G10
Sara stuck the knife into my cheeks.
The pain was one imaginable because the knife came out of my cheeks and sliced the top of my tongue. She
raised the knife to give me another cut above my nose.
Just then, another car rammed into hers, effectively blocking us all in the alley as a police siren started to ring.
###
The medics treated me in the alley while the police rounded up the other men.
My boss was the one who had led them here. He followed me to make sure that I would get home safe because
he was worried that Sara would try something, and he was right.
She had a huge black bag and some chains in her car. She had also been scheduled to deliver a ‘female package‘ at the river side.
My boss put one hand around my shoulder to steady me and held my hand to console me as the medic tried to stop the bleeding and sew up my cheek. For my tongue, there wasn’t much that could be done. So, they had to put a numbing cream to stop the pain.
A black Ferrari parked with reckless abandon just beside the ambulance. Jared ran out of the car, leaving his IV
line behind as he ripped it from his hand.
He grabbed the hand of the policeman that was currently questioning Sara, “Sara wouldn’t do this. I think she
was just caught up with some bad company.”
The policeman shrugged Jared’s hand off. “She was caught with a knife trying to slice off the face of another
woman.”
“What if I convince the woman not to press charges?” Jared asked.
Was that how much he cared for Sara? She could do he most horrendous thing and he would defend her. I had
assumed that he was here because of me because he was my emergency contact but apparently Sara was his first
priority as always.
“It’s now a criminal case.” The policeman pointed to the ambulance.
Jared turned towards me, hoping to get me to drop the case but then when he saw me, he froze. Then he turned
back to Sara.
I do not think I’d ever seen him so angry.
He smacked her across the face twice, saying. “How dare you? All this time, she has endured a lot becaus
you, and I kept choosing you over her because I didn’t know how horrible you were.”
“It’s a set–up.” Sara shook her head.
C
“She already broke up with me because of you. Why did you still have to go after her?” He came to me and went down on both knees, holding my hand as he said, “I was so blind this whole time. I don’t know what I would’ve have done if I lost you today.”
I only nodded, unable to say a word.
He noticed that my boss still held my arm. He gave the man a cold look. My boss shifted to give us some space. Jared took the position of my boss, then put my head on his shoulder and kissed my forehead.
10:34 AM
After the Fireworks Faded
“I will never let you out of my sight again. How are you feeling.” Jared faced me. “Why aren’t you saying
anything?”
My boss responded. “She has a gash on her cheeks. Her tongue was badly hurt. She won’t be speaking for a
while.”
Jared went white with shock.
He handed me over to my boss, then walked back to Sara. “Consider your father’s debt repaid. If you come within 50ft of my girlfriend, I can promise that you’ll die on the spot.”
Sara clutched her chest. “I’m starting to feel really weak.”
He pushed her hand off. “I don’t care if you die.”
Sara changed her approach when she saw that she wasn’t getting through to him. “She’s leaving the city.”
Jared turned back to me for confirmation.
Sara laughed. “She got a scholarship with Victoria Steele. You have no one but me, Jared.”
“The only woman who has truly held all of my heart is Ashley and no distance can separate us. Right?”
In the days that I recovered, Jared tried to convince me not to leave him.
He was at my bedside every hour and if I so much as coughed, he ran to get the doctors, even though he himself wasn’t doing too fine because he was neither eating nor sleeping.
me.
But despite all his efforts, I decided it was better for me to move to a new city and put the pain of this one behind
He saw me off to the airport and he still tried one more time to get me back stay.
He said. “Sara knows where you’re going. I don’t trust that she doesn’t have connections. I will protect you.”
I didn’t say a word as I boarded the plane.
###
Jared never stopped trying to communicate the fact that he was still into me.
Every Saturday, he would set up fireworks to display a message. I would sit at the pier of my new city and watch
the fireworks.
Today, two men dressed in all black followed me but I wasn’t worried because they wore the silver ring that were
markers of Jared’s Mafia.
From where I stood, I could only catch glimpses of people on the other side of the sea, and I could see Jared.
His message dropped in my phone: Do you like this?
I replied: This is very beautiful.
Jared: Come back to our old city.
Me: It’s best we stay apart.
Jared: Maybe you are right. There will be no fireworks next week.
I think he finally got the message as the fireworks faded. That my feelings for him had faded too.
THE END