2

Tamara settled down on the sofa and continued watching the horror movie.

The masked figure who had been chasing the young woman in the alley had somehow caught her and was trying to slash her with the dagger but she was putting up a good fight. She seemed to have martial arts skills and managed to knock the dagger off her attacker’s wrists.

“Go girl,” Tamara said, rooting for her. The girl picked up the dagger but the ghost figure flung itself forcefully against her, knocking off the knife, retrieving it, and descending on her with a series of vicious slashes that had her screaming.

Tamara watched the bloody attack with her palms over her eyes to minimize the horrifying sight as the girl fell to her death and blood pooled around her.

It was a terrifying sight and Tamara was relieved to hear the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway. She exhaled deeply, rose to her feet, and walked towards the entrance door, which she opened and stepped out onto the porch.

She watched a black SUV pull into the garage, waited as the driver finished parking, and alighted, coming out to meet her, an engineering overall hanging on his arm. At twenty-nine, he was about five years older than her, tall and handsome in a rugged way, an engineer who always took care of her. She returned his smile. She did miss him.

“Hey, baby.” He said when he reached her on the stairs. “I missed you.”

He pulled her into his arms, hugging her closely and she wrapped her arms around him. “I missed you too.”

“Are you good?” his light brown eyes looked deeply into hers and she felt so loved.

“Sure, and you?”

“Great.” He said and just then, his phone rang. He disengaged from her but kept one arm possessively around her waist as he pulled the phone out of his pocket to receive the call. “This is Dedan Green.” He said. “If this is a business call, I’d rather we talk tomorrow.”

He listened for a beat. “That’s better. Bye.” He said and ended the call. Then he pulled Tamara against him and his lips descended upon hers possessively. She was breathless by the time he broke the kiss.

“Have you been good, baby?”

Guilt regarding the phone call plagued her but she nodded and hugged him, laying her head against his chest in an inward attempt to redeem herself.

She closed her eyes with guilt as he wrapped his strong and loving arms around her and placed a tender kiss on her forehead, knowing that if the other Dedan called again, she would pick it up. It was wrong but she knew that curiosity had already overcome her.

***

The next day was a Friday and her fiance was still at work when his namesake called her at about 5:00 pm. At first, she did not pick up the call but sat down on the California King bed in the bedroom, staring at his name flash across her phone screen.

All she wanted to do was pick it up but she kept advising herself to ignore it. The call ended and in seconds, it was ringing again. Giving up, she picked up the phone and received the call.

“Hello.”

 “I can picture you seated by your phone, wondering if you should talk to this mysterious guy again.”

Tamara could not stop the blush that spread across her face. His sensitivity was always marveling.

“Is that what you were doing when my first call came in?”

“I guess.” She answered and heard him chuckle.

 “Any reason why that should be, apart from the fact that I’m still a stranger?”

“It’s the same reason.” She answered. “You’re still a stranger.”

“Well then what can I do to remedy that situation?”

Tamara was silent. She had a man. This guy was only a distraction, a very tempting distraction. Why couldn’t she just stop talking to him? He was like an addiction. The more you took it, the more you wanted.

“I don’t know.” She finally responded.

“I’m willing to let you take baby steps.” He said. “Are you comfortable with a video call?”

Tamara didn’t know why but the thought of that made her eyes expand with panic. If he was willing to do a video call, then it meant he wasn’t a fishy kind of person. She was the fishy one between them.

“No,” she said quickly, too quickly.

“May I know why that is?”

“Nothing.”

“Is there something you’re hiding?”

“No. Maybe some other time.”

“Fine. I won’t push it.”

“Thank you.” She replied, grateful that he wasn’t insisting on the video call.

“You’re welcome. Just let me know when you’re comfortable enough.”

“No problem.”

“So what application do you like to chat on?”

“W******p.”

“Great. What do you look like?”

The question took her unawares.

“What?”

“I want you to describe yourself to me.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Okay. I’ll describe myself. Then you can follow my lead. Is that okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. I am 6 foot 2 inches tall. I’m athletic because I live an active lifestyle. They say that I’m good looking but to be modest, I say, I’m not bad in the eyes. And my eyes are greenish. And oh, I’m twenty-nine years old.”

For no certain reason, Tamara found herself freezing at his description. It was familiar, too familiar. But the voice was different. The manner was different. How could two people be so alike?

“I know you’re still there.” He said. “Are you okay?”

“Um…yes. It’s just…sounds like you’re hot.”

“Hmm. Maybe I am. Nevertheless, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. One date with me and you can decide for yourself.”

She froze at the subtle suggestion but began to relax as she heard him laugh.

“Just kidding.” He said. “I hope we’ll get to that eventually and I’m willing to wait.”

She exhaled a deep breath of relief.

“What do you do for a living?” she asked. She hoped that his occupation would not be another similarity.

“I’m a diver.”

His response was a relief to her because his occupation was a welcome dissimilarity. But his job did sound interesting just like her fiancé’s. He engineered aircrafts and ships which was why he was so busy. And he did have diving skills because he had to employ that if a task required him to go under. So maybe there was some similarity after all.

“Your job is interesting.” She said to him.

“Thanks. Now let us talk about you, Tamara. What do you look like?”

Tamara was resigned to following his lead. Why was she even doing this? It was not too late to stop, she told herself but found her mouth opening to give him a description of herself.

“I’m five foot, five inches tall. I am naturally slim. I am not ugly. I have brown hair and my eyes are blue.”

“Wow.” He said. “I like you already. And the part about you not being ugly was funny.” He laughed and she found herself joining him.

An awkward silence followed after the brief laughter ended.

“So how old are you?” he asked.

“I just turned twenty-four.”

“Young and sweet.” He commented and she found herself blushing again.

“You say that as if you’re old.” She said laughing.

“I’m not. But I’m older than you. If we were family, I would be your big brother and you know what that means. I’ll be in charge of keeping you in line.”

Tamara giggled. “I’m glad you’re not my big brother then.”

“Why not? Are you a naughty girl?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then you shouldn’t be scared of discipline.”

“I don’t need discipline. I’m always good.”

“Blowing our trumpet now, are we?”

“It’s true.”

“Then that is wonderful to know. Good girls attract me.”

“Nice.” She commented and wondered if she had started flirting with him.

“I want to see a picture of you.” He said.

“You didn’t use the magic word.” She replied and found that she was twirling a strand of her hair on her finger. It was official. She was flirting with him. He laughed.

“Okay, please, can I see a picture of you?”

“Why?” she asked teasingly. She was enjoying the moment. It was wrong but she couldn’t help it at this point. It wasn’t like she was sleeping with the guy.

“Because I’m getting mad trying to picture that exquisite description of yourself. And I can’t stop myself from wanting to see the real thing.”

Tamara found herself smiling shyly.

“Okay.” She said. “But you have to send yours first.”

“If you use the magic word.” He responded and she laughed.

“You’re copying me.”

“Because that was a good one.” He replied. “I’m waiting for your polite request.”

“Okay. Will you please send me a picture of you?”

“Why?” he asked and she smiled, having caught the fact that he was mimicking her. He was fun.

“Because your description made me curious.” She answered and it was the truth.

“Fair enough.” He replied. “I’ll send it now. Give me a few seconds.”

He ended the call and she waited but not in idleness. She used the moment to scroll through her phone gallery, searching for a picture of where she was standing. 

Spotting one where she was leaning against the balcony in a long flowery dress, she decided on that one. Dedan had taken that picture of her on a Sunday morning and he liked it a lot. She felt guilty about sending the picture to another guy but still, she could not stop herself.

Her phone beeped with a message notification from W******p. She guessed he had added her. With excitement and curiosity, she quickly opened the message and was not disappointed.

She saw the picture of a handsome guy, tall, athletic, wearing a black suit, and leaning against a glass door. Very formal and powerful. He reminded her of Dedan. She shoved the guilt aside. It wasn’t like she was sleeping with the guy, she told herself again. She was only talking to him.