Promises and Threats
1152 Words
Arthur kissed my forehead as we sat on the hood of a truck staring out over the empty soccer field.
Don't worry your stepmom will never stop us at any cost.
I smiled into his chest. “Not even my father right.”
“Yeah.”
Arthur chuckled,but it was tight,forced.
“I'll take him on if I have to.”
I had to believed him,even if i didn't wanted to.
Few days later……………….
Dad called me into his office.
“Close the door,” he said,without looking up from his tablet.
My stomach tightened,I felt afraid,cos dad has not called me like this in a while.
Dad finally glanced up, face calm,voice casual as always.
“So who's Arthur wick.”
I kept mute, buried my face to the ground. I just waited.
“Okay let me explain it more better, Arthur wick a guy who pumps gas for a living after graduating from college.”
“Do you really think you can ruin yourself over a boy who pumps gas for a living?” Dad asked.
I stiffened. “He's studying engineering dad,he's smart and he's…………..
“He's poor,”Dad cut in. “And poor boys gets desperate for rich things.”
“Have you ever sat down and think why he chooses you over every other girl.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
I said to him, “come on dad i love him,and i'll like to spend the rest of my life with him.”
“Oh Jesus you have to be joking.”
“Alright tell me did he cast a spell on you?”
“No dad, he won't do such a thing.”
“Okay fine you can go. I’ll take it from here.”
Whenever he says that statement I don't trust him cos he can do anything fishy after making such statement.
Few days later…………….
Arthur came to pick me up with my car. I saw it the second time he slid behind the wheels. Then I knew something was wrong.
“What happened”i asked cos of his mood.
He didn't answer right away.just stared at the steering wheel like it had betrayed him.
Finally, he aired out.
“Your father cornered me.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Why did he say to you?”
Arthur let out a broken laugh.
“He offered me a deal.”
I waited, breathless.
“He asked if i really cared about you.”
“He gave me a deal,2 million dollars,get married to Sophia. Leave my daughter alone.”
I blinked.”what?”
Arthur rubbed his face.
“He said Sophia's, safer. Less complicated.A better match for me.”
The car felt too small, the air too sharp.
“What did you say?” I asked,voice barely there.
Arthur looked at me then ,eyes raw. He felt so ashamed even speaking to me.
“I didn't say anything.”
Guilt crashed over me,dizzy and dark.
I grabbed his hand. “We'll figure it out. You and me. No one else.”
Arthur nodded. But there was shadow behind his smile.
The next day…………..
At a restaurant, we all sat down kept silent for a while waiting for our order.
Sophia knew something was wrong. Of course she did.
She wasn't stupid she knew what was going on. She was quiet. Too quiet.
Our order landed,we all we're filled yet still silent.
Arthur hand rested on my knee under the table.
Sophia traced patterns into her coffee cup, pretending not to notice.
I kicked her foot gently.
“Hey, you're good?”
Sophia smiled. Tight,faint.
“Yeah.just tired”
Arthur shifted beside me. I felt the tension in him,in the way he kept glancing at Sophia and looking away.
Later when Sophia's left to catch her last class,Arthur turned to me.
“I think your dad's pushing Sophia too.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Arthur hesitated.”she's been acting differently these days. Avoiding me,you. It's like………”
“Like she's hiding something.” I finished. Arthur nodded in agreement.
That night, Dad called me again.
“You need to think about your future,” he said swirling bourbon in a glass.
“You have no idea how hard life can be with the wrong man.”
“Read my lips,i'm not marrying for money Dad,” I snapped.
“You think love pays bills? Love fixes failure?”
I stood up. “Arthur isn't a failure Dad.”
“Well lets see about that. You see his already halfway broken. And people like him remains broke forever.”
“This conversation is over dad.” I took my bag and left him in the sitting room. As I slammed the door behind me so hard that the windows rattled.
That same night I spoke with Arthur over the phone he invited over to his house for dinner. I drove there and enter his house.
He prepared the room so romantic that it looked like an anniversary. He offered me a chair. We both ate and went to the sitting room to watch a movie. And told h everything dad said to me that night.
“You’re okay?”
“No.”
He dropped beside me,knees brushing mine.
“I'm scared.” I whispered.
He took my hand. “I'm not letting you go. No matter what your father says no matter what anyone says.”
He kissed my hands so softly that the doubts in me left me.His tongue reached for my lips,but before i could stop him I didn't realize myself. I was also kissing him.
He kissed me like he owned the air, touched me like the world owed him softness.there was no guilt in me only hunger.
I tried to slow the speed, but my feelings kept pushing me like i was about to fall drop from a cliff. Before I could realize it,we were on the bed doing the rest.
The next morning he woke up but
he couldn't find me,I had to rush to Sophia place and pleaded with her to cover in for me like I spent the night in her house.
“Oh come on Nat. What are friends for?”
I step into the estate and my parents where waiting for me at the door.
“Where are you coming from?”
“Sophia's place.”
“You know I'm not some teenager you can lie to.”
“Oh come on dad,enough of the drama,go on and call Sophia if i'm lying.”
He took out his phone and called Sophia,i never knewed what they discussed over the phone but he nodded his head as a sign of agreement.
“You're lucky else you would have go back to where you're coming from.”
Few weeks later something strange starts happening to me.
- Writer
