A date to remember

    “So, O-Olivia, how was your day?” Aaron asked his date, stuttering in his speech. The young, green-eyed brunette in front of him looked up from her plate, trying to force a smile.

    “You asked me the same question five minutes ago. I doubt my day has changed much since,” she replied with what looked like a tooth-aching grin. Aaron swallowed and hung his head down. How could he have asked that question again, how could he embarrass himself like that?

    “Yeah,” he finally said, letting out an unsure laughter, “I guess it hasn’t.” Not knowing what to say or do, Aaron decided to cut out a piece of the burnt chicken fillet laying in front of him. Olivia’s plate was untouched.

    “The chicken is r-really good, v-very tender,” Aaron lied, trying to come up with a conversation topic.

    “I guess it is.” This time, Olivia didn’t bother to move her eyes away from her lap.

    Aaron sighed. Once again he thought he had found someone to love, once again he thought this was the woman of her dreams. But Olivia was no different from the rest, even if she had survived Aaron’s company for a whole week - most of the girls couldn’t take it anymore after a day or two. Some lasted for three.

    Aaron reached for Olivia’s hand, but was left disappointed - as soon as she noticed Aaron approaching, she jerked her hand away from him.

    “What’s wrong, baby? Are you okay?” Aaron asked, trying to make sense of what was going on. And that’s when it happened.

    “I’m not your fucking baby!” Olivia spat out and almost instantly lost all the colour in her face. Her eyes widened and her body started shaking, as vigorously as a flag in a storm. She realized her mistake, and so did Aaron - but he refused to give up. He had come so far, too far to give up.

    “Wh-what do you mean? Of course you are my baby… P-please don’t do this. You w-wouldn’t do this to me, I know you so well!” he begged, trying to save the situation, but Olivia seemed to have gotten enough.

    “You’ve known me for, what, six days? Let me go!” she shouted, trying to break herself free - Aaron had grabbed her by the wrist.

    Olivia wasn’t the only one who had had enough. Everything turned pitch-black in Aaron’s eyes, and all he could see was the woman who broke his heart - the woman who deserved to be punished. And she would feel his fury.

    “Aaron, w-what are you doing? I’m so sorry… Please!” Olivia’s voice weakened to a crying whimper, which only fueled Aaron’s anger.

    Aaron got up from his seat and walked around the table. Despite Olivia’s struggles, he managed to grab a fistful of her hair. With veins throbbing in his neck, he moved the hair away from her eyes, revealing a black eye.

    “Oh, poor baby… I really didn’t want to do that, he said, grabbing Olivia’s jaw with his right hand, stroking her cheek with the left one. “But you gave me no choice… One day you will love me.” A faint laughter echoed through Olivia’s tears.

    “I’ll never love anyone like you.”

    Aaron bent over so that his face was only inches away from Olivia’s ear. One more stroking motion across her cheek…

    “You’ll understand… One day.”

And so, his fist punched her unconscious.