It was quite late at night when Victoria returned home.
Her every step and action was incredibly cautious as she unlocked the door and got it. It was dimly lit inside, and it took a few seconds for her eyes to get used to the darkness. In those few seconds, she guessed Victor had probably returned home tired to his bones and collapsed to sleep somewhere—on the couch or the bed. She blinked and focused to find the couch empty.
Then it must be the bed—she guessed.
Relaxing, with a slow exhale of breath, she opened her shoes and shoved them at the shoe corner next to the door.
"You should keep the shoes inside that cabinet to not make the very entrance of the house a mess," a deep voice sounded from the direction of the dining area.
And truly, there was a silhouette sitting on one of the chairs—stiff and unmoving. Victoria was so startled she screamed. As the silhouette stood up and started moving, she frantically took steps in reverse until her back connected to the main door.
It stood close to the wall now.
Victoria's brain had numbed temporarily.
Suddenly, lights turned on, and everything was bright and clear.
"You!" Victoria's staggered breath finally began to get normal while irritation for this impossible man also began to rise. "Who sits in the dark like this like a freak?"
"Do you have an idea what time it is?" Victor raised his left hand and tapped his fingers on the wristwatch—emphasizing his point.
Why was he trying to be like a hostel in charge of teenagers?
She didn't know she required his permission to stay out late. "Why do you ask?"
"Perhaps because you are injured, and the doctor instructed you to eat well and timely. Did you forget that?"
"I—"
He cut in with a sarcastic smile, "But you probably didn't have time to remember all that since you were busy with much more important stuff—perhaps being in the arms of a lover."
She was absolutely stunned. "What?"
Victor looked away. "Your father did tell me about your voracious dating habits before threatening my mother and sister to make me marry you."
Wow. Those were some staggering information.
"I'm sorry that my father dragged your mother and sister in the middle of all of this, but can't you even guess what kind of a man he is by it? He's the master of lies, a selfish b*stard—that he is. And you're no good yourself believing in the words of his vile mouth." Her entire body shook with anger.
"He was not there all those years ago when you lied and humiliated me at school—before Valentine's bash—"
"Indeed, he was not there," she retorted. "But his favorite nephew Ricky was. I guess you know him by how you were always trailing after me during those days."
For once, Victor was left speechless.
Done with this shit, she walked toward the bathroom. She heard Victor gasp.
"Your other foot is bleeding!" he shrieked. "What did you do, woman? How is it possible for you to acquire new injuries every other day?"
Was this man insane? Or was he having a male period and mood swings?
She tried to disregard him and keep moving on her way, but he still demanded stubbornly, "Answer me!"
Entirely riled up, she turned around and snapped at him, "You should have noticed that the first thing instead of insinuating all sorts of demeaning stuff about me! You should have asked that first!"
And she limped into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Inside the confines of four walls, she moved the handle of the faucet and put her shaking hands underneath the running cold water. Not moving her hands from the water, she lowered her elbow at the edge of the sink and rested the front of her head on the mirror in front of her. She remained in that way for a while before sprinkling water on her face.
Her foot burned, and her head throbbed in the middle. As she looked down, she could see that, truly, blood had made a large red spot on her jeans.
Sighing, she removed her jeans carefully, hissing when the punctured part of the clothing precisely on top of her wound refused to detach. Blood had somewhat solidified over there. Pouring some water on it made baring the wound possible. She was only in her old grey shirt and black panties as she sat down on the bathroom floor. From the bathroom cabinet, she had taken out disinfectant, which she sprinkled on her wound. The disinfection process burned more than the wound, and she groaned without realizing herself. Thankfully, this cut was not big like the one on her other foot.
"Are you alright?" came Victor's worried voice from the other side of the door.
Victoria didn't bother to reply. She didn't have any wish to speak to him, at least tonight. He had a way of hitting her nerves.
It was quiet for perhaps a couple of seconds before he was frantically knocking on the door. "Why aren't you answering?"
Her mouth gaped as she stared at the door. Second, by second, it was becoming more evident—this man had a screw loose in his head somewhere.
And suddenly, he wasn't knocking anymore.
The door and the entire frame holding it shook with the force of what felt like a whole adult rhino was being thrown across it—repeatedly.
"What the bloody hell!" She bellowed, groaning and shooting up to her feet. "What the hell are you doing?"
As soon as her voice sounded, everything stopped again.
"You haven't fainted!" he sounded relieved.
Someone was going to get killed tonight.
Huffing and limping to the door, she twisted the knob and threw it open. "Can't a person be in the bathroom in peace for five minutes, huh?"
"I thought—" he was saying, but then he went mum as his eyes took in her entire form and zeroed in on her bare thighs.
He was not looking away, making Victoria suddenly recall her incomplete state of clothing. As her eyes widened, Victor finally looked away awkwardly.
"Oh—" she gasped, limping off toward the bedroom as all her clothes were in there. And Victor had already seen her bare half anyway, hadn't he?
She got into her long t-shirt that came down to her mid-thighs fast.
On the bed, she sat at the edge to take a few breaths to calm herself.
Victor was a walking anxiety attack—she concluded.
And he confused her a great deal—going off at her as he saw her as the most disgusting creature on planet Earth and then turning into this overly worrying guy, fussing all over her injuries. It almost felt like—like, he cared. It felt like he cared for her as he would for any of his friends—Ellie, Kate...
Shaking her head, she dropped it into her hands.
Nah. He would never care for her as he did for Kate.
Kate had a special place in Victor's life. Victoria was almost sure of it, and she smiled sadly into the closed space of the palms of her hands.
The next morning, Victoria rubbed her eyes with the back of her slender fingers, waking up sluggishly by the sparkling rays of the sun. She turned her face away from the window and sat up. Her t-shirt had crawled up in sleep and had exposed a decent part of her panties. Glancing at the ajar door, she quickly pushed the end of the t-shirt down to cover her modesty.
Lord! What if the wererhino had seen the view at night while coming into the room to collect his stuff or something?
But then, he had seen some interesting bit of her skin she usually never exposed in public. She was not even the bikini-wearing type in summer.
She walked out of the bedroom and headed to the bathroom but halted midway finding Victor setting up breakfast dishes on the dining table. And it smelled scrumptious.
He wore a light purple shirt and a pair of suit pants. The coat was missing. His hair was slightly wet with an out-of-shower look, and his face was clean-shaved. The guy looked fresh, office-ready, and quite a gentleman. And as he poured what looked like tea into a cup and slowly sipped into it while still moving around the table, he looked like a competent husband any woman would crave to acquire in life.
Noticing her, Victor said, "Freshen up and come to the table quickly. I made breakfast."
She went into the bathroom without giving a reply.
Some benevolent people would feed their enemies to gain positive karma yet refuses to transfer their image in their minds.
Victor was probably in that phase.
While in the bathroom, doing her morning business, she thought he would leave since he was already ready for the office because there was no reason for him to wait for her for much longer. However, she was surprised to see he did wait.
Anyway, it didn't matter since she had decided not to take any more of his sympathetic gestures.
Seeing that he was looking at her, she said, "I'm not hungr—"
"You did not have dinner last night," Victor said indignantly. "Don't forget what the doctor said."
She was fed up by now. "You don't have to worry about my matters, really. According to what you said last night, I've lovers to do that part."
Looking away with furrowed brows from her, he put the toast and butter knife.
She turned around to leave and heard a chair scraping on the floor, signaling he had gotten to his feet. From the bedroom, she discreetly watched him collect his coat and go for the main door.
He said over his shoulder in a low, dejected voice, "You don't have to eat with me. Just have breakfast before you leave. I can't have your father going berserk again for starving you in my home."
As the door slammed shut, she looked at the floor, feeling sad and angry. She also felt guilty that he had left breakfast halfway.
Pulling her hair, she screamed.
The next two days, she lived on protein bars, cereal, cup noodles, and cup ramen. And she steered clear of the meals Victor cooked for her routinely like they were temptation of the devil himself.
He inquired about her leg injuries and her 'other' wounds on the body one of those days. She refused to give him a direct reply.
His care felt humiliating.
He had stated clearly that his supposed worry regarding her well-being was actually generated from his anxiousness regarding her father.
But Victor didn't know that his worries were baseless. Victoria's eyes turned glossy. It would snow in hell when her father would worry about minor things like if she was eating properly. It was more natural for that man to starve her instead.
And with teary eyes and all, she chuckled, shaking her head at the heartbreaking humor of the truth.
--
The elevator doors almost closed but Victoria held it open at the last moment, seeing Sumaia coming with a heap of groceries bags.
A hefty amount of strands were purposefully covering Sumaia's face. The girl stretched her lips a little to offer her a wobbly smile—the swollen bruises must be making her facial movements painful.
Seeing she was holding the grocery bags with her injured hand with great difficulty as both her hands were full, Victoria hurriedly insisted firmly to take most of them.
"Your legs are injured, too, Victoria," Sumaia showed her concern.
"I'm not going to carry the bags with them, so don't worry."
Both the girls chuckled, although Sumaia did that in a suppressed manner so as not to move her face much.
Talking about trivial stuff, they got out into the corridor after the elevator stopped. It was not until a few long seconds later that they noticed who awaited them in the process of unlocking Sumaia's door.
Adi.
The sight of him gave her flashes of when he had attacked her so brutally, which he had been doing in a regular basis to Sumaia. The a*hole.
"You—" he seemed dumbfounded.
Both the girls remained glued on their spots from the unexpected encounter. Although they should have been prepared for it—the mistake was theirs.
Being neighbors had its special perks. The super-increased possibilities of chance meetings were one of them.
Adi's eyes narrowed, staring back and forth at both of them, "Well?"
Victoria tapped Sumaia on her arm comfortingly, "Let's go," she said.
As they drew nearer to their apartments, Victoria stopped again to return Sumaia her groceries. In silence, Adi stood and observed them just a few feet away. Ignoring that piece of disgusting thing seemed like the best option.
"Thanks," Sumaia's smile was wobbly.
"Stay safe, alright?" With one hand she cupped a side of Sumaia's face. She couldn't help but feel worried for the girl. She did not want to leave her alone with Adi. It would be the best thing to take her to Victor's apartment instead. But what if Adi would report her as retaliation?
Suddenly, there was a fast movement in the corner of her eyes. And then, in a blink of an eye, Adi was holding Victoria by her throat, pushing her against the wall.
Shrieking, Sumaia fell to the floor by getting violently shoved by him in the process.
Victoria gasped to gather air in her lungs. But it was in vain. Adi's fingers tightened around her throat, blocking her windpipe.
"So, you're the reason why she's attempting rebellion these days!" Adi bellowed. "Now I get it."
Only guttural noises of pain, fear, and desperation to breathe could originate from Victoria, nothing more. She failed her arms and legs, but he stood too close to be hit this time. Perhaps, he had practiced in private after almost becoming impotent last time.
Rushing up to her feet, Sumaia tried to get Adi away from Victoria. "Adi, let her go—" But the girl was frail and no match to Adi. "She has nothing to do with what's going on between us!"
Adi didn't budge no matter how much Sumaia tried to drag him off gripping his shoulder or arm. Irritatedly, he just grunted at her efforts. "You expect me to believe that rubbish!" He glared over his shoulder back at her.
"I'm not an immoral cheater like you—"
"Shut up," he yelled, spraying spit in every direction.
Even when Victoria was on the brink of losing her senses from being choked and forced to stay breathless for so long, she twisted her face in disgust as a few droplets of his stinky spit fell on her forehead. But she began to forget about it soon since the inside of her chest had begun to burn.
She scratched Adi's hands weakly.
White dots started to form in front of her eyes before they connected to one another and liquidated to entirely spread over and cover her vision.
It was the day she was going to die.
She heard a distant ping. It sounded familiar, almost like their elevator door.
Was Sumaia running away? She wondered and then sighed. Good for that poor girl. At least, that girl would survive.
But then, a male voice bellowed. "What the bloody hell is going on over here?!"
~
Word Count: 2498
~
A/N:
Hello everyone!
Here I'm with another chapter full of Victor and Victoria, and their bittersweet journey.
Adi is back and in complete attack mode. I have a lot of stuff planned for this guy. I hope you'll like them.
Let me know your views on this chapter.
And what do you think will happen in the next chapter? Will there be more misunderstandings between Victor and Victoria? Or are they going to take a step toward a better-ness?
Please don't forget to vote, comment, and share! Fan/follow me to get notified of my updates.
Thanks to all the lovely people who've been supporting Victor and Victoria's journey. Voting and also letting me know your feedback are excellent ways to demonstrate your support! Love you so much, guys!
Lara.