FATED BOND

Nina’s POV

Daisy was acting like she was hiding something. I thought she was trying to get me out of the house on purpose. I wondered what she wanted to do. She shrugged and quickly rushed into the bathroom to take a shower.

When I came out of the bathroom, I wore the so-called sexy dress that Daisy picked. I applied a little touch of makeup on my face and let my hair. I looked in the mirror and I was amazed at my look. I couldn’t even remember the last time I dressed up that way. It had been almost two years since I dressed up that way and that was on my 39th birthday.

I felt glad at my look and I began to feel the need to get out of my shell that night. I wanted to let out the bottled feelings of sadness and shattered hopes I have been keeping in me. I wanted to feel happy, not relying on Daisy or anyone else to make me happy. I felt like partying, dancing, and getting laid after a very long time. It was already 13 years since I had sex with Nicole who wouldn’t stop bothering me ever since then. I didn’t enjoy that night and I regretted letting him have his way with me.

As I picked up my purse and phone from the side drawer, I decided I was going to go partying after the meeting. I needed to make myself feel alive. Maybe that will put an end to my all-the-time sadness and self-pity. I went out of my room to Daisy’s room to bid her goodbye when I saw her also getting dressed.

“Can you please give me the contact and the address?”She looked up sharply as I asked.

“I already sent you the address.”

“Oh!”I murmured while checking my phone. “What about the contact so I can….”

“Mom, you know him, don’t you? When you get there, you will see him. He will call you himself.”

I eyed her suspiciously again. “Alright, see you when I’m back. I’ll talk to him about your book too.”

“Alright, mom. See you when you are back.”

“My regards to Sidney.”

“Alright.”

“When will I get to see him?”

“Soon.”

“You sure?”

She nodded and smiled. I walked up to her and pecked her forehead. “Take care”, I turned back to go out.

“Where is my granddaughter?”

“With Nadia as usual”, she replied.

“Alright. See you later.”

“Enjoy, mom”, she grinned and I turned back to watch her wipe the grin off her face. I wanted to say something but curiosity got the better of me and I closed my mouth and rolled my eyes at her. I really want to know what the fuss was all about. I was going to keep my curiosity in check and satisfy it once I get to the restaurant.

“Alright”, I smiled and strode out of her room. I thought of checking up on Ellah but I guessed she would be asleep already. Ever since she started school, she always sleeps early and wakes up the next day early, in time to prepare for school.

“Early to bed, early to rise”, she used to murmur to Nadia whenever she began to feel sleepy.

I was glad she was in safe hands with Nadia. It will give her mother time to concentrate on her studies, go out on dates, and also her career paths in writing. I know Daisy can give up all of that for Ellah. That was how she meant to her. I would do the same too if I was in her shoes, let go of whatever pleasure I would be deriving for my son’s safety and security. That was what it meant to be a good mother. If Ellah was in bad hands, Daisy wouldn’t hesitate to let go of everything, including schooling.

I was doing all I could to make sure she gets to publish her first book by the time she was 20. We had less than a year to go to achieve that. Daisy took her first rejection the hard way but I wanted to make the rejection a blessing in disguise for her. I was making Danny work his ass off rewriting and editing her first book. Daisy’s schooling was making the whole process slow.

They always meet once a week, mostly on weekends when Daisy would be free from schoolwork. They usually meet on Saturdays and other times on Sundays. I didn’t feel bad for doing that to Danny. I believed if Larry had done a great job, the book wouldn’t have been rejected. Like a good editor, he didn’t do well in Daisy’s case.

“Where to ma’am?”Richard demanded as I got into the car. I stretched my phone with the address on the screen at him and he nodded and I drove out of the compound. It was past 6 pm already and I really hoped Alexandria wouldn’t run out of patience.

I spent almost an hour dressing up. I looked out of the window and my eyes caught the sight of a little boy walking on the street. He reminded me of Damien. I missed my boy so badly and I would have loved to go see him in China if not for his father. I didn’t want to see Amar. I wasn’t prepared to see him. And going to China would mean seeing Amar. I won’t be able to escape it. If it was three months ago, I would have welcomed the idea of going to China since I was not working on any book at that moment.

I planned on spending the rest of the year reading other people’s books, improving myself, and also organizing free classes on creative writing online. But I was still mad at Amar. I was really angry with him. He was purposely trying to make me feel bad. Like I was the guilty one. I felt bad for also telling him to go fuck himself when he was apologizing. I couldn’t hide my anger.

The anger was bottled inside of me for years and that was the only way to express it.

I won’t go to China, I concluded. I will have to be patient till Damien comes back home in two years. I thought to myself and Richard pulled over in front of the restaurant. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even take note of the route we took. The surroundings didn’t look familiar and I was sure I’d never been there before.

How do I get to see the client now that Daisy had refused to give me his contact? I asked myself inwardly as I stepped out. I walked towards the restaurant front door and the door was opened for me from inside. The moment I stepped in, I could see a hand waving at me. I stare at the person before me in shock.

Why would Daisy play such a kind of prank on me? I’m going to deal with her when I get back home, I thought as I moved towards Danny.

“Even though you kept me waiting, I’m so glad you finally decided to come out on a date with me”, Danny grinned in excitement.

I faked a smile and decided to keep up with the act. I was in it already. “So sorry to keep you waiting, Danny.”

“It’s fine. I thought you changed your mind about coming.”

“Of course not. I had to shower and take my time dressing up. You know we ladies…..”, I laughed.

“You look gorgeous anyway”, he took my hand and pecked the back of my hand, still looking at me like someone who was ready to devour me. “The wait was worth it”, he said and relaxed his back on the chair, finally letting go of my hand. He was still looking at me and I was able to study him. He was in a casual wear that looked good on him.

I’ve seen him in the office wearing office wears. Seeing him outside the office for the first time and with an outfit like that made me find him attractive enough to give him my time and enjoy the evening.

“Why have you been making this hard for me, Nina?”He finally asked after a moment of silence. I know what he meant by that. He had asked me out countless times and my response has always been no. Not because I don’t like him. I liked his personality, how he looks and how he makes everyone at the office laugh. But there he was, serious for the first time.

“We are working in the same office, Danny. You are my editor. I don’t want us to mix business with pleasure”, I replied honestly.

He smiled wryly and brought his head closer to mine. “Do you know how hard it has been working for you?”The statement came out as a whisper and I found my heart fluttering.

“Can we forget about that already?”I asked, trying to get my composition back. I didn’t want him to see how he was affecting me.

This is the shit Daisy had put me into, I thought to myself.

“Sure, should we consider this our first date?”He waved at the waiter.

“Danny”, I called and shook my head. “I don’t think so. I’m really not ready for this. Maybe we should see it as a way of getting to know each other better as…..”

“As workmates?”He cut in. I felt embarrassed and shut my mouth.

“What would you like, sir?”The waiter requested.

Danny’s eyes were still on mine as he took the menu from her. He told her what he wanted and gave me the menu to choose what I wanted too. I told her to give me what he selected and she nodded with a smile before leaving.

“I never knew Chinese people could speak English so fluently”, I observed.

“Yeah. Some of them can. Though, those that can’t always feel intimidated by those who can”, Danny responded.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I worked there for a year. I worked there before moving back to America”, he said as the waiter came back with our orders. She carefully placed mine in front of me and I began to eat almost immediately.

I recalled that I skipped lunch all in the name of reading an erotic book. I guess it was that book that put me in the mood because at that moment, I was really feeling horny. And hot.

“I feel like going to a party tonight, Danny”, I said with no shame as I kept munching on my almost finished food.

“I’m ok with that.”

“I need to get my mind off these troubles for a while”, I muttered unconsciously.

“What trouble?”He requested and I jerked my head up in surprise. I didn’t mean to say that out aloud. I gulped down the remaining content of my wine as he kept looking at me, waiting for a reply.

Then I picked up my phone and said to him. “I’ll be right back. I need to go to the ladies'”, I rushed to the toilet which was at the back of the building. I was feeling nervous all of a sudden and I don’t even know why. I don’t know what was happening.

When I got to the bathroom, I quickly dialed Daisy’s number and she picked at the first ring as if expecting my call.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

“Daisy, what the hell did you do?”I yelled into the phone.