The Cursed Pharaoh's Bride

Chapter VIII

Carolina

I’m afraid to leave the apartment now. I know Tori can sense my new found paranoia but every time she tries to bring it up, I brush her off or change the subject. I’m not ready to talk about him to anyone just yet, and it’s not like she would believe me. I still haven’t even convinced myself that what happened between us was real life.

As soon as I arrived to my apartment a week ago, I had shoved the ring and my new Seka tablet into my nightstand drawer and they’ve stayed there ever since. I’m afraid to go to sleep. As of so far, my dreams have been blank as if he’s stopped infiltrating my mind. I’m super cautious whenever I go to Dr. Jones’ lab. The whole week, I’d confirm with her to make sure if guest were coming back to the lab. The last thing I want is to bump into him again.

As of so far, I’ve been lucky that I haven’t seen him in person. But that hasn’t stopped him from being persistent online. I know he somehow managed to get his hands on my email because he’s sent me one email every day. And each email is exactly the same. He asks me to go out with him for dinner. At first his tone in the emails are flirty. He’ll compliment me and say he’d love to see me in some beautiful dress at some fancy restaurant that he insists is amazing. Then I’ll ignore his email and not bother responding only for him try again the next day at the same time: noon. If he doesn’t invite me to dinner, then he might ask me to be his date to a gala or some fancy event. He’s only asked me to be his date once this week, though, but I can only imagine he’ll bring that up again.

My phone beeps once again to indicate I’ve gotten an email. It’s noon once again. And today, his message is a bit different:

‘My love, I going to be around the Hunter College campus to meet up with a client. Maybe we should meet up for lunch. At this point, seeing your beautiful face if not for a second would be enough to ease the stress that my work has been making me feel.’

“Ooooo. Who’s lover boy?” I jump when I hear Tori’s voice.

“W-what did you see?” I quickly ask as I exit out of my mail.

“That whole message was adorable. Are you going to meet this guy?” She asks excitedly, “It’s been a while since you’ve been on a date.”

“No no no! I couldn’t. I’m not even interested in this guy,” I protest, “If anything he’s been bothering me!”

“Really? Bothering you how?” She asks, a slight look of concern flashes across her face.

“Well,” I start hesitantly, “He has been emailing me everyday…”

“Vigorously? Like does he spam you? Does he say inappropriate and s****l things? Does he say anything threatening?” She instigates.

“W-well, n-not really to that extreme,” I say.

“Who is this guy? Does he go to our school? Show me some of the emails he’s sent you,” she demands.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I quickly respond. She then swipes my phone from my hands.

“Tori, no!” I say as I try to grab it back, but her long arms keep the phone away from me.

“Look, Carolina, if he’s harassing you then we need to call the police,” she argues. She then stops and scrolls through my phone. I see her hardened expression start to soften.

“Awwwww,” she coos, “Carol, he’s such a charmer. Why don’t you go to dinner with him?”

“I-I told you, I’m not interested. And if he keeps asking me when it’s obvious that I’m rejecting him then he technically is harassing me,” I state firmly.

“I wouldn’t really call an email each day harassment,” she mumbles, “But I mean, if you rejected him, then he should take the hint. You did email him back, right?”

“Uhhhhh. Not. Exactly,” I say as I fiddle with my fingers.

“Wait, you didn’t respond to his advances. Like at all? How is he supposed to know you’re not interested? You and I both know guys aren’t that smart when it comes to this stuff,” She accuses.

“I told him I wanted nothing to do with him when I met him in person,” I defend, “And somehow he got my email and keeps asking me to go to dinner with him.”

She’s silent for a second and she knits her eyebrows, deep in thought. “Alright,” she says finally, “If you rejected him and he keeps trying to pursue you then maybe you should take action. The fact that he randomly got your email is pretty creepy. At least respond to him once and tell him to leave you alone. If he won’t, then try to block him and if things really get crazy, we’ll go to the authorities.” She hands me back my phone.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” I say. 

“How did you even come across this guy?” She asks.

“Uh, he wanted to sponsor Dr. Jones’ lab so he came over last week to check it out,” I half lie. It’s not like I can say I met him in an Egyptian tomb but it’s not like I’m completely lying either. Last week was after all the first time we actually had a full conversation in person and in real life.

“Wait, he’s a sponsor? As in he must have money, right? I thought the name Elijah Seka seemed familiar,” she questions, “Is he that Elijah Seka? The new CEO of Seka Corp.? The Elijah Seka wants to go to dinner with you?”

“…yeah…” I lowly drag out.

“Oh my gosh,” Tori says speechless, “The Elijah Seka wants to go to dinner with you. The Elijah Seka finds you attractive. The Elijah Seka is throwing himself at you!”

“I mean I wouldn’t say that,” I protest, “And what happened to him harassing me.”

“Is it really harassment?” She teases, “He’s Elijah Seka.”

“And he’s still a man who keeps pursing me even though I say no!” I snap.

Tori raises her eyebrows at me before she shakes her head. “You’re right, you’re right. Even when it comes to gorgeous men, no means no.”

“Thank you,” I sigh.

Just then, Alexa conveniently decides to pop her head into the living room. “What’s this I’m hearing about Elijah Seka?”

“Oh, nothing. We’re just saying he’s really hot,” Tori quickly covers up. Alexa’s eyes immediately light up and she comes and joins us on the couch.

“Hot is an understatement. I and several magazines agree that he’s easily one of the sexiest men alive right now,” she says. She then proceeds to pull out her phone and start scrolling through some googled images of him.

“I mean look at that jaw line. His face is just perfection,” she swoons, “And the body. Someone needs to get a picture of him at the beach or something already. He looks like the kind of guy who’s toned and huge all over. And by all over, I mean ALL over. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a god in bed either.” And that’s my cue to leave.

“I think I’m going to go study now. I want to be ready for my first quiz,” I say as I drift over to my bedroom.

I open my books and get myself settled. I’m sitting and staring into the pages of the textbook but no work has gotten done. I just can’t get myself to concentrate. Especially when my brain keeps going back to what Tori told me. Was he really harassing me? Well, yes. I mean, I told him no and he didn’t take the hint. But it’s not like he’s being crude and disrespectful. He’s being respectfully persistent. And it’s not like I’ve ever flat out rejected one of his dinner invitations either. Maybe if I do, he’ll stop?

Then my mind goes to what Alexa said about him and I soon find myself searching up images of him. I’m not going to lie, he’s a beautiful man. Everything about him screams s*x appeal. Even in person, his touch was gentle with me. And the one time he lost his temper around me, he calmed himself down and apologized. He otherwise seems so well composed and confident, and yet… I can’t let his good looks and charming demeanor throw me off. He’s some cursed mummy and for some reason he’s been awakened and won’t leave me alone. He’s dangerous and if I get mixed up with him, I’ll only get hurt. I quickly delete the tabs that I have open about him. Who’s the creep now?

Just as I’m about to actually start diving into my work, my phone buzzes again. It’s another email from him. This is the first time he’s sent me a second email in one day.

‘My darling,

I just want to let you know that the good Dr. Ghaemi doesn’t feel the need for my company to sponsor Dr. Jones’ lab. However, you could convince me to change Dr. Ghaemi’s mind over lunch tomorrow. Please consider it.’

I inhale sharply. It might not seem that bad but he’s definitely baiting me to go see him. He knows that I know how important it is for Dr. Jones to get that sponsorship from him. And yet at what cost?

My hands shake as they move over the laptop keys:

‘When do you want to meet?’