The Virgin Bride

Part 4 - Sense Prevails...

That night, Steve messaged Grace, that he felt incomplete without her, and would love to marry her at the earliest. Grace said she was young, and it was early. Steve played with words and got her to agree to at least allow him intimacy with her often because that made him satisfied and fulfilled his wish. He said at least that would make up for his missing her. 

Grace was not only innocent but also trusted Steve a lot. She was still friends with Avanti and Ridaa but not too close, of late. Both of them knew that Grace was still with Steve, but were happy if she was happy. 

One evening, Steve asked Grace to meet him. When they met, as usual, he hugged her, and kissed her. He also went about caressing her breasts and fondling with her. He got bold and ventured below. Grace stood up, and immediately stopped him. "Steve! This is the limit, please!" Steve calmed her down and said, "Come on Grace. We love each other. And I am so lost in you, I tend to forget my limits. Don't get worked up. And trust me, nothing will go wrong. I also have protection with me.. .So don't worry, you won't get pregnant!" 

As he prepared his next move, Grace quickly got dressed and said, "Steve, I have to go now. I have some important work with mom." She was about to pull open the door, when Steve quickly pulled her by her arm, and threw her on the bed. "You can't leave me in this condition Grace. You promised to satisfy me!" Grace was a little scared by his action, but she knew this was not right. She stood her ground. "No Steve! I am not prepared for this! Not until marriage! I am quite determined to remain a virgin till marriage!" she said. 

"But it is me you will marry! And I am okay if I do not have a virgin on my bed on the first night!" Steve said.

"But I am not! I don't know how far you and I will go into this relationship. I don't know Steve! So, I do not want to break a promise I made to my God, about remaining in my boundary!" Grace spoke, determined. 

Now Steve was angry. "Oh shut up.. Promise to God, bull shit! As long as you enjoyed it all, the promise was not broken yeah?"

"Steve...What way of talking is this? You seem to have lost control on yourself!" Grace said. 

"Yes... I lost control on that very day I saw you and your sister in that restaurant. Both of you are... Whoa! You are a young bud, what joy blooming a bud into a flower! Your sis was a hot one too. But she would not respond to me! But you are ...well, innocent... Or must I say foolish?" laughed Steve. 

Grace was confused. "Steve...?"

"Ha! I am not Steve.. I am not here for an alliance. You fool. I am here for you. Come now! Let us not waste more time... I must leave here by tomorrow!" He went ahead to grab Grace. She tried hard but she could not pull herself away from his strong hands. 

She screamed for help. She was not sure what the man would do to her. She suddenly said, "Steve... Please stop. Steve.. I loved you. You can't do this to me..." 

"Shut up you fool. I am not Steve! And I am not in love with you. You are just a ... well, you are food for my hunger baby! And now, you will satisfy my hunger!" He threw himself on her, and managed to overpower her, and caught hold of both her wrists. She was feeling very helpless, and nauseous at the thought of what Steve, this man, would do to her.

She started praying in her mind. Her eyes were closed. Steve thought she would not be able to overpower him, and immediately pulled his trouser down, with an ulterior motive. In that short moment, Grace gathered her senses as well as strength, and pushed Steve with all her might, and opened the door, and bolted it from outside, and ran. She felt miserable and helpless because she was still away from crowd, and was not sure what would the man do next. 

She ran and ran until she found some civilization ahead. She went inside a small chapel, and started crying profusely. She cried for a few minutes. Then she confessed to a priest there, all that had gone wrong. She confessed about her lies, her trust on a stranger. She also accepted that she was overpowered by her lust at some stages. The priest blessed her, and asked her to recite a prayer he taught her, every night until the next month end. 

Grace left from there and got back home. She was still feeling terrible. Her mother asked her if she was hungry, and wanted dinner. She refused dinner, and told her mother, she was not well, and wanted to sleep. She shut the door of her room, and cried for hours. She was trying to recollect every moment, and see where she had gone wrong. She realized after a short analysis, that she had missed the signals throughout. She had indeed been a fool. Right from when he initiated a talk with her, to hurrying up on meeting her, to meeting her everyday, to professing his love so early on... Meeting at the 'friend's' house... Every point was a signal she had missed. She felt pathetic and afraid. She was scared to even think what would have happened today. She decided after much turmoil, she would speak about it all to her mother. 

Her phone rang at 11 am. She looked at the number, it was Steve's. She was fuming. She picked it up, and yelled, "Why have you called? I am going to turn you in to the police...." 

"Relax, love, relax! I called to congratulate you for your smartness. You locked me huh? I was lucky and powerful. So I am safe... And what do you think you will do by calling the police? What will you say...? Steve...Stephen Lobo tried to rape you? And where will you go to find me? At my imaginary uncle Charles Lobo's place? Or that friend's place? Haha! And what will you tell, what did you do there with a stranger every evening?" Steve chuckled. 

Grace had a knot in her throat. She just came face to face with her own stupidity. She had never known his relatives, or his residence. She had always believed what he said. She was desperate to know the truth, just for her own sake. "Why did you do this to me? What wrong have I done? Who are you?" pleaded Grace.

"Your mistake is... you are beautiful, but have no brains! Look at your sister! She has beauty with brains. When I wrote her that chit, which made you go weak in your knee, and you came back running to ask my number... your sister, gave me a dirty stare, and asked me to back off. But you... foolishly gave me a call... and that started your troubles. And I was obviously elated because I love women, young girls to be precise. So, don't feel bad. You are not the only one. You haven't done anything wrong." Steve was saying.

"Then why did you try to...?" Grace stopped. 

"Well, I would not have, had you readily agreed. You did not. So, I lost it. Had you allowed me, I would have had my way, and walked away happily. Back to my country tomorrow." he said. 

"What? You mean... you would have just gone away?" Grace asked. 

"Yes, obviously, you silly girl. Which is why I had been trying hard all these days.. My day of departure is close! Anyways, may be this one flower was not in my favor... That's okay. I only called to say...you are beautiful.. Every part of your body, that I could see and touch... was awesome... I missed the chance to make love to you.. But... for whatever you allowed, Thank you my love...Thank you..." he said. 

Grace felt sick. She felt abused. She felt like she had been used. "You rascal!" She said. 

"Uh, huh! Mind your language, you God-fearing girl. Anyways, our paths separate here and now. I am off. Just be careful my dear, to not trust strangers so easily. Today, your luck saved you. Not always will you be able to safeguard your womanhood....Good bye Gracey darling... Goodbye!" There was silence. 

Grace got the phone down from her ear, and stared at the screen, the call was disconnected. She stared blankly at it, for a long while, and then burst into tears as everything started to clear up. Each puzzle started to fall into its place and she realized that Steve was not Stephen Lobo, but some stranger who had made use of his sense and Grace's foolishness to ruin her. And he was right, her luck had saved her today, but would not do so always. She cried a lot. She decided, she would never ever fall in love with anyone. She would just not trust anyone. Though she had decided she would talk to her mom, by the end of this call, she decided she just would not be able to. She thought to herself, that she will have to take care of her own self, and mend her broken relationship with her well-wishers, her best friends, Avanti and Ridaa. She decided she would speak to them first thing in the morning, and confess to them that they had been right about Steve being a pervert uncle, after all.