THIS IS JUST A GAME

“Any plans today?” asked my father the moment I sat down for breakfast, had it been any other day I would have snapped at him but today has to be a good day, “yes” is all I said and I know he can guess what my plans are and he knows he can’t stop me. Not a lot of words are exchanged on a regular basis between the both of us, one would deny the fact that I used to be my father’s darling, the apple of his eye but now all of that was different and everything was sour between us. He got up and took his bag as he headed to the door, “have a good day baby” he wished me and left without waiting for my reply. My name is Olivia Hemsworth and I’m the daughter of Brian Hemsworth, yes I was raised by a single parent, my mother died when I was still a baby and how she died is something I also don’t know, and I’m 19 years old but it still is a sensitive topic to open with my father. Back to the story, as soon as I was sure that my father was out I also headed out, today was one special day and I really want to celebrate it, the mall was still quite because it was still early, the gift shop was all that was in my mind, and my feet carried me to my destination, soon I had things in my trolley heading to the checkout, happy with everything I got, but only one thing was short cake. ‘Chocolate cake’ my mind told me as I was busy looking through the pastry store and not any pastry store but Diana’s, I carried the cake to the car, a few people would stop and stare at me and as much as it bothered me I still couldn’t do anything to convince people to think otherwise. In and out, I breathed as the chauffeur pulled up at the private entrance of Louis Vilene correctional facility, every time I came here it always feels like a new feeling, the nerves and the anxiety take over and I feel like dying, only 10 minutes before visiting hours start, I walk up to the guards who opens the door and scan me for any hidden weapons, I wait on the other side as my gifts go through for security check. Waiting in the private visiting room feels like a drag, my father organised this after someone photographed my other visit here. The door opens and my heartbeat accelerates, he walks in and sits indifferently on the other side of the table then looks at me, his physical appearance looks different, he looks more mature now, his muscles are more toned and as well as his face structure, I always knew he was good-looking but at the moment he is more than that. “Olivia” the deep voice calls to me, startled I remove my eyes from him and look at my hands on my table, as I look up his eyes are still on me, words fail me and a tear escapes my eye, at the moment he has both his hands held under his chin gazing at me. “I’m sorry” finally mustering some speech, awkward silence follows, “why are you here?” he asks ‘why’ I ask myself, I look up at the camera and the I notice it’s off, I stand next to him and he opens his arms allowing me to sit on his lap, “happy birthday” I whisper in his ear whilst wiping my tears, he squeezes me, taking a deep breath and as he exhales he loosens his grip. “Thank you, you smell good” he says taking another deep breath and I giggle at his silly act, we go on to talk about random stuff until the guard walks in “your time is up” he announces, we ask for only ten more minutes and he grants it, “look I want you to further your education” no emotion is placed on his face, “but...” he then places his index finger on my lips to keep me quite, “no buts and ifs” then he kisses my forehead, “what about you?” if I have the qualifications what will he have? We were supposed to go study together and he knows it, there is no way he is saying what he is saying right now, “the prison is going to pay for my education, your father gave me some forms and I filled them already” ‘my dad’ that almost like trying to move a mountain, but that is great news, the guard opens again and he gets up towering above me, he plants kisses all over my face, and his breath hits my cheek as I stand there with my hands around his neck, licking my lips. All the emotions are put into the kiss, all the sadness, all the anger as well as the happiness, this feels good and it’s been a while since one got any action, his hand is under my shirt softly feeling on my right boob, he pulls his face away and I find him looking at me licking his lips, his eyes slightly squinted, he then comes in for the kiss again this time making it last longer, “no more extra time” the guard says opening the door and he doesn’t stop, he squeezes me then gives me an extra tight hug, “ I don’t want you to see me like this anymore, don’t come back here” at this moment I’m confused as to why he would say that, he reached for my purse and takes out my phone, clicks a photo of us then takes the gift bags and gives one last kiss “I mean it” with those words he’s out. It’s almost seven by the time I get home, I should be thanking my father for his generous offer of helping my boyfriend but all I want is to cry, I’m conflicted with my feelings, my father is sitting in the living room with his tablet at hand scrolling through the news I reckon, “ah there you are” he says breaking my trance of thoughts, faintly forcing myself to smile I look at him and give him a hug “thanks dad” with a pat and a smile he asks “now what for?” ‘I’m not about to play this game’ I think to myself and I’m saved by dinner time. Only cutlery hitting the plates can be heard no other noise apart from that, “how did the visit go?” I’m not surprised to know that he found out, the chauffeur must have told him, “I’d rather not talk about it” I politely dismiss the topic and get up to go to my room, as I climb the first stair, I recall the promise I made to my boyfriend, “next year I’m going to college” I announce and I can’t see his facial expression because we have our backs to each other. Over two months of not seeing my boyfriend, every time I visited him, he would tell them he doesn’t want to see me, but today I had to see him, it was a new year and I have to leave the following day, the university I applied to accepted me, I sat there waiting for him and he just rudely asked me to talk as he had things to do, “has it come to this? When you would always tell me you loved me did you mean it, if yes then how come that seems to have faded so fast?” I found the courage to get off what was on my chest, he just stared at me, “you asked me to go study, now that I do it you act indifferently towards me, I never pushed you away, listened to whatever you had to say to me and did what you told me to. Today you are pushing me away, did you forget the promise you made to me? That you’ll never push me away and we’ll be one another’s support, I just wanted to meet you before I leave for ‘further education’ but I can see that you don’t want me here” I finally concluded tears freely flowed down my cheeks. “I’m glad you will further your education, and Olivia I do love you, my ride or die, you are my soul mate, without you I’ll never survive but right now you got to do what’s best for you, believe me I only pushed you away so that when this day comes it wouldn’t be difficult for you to take your path” after a few minutes that felt like hours, his deep voice talked “come here” and like a puppy I got up to where he stood, ever since we got some private privileges he didn’t have to wear the chains, in one swift motion he had me sited on the table, his hand on my bare back and his lips on mine softly caressing them. We continued making out until we were both out of breath, “you turn me on so bad, I wish I could take you now” he finally told me what he wanted from me, even though he knew we couldn’t, he took a deep breath and gave me a hug, “thank you for the perfume you bought me, I’ll never forget how you smell” I smiled in his chest and he lifted my face to kiss me again, this time doing it slowly like teasing me. “I love you Via” the nickname only he called me, his topaz blue eyes looking sternly at me, “I lo...” he put his thumb on my lips to prevent me from finishing, and continued to kiss me again, “Olivia move on if you must” he then looked at the black glass to the side of the room, my eyes began to tear, “why would I?” I asked but he only kissed me again. The hunger and passion of the kiss causing me to forget my questions as I let out a moan, “now this is a game” he said giving me a hug then a peck on my lips. “Passport?” my father asked as we both went through my checklist again, “flight 338506 South Africa to United Kingdom please proceed to Gate 4” my flight number was announced and my father hugged my for the longest, he had tears in his eyes making me sad but we had to part ways as he also used to tell me to apply for further education, I gave him one last hug and proceeded to gate 4, still waving at my father. “Ladies and gentlemen please put on your seat belt” the hostess announced as we prepared for landing, the flight was 11 hours 30 minutes and I slept most of the flight. Lucky for me I didn’t have a lot of trouble getting around, there stood some guy in a suit, with a sign that had my name on it, “hello, I’m Olivia” I greeted taking his hand for a shake, he helped me with my bags and we had to drive to Cambridgeshire, which was almost a two hours’ drive from London, he pulled over at some place name Ariston Hall, it was a block of flats and it looked fancy also, “this is your destination miss” he informed me with his English accent, I got off the car and followed him to the reception area. All was settled my room was beautiful and I made up my bed, my room is a single room, at least I didn’t have to worry about what kind of person my roommate would be, I called my dad to inform him that I had reached safely, “if you need anything at anytime just call me okay” he said and we had a longer conversation until an incoming call disturbed us, “hello?” I answered confused, there was silence and only breathing, I thought it might be my boyfriend but where would he get a phone in prison? “Hello Via” his voice came through, I was right it was him, silent tears wet my cheeks as he talked to me and I listened, for the second time in his life he poured out his heart to me, the first being when he went to prison. There was sniffing on the other line, “I love you Via, don’t forget that” then the line was cut, I lay in my blankets and cried my heart out. I was woken my a knock on the door, “hi, is it a bad time?” and I just knew my eyes were puffy and red, “no, please come in” and he did sitting on the nearest seat, “my name is Lucas and I’m supposed to be your mentor and also to show you around, but since you’re still jet lagged I’ll schedule it for tomorrow” I didn’t argue with him and thanked him for the information. It was breakfast time and the time was only 8 am not that I was complaining but I was still physically tired, Lucas came up to me with his food, we got to my room and made ourselves comfortable as we ate, “I’ll fetch my bag from upstairs meanwhile you lockup” I did as told and headed downstairs waiting for him, he came with three more people, “this is Olivia guys, and this here is Matthew, Ashley and Luke” after the introduction we went on for the tour, 1 hour 30  minutes into the tour we took a break under a big oak tree, we all had conversations among ourselves and my phone rang, giving me the chills down my spine, “Olivia, it took you quite long to answer” he said and I could tell he was annoyed, “I’m sorry, we’re having a tour of the campus I didn’t notice my ringing phone” we talked for a little while then Lucas called me, “Olivia is that a guy calling you?” he asked annoyed getting angry, “I have to go but we’ll talk later” I hang up and ran to where everyone was. “You were quite for the tour are you sure you’re fine?” he asked, concern in his eyes, but I couldn’t tell him anything, I didn’t was anyone to know about my past here, to just have people not staring you on like you’re an alien or you don’t belong with them, after he left, my phone rang “I called 30 times and you answer now only?” he sounded like the other time when he thought I was flirting with his friend, and he had ‘punished’ his friend, “I was busy with the tour babe, I’m sorry” I explained and before putting down the phone Lucas barged into my room, to give me the map for in case I got lost, that made him go livid with anger, “he better pray I don’t get out of here” and  just like that he hung up. The fresher’s night came up quickly and every freshman was forced to attend, there was punch and snacks, the punch was made of alcohol, people had fun and I was just a spectator, my mood was off and I just wanted to sleep, “won’t you dance?” asked one of the seniors, “uh, no thank you” I politely declined his invitation, he offered me a drink but he insisted when I denied. Soon Lucas came to my rescue,  “I can see you’re not enjoying, go rest if you want to” now that was music to my ears, without much further a due I got up heading to my room, which was in the same building, I really thank my stars that the party was just downstairs. Monday, the day I’ve been anticipating came, the day we start our lectures and everything, as I sat in the third row from the front, some girl came and sat one chair away from me, she made a head start and we talked for a while, talking about where we from and getting to know one another, 2 minutes before the lecturer came, a boy came into class followed my two other guys and a bunch of girls, Amy the girl sited next to me, poked me to check him out as I was focused on my phone most of the time, he was hot no lie but I had to keep in mind that I have a boyfriend. He and his squad sat at the back, with a few of the girls stealing glances at them, Amy included, the introductory lecture was not that long, giving us time to walk around campus and figure out the next class. “Did you know that the hottest guy in our class’s name in Alexander Anderson and his father is one of the most contributing benefactors of our university?” Amy said as she was busy researching about the ‘hottest’ guy we saw earlier in class, “oh that’s nice” was all I could say because I honestly did not know why everyone had the sudden interest in him, my boyfriend has not called in a few days, I know I should be able to breathe but I just can live without him, he was my first in everything, he taught me most of the things I know, though we were from two different classes he never made me feel different, he made me feel like I belonged with him, we had too many secrets between us that it would either make or break us, too many dreams we built together and we would have fulfilled them had he not gone to jail but I will wait for him. “Did you hear me?” asked Amy getting me from my trail of thought, “what was that?” she continued to tell me that the so called Alexander Anderson had organised a party at his private flat to celebrate being a fresher, the entire school was talking about it now, apparently he is known for hosting and attending big parties, “are you going?” asked Amy seemingly very excited....