up already” she said to herself as she looked away from his face, not minding if he was genuine or not. For her, she just wants to leave at that point and be far from him!

Josh was ready to convince her, that staying for the night was the best and that leaving at that time of the night was not in her best interest.

“ Is that all you have to say?” She looked at him with disdain and a fierce look in her eyes. He felt the wind of repulsion on his face and gently he removed his hands from her arms. She stormed out of the room, making her way to the guest room to change. “ At least home is better than staying here with this unintentional lover...” she changed her clothes and booked a taxi: Her ride was 20 minutes late but she stayed outside the house till he arrived. Looking back at Josh as he stood by the door, she did the most unthinkable.

Josh was perplexed as the car zoomed off into darkness, the driver blowing his horn against other vehicles in the way. He stood outside to watch the car disappear out of sight!

“ How could you be so stupid? You don’t say such nonsense and expect a woman not to be angry with you!” He was still in his underpants but Rosy’s unthinkable act, brought him out of the apartment without thinking. He looked around the bushes but could not find anything. To him he had just lost the love of his life. She was filled with tears as she entered the taxi and did not bother to wait as he hurriedly tried to stop her from leaving.

It was 2am in the morning, the rain was drizzling... Rosy had left under the initial downpour. She stayed out despite his pleas for her to come inside. Josh stayed outside, the rain increased and soaked him even more and as he wept for the first time in a long time, his heart began to beat faster than normal ...

While in the Taxi, Rosa's mind and conscience began to judge her: she had not waited patiently enough to hear what Josh had to say and her mind was clouded with anger. Everything he was saying was as like a reverberating noise to her soul, like bad music she never wanted to hear his voice again because she felt she couldn’t trust his words any longer.

Rosa lived with her room mate Vanessa at number 19 Mcclennan Street. Her room mate did not expect her to be back so early from Josh’s apartment. Rosa had earlier told her that she wouldn’t be coming back till Sunday but the unfortunate turn of events, she had no option but to come back as soon as possible. Staying away from Josh was all she wanted at the moment.

“ Oh my God! Rosa, what happened to you? Where is Josh?” Vanessa approached Rosa who was already inside the apartment: she could not move from the spot as she was drenched after waiting 20 minutes under the rain for her ride. “ What happened? Answer me!” Vanessa gently held Rosa, looking deeply into her eyes, expecting to hear an explanation for her early arrival and why she was drenched so badly...

Shivering because of the severe cold which had entered her body, Rosa tried explaining her ordeal but her lips began to quiver and being unable to explain herself freely, “ I...I....I... Josh” was all she could muster before the loud cries came forth. The tears she had held back at Josh’s apartment, poured out like water from a broken dam! Truly she was a dam: for she had been strong all these years and her limit was Josh. In essence, she was not ready to start again, she didn’t want to fail again!

And as Rosa cried loudly and terribly, that neighbours were awoken and began to wonder what kind of problem was happening in the neighbourhood that such a loud painful cry could be heard... “Call 911!” The sound of murmurings could be heard outside their apartment.

Vanessa knew what was going to happen: eventually the police would be on their way to investigate them and definitely they would have to file a report. It was now 3am Saturday morning, the rain had subsided by the time Rosa got home.