Slim Chances

LEONARD:

I never cared about Erica’s relationship with Nathan. I only hated how happy they looked, like the world was built for their sake.

When I took over the company, hired them both, and finally saw through them, I regretted pulling them apart. I should have let them rot in their little bubble of counterfeit joy. But by then, I had already accepted the marriage proposal.

Erica has wasted her life loving a loser. I don’t pity her; that’s the punishment for being stupid and blind.

Nathan is a whore. Everybody knows it, except Erica, of course. I’ve seen the footage: him with my employees, in his office, on the stairs, in the warehouse, in the restroom stalls just off camera. I’ve caught him at my hotels with other women. And the woman in my father’s house, he calls his cousin? Please.   

I know Erica’s still in love with him. I could have married her anyway. It didn’t bother me. Not until recently. After that kiss in front of the reporters, I thought I was beginning to see her. I’d move to reprimand Nathan if that was what it would take, but once I confirmed it was her double I had kissed…and felt for…I shut her out. If she wanted to throw herself away on a fickle man, let her.

But then I saw her crying over Nathan. She started skipping work—something I’d always admired her for never doing. At the office, I saw Nathan coming in to see if she had arrived—something the loser had never done. That told me she’d finally seen him for what he is. They are coming to a stop.

Still, I hoped she wasn’t about to use me as her consolation prize, a substitute, because her new behaviour suggested as much.

When she offered to cook for me, her words shook me. For a second, I felt both Ericas in the room. I stepped closer, searching her eyes for that spark, that pull of her lips I’m drawn to. Nothing. And yet… her voice offering dinner gnawed at my focus.

There were two of them, I was sure of it. But with only my instincts and gut feelings against their deception—and Jimmy still unable to prove anything—I had to seize every possible chance to unmask them. So I went home early.

The food was terrible. A waste of my day and the ingredients. I hated that I still doubted.

That night, I lay in bed, certain Erica 2 was gone for good. If Nathan was truly out of the picture and Erica 1 was settling into the role of wife, my chances of seeing her again were nearly zero.

Two weeks passed. Erica 1 was still here. She stayed indoors, stopped cooking, and didn’t leave. My ache sharpened. It was obvious that she’d sent the other one away, ready to secure her place as my wife. Except she won’t. I’d call off the engagement in the morning.

I waited in the living room, already late for work but determined to end it. Then she came down, dragging a box.

“Mr. Hays,” she said, pulling it beside her. “I didn’t expect to see you.”

“I can see you are leaving.”

“Yes. I agreed to go on the company’s commercial trip.”

“Will you…”

“Don’t stop me,” she cut in. “I can’t stay locked up forever. I am fine now. Done with my ugly pasts and the devils in it. It is time to be useful. Besides, you have spared me more holidays than I deserve.”

Stop her? Why should I? I wanted to ask if she’d be coming back because her holiday at my house was over, too.

The commercial trip was her annual project: a month-long survey with her team, combing through remote areas to study livelihoods, assess needs, and identify opportunities, providing our company with brilliant production ideas. 

“I need this,” she added. “It will do me good.”

Fine. For her competence alone, I’d wait. I’d call us off after the trip.

**************

Two weeks without Erica1. One month without Erica2.

And Jimmy brought me nothing useful. Trust me, it made me realise why he was fired from his spy job. Useless agent.

“Leonard!” Bernard’s voice crackled through the phone.

He’s happier these days. Finally got the “pretty man” he’s been chasing—though the man keeps him on probation until he’s over his ex.

The pretty man was still hurting from his last relationship. Until he mends his heart, he wouldn’t put Bernard in it. However, he has put him in his body a thousand times. Nonsense.

Sex with a partner but no love? Perhaps that’s a trend.

“I have good news, man,” Bernard said.

“Let me guess, he’s taken you into his heart.”

He had called at the wrong time, by the way. I was trying to cook, and now I wasn’t even sure how much salt I’d added.

Tell me about it. A month without seeing Erica 2, this is what I have resorted to. Trying to copy her cooking skills while thinking of her.

“No,” Bernard said. “But soon. Very soon. We are getting there.”

I’d heard that last week and a week before that.

“So what’s the good news?”

“He agreed to meet my friends!”

Perfect. Another milestone in his slow seduction.

The pretty man also refused to meet us. Claiming it would leave a footprint in Bernard’s heart. Once we know him, Bernard wouldn’t move on easily if he eventually didn’t accept his proposal.

“So, you are closer to being taken in?” I asked.

“Can you believe that?!”

“Hmm. Okay.”

“Here is the deal, Leo. I will hurry back with him and meet you guys in three days.”

“Jimmy is on an official trip.”

He groaned. “And the universe left me you? A boring rock to meet my love?”

“Then remain at the sea until he returns.”

“Nah. I will accept the universe’s punishment.”

Bernard had taken his pretty man on a cruise. He bought the auctioned ship. They have been away for two weeks.

“Can I go now?” I asked.

“Why in a hurry? Are you jerking off?”

I hung up before the words landed.