Haunted moments

Aspen was taken aback by his mother's  question."Of course, Mother"

"Real as in the sense that you can touch and feel her?". Cassy questioned further as Aspen's mind slipped back to the mind blowing sex of last night .

"Yes, mother". 

Cassy heaved haavily as she shook her head. "You've been lonely for so long that you now create an imaginary character to your fitting". She placed her hands over Aspen's. "I'm sorry, my son. I pressured you so many times to go on dates and now, you are a mess"

With that said Cassy alighted from her seat as she walked away.  

"Mother..". Aspen called after his mother. 

"Rest up son. You'll think better when you are awake"

Aspen scoffed ss he couldn't believe that his mother thought he wasn't mentally  sound. There and then, he swore to find his damsel, come what may. 

Back in Dulce's home, she chatted away on the phone with Gezelle.  

"Anyways, if my Karina calls you to ask if I was at your place you need to cover for me, okay?". Dulce said over the phone to Gezelle.

"You betcha, girlfriend". Gezelle replied. "Does your head still hurt a ton?".

"Just a bit. Karina did go to-" Dulce paused as she heard her room door open and Karina walked in with a glass of water, placing it by her side before excusing her. 

Dulce mouthed a "thank you" as she watched her leave, closing her door. 

"Why are you silent?". Gezelle questioned over the receiver.  

"It's nothing". Dulce replied with a smile picking up the glass of water Karina had left behind as she drank its content. "I'm just happy father found someone as loving and caring as Karina"

"Ooooh, what did she do this time?"

Dulce blushed as if she had a secret she couldn't tell. "It's a secret!". She says giggling like a little child. 

"Anyways, you really are lucky to have a nice and caring stepmother like Karina.  She's a keeper"

"I know, right?". Dulce yawned. "I really am starting to feel sleepy. I'll talk you later?"

"Yeah, goodnight". Dulce hung up as she turned off her lights before drifting off to sleep but all the while as she slept, her mind kept on drifting to a mysterious man who kept on telling her how beautiful she was.

She wasn't sure of that was a dream or a memory of hers but all that mattered was that she liked hearing those words from that man's mouth because that was the first time anyone had ever told her that she was beautiful. 

When next she woke up it was evening and Dulce threw herself down to work immediately. She'd always wanted to work as a fashion designer but time wasn't on her side right now so she'd just sticked to working  as a random officer worker. 

It wasn't as if she hated her job though, don't get me wrong. Yes, the pay was fair  and it was nice enough that she had a "job" to her name but it wasn't something she enjoyed doing. 

She just strictly did it because she had to and what was worse was that, she was good at her job.

After working overnight and sending her last email to her boss and the needful clients, she watched  a YouTube short on how to be a fashion designer and learned the basics of how to design a clothe. 

She yawned as she saw the sunset over her head. Dulcea moved to the bathroom to shower and get ready for work as per her usual routine.  

When she was all dolled up, Dolce headed downstairs where she saw Karina setting up the table as per usual and just like that everything went back to normal. She'd gone back being complete focused on her work and nothing else.

Over time she'd decided to stop trying to  remember what had happened the night she'd ended up in the motel. She'd decided to act as though nothing had happened that night at all.

Afteall they had to be a reason she couldn't remember it, right?. She thought. 

During the weekends, she went on her regular morning exercises with Gezelle and then went to the park to just catch a whiff of  fresh air. 

It wasn't until three weeks later when she stood up from her desk to give her boss the files he'd requested, her head spinning and aching, did she start to realize the changes in her body. 

Dulce looked up to see Fiona, one of her colleagues at work waving her hands infront of her face. "Did you say something?"

"Yes". Fiona responded. "Aren't you going to give boss the files?"

"Oh". She said suddenly remembering. "Right, I should"

"By the way" . Fiona said observing her closely. "You are sweating alot. Should I take it to boss for you?"

Dulce wiped at her forehead as she shook her head. "No. I will do it myself"

"You sure?"

"Yes". Dulce had only taken a single step forward, away from Fiona when her drowsiness increased as she fell to the ground, her world turning pitch black.

"Dulce!". Fiona shouted stunned as she tapped her fervently, trying to wake her up before calling out for help. 

In no time, an ambulance was called for as Dulce was placed ontop the stretcher and positioned at the back of the ambulance with Fiona by herside. 

Soon, they got to the hospital where cross examinations were made. After series of tests, Fiona was assured that Dulce would  wake up soon. 

Fiona waited by the side of Dulce's bed but there seemed to be no changes. Their boss called at regular intervals to check up on them. 

Finally after what seemed to be hours, Dulce woke up slowly opening her eyes as she groaned deeply in pain. 

"Have you come through?".Fiona questioned, gratefully as she rushed up to her side, clutching her hands. "I was so scared. Why can't you pay close attention to your health, Dulce!". Fiona scolded as her phone rang making her turn away from her for just a minute.

When Fiona had left the ward, the doctor had walked in staring at Dulce with a smile. "You're up?"

Dulce nodded her head. "Yes"  

"Congratulations". The doctor said grinning from ears to ears. "You must be so happy"