Contract Lovers

Chapter 2 Surveillance

In the morning, after Prathik left, Monica quickly dressed, put on her shoes, and gathered her unruly hair at the back of her head. Then, like a spy, Monica got into a taxi and followed the white BMW.

At 7:30 in the morning, Prathik's BMW appeared in front of the Liyuan Community. At 7:35, a graceful and beautiful young mother walked out of the community holding the hand of a four or five-year-old boy. Prathik got out of the car, opened the door, and the little boy shouted, "Daddy!" and jumped into Prathik's arms. At 8:00, Prathik parked the car in front of a private kindergarten. Prathik got out, held the little boy's hand, and handed him over to the kindergarten aide waiting at the door. At 8:20, Prathik drove to the Rose Garden Villa. A middle-aged woman in her forties, who was still in good shape and dressed in professional attire, got into Prathik's car and sat in the passenger seat. At 9:00, Prathik dropped the middle-aged woman off at a trading company called "Newrigg." To Monica's disbelief, the middle-aged woman blew several kisses at Prathik after getting out of the car. At 9:30, Prathik had breakfast at a fast-food restaurant. At 11:30, he picked up the middle-aged woman and went to a hotel. At 2:30 in the afternoon, Prathik took the now somewhat intoxicated middle-aged woman back to the Newrigg Trading Company. At 4:30, Prathik picked up the little boy from kindergarten, returned him to the Liyuan Community, and handed him over to the young mother from the morning. At 6:30, Prathik accompanied the middle-aged woman to a hotel for a banquet. At 10:30, Prathik took the middle-aged woman back to the Rose Garden Villa, pushing away her hands that were clinging to his neck. Then, he drove back to the home he shared with Monica.

By the end of the day, Monica was very tired from following him all day; physically tired, but even more so emotionally. When she got out of the taxi, the driver said slowly, "Six hundred." Monica regretted not negotiating the fare with the driver that morning; she remembered that hiring a car for a day used to cost only three or four hundred. Monica haggled, saying, "A little less, please! I haven't worked for a year and don't have that much money." The driver rolled his eyes and said, "Five hundred, that's the lowest." After taking the money, the driver muttered, "These days, girls who don't work are all rich, huh?" What kind of nonsense is that? Monica thought, stomping her feet in anger.

When Monica entered, Prathik was washing his face in the bathroom. With water dripping from his face, he asked, "Where did you go?" Monica wearily replied, "A friend's birthday, I went to celebrate." Prathik gave Monica a puzzled look but said nothing more.

Before going to bed, Monica secretly threw the last two condoms in the house into the toilet and flushed them away. Watching Prathik anxiously rummage through the drawer of the bedside table, Monica knowingly asked, "What are you looking for?" Prathik said, "There should be two left, why can't I find them?" Monica ignored him and lay naked on the bed, while Prathik anxiously scratched his head by the bedside table. Monica said, "Without a condom, you don't dare to do it?" Prathik said helplessly, "What if you get pregnant? I have time to make love to you, but I don't have time to raise a child with you. Besides, our contract is about to expire..." Before Prathik could finish, Monica pounced on him like a wild beast, saying, "Do it, I want you to do it without a condom today. I'll raise my own child..." Monica was unleashing all the anger she had suppressed throughout the day onto Prathik. Why was their contract ending so soon, damn. Why did Prathik have a five or six-year-old son, damn. Why was the middle-aged woman so ambiguous with Prathik, damn. And that damn taxi driver, saying that girls who don't work are all rich, damn. Monica mounted Prathik as he had done to her, moving frantically until she spent her last ounce of energy, tears streaming down her face. Then, she clung to Prathik and broke down into sobs.

Prathik didn't expect to wake up the next day and find Monica already gone. There was no note left on the table, and her phone was switched off.