I Was in an Abusive FICTOSEXUAL Relationship

The Gift

2 months later, and the B-words hadn’t changed.

Bed warmer. Bank teller. Baby maker. b***h.

A Beauty—with a big ole’ booty.

Mia stood frozen in Joseph’s mama’s apartment, the sting of déjà vu hitting her like a slap.

She’d heard it all before. On the Disaster Team podcast. In the comments. In Joseph's persistent attitude.

"Damn, girl! You acting like I'm asking you for a house payment or something! It's 100 damn dollars, Mia!" Joseph growled as he shoved a forkful of steak into his mouth.

Mia was trying hard to keep her composure. She wasn't sure she was strong enough this time.

"Joseph, you video-called me to come all the way over here on Valentine's Day! You-you let me see all the Valentine's Day decorations and goodies on your table..."

And of course, she fell for the illusion that Joseph was somehow redeemable and gifted her a beautiful Valentine's Day to make up for the bare-minimum Snickers bar he tried to pass off while she was in the hospital.

But the illusion shattered along with her voice as she stared at the beautifully decorated holiday table. It was set with a romantic Valentine's Day theme, and right in the center was a big box of chocolates.

A box of chocolates that Joseph's new girlfriend, Tracy, was casually snacking on.

"That's what I needed to talk to you about. I need to borrow some money. What did you THINK I wanted to bring you here for?"

"I damn sure didn't think it was so you could ask me for money!"

Joseph chuckled. "Mia, this Valentine's Day table is for my new girlfriend, Tracy. Because she's a real woman who knows how to take care of a man, unlike you. So I always go out of my way for her."

Joseph turned to her with the air of someone about to give a fatherly lecture. "See? It's simple. When a woman knows her place and treats a man well, he will go out of his way to take care of her. You could learn a thing or two from Tracy, Mia. That way, you'd be able to keep a good man like me in your life."

A 'good man'? Mia exhaled and glanced at her smartwatch. If only I could launch you straight to the sun and get you the hell out of my face, I would!

Joseph had already wasted enough of her time. She had another podcast interview to prepare for and more egos to crush. His reckoning would just have to wait.

It had only been a few months since the last podcast, where Dinero, Luchini, and Patrick loudly declared online that they had ended Mia Delion's career.

But the truth? They hadn’t. Mia’s blog actually saw a temporary spike in traffic as people flocked to see if she had responded or was devastated by her so-called “defeat.”

Her bank account certainly wasn’t suffering. She had landed several new writing gigs after her appearance on the Disaster Team podcast. She even received invitations to other shows, including the one she needed to attend in a few hours. Financially, everything was moving in the right direction. Still, the problem was social; people really believed that Mia was the one making the relationship between her son and Joseph problematic, just because of what was said on the Disaster team podcast.

So, as if Mia wasn’t doing enough to try to make things easy for Joseph to see their son, she felt obligated to work twice as hard now to be on friendly terms with Joseph...and Joseph was taking full advantage of this fact.

He’d convinced himself that Mia Delion wasn’t just trying to save face from public opinion or create a stable home for their son...he’d convinced himself that Mia was still in LOVE with him and delighted in seeing how many hoops he could have her jump through. But Mia was sick of this and was done being entertainment for Joseph and his girlfriend.

"You know what? I'm going to leave you roaches alone before someone throws a poison bomb in here..." Mia mutters, turning on her heels and walking out the door. She angrily swatted away the heart-shaped balloons as she stormed off.

"You call us roaches?" the girlfriend sneered. "First of all, you probably don't have a man of your own. I mean, why would you rush over here for my stupid boyfriend?"

"Excuse me?" Joseph said, turning to look at her as she collapsed over the table giggling. At least the girl had a sense of humor. Joseph did not look amused, though.

Mia wasn't amused either. Her jaw tightened as she froze. Tears stung the edges of her eyes. The fury was hot and building.

She spun back around and stormed toward the table.

The girlfriend shrieked. Joseph tilted away out of fear. He knew this rodent's bite was vicious.

Mia towered over him as he remained seated, his eyes wide with panic as he saw Mia's glasses sparkle with a horrifying gleam.

"Mia..." Joseph warned as he started to quiver. But before he could say anything more, Mia's hand snapped out, reached past him, and snatched the T-bone steak off his plate.

Then she squeaked angrily as she marched off in a huff, taking a big bite of the steak.

If Mia hadn't been on the verge of tears, she would have appreciated the uproar of laughter she heard coming from Tracy.

This time, rather than fight the heart-shaped balloons, she grabs one of their strings and snatches that too.

With her head held high and her mouth full of food, she walked her way out of the door, slamming it shut, leaving the new girlfriend still laughing, and Joseph fuming, already plotting his revenge.

Finally, out of Joseph's housing complex and nearly done with her steak dinner, she lets the dam break and the tears flow. She couldn't hold back anymore.

How could I have been so stupid? Why do I jump up whenever he asks me to do something?

It was a rhetorical question, because she already knew the answer. Damien Delion, Mia's father. Seeing Jackson constantly heartbroken by Joseph reminded Mia too much of how she used to get her heart broken by Damien. She knew it was stupid and wasn't fair to her. Why was she always breaking her back so that Joseph did what he was supposed to do as a father? But Mia felt she had to at least try for her son's sake.

Good men aren't born, they are made. Isn't that what a lot of the movies and TV shows she watched growing up taught her? That some men needed patience and time, and they would come around and be good men. That's what men like Joseph needed. Patience and time. But Mia was running low on both.

What was worse, Joseph took advantage of Mia's attempts to stay amicable with him. If Mia left him any opening, he barged all the way in just to torture her, like he did today.

The tears wouldn't stop pouring out of her eyes, but also, the steak she was eating was delicious! Joseph was a damn good cook. She must have looked seven levels of crazy out in the streets, sobbing, holding a heart-shaped balloon, and eating a giant slab of meat.

She needed a moment to sit down and gather her thoughts. There was nowhere to sit down except at the nearest bus stop. She made her way to it and plopped down on the bench, still holding the heart-shaped balloon.

She sniffled as she gnawed on the last of the steak bone. As she did, she saw there was a new ad for the web comic website.

...And guess who was staring right at her again?

A tiny fear rattled her system as she connected with Hiro's big golden eyes. There was a new caption next to him, and this time it read:

Happy Valentine's Day!

The entire ad had a Valentine's Day theme, with hearts all around a picture of Hiro Kisaki gazing right into her soul.

Fear and amazement battled Mia for a second. She let the amazement win out and laughed.

Mia shook her head and tried to take her eyes off the picture, but couldn't. Her ex is so hot!!

Hiro is the star of one of the most popular romance anime/manga franchises in the world. It's no wonder they would use him for their Valentine's Day advertisements.

Mia's mouth tightened into a taunt smile as she looked at the Hiro poster sadly. It's all perfectly logical.

What a pity.

But, I mean, it's still cool though. Mia thought, letting her tight smile loosen into a regular smile. It's still ironic, even though it's logical. I just came from one ex where I stole a Valentine's Day steak dinner. And then I run into my first love, wishing me a happy Valentine's Day!

Mia's smile brightens at that. God is good. What else can I say?

She realized on the bench next to her was a silver gift bag with shiny red hearts all over it.

I wonder what's in this bag? Mia thought as she started to peer into it.