I woke up to a sizzling meal warming up the whole room. The smell just had me groaning where I lay. I was buried under thick blankets, the smell having my belly do a shimmy. The smile pulled out on it’s own, not able to hold it. Just a second awake and I was already smiling all my teeth out. I ate my favorite dish prepared by Elio from scratch. He was not only ruining me for other men, he was also ruining my taste buds. The dance could not be helped as I scooped the food over and over again. My eyes were locked on him, his phone in hand. I watched him frown then he began typing back and forth with someone. I watched the way his fingers glazed through the screen, his thumb folding with each pause. His eyes narrowed for a second, my curiosity hitting the roof. It was a curiosity of him. I wanted to learn all that irked him, all that had him react. What was he like when angry? What was he like when happy? An image of a grin he wore a few hours back played in my head. Something told me

LETHU He was gone. Elio was gone and with each day that passed, the pain consumed me whole. When a week passed, I knew he was never coming back. I rubbed on my chest as I had been doing through the days. A certain pain sat there, never healing. It was like an open wound that couldn’t stitch itself together. I was angry, hurt and numb all at once. My eyes scanned through the three hundred and twelve page document before me. I had been reading it for four hours and I was still on the first page. The words were just staring back at me, my eyes roaming through, not even caring that I was supposed to submit the whole proposal a few hours ago. Nothing mattered. Everything was just not significant anymore. My supervisor had been lenient on me in the two weeks I came back to work but I could see that it was slowly running out. My hand ran through my hair. My body pushed up and I just literally sat back in my chair. Eixel turned to stare at me in utter distress. Her eyes were embedded

Irya squeezed my hand with my head snapping to her. She gave me a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry.” She said whilst I was smiling back, clenching her warm hand harder. It suddenly was a bit better, watching the lights fly by until the cab stopped. Prisha’s friend paid, us getting out. My eyes moved up, seeing another club indeed yet the line there was not much. We moved and joined it, phone held in hand. I was supposed to be calling a ride home but my curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to see what was inside and Irya was so nervous. She was clinging to my hand. It was obvious her sister was dragging her by the nose and I would not leave her alone with the vulture. We shuffled over until it was our time to get in. The club was nothing like the one we came from. It was not as packed. A large stage stood at the center with couches all around. A few waiters moved passing drinks. The club was not for partying surely. My eyes moved to Irya. She stared back at me with the same look. We

The phone was still clutched in my hand. I sat quietly as I thought over how I would tear Rendal from the inside out. I would make sure his heart bled first before I shred his skin from his screaming self. I slowly ran my eyes down to the phone in hand as it rang for the forth time. This was it. There was a thin line and I did not want him to cross it. I did not want to push him to the point where my Lethu would suffer. My face was stone cold, my heart a black stallion with skin pale. I was not ready for this. I was not sure I wanted to hear her screams. I was not sure I wanted to see her being struck over and over. I knew they would not take it easy on me and it killed me. My heart clenched painfully at all I had put Lethu through. Surely, I was a curse to her. Taking interest in her was the worst decision I had ever made in my life because I had also opened her up to a world of danger. I swiped the screen and put the call on loudspeaker. “Do you think we are playing?! She will pa

ELIO I always prided myself on my patience and that day it was truly tested. We hopped on the jeeps, taking off to soon be jerking around as we took ways unconventional to many. The car was dead silent even with the six men sitting in with me. A convoy of black G wagons jerked through the rugged terrain. The sun was hidden away by the tall trees. It was hot in the car but no one dared crack even a window. I was in my thoughts and I did not want to be disturbed. Lethu’s images danced in my head, her smile keeping me bolted down as I made the way up the mountain until we stopped and took camp. We would proceed by foot when the time was right. The beta team checked in, having also reached their destination. I rolled my sleeves up, undoing my button as the other men changed into the appropriate gear. I had no time to change nor the patience. With binoculars in hand, I checked the security around the targeted compound. We would wait till dark. The darkness did not change anything but