INTERTWINED FEELINGS

The sun was already setting, and it got darker. She could tell because the illumination in her room got brighter by the time she woke up. She glanced around; everything still lay where it was, and her work was unfinished.
She had a choice, and she failed again.

Instead of remorse, she shut her eyes tight, thinking of better solutions for next time and how to act in the scene.
Not reminiscing after the event.

She stared down at her arm hanging loosely from the end of the bed where she lay. She was exhausted. She was exhausted from everything, and it was time she took action. She clutched the sheet that concealed her naked breasts and tried to sit up. But she couldn't.
To her left, there on her own bed, he lay. He was exhausted too from the past hours of incessant sex, and he lay there snoring. She tried getting up to clean up, but her legs were weak. Weak from fighting back, she laid in and allowed the memories to flood through.

Three hours ago, he had walked into her house; she hadn't noticed because she was buried in the work she had on her laptop with headsets on.
After what seemed like thirty minutes or so, he walked into the room where she sat, and before she could even look up to see who it was, her headset had gone off her head, crashing to the floor.
Her eyes traced the person above her down to the floor, where her speakers lay in absolute shock.

"Haven't you heard I've been calling you?" His voice bellowed in anger.

She could only stare at him.
"Are you out of your mind!?" She retorted back with a nerve twitch.
" What!?"
"You heard me; I asked if you were out of your mind." Her anger was kindled now, and she was already charging out of her seat.

She tried to push him, but he caught her off guard and made the first move. He seized her by the shoulder, pinning her to the wall.
"Are you trying to be a man now, huh?"
"Get off me," she tried kicking.
"Or what?" He shifted his hand to her neck and brought his face closer to hers. You've already learned to disrespect your man now, huh?"

She felt his grip getting tighter, and she could only imagine what could possibly happen next. She saw her life flash, and there it dawned on her how quickly it'd hit the deadlines about a black woman killed in her own home by her boyfriend.

She mustered every drop of moisture she felt in her mouth and spat it out on his face, hoping for the worst.

In seconds, she felt she heard something, and she felt it too. As warm as it felt on her cheek, it was so hard, and it kept ringing in her ears.
"Bitch"

She looked up at him in total disbelief. He had actually slapped her, and she was unable to fight back. Her eyes glistened with moisture forming at the base.
His grip had been loosened as he left the room to wash his face.

She crawled past her speakers and towards the chair where she had sat earlier. She had no strength left, and she needed to get out as soon as possible. She grabbed the phone and tried to make a call. Finding her way around was a hassle for her, as her eyes were blurry from her tears and her palms sweaty. She was trembling while trying as fast as she could.

He returned, washed up from her spit. He looked more refreshed and sober, like he had seen a transgender man. With concern, he looked at her, where she was being snatched up while trying to use her phone.

Calah," He began softly.
She buried her face in her hands, hoping she wouldn't see his face. She wasn't going to forgive him this time, and she was done with him. He walked gently over to where she was.

"I'm sorry," he continued softly, trying to reach out his hand. "I didn't mean to."
"But you did!" She replied shakily. "Please, go away."
Calah, babe, I promise you, I didn't mean it to go this way. I even got you flowers and the candles you asked for."
She looked at him like she was waiting for approval.
And he nodded with a smile. "I truly am sorry, babe."

With that, he grabbed her chin, lifting up her face and using his spare hand to clean the edge of her face down to the circles beneath her eyes.

He began to caress her face altogether. His lips found her forehead and planted a kiss there, bringing it down to her ear and sending his tongue over her temple as if to suck out the pain he had put her through earlier.

He found her lips and placed his there for a while, waiting for her approval. After waiting for some seconds without finding any, he went ahead. And after some minutes, she returned it. That was his go-ahead.

He lifted her on the bed, still locking lips over her.

She felt her senses fly out the window.

"I'm sorry," he muttered again, with his fingers fiddling with her buttons. His hand went through all of them, jerking them and dragging off his own shirt.
He leaned over her and kissed her.
"I love you, baby."

Deep down, she felt it was a lie, and she wanted to fight back, but she couldn't. She was weak. Her body was, and her mind was too. She wanted to say no, but she could feel the skin beneath her shorts breathing wildly and calling for touch.
She wanted a touch, but not from this man.

She lay helplessly and allowed him to handle her.

As expected, he went down rough on her, causing her more pain all over. Where she lay below him, she silently prayed for it to end. And like her prayers getting answered, he did release semen in her, like always. Despite how much they talked about using condoms,


Reality dawned back on her, and she realized she still lay next to him, with her face still hurting and her legs unmovable. She gathered her strength and walked out of the room to get cleaned up.

She took a look at herself in the mirror. She had a black eye and hickies. In disappointment, she took off her clothes and walked into the bathtub.
She sat there, drenched in tears.

She quickly washed up and tried to get back to her phone. There, she realized he had actually left her house.

Just like that, he came over, gave her a fair share of beatings, and had sex whenever he felt like it. That was her routine.

She remembered when she first met him. He was sweet and really romantic, and that could have been the major reason for her falling for him in the first place. He would send her tons of flowers and chocolates, help her with her chores, and even cook with her.
He was everything she would have ever wanted.

Little did she know he had been boldly cheating on her. Until she caught him and couldn't forgive him. He had spent months trying to get back to her, and on her part, she was too soft-hearted. Besides, he was sweet and romantic. And his sex was good. She could forgive him for that.

And that was her mistake. Her love for him had greatly diminished, and she just tried staying with him for fear of being single.

Men didn't like ladies who were CEOs, but her boyfriend did, and she had to stay or she would be subjected to her fear during stormy nights.

And her boyfriend, who had other affairs with his ladies, still decided to keep her. After all, she was a senator's daughter, and she gave executive orders to about three large companies.

He could manipulate her all she wanted. She was scared, and he knew it, and that was his chance to also exhort money and have his bills paid, alongside the influence. And after being manipulative to her, He knew how to make her forget it. Flowers, kisses, and good sex

She remembered that when they first met at the gym, he gave her one compliment, and she had her knees wobbling. She wasn't the type to fall for men easily, but Zach was good at that.
And she realized that the more charming they looked, the more pepper they dished out.

She snapped back from her transgression and picked up her things in order.
She had work at the company the next day, and she had to finish her work. Her headset, luckily, wasn't broken enough to ruin it; just a small part of it had come off.
She got herself into sweatpants and a sweatshirt and went to lock the
or, and got back to work with her system on her bed.
And soon enough, she was fast asleep.

"Good morning, ma." She looked up, and it was her secretary who had just come in.
"I didn't ask you to come in yet," She replied almost frantically, trying to search for her shades.
But Lori had seen her black eye already.
She acted ignorant too, saying, "Oh, I'm sorry," leaving the room as soon as she had seen it to wait downstairs for Calah.

After almost an hour of waiting, Calah showed up downstairs.
"Which car are we taking today, ma'am?"
She glanced around and said, "I don't know". There was no car warmed up already for her, and all were still in the garage. "What will I ever do with Shedrach? "You think he needs a replacement?" She looked at Lori with a little disappointment.
"I think something might be wrong with him; still be a little patient with him," she replied calmly. We might as well find out what's wrong with him."

"Uh, I don't have time for that. Ring for the keys to this one!"

On their way to work, Lori reminded her of all of her meetings and schedules for the day.
"You're going for supervision also at the new gym, and a board of directors for the opening of your first company sent a message."
"Oh, which of the gyms is that?" She picked up her phone to check for something. "And I thought I already told Mom I was no longer interested in her own company."
"There's a catch, Calah," Lori replied, grinning.
"What catch?"
"I don't know, but they request your presence."
She merely sighed. "Which of the gyms am I supervising today?"
"Oh, 35th Avenue, the third one in that area."
"The third? So why did we put it there?"
"You did, ma'am."
Calah sighed again. She was really not up to date on a lot of things, and she needed to get her sh*t together.

They got to the office and took the first elevator. Calah was hoping not to find any other employees on her way so she wouldn't have to respond to their greetings; she wanted to hide her face as much as possible.

Things went smoothly as she got to her office without having to stop by. Lori got her a coffee and left her alone.

For the first time that morning, she took off her shades to examine the discoloration on her face. She found the other end of her face much redder. She silently prayed not to have any visitors that morning.

At exactly 12 p.m., Lori came into her office to remind her about the supervision. Calah had forgotten to put on her shades after she was done examining her face. Lori was about to leave her office when she called her back.

"You saw this in the morning?" She asked her calmly, pointing to her face.
"Yeah, I did," she said with a smile. "But if you ask me," she continued, rushing to grab a seat.
"Lori, before you assume anything, I just had a bang on the wall."
"A bang, Calah," she scoffed. "That's not a bang, and we both know it's that monster."
"Don't speak of Zach like that."
"Sorry, but you should have moved past that guy, Calah," she replied soothingly.
"He wasn't like this, Lori."
"You keep making excuses for him. Your league is way beyond what he could even dream of. Who could think that an inspiration to a lot of women out there keeps getting beaten up by a guy that's not even married to her in the very least!? And as a matter of fact, people see you in the papers and assume you have the perfect body and life. A boss that has men sucking their lips at your sight Have you ever taken a good look at yourself, Calah? You're everything! So get everything and stop settling for him."
Calah just sat calm. " Lori, I still believe he'll change. He wasn't like this, and maybe it's something I'm not doing right. "
"Calah, can I ask you something? Take your time to think well."
"Sure, go ahead."
"Do you still love him?"
" Yes! I do; she snapped rather quickly.
" I said, Think about it, Calah. Maybe a night or two. Be certain that this is what you want. And think of ladies like myself looking up to you."

She stood up, gave a smile, and headed for the door. "Don't forget the supervision later today."
Calah sank in her chair as she left. She knew there were a hundred truths in her words, and she knew she didn't love Zach. But she couldn't bring herself to let go.

She arranged her things to get ready for the supervision at a new gym she had given an order to build. She had a lot of gymnasiums all over the city and outside, too. She also invested in ballet classes and general fitness. That was her specialization.

She had grown up plus-sized as a child and wanted to move so elegantly and gracefully. By 20, she was fully obese. And she was just another trust fund baby who was nothing but a sack that fed on her parents' money. She rose to change. And she got her perfect body before 25. And in her mid-twenties, she had her first ballet class. She moved further to expand a gym on the other side of her building.
Soon, she had started buying gymnastics equipment from a different company and reselling it. In her late twenties, she started her own company, and as the years went by, she built more gyms and ballet classes.

She got downstairs, and the car was already being warmed up. Lori opened her door and sat down, staring out the window.

They got to the place and found all the workers resting.
"Why are they so relaxed?"
Lori glanced around. I think it's lunch."
"Lunch? It's way past twelve."
She took a walk around, examining everything, until she got to the other section of the hall, which was spared for the ballet.
"Lori, Look out if anybody is coming."
"Why?"
"Hurry, shut the door behind you."
Lori did as instructed, looking around like something was amiss.
"The door's shut, Calah, why?"
Here, hold this, She replied, taking off her shoes in the empty ballroom. The floors had been polished,and it looked set,save for some equipment.

She took out her phone from her pocket, played the common interstellar, placed it on its loudest volume, and gave it to Lori again.
And soon she was moving gracefully on the polished floorboards. Even though it had been a while since she danced, her elevation was still good.

She kept sprinting and twirling with her hands in motion and on her tippy toes without a pointe shoe or tutu.
She felt happiness ripple through her blood, and she was giving all her heart to it. Like she wouldn't again.
For a moment, she forgot all her issues and what she might likely deal with when she got home.
She forgot all of the tension on her as a senator's only daughter and also the pressure from her fans wanting to be like her.

She danced it all out like her life depended on it.

The song ended, and she made her bow, breathing slightly hard and feeling accomplished.

From within, an applause erupted, which faded at first until the sound drew nearer and got clearer. "That was beautiful," He said as soon as he was visible, still clapping, thrilled, and confident.

Calah looked at him in shock and asked, "What are you doing here? And how long have you been there watching?"
The realization hit her at that point that she wasn't wearing her shades. She rushed over to grab it, hoping he wouldn't notice.

She put it on and turned back to him. "I ask you again, what were you doing here? Do you work here, mister?"

"Oh no, I don't," he said, raising his hand in surrender. "My brother does, and I'm keeping him company."
She took off the shades again in astonishment, giving the guy a full view of her face he hadn't paid attention to earlier. It was already a black eye, and some parts still remained red.

"You're here to keep your brother company for the work I pay him to do?"
He smiled. "Think of it like I came to leave a message for him and just stalled on this side unconsciously."

She scoffed out of desperation. "The building isn't open yet, and I'd appreciate you not moping around. I could sue you for trespassing, literally!"

He smiled wider. "I was just on my way out," he said, walking out. Almost close to the door where Lori stood, he turned back. "And oh, I forgot, you're very beautiful without the shades." He winked, still with a smile, and left.

Calah was basically lost for words. She felt naked instantly.

Such a nuisance," Lori said in her voice after he left. Calah turned to her in surprise. "You could have done me a favor by checking if the room was clear!"
"I wouldn't have known, ma'am; I'm sorry."

She threw a disappointed glance at her for a long time.
"You know what? It's fine, Lori. Can I have my shoes back?"
We'll check the yoga room and the new imported equipment, and then we'll leave.
Yes, ma'am," she replied from where she bent, buckling Calah's shoes.

They continued their supervision, with Calah remaining very distant until they finished. They got back to the car and were set to go.
"Lori, Could you run me a background check on that guy?"
"What guy?" She barely even remembered.
Calah threw her a dead glance.
"Oh, oh, him. I could. Um, but it might be impossible. We don't even know whose brother he is."
"I know. He could have actually been a thief, a spy, or something! I have a foreman here, and people walk in as they like!"
"I'll do my best, ma'am." She said she was typing out something.
"And I'll let you know what I come up with."
"Good". She replied curtly and turned out to the window.

Calah got in her house, and headed for her room first. She got off her shoes and headed to the bathroom to apply some ointments on her face. It was looking way worse than the early hours of that day.
She sighed and sunk in her bath tub, still dressed from work. She picked her phone to check for the news headline for that day. Her mind briefly drifted to the guy from earlier that day.

He could have actually been a spy, or a thief.

She got off the bathtub to change into something comfortable and light. As soon as she had taken off her clothes, hoping to wear another, she heard his voice again.

"How are you sweetheart?"
She turned around, looking aghast. He had his fingerprint on her house entrance and she wouldn't dare remove it.
"You look pale, cupcake, have you seen a ghost or something? Have I got something on my face? " His Italian accent ran so smoothly.
" Sorry about yesterday, baby girl. You know I hate it when I hit you. I got you some more candles" He finished, coming closer to hug her.

She unconsciously took a step behind which he noticed.
He stopped and looked her dead in the face. "You scared of me now huh?"
"Um, no, no, hi Zach, what are you doing here? It's late. "
"Ah, never too late to see mi cielito" He said, walking away from her to get a glass of drink. "We shall spend tonight together and I shall make it up to you"
Her shoulders shrank. "But it's totally fine, we don't have to, and I'm not even hurt"

He returned back with a glass of orange juice. "Don't worry." He pecked her forehead and went back downstairs to watch something of interest.

Calah knew she had two options, to stay and end up like a battered batter or to run and save her head for another day. She wasn't considering any other options.

She grabbed her purse, put in a pepper spray, her charger and a couple of things she might need. A wave of shame hit her over her fear of running out of her own home for a guy living off her.

A thought in her head told her that night was the time she actually should speak up. But considering it was late and didn't want to involve the neighbors or their dogs, she concluded on her plan to run.

She stepped downstairs, trying to keep as casual as possible.
"Hey honey, I'll be back, quickly want to grab something from the store"
He looked back and saw her, standing by the stairs, indeed set to leave. "Isn't it late?"
"Um yeah, yeah it is. I know. But um, I need to get something urgently"
"Calah baby, c'mon it could wait." He sounded so soothingly walking towards her slowly.
Her knees were giving in and so was her courage.

If he comes close to her, he'll definitely smudge her up and cuddle her to prevent her from leaving him alone.
She quickly grabbed the pepper spray in her bag, and pointed it vertically, directly at his face. "Go away, and don't come closer. I'm not afraid to use this"
Zach got confused for a while. He arched his brow and chuckled which later erupted into laughter.
Calah felt fear crawl up from her toes and was sitting on her shoulders.
"Why do you have that pointed at me, Calah baby?"

In swift moves, he grabbed it from her hand, leaving her trembling where she stood.
He made to reach for her hair. She ran up the stairs, having him take her every move.

She was at the top of the stairs when he caught up with her, before she could run into any room.
He yanked her by the shoulder in anger, "Were you going to leave me alone?"
She hid her face, still trembling.
"Answer me!" He pulled her head up from where it hid in her hands and rammed it on the wall.

Calah felt everything spin. A sudden headache hit her, and she felt the urge to cry.

"That's all you do, you cry! I leave my busy schedule to spend time with you, but you think of me as nothing but a killer, and choose to bolt out on me!"
He brought his face close to hers." Who were you planning to see? "
" Nobody… '' she whispered amidst her whimper.
" Answer me!" He threw a slap across her face which sent her down to the floor. "You're seeing someone else now uh?"

All she could do was cry. She felt all her strength out of her and she wished her nightmare could just end.

"Where's your phone?"
"Why?" She answered a little bit more confidently than she had expected.
"Where is it? I want to know the bastard you're going to see by this time of the night"

"I'm seeing nobody, just let me be!" She yelled back in anger and frustration."Just let me be! What else do you want?"
He stared at her in surprise. " What? "
"You heard me right! You've beaten me up again, what else would you want to try out?"

He ignored her and tried to grab her purse for her phone.
She struggled intently for it. She wasn't going to let him.
They struggled for it, while he had the upper hand.
He pushed her against the rail of the stairs at the topmost step, where he could dominate her.

As though her life was on stake, she still held on to her purse, which got him angrier. He pushed her over the rail of the stairs in an attempt to snatch out the purse as that was the only way he could.

A large thud came from below. He had her purse and phone in his hands, but she was nowhere near him. She had gone crashing down the stairs from its topmost step.

Calah was below, without either her purse or her bag, and she couldn't feel her bones.
She felt a wave of darkness overcome her senses.


"Calah!" His sense of desperation had disappeared and he came to the understanding that he had almost murdered someone.
He took large sprints down the stairs, like he wasn't aware that could have possibly happened, pushing her against the rail.
"Babe, Are you alright?"

Silence.
And Darkness encompassed her.

"I'm sorry babe, I didn't mean to hurt you, can you hear me?"
He carried her upstairs back, through the exact route he could have pushed her from, if at all.
There in the bedroom, he took out Calah's phone, thinking of who to call. She had no serious friends who didn't like him. And he couldn't call her parents.
Calah's mom was late. Died in an autocrash where she had just died.
Her husband and child survived, and it was quite expected, seeing from the type of crash it was. And worse, she was the driver.
This had been years ago, before Calah's dad had even gone into politics.

And calah's dad has made it well, and sat in the Senate with the President.

That was another reason Zach couldn't call him.
He would be dead meat before he even stated his intentions.

Lori!
She was the perfect person. Would do anything for calah and knew how to act under pressure.
And he did call for Lori.