ZOE

CHAPTER 08

Time flowed like water and Zoe's wedding was inexorably approaching. Zoe and her mother hardly stopped. The wedding was full of confusion and mainly arrangements. Both of them neglected Zoe's classes because they couldn't keep up. They met at most for lunch, but even then they ate "on the run".

A week before the wedding, everything was prepared and ready. Only the wedding dress wasn't ready.

Zoe, exhausted, climbed into a bathtub full of warm water. Zoe needed this relaxation, she hadn't been able to rest like this for a long time. When she climbed out, put on her nightgown and went to dinner, she was really hungry. She took the food she had for lunch, but she couldn't remember how it tasted. She sat down at the table and started eating. She remembered her birthday, the party, her dad, Kristla, Adam, Mark and her fateful decision. She also remembered the day after the party - everyone got up around lunchtime. The chaos had already begun that day. Lunch was still quiet. Then Kristla, Adam, Mark and dad left. She didn't like saying goodbye to them, even though they were supposed to see each other soon – at a wedding.

Today, strangely enough, she didn't feel like sleeping, so she went for a walk. Or rather, a ride. She changed into her leather pants and shirt, sneaked into the stable, saddled Darko and, so that Kiara wouldn't feel sorry for her, took her with her.

Zoe didn't think about where they were going, she just let herself be led. Darko stopped in the forest. Zoe jumped off him and turned around. Behind her was "her lake." Her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Thank you, Darko," she whispered to the horse.

She didn't wait for anything and undressed. She swam in the lake for a while, but then she stopped and just submerged herself so that only her head could be seen.

She was about to climb out, but she heard something that sounded like twigs snapping. She slowly turned around and saw Mark.

"What are you doing here?" she ran after him as soon as she came to her senses.

"I'm taking a walk. These night walks help me fall asleep and clear my head," he said with complete calm. Zoe, on the other hand, was not calm, their last conversation still confused her.

"And why did you go here?"

"This place attracts me. Especially since I first saw you here, Miss," he did not forget that she was Miss. It seemed to her that he emphasized the word on purpose.

"Really?" she began sarcastically, "and isn't it by chance that you can poach here?" and she sneered.

"It's not Miss, do you think I would bother coming here otherwise? If I were a poacher, I would watch my traps." Zoe did not expect this answer, it was obvious how uncomfortable she was.

She turned to feel for her clothes on the shore. She didn't like the feeling that Mark knew she was naked, but at the same time she was curious about what she would do. She wouldn't mind if Mark saw her, but she didn't want to risk it.

She couldn't feel her clothes, so she would have to climb out. She cursed herself in her mind /that I, the stupid goose, didn't put those clothes on the shore earlier???/.

She turned around, wanting to know if Mark had left or not. She almost screamed, she was scared. Mark emerged in front of her – when she turned around he undressed and entered the water. Zoe wasn’t even able to recover properly.

“Miss, you didn’t even say goodbye to me last time,” he said teasingly, waiting for her reaction.

“There was no time for goodbyes,” she replied, but her voice was shaking because Mark was getting closer and closer to her. Mark sensed her nervousness and had to smile. He kept getting closer until their lips were almost touching. He looked into her eyes – he had never seen such greenery before. Then he began to examine her face in more detail. She had nice full lips, her eyes were framed by long black eyelashes and strands of wet red hair fell into her eyes. He carefully tucked the stray strands of hair behind her ears and looked into her eyes again. He couldn’t hold it in anymore and kissed her. Zoe was shocked, but she soon recovered and kissed him back. At first it was just a "tapping", after a while their tongues got involved and their kisses were gaining intensity. Zoe was dizzy.

"We can't do this" she stammered. "I'm getting married in a week" she looked for reasons why it couldn't be done, but she didn't find many or rather didn't want to find any.

"Yes, in a week and that's still a really long time" he was adamant. He kissed her again.

At that moment Zoe forgot about her mother, father, Adam and her future husband. She let herself be carried away by the kisses, which she returned to Mark as passionately as he did.

Then neither of them noticed the time anymore. They climbed to the shore. Neither of them minded that they were just the way God "created" them.

They started kissing again. Mark kissed her neck and slowly moved down. Then he looked at Zoe and she understood, nodded. Their bodies connected. Zoe cried out weakly. She felt a short, stabbing pain in her lower abdomen, but she ignored it, concentrating only on Mark. They made love a few more times. Even though Zoe was tired, she got dressed and whistled at the horses. They came running after a while. She gave Mark one more kiss, mounted Darko and rode away.

When she got home, she put on her nightgown and lay down. She couldn't sleep. She thought about the last few weeks. She realized that she had only lived preparing for the wedding, which she wasn't looking forward to in the least. Basically, she had done everything for her mother. She wanted to get out of this house, even though she had done something stupid because of it.

She remembered her birthday party and the conversation between her and Adam. And her promise to Adam that she wouldn't be faithful to Alexander. When she thought about it, she had kept her promise - she had cheated on him a week before the wedding. But she didn't know what would happen between her and Mark now. Does she love him? Or was it a one-night stand? And what about Adam? She wasn't sure about her love for him anymore. He decided to break off his engagement to Kristla for her sake, and she got engaged and cheated on him and Alexandra.

She slept until morning.

She woke up before lunch. Her mother didn't blame her at lunch, saying, "You needed a good night's sleep after so many demanding weeks." But she had no idea what her daughter had been up to that night.