Chapter 4: Reckless Liberation

Sarah walked out of the bar, the cold air hitting her shoulders as she waited for the cab. Tina had been called for an emergency so she was alone.

 

"Where are you going, miss?" The cab director asked politely.

 

“Anywhere,” she muttered hoarsely to the driver. “Just take me anywhere there’s a bar.”

 

Sarah's body couldn't help but tremble as she remembered what she had witnessed inside the club.

 

Matilda...her step-sister whom she had grown up with, and Jasper, a man she believed loved her the most, had schemed against her.

 

All of this made Sarah realize she had been living a lie. 

 

Had they been scheming against her from the beginning? Her body shuddered at the thought.

 

Jasper, the man she thought she knew, had pursued her relentlessly in her first year at university.

 

She had finally agreed to date him because Matilda had persuaded her that Jasper was her best friend and wouldn't wrong her.

 

It turned out that she never knew him.

 

Someone she had spent more than twenty years of her life with. How could she do this to her?

 

She had never treated Matilda as her step-sister but like a real sister.

 

She had welcomed her step-mother with open arms and her step-sister even though she was older, and it was evident that her father had cheated on her mother before she got pregnant with her.

 

She trusted them so much that she didn't feel anything amiss.

 

They must have laughed at her for being so naive and clueless.

 

How ruthless!

 

If Jasper could betray her so heartlessly? 

How could Matilda, her own sister whom she had spent more than twenty years with, do the same?

 

The pain of Matilda’s betrayal stung even more. They had shared countless memories, laughter, and tears.  

 

Sarah had trusted Matilda with her deepest secrets, and yet, Matilda had repaid that trust with deceit.

 

A wave of nausea washed over her as she realized her blindness. Her sister and her boyfriend had been secretly plotting against her.

 

The pain burning in her chest was engulfed by an even greater disgust.

 

 

How long have they been lying to me?

 

Months? Years? The entire time we've been friends? The thought sent a chill down her spine.

 

What else have they hidden from me? Have they been laughing behind my back, sharing secrets and jokes at my expense?

 

How could I be so blind? So stupid? I thought I knew them and trusted them with my deepest secrets.

 

How could I have fallen for Jasper’s lies and sweet promises?

 

What else have I missed? What other lies have I swallowed?

 

How come her parents never really bothered about Matilda's disappearance?

 

No! Could it be that they know... they know about all this?

 

Her mind raced with questions, each one piercing her heart like a dagger.

 

The cab turned sharply, and minutes later, she was stepping into another club. She hadn't even bothered to check the name.

 

Inside, smoke curled upward in lazy ribbons. The air smelled of whiskey and sweat.

 

This place was unlike Rozame's luxurious setting. Just cracked leather stools, tired bartenders, and strangers hunched over their drinks.

 

Perfect.

 

She slid onto a stool, her knees still aching from the fall two nights ago, her palms trembling as she lifted a glass. One drink became two.

 

A few minutes later, one couldn't keep count again.

 

Heat bloomed in her chest, as she shrugged down another glass of whiskey.

 

Her mind couldn't help but drift back to Rozame, how Jasper had kissed Matilda so intimately.

 

She had never been kissed in that way before.

 

Jasper was her first boyfriend and they hadn't done anything besides pecking.

 

Back then, she had even naively thought that it was because he cherished her too much and wouldn't be able to hold himself back on their wedding night.

 

She would give herself to him and let him shower her with his love and care.

 

Sarah smiled bitterly. Everything was just her own imagination from the beginning to the end. He never cared for her.

 

Indeed, it was all a lie.

 

The stool beside her creaked.

 

“You’ll drown faster in whiskey than in rain,” came a familiar teasing voice.

 

Her heart beat faster. She recognized that voice. She turned and there he was, Nathan.

 

The neighbor with the steady gaze, the man who had given her an umbrella.

 

“Maybe drowning doesn’t sound so bad tonight,” she replied softly as she shrugged down another glass of whiskey.

 

Nathan’s gaze lingered on her empty glass. “ You shouldn't wallow in sadness because of people who don’t give a damn about you." 

 

Sarah swallowed hard as she looked at him properly for the first time. His sculptured face like a Greek God's, his sharp jaw, and full lips. This neighbor of hers was truly good-looking.

 

And he was watching her too, in a way that settled her.

 

“I know enough,” he murmured, voice low, steady. “Enough to see you’re not weak. You just don’t believe you’re allowed to be strong on your own.”

 

Her breath caught. Heat flushed her cheeks, though the air was cool. Something dangerous shifted in the space between them, the distance shrinking without either of them moving.

 

Sarah set her glass down with trembling fingers. Her heart hammered not from drink, but from something sharper, something alive.

 

Maybe this was madness. Maybe tomorrow she'll regret it. Losing her virginity to a stranger who happens to be her neighbor.

 

But tonight, after being stripped of her dignity, her trust, she wanted to reclaim something. Anything, as long as she could claim it.

 

Her hand reached before her mind could stop it, fingers curling into the fabric of his sleeve.

 

Her lips crashed against his, unsteady, almost desperate. He tasted the same whiskey she had drunk.

 

He pulled her closer instead of pushing her away. His hand slid to her waist, steadying her, pulling her in until there was no space left between them.

 

The bartender looked up once, then lowered his gaze and continued with his work. He was used to things like this happening and couldn't be bothered.

 

She didn't want his lips away from hers.

 

Minutes or hours later, somehow they had gotten to a hotel room.

 

Sara couldn't even remember how they got there.

 

 The hotel room door shut behind them with a dull click. 

 

How they got here didn’t even matter.

 

Only the way his lips devoured hers, the way his hands explored, the way he made her feel… alive.

 

He kissed her fiercely and his hand roamed freely around her curvy body.

 

Sarah moaned in response, her hands, wrapping his neck as she pressed herself on him.

 

Nathan kissed her earlobe down to her neck, and his hand unclipped the bra strings. Her flesh was immediately exposed, it was as if spring had arrived.

 

His eyes turned red, burning with rare passion.

 

"You're stunning," he rasped, his throat hoarse as he groaned. The flames within him consumed his rationality.

 

His lips suckled her breast and his other hand caressed the other.

 

Sarah tightened as she moaned harder with her hands at the back of his hair, seemingly encouraging him to continue further.

 

His lips kissed every part of her body and Sarah unconsciously moaned louder, completely lost in the sensations he evoked. All rational thought vanished as she surrendered to the pleasure he provided.

 

When he finally entered her, she gasped, crying out as her fingers fisted in the sheets.

 

His lips were on hers, on her cheek, her throat, seemingly kissing her pain away, steadying her through the storm of it.

 

Her back arched, body trembling under his weight. Every movement, every breath, felt like reclaiming a piece of herself she thought she’d lost. The initial discomfort turned into a sweet connection.