An active roommate

“He’s my husband," Valeria cuts in, chuckling.

Dominic's eyes widened, so did Ivan’s.

" I like the sound of that,” Dominic said."

“And baby," she continued. “This is my new boss."

The two men shook hands.

Valeria was tense, she knew Dominic would soon start talking so she had to get them apart.

"I'm so sorry, sir,” he said to Ivan. " I need a moment with my husband."

“That's okay, I was about to leave," Ivan replied.

She dragged Dominic out, still smiling as Ivan watched them with amusement. She couldn't risk her boss knowing Dominic was her ex and not her husband, she couldn't risk her mystery husband meeting her ex, and she couldn't risk her big mouth ex meeting her mystery husband.

“Go home," Valeria said to Dominic.

“Why? You just introduced me as your husband, did you miss me that much?"

Valeria scoffed. “In your wildest dreams."

Before Dominic could say another word, she flagged down a cab and pushed him in before climbing in beside him.

She dropped him off on the road and went home.

There was no way she was meeting her mystery husband at that restaurant, not with her boss there.

Her phone buzzed the moment she entered her room.

She typed. >I'm really sorry, something really urgent came up.

Valeria's heart dropped, but she managed to type. >What are you talking about?

< I was at your place yesterday, and I heard you having so much fun with your boyfriend. Let's just end this, it's childish.

Valeria recalled she had caught Callista with a man yesterday. Maybe it was Callista’s voice he heard.

>Oh! That was my roommate, I walked in on that too.

He didn't reply immediately, and this made Valeria pace in her room, looking at her phone's screen and waiting for it to light up. It did.

>Wow, so fast? It's okay, but let's keep in touch.

Try? That didn't sound good to Valeria, but she didn't have a choice.

Finally, she decided to put it aside and get some rest.

***

Ivan sat on his dining table, typing fast in it when his phone buzzed with a call.

Noona.

“Hey, Treasure."

“Noona," he grunted.

“I got your message, what was that all about?"

He paused.

“Don't worry Noona, it's all sorted out."

There was a brief silence.

“Good, because you might be unable to reach me for a couple of weeks. But you can drop a message and I'll reply when I can."

“Sure."

When the call ended, Ivan shut down his computer. He scrolled his phone and opened her contact info, his finger hovered over his mystery wife’s name for a while before tapping in it.

The call rang and connected. There was a brief silence on both sides of the phone.

“Hello," Ivan finally said.

“Hey," she replied softly.

“Busy?"

“No, not at all," she replied quickly.

“So…," he began.

“So…," she repeated.

“How was your day?"

“It was…good. Yours?"

“You got me thinking, hard."

She laughed lightly. “I'm so sorry about the misunderstanding, I intend to get a new place soon."

“That sounds like a good plan."

There was a brief silence, as she breathed heavily into the phone.

“Are you nervous?" He asked.

She cleared her throat. “What? No," she replied almost immediately. “I'm not."

He paused.

“When are you coming back from clearing your head?"

He sighed, not knowing how to tell her she had lied about leaving the country.

“Soon," he replied instead.

He paused again, listening to her breathing and smiling. " You are definitely nervous.”

She laughed. “Okay, you got me.”

He smiled. “I'm so eager to meet you."

“Same here, I'm really anticipating."

“Are you—"

“Oops," she cuts in.

“Is something wrong?" He asked, his voice laced with concern.

“I think I need to grab something from the store real quick."

“Okay then, I'd let you go. Be careful, it's late."

She smiles. “I will."

“And do not show any skin."

She laughed now. “I'm literally wearing a pink track suit with a smiling bunny drawn on it, who'd want to kidnap a cutie like me?"

He laughed lightly. " Okay, talk later.”

The call ended.

***

Valeria grabbed her wallet, skipped her feet into fluffy footwear and dashed outside. Her menstruation had come without a sign and she needed to pad up real quick.

She arrived at the convenience store and headed to the women's section, picked up a sanitary pad but felt something between her legs. She looked down.

“Shit!" She cursed, upon seeing her pink track suit soak up in menstrual blood.

She usually has a heavy flow and shouldn't be lacking a pad, but her circle had suddenly backed up on her.

“Scan these please," a voice said.

She looked toward the counter, where the familiar voice came from.

Ivan.

He can't see her like this, not when she's soaked in her own blood.

She clutched the pad, thinking of how to walk past him and head to the toilet without letting him see her.

“Hold on, I think I need to grab something else," he suddenly said.

Great!

She kept pacing with her thighs clenched, the blood stain was spreading.

She looked down at the smiley bunny drawn on her track suit, and it looked like it was mocking at her.

She heard footsteps thudding toward her direction and looked up. Ivan was headed towards her.

She stood frozen, unable to move, her menstrual stain getting worse. People were staring and Ivan seemed to be interested in what they were staring at.

She watched him through a small gap between the rows of shelves, walking towards her.

“Is there a problem over there?" A man asked.

The guards matched toward her direction, a child stopped and pointed, customers paused what they were doing and headed towards her. But she was focused on one person. Ivan.

She bent over when she felt him approach, clutching her stomach to hide her face.

“Ma, are you okay?" One of the guards asked to reach out to touch her.

She lifted her gaze slightly only to see Ivan's shoe a few steps from her, then suddenly his legs moved as she strode toward her.