روايات بقلم Blessing Jacob

Sophie Steele POV.I step in.The water is hot and the pressure remains exactly as I remember it. I feel my shoulders come down gradually. I raise my face to the water and allow it to soak me while I am breathing in and out. The steam thickens around me. The rest of the house and everything within it feels distant from where I am.I have been here for five minutes when I hear it.Or should I say I do not hear? That is the problem. I am not even sure. But I know I do not hear the door. I do not hear footsteps. I do not hear anything at all until the curtain shifts.I spin around with the rapidity of a fan, nearly slipping.And I nearly scream at what I see…Dominic stands at the edge of the shower, one hand still holding the curtain back. Did he miss his way here? Or has he been stalking me around, because how do I explain this, that an adult man follows me into the bathroom? To see what exactly? Is it my breasts he has not seen before, because I do not understand

Sophie Steele POV.Evening comes fast like the clock is running a race it refuses to lose. The guests begin to thin out and I am finally directed to my old room. I am so exhausted, like the world has been placed on my body, and this has nothing to do with the flight.One thing that strikes me most is the room is still the same as I left it, its pale walls and high ceiling remain unchanged. I look at the window and I am back in those old good days, sitting on the ledge as a teenager, pretending I am somewhere else. And the dresser, I see fresh flowers on it, I guess someone bought them and placed them there. White roses. I stare at them for a while and look away before I find myself pulled back into the beauty they radiate effortlessly.Then.I sit on the side of the bed to calculate my decision clearly. I will simply be civil. I will be distant, composed and formal.I will attend the final funeral burial tomorrow, and I will pay my last respects to the only Ste

Sophie Steele POVAnd now I am home. And really, I am expecting to be wowed the moment I get here with any difference or whatever, but everything is still the same way I left it. The beautiful gates of the Steele family villa open with the same calmness they always have, like they have all the time in the world that no one else possesses.The observant me sits at the back of the hired chair and watches them part, and deep down in my chest, it feels like a hand is opening me the same way the gates open, pulling me apart without asking. I notice that split right down the middle between my breasts, that line that never requests my permission before action. Yes, I know I have not been here for seven years, but is that enough reason for invisible hands to begin splitting me open from the center of my chest like gates?Seven years though… A full seven years of building walls, building a career, building a life that has no business with this place and its inhabitants. But Ri

Sophie Steele POVWith a jolt I wake.The first thing that registers is disappointment. I'm no longer in my bedroom in the Steel mansion seven years ago. I'm currently in my luxury loft studio in the heart of Los Angeles surrounded by art, supplies and the kind of serenity that cannot be purchased in the market.Things have changed now. I am no longer the dewy-eyed, self-effacing teenager that once upon a time used to be obsessed with her stepbrother. The one who was always walking on eggshells, afraid to offend anyone, dimming her shine so that no one had cause to squint their eyes at how exceptional she was. I am successful, independent, unapologetic and most importantly over the crush that had spiralled my life out of control nearly a decade ago. I have everything I need now– a successful career, a home, cars, a child of my own. I am accomplished. Yet I can't help but feel a nag of emptiness like something is missing– a need I haven't quite come to terms with. It's obv

Sophie Steele POV.“Oh! Oh! Ohmmmm, yes. Fuck me. Please."Who knew things would spiral this fast? Well it's another Friday night and I'm in my home, the weight of not having a functional social life crushing on me like a wave that doesn't quite know what to do with itself. At nineteen it's not totally unusual to be home on the weekend with no one to talk to, more homework than you deserve and an irrational fear of the coming Monday.What is unexpected though is the sound of your bathroom door clicking open while you're touching yourself. Why? Because you know your socialite mother is attending some new event to boost her social capital and get “investors" for her crazy business ideas. Your new stepfather is working late, trying to seal an important collaboration deal... So you're alone… with the hot stepbrother you just met a month ago and have been avoiding like a death sentence because the first time you saw him you felt something you shouldn't have– desire, a strang