Chapter 3
1167 Words
“H-how are you here?” The stranger she had met at the bus stop was standing before her, yet that was the question she could ask him.
“I heard your cry.” He walked over Richard’s body. “I could not ignore it.”
“B-but I’m not crying. “ Even she recognised that she was lying. “I was-”
“I heard you regardless.”
His eyes were a stark contrast to the evil in Richard’s, but she doubted she could trust them. That thought made her shift away a bit.
“I want you to come with me, Rose,” he continued.
Oh, what a tempting offer.
But could she accept it?
Rather, should she?
“Why?” she asked as she watched him kneel before her, his eyes still showing her that his soul was warm and not willing to harm her. “Why should I?”
“I think we’re destined to be together.” That simple response made her loosen the tension in her nerves.
Then, she tightened them while studying him like he was an incredulous being.
“I do not want to leave you in this filth,” he added as he glanced at her hands.
She did the same. And found out that they were shivering.
Desperately, she tried to hide them, but the man before her was now looking at all of her.
He was seeing her mess, yet he was not repulsed.
She could see it in his eyes that he meant his words.
Thinking back to when she first met Richard, she realised what Richard’s eyes carried differed from the strange man’s.
She could not explain it, but that brisk observation made her realise that she had been blind to Richard’s many red flags.
Rose looked up at the man again.
This time, she wished to first soothe the sorrow Richard caused her.
Apart from the unexpected strumming growing in her heart, Rose had no concrete reason to support what she aimed to do but she did not hold back from executing it.
With sniffles here and there, she inched closer to caress the man’s jaw, feeling how sharp his stubble was.
Then, she flicked her gaze to his eyes. Oh, his eyes… a delightful mix she would have loved to replicate a thousand times if she were an artist.
Then, she lowered her eyes to his lips. They were beckoning, just as his breath rustled against her skin.
Rose gulped.
Given how this man easily trampled on the way Richard just made her feel, she wondered if there’d be more that he’d make her feel.
“You’re tempting the moment, Rose,” the stranger mumbled.
Her belly stirred; a feeling she was so sure died three years into her marriage.
“You’re right,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t kiss a stranger.”
Yet, their eyes remained locked.
“Come with me, Rose,” he whispered again.
“Uhm… I-I can’t.” That snapped her into reality. Still, she didn’t move away from this man. “I don’t know you.”
“Getting to know me won’t be difficult,” he replied, his voice more velvety.
“My husband-”
“Won’t stop hurting you.”
Hearing someone point out her reality made her pained and embarrassed.
Hurriedly, she got up and approached her bag.
She removed her phone, ended the voice recording, uploaded it to her cloud, then stretched the phone towards the man.
When he didn’t make a move to accept it, she looked up at him.
“He must not find out I have this. We’ll meet again, won’t we?” Rose could not understand why she was trusting this man so much. “When we meet again, give me this.”
His fantastical eyes darkened. “Rose, you have to come with me. I will not leave you to chance. This man does not mean well.”
“I don’t care. I… I don't know who you are. How you know my name is still a mystery. I don’t know your name, yet you… yet we…”
She didn’t know how to say they almost kissed without announcing it.
“Anyway,” she cleared her throat, “I can tell you mean well. So, take this and meet me later. Give me a week.” She lowered her hands to clasp them tight. “I will leave here in a week.”
He shifted closer, his worry multiplied after brief anger flashed in his eyes. “Why? Do you want to die here?”
“I don’t know.” She processed her answer for a second. “Of course not. I don’t want to die. I just have to think things over. I can’t just leave. I need to process my next move before-”
“That’s why I am here,” he insisted. “I will get you out of here. This man, he won’t stop until he harms you.”
“You think I don’t know that?!” She was almost losing her mind, yet this man was making it worse. “I can’t rely on anyone. I only have myself now! If I don’t think or plan the escape well, I might end up in a worse situation.”
She looked away from him.
“I know I should have walked away from this shithole a long time ago. Maybe those times I suffered because of his silence were the escape opportunities life gave me.” The regret worsened, and the tears returned. “I have been foolish. I was blinded by the love I thought he had for me and the one I had for him.”
She quickly mopped the fallen tears with the back of her hand. “Not anymore. I won’t be foolish once again. I will leave this place after I perfect everything.”
“Everything? How can you perfect anything in this mess? You can’t even think straight right now.”
“It’s not your business.” Afraid that her response was too sharp, she looked at the man. “Thank you.”
He was not comfortable leaving her behind; that was clear.
But he chose to respect her decision, and Rose silently appreciated him for that.
“Rose.”
Her chest thudded, like when she was a woman freshly in love.
She scolded that feeling and looked up.
He had stepped closer with the second she paused.
And he…
… cupped the back of her head.
“Can I leave you with a gift?”
“G-gift?”
She watched as his lips twitched.
“To remind you of what’s waiting out there for you.” He inched his face closer, his fingers gently sank deeper past her hair. “Rose.”
She almost clutched her chest.
“I won’t cross the line,” he said.
“And what’s that?” she mumbled, no longer able to hold his gaze.
“Your lips.”
“Oh.”
- Writer
