Must Be Fate [COMPLETE]

Future

"We should be there a little after 5:30," Malik tells me sitting down in the seat across from me.

"Okay," I tell him feeling unsure.

"It's okay to be nervous." He assures me. "Do you want to talk about it? Maybe get it off your mind?"

"Yeah," I tell him taking a deep breath. I guess it's now or never.

3 years earlier.

"Ms. Freyling, come see me in my office after class, please." Professor Douglas asked me quietly stopping at my desk while he walked around the lecture hall.

I nod.

"Somebody's gonna get a spanking." One of my classmates whispered joking.

"Shut up!" I told her.

All the girls had a crush on Professor Douglas. I'd had him a few times since being here because he was the computer science teacher so he taught a few of my required courses.

There were rumors of him with students but none confirmed. I had his class twice that semester. My last semester before graduation.

The class was dismissed and I was waiting for him to go into his office. We walk in and he closed the door behind us.

I sat down in the chair and he stood next to me leaning back on the desk.

"May I ask you a question?" He asked.

"Sure." My brown eyes locked with his hazel ones.

"What do you plan to do after graduation?"

"Ummm. I've been applying at some places, but nothing set in stone." I disclosed.

"I know how much you love the cyber security field. I have a friend who's hiring for a data analyst position. I think you have what it takes. I know you've interned at some places and-" he stopped himself.

"And what Professor?" I asked, puzzled.

"You can call me Henry, I won't be your professor forever." He told me smiling.

"Okay, Henry." I smiled back.

"Sire, right?" He divulged.

My eyes widen as he says the name of my alter ego.

"Your secret is safe with me Sharice." He winked.

"How did-"

"People talk, and you've been in a few of my classes since you've been here. It made sense to me." He admitted.

He leaned over and said in a low tone, "Can you keep secrets too?"

I felt flustered as he walks around his desk.

"That depends on the type of secrets," I said with a raised brow.

He sat down at his desk seeming satisfied. "I want you to get this job, but he needs to hire soon. If I get you this interview you have to knock it out of the park so he'll hire you even without your degree. Can you do that?"

"Of course. Give him my information, and I'll do the rest." I told him standing up and grabbing a pen from my bag.
I write down my information.

"Perfect. I'll let him know immediately."

I sling my bag over my shoulder and get ready to head out.

"Thank you so much, Henry. I won't let you down." I told him.

"I know you won't. I'll see you tomorrow in class," he said walking me out the door rubbing my shoulder.
******

Looking at Malik I continue, "After I graduated I got a promotion and my pay went up significantly. Henry and I had become really good friends and he started mentoring me. " I tell Malik.

He stares at me intently.

"One night he invited me over to his house for dinner to celebrate. We were drinking and we made out. I tried not to think anything of it the next day because I blamed it on us being drunk, but then he started coming on strong, calling and texting every day, flowers. I'd only been with one other man before him, and that was senior year of high school so I didn't know any better."

I look at Malik as his jaws clench still listening to me.

"What changed?" He finally speaks.

"Little things here and there, but we went to a conference. My boss and a few of their friends were with us, and we were all hanging out having a great time. But when we got back to our room alone, he started accusing me of sleeping with my boss. Saying things like all my boss talks about is me and how great I am at work. That I must be sucking him off and that's why he likes me so much." I keep going with tears coming on. "He made me quit my job and move in with him. He said it was so we could work on us. I had to sneak and take contract jobs while he worked at the school."

Malik's eyes soften. He takes my hand in his. "What made you leave?" He asks.

"One of his former students showed up at his home with a baby, the spitting image of him. She told me he started ignoring her after she got pregnant. I had already had enough of hiding the bruises from my parents. I moved away because I knew I had to end all contact or I'd keep going back until-" I breathe deeply trailing off not wanting to finish the thought.

I feel like a weight is lifted from my shoulders. Even in therapy I never admitted that I wanted to hurt Henry. But I did.

"I wanted to kill him in sleep. Some nights he'd lay there sleeping so peacefully after forcing himself on me. I snuck and got on birth control because I felt like I'd be stuck with him forever if we had a child. I gained so much weight. My hair was falling out, I was a mess, but I couldn't tell anyone because I wasn't ready to leave."

I shook my head laughing at myself. "Over the time I was living with him, I'd saved all my money and created an escape plan. I told my parents I was leaving and didn't look back. I visited for the holidays and that was only Christmas Eve to New Year. I told no one I was coming home."

"Sharice," Malik finally begins to speak "You've been through enough pain to last a lifetime and I promise you, I will die before I let you go through anything even close to that. I will never put my hands on you, except for how you ask me to." He says kissing my hands.

I blush while tears fall down my cheeks.

He continues, "You don't have to worry about other women because this d*ck is yours and the only babies I'll be havin will come from you. You don't have to suffer to be loved here. I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you. I didn't even know your name but I knew you were made for me."

Fat tears stroll down my face. He pulls me into his lap and wipes my face.

"We don't have to talk about that bastard anymore. Let's look to our future now, and never look back." He tells me.

To our future then.