14

"Just leave me alone!" Ari yelled at Justin, her eyes burning from the tears.

She yanked her arm out of his hold and ran out the door, her hair falling around her face and sticking to her damp skin. He'd made her feel like a fool again, and all because he couldn't control his hormones.

She was just closing her office when she decided to try and rekindle their engagement before the big event. She went home, changed quickly and prepared dinner. She wanted to present herself to him as a submissive wife as her dad has demanded.

She went upstairs and didn't knock on his bedroom door before entering. She froze in her tracks at what she'd walked into. It was like he snatched a part of her and stepped on it continuously. She turned back and dashed downstairs.

He quickly pulled up his pants and followed her, upsetting the young female he had in bed with him. It stung real bad because when she thought of giving him a chance again he messed up. So that was how she found herself walking out of the house with her hands shaking and tears flowing.

She got in her car and pressed on the gas, driving out of their neighbourhood. She didn't know exactly where she was going and at that moment she didn't care. She stopped outside a busy restaurant and shut the engine off. She scrolled through her contacts before stopping on Kaden's name. Should I call him, she asked herself.

Afraid that he was busy, seeing it was a Friday night, she decided against it and instead kept scrolling. She got fed up and wanted a quick way to feel better. Although she knew what she was about to do was wrong and would take her nowhere far from step one, she decided to be irrational for one night.

She pulled up at the parking lot and took her credit card, slipped it in the back of her jeans and walked out towards the shop. She covered her eyes with the sunglasses and pulled the hoodie over her head, hoping no-one would recognise her.

"Just grab the pills and split," she mumbled as she looked through the medication aisle. She slowed down and crouched when she spotted the drugs she was looking for and grabbed one bottle. She got up and wanted to go to the till but went back to grab another one.

Just in case, she reassured herself.

"My eyes must be deceiving me," an old voice spoke from behind her and her heart almost dropped. She turned around slowly and came face to face with Claudia, her therapist.

"Hey there," Ari chuckled nervously as she shifted from one foot to another. Claudia just smiled knowingly as she herself held a box of tissues in one hand and chocolate syrup in another.

"I see you haven't completely changed," Claudia said enthusiastically but Ari knew better than to think so. She felt bad for deceiving her therapist but then again, who has never been deceived?

She felt her eyes tearing up and her vision became glossy but she didn't let the tears fall. She couldn't break down in front of her role model.

"Beautiful long brown hair, healthy nails, white eyes and clear skin," Claudia said as she took a quick scan of Ari. "That's what I'm referring to."

"It's great to see you," Ari said, her voice coming our hoarse and mute-like. She couldn't imagine the after effects of consuming these pills. "I never thought I'd be this glad to see you." She grabbed Claudia in a tight hug and cried her eyes out. She hated the feeling she was having. The feeling of being sad, hopeless, helpless but most importantly dependant on someone.

"Mistakes are a part of us," Claudia said, slowly removing the bottles of pills from her hands and replaced them with the tissues and chocolate syrup instead. "Seems like you need these more than I do." She led Ari to the counter and paid the stuff for her. After that she escorted Ari to her car wordlessly.

"Your birthday is the upcoming weekend," Ari spoke as they reached her car. Claudia had no idea Ari would remember such an event. That made her smile and feel worthy.

"I'll also be going into retirement," Claudia said easily and Ari's eyed widened. "That doesn't mean my job will end though."

"I'm glad that's the case."

"Would you mind coming to my house and help out sometime?" Claudia felt the need to have Ari by her side and supervise.

"I'll come over on Thursday." Claudia moved aside and Ari got in, thanking her for the night before she drove out.

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Kaden linked up with Nate and went to the nearest bar.

"Are you tapping your new partner?"

"No. Dude, what the heck!?"

"You're wasting time bro. Ladies like that don't like being told to wait," Nate said and took a gulp of his eleventh shot of whiskey.

"And what about you? How is your father's new chick?"

"Things between them are over. I tried talking to her but she's rude, has a rat mouth and talks a lot. Plus, she's scary," Nate said and they shared a laugh.

"Hey gentlemen," a bunch of skinny and attractive women came to the bar they were sat at. "Why don't we take it back to your place and show you handsome men something new, yeah?"

"Um, no. Thank you," Kaden politely turned down the offer and Nate gave him a weird look which he just shrug off.

"You sure, man?"

"Positive. I'll see you tomorrow," he gave his best friend a pat on the back and walked toward the doors where more sweaty bodies were dancing around.

He slowly breathed in the fresh, clean and sweat-free air. He got in his car and unlocked his phone. His finger hovered over the one person he had his mind on the entire day. Tapping lightly on the name, he heard the dial tone ring.