Chapter 4

After a few weeks, Asha decided to settle things with Jason. She consulted with a lawyer and fully understood the long process of a divorce. However, the lawyer gave her hope that the process didn't have to be long or messy. She simply had to serve Jason the divorce papers, and once he signed an acknowledgment of the receipt of service, their marriage was over.

However, if he refused to sign, a long and dirty episode of madness would begin. With a drawn-out court case that is bound to cost money and make all parties miserable. Asha was confident that Jason would sign the papers and all would be well. In her view, Jason was a lot of things, but irrational wasn't one of them. She had hurt him, and it was only rational that he would want nothing to do with her again. He deserved to be free, and so did she. They deserved happiness, and a clean-cut divorce was the best way to attain it.

However, despite her confidence in Jason's rationality, she still had Eric accompany her for moral support. For in truth, she feared Jason and his madness. She suspected that without Eric next to her, Jason would torment her and put her true hell before signing the papers. She knew that Eric's presence might set Jason off. However, she also knew that Eric's presence was the only source of strength she could depend on to help her through the ordeal.

Eric was more than happy to help. He knew that the encounter would be awkward and uncomfortable. However, he understood that Asha needed him, and he was going to be there for her no matter what.

And so it was that on a beautiful Friday night, Asha and Eric walked into the Tsung Wu Chinese restaurant hand in hand and hearts in mouth. The restaurant, like most Chinese restaurants, was a flurry of red, black, and brown. The Chinese lanterns, which were actually bulbs covered in specially designed red fabric, cast a red glow on the establishment given it a bloody look of serenity.

The ambiance of the restaurant was the perfect mix of modern and cultural, revealing the beauty of the past with the tools of the present. The restaurant was filled with a thick and sumptuous smell. A mix of scented candles and tasty meals. Eric wished he could order something to eat and get a taste of the masterpieces the Chinese chef seemed to be cooking up in the kitchen.

However, he understood that it would be inappropriate given the situation. He made a mental note to revisit the place at a later date to get a good and tasty meal. However, as soon as he set eyes on Jason, he began to doubt if that dream would ever come through. Depending on how the three-way meeting went, the establishment might not be a viable place for a meal. Eric didn't know how the discussion was going to go down, but he hoped it went down in the most civil way possible.

Eric noticed Jason's eyes lighten up in a smile and then suddenly cast down into a frown. Apparently, Jason had seen Asha first and only later noticed Eric standing next to her. Things had taken the first step downhill, and Eric feared that they were about to begin a slide down a slippery slope.

Eric and Asha walked towards Jason's table. The table only had two chairs as Jason expected to meet Asha alone. Therefore Eric was forced to call for another chair after pulling out the available chair for Asha to take her seat. A few seconds later, a waiter provided Eric with a chair, and he took his seat.

After a few seconds of the three of them staring at each other in silence, Jason broke the silence and spoke up.

'So I see you brought your toy with you,' Jason said, facing Asha and gesturing at Eric with a slight tip of his head.

'He is not a toy,' Asha replied.

'Oh, of course, he is not. He is your gigolo,' Jason replied with a boastful snarl.

'Please, Jason. Can we be civil and get this over with,' Asha said as she reached into her bag and produced a piece of paper and pen as Eric watched in silence. He was there to provide support and not make things more difficult than it had to be. In an ideal situation, he would be able to go through the night without having to speak to Jason.

'Please sign this,' Asha said as she offered the pieces of paper and the pen to Jason.

'What's that?' Jason asked, his face squeezed in contemptuous disgust.

'Come on, Jason. You know what it is. We discussed this over the phone. Just sign the papers and lets all this be over.'

'Why? Are you in a hurry to run off to your honeymoon? That doesn't make sense, though, seeing as you two rabbits have already gone to Turkey for that. You two are something, aren't you? First, you fuck in secret. Then you go for a honeymoon. I am guessing that a marriage is in the works. Usually, it is marriage, then sex, then honeymoon. But what the hell when two people are in love protocol be dammed,' Jason said as he let out a mocking chuckle.

'How did you know that we went to Turkey?' Asha asked.

'Well, you posted the pictures to your google drive, remember. I reckon you did that for safekeeping. However, you seem to have forgotten that I have access to your G-mail account. Did a little snooping for the fun of it? Oh, and I may or may not have sent your nudes to a few email addresses. Your boss seemed to have been a recipient. But who knows.' Jason added with a playful shrug.

'You bastard. How did you get my password,' Asha yelled, just as Eric held her arm softly for her to calm down. She looked into his eyes, and the message was clear.

'Don't let him get under your skin. Let's get what we want and get out.'

She let out a deep sigh as she slumped her shoulders and relaxed.

'Oh, come on, Asha, don't be naïve. Asha 12345 was way too easy to guess. We were married for five years, love. I know all your passwords. Even the passwords to your bank account. I can ruin your life with just a few clicks and taps. I guess that is the price of technology. Our lives are in the clouds and can easily be blown away,' he said happily as his eyes took on an evil glint that seemed to grow brighter with every word.

'But you haven't,' Asha said as she settled into her chair even more. She realized that he was merely playing games and trying to get under her skin. All she needed to do was keep a level head, make him sign the papers, and that was that. Nothing else mattered.

'Oh, of course not. That would be criminal, see. And it might stand against me during the court case.'

'Court case?' Asha asked, losing her newly attained composure.

'Yup,' Jason said with a zestful nod. 'Oh wait, you didn't think I was going to sign this bull crap and let you off the hook so easily, hahaha. You foolish, foolish bitch.'

'Don't,' Eric said, speaking for the first time since the beginning of the meeting.

'Ah, he speaks. The fucking dildo has a use for his lips other than licking my wife's pussy. Or have you forgotten that she is my wife? That you are fucking another man's wife? Uh. What in the name of god is don't? Don't what? Come on, speak. I guess that you don't want me to do something. You don't want me to do what? Uh? Come on, my liege. Your wish is my command.'

'Don't call her names,' Eric said in a calm voice that did a good job of concealing the tiny

flame of anger that Jason had sparked.

'Ah, I see. The chivalrous knight is protecting the honor and pride of the queen and damsel in distress. But you aren't a knight, are you? You are sleeping with my wife. How dare you look down on me from your high horse? You are a home breaking gigolo. I have the moral high ground here, Mr. Don't. You are no knight. You are a lust-filled beast. And she is no queen. She is a fucking whore, a slut, harlot, and a bitch.

'I wouldn't warn you again. You can call me whatever you want, but I would not stand for you insulting her.'

'Bah. The last time I saw you, you weren't standing,' Jason said mockingly. 'The last time I saw you were lying down. More specifically, you were lying on her. So I don't need you to stand for anything. I just need you to shut the fuck up and mind your damn business.'

'Jason, please. Sign the damn papers,' Asha pleaded, scared that the meeting was getting heading for doom.

'No,'

'Why?' She asked as a tear rolled down her eyes.

'Because it isn't fun. See, when I caught you cheating on him, I was livid. You betrayed me, Asha. Yes, I was a terrible husband, and yes, our relationship was down in the trenches, but I didn't for one godforsaken motherfucking second believe that you would ever betray me,' Jason said, raising his voice with every word as anger overrode his senses. He let out a deep sigh, closed his eyes, took in a few deep breathes before continuing. However, this time his voice took on a solemn tone, and rather than yelling in anger, he sounded remorseful. 'But I guess that's what was wrong with our marriage. I took you for granted. I never thought you could betray or even leave me. I stopped trying to keep you. Hell, I stopped trying altogether. I stopped trying in every aspect of my life. I settled. Everything was okay. Mediocrity and comfort were fine by me. But then after I left you two alone, I got thinking. My mind went through a lot of phases, and perhaps in one of those phases, it broke. But something struck me. The look on your face when you saw me walk in on you two. The fear and horror. The power that you saw in my eyes. Oh, that feeling was heavenly. And then I realized my mistake. I had let go of my dream. But not anymore. I am done settling. I would reach for the things I want once again and take them as mine.'

'I'm sorry, Jason, but it's over between us. I can't be yours anymore, Asha replied solemnly.

'Oh, don't be naïve. I don't want you. You have lost your purity and elegance in my eyes. What I do want is your misery. I want you to be miserable, to live in fear and shame. That look of fear in your eyes was so satisfying, and now as I watch you cry, I can feel joy coursing through my veins. Your pain and sorrow has become my gain, and I shall milk it for all its worth. So no, I wouldn't sign these stupid papers irrespective of what you are offering. I wouldn't let you run off into happiness so easily. No. I would feed on your misery for as long as I can, and only then would I let you go. I would let you go when I can't hold on to you any longer. So gather your funds, Asha. We are going to court. And between now and when our marriage is officially annulled, I would make your life a living hell. And even when we are officially divorced, I would still torment you if it still tickles my fancy. You are mine Asha, and if you can't give me your heart through love, you shall give me happiness through your sorrow. I am your Lucifer Asha Vickers, and this is the beginning of your hell.'

'Let's go,' Eric said, realizing that the meeting was a burst and staying was pointless.

Eric stood up and held her hand in his as she also stood up, although her legs were shaky. She found it difficult to understand the madness that had possessed Jason, why a man can be so invested in irrational evil. Into pointless revenge. But Jason was far from rational, and in truth, a mad sickness had possessed his mind, for his heart was full of bile and revenge. Greater than hate or the feeling of being betrayed and abandoned. Jason's heart was filled with bitterness and acrimony. Such great bitterness that his mind had morphed into the mind of a twisted monster. And as a monster, he couldn't stand his prey walking off before he had been amused to his satisfaction.

'And where do you think you are going?' Jason said as he sprung to his feet.

'We are leaving,' Eric said as a matter of fact. 'It is clear that you are not ready to see reason, and this is a waste of time. If you want a long drawn out divorce, then so be it. But we are done listening to you ramble about how unfair we have been to you.'

'How dare you,' Jason yelled as his face morphed into a frown of furry, and he grew as red as a cherry.

'No, how dare you,' Eric shot back, unable to contain his anger anymore. 'How dare you blame her for trying to be happy? How dare you blame her for wanting out of the misery that you turned her life to? And above all, how dare you try to pull her back into the vortex of your pathetic misery and keep her at your level? You are a miserable man Mr. Vickers. And as the saying goes, misery loves company. But Asha is done being your company,' Eric said as he wrapped his right arm around Asha and guided her away from Jason.

'You fucking whore,' Jason said in rage as he pulled Asha back, dragging her out of Eric's arms. 'You are mine,' he said.

In a swift motion, Eric turned and gave Jason a roundhouse punch to the cheek, knocking the vile man back. Jason stumbled and almost fell as he crashed into the table behind him. The occupants of the table stepped away as they suspected that a rumble was about to go down. Their suspicion turned out to be right as Jason retaliated by closing the gap between him and Eric before unleashing a heavy punch.

However, Eric was faster, dodging the slow punch of the wild man and countering with an uppercut. Jason's jaw snapped shut as his teeth bit his tongue, and blood flowed out of his mouth. He spat the blood out with a tooth that had gotten loose from the first punch. To Eric's amazement, the wild man squared up to continue the brawl. Eric couldn't but respect the man's tenacity. He was still standing and willing to fight even though lesser men would have passed out or backed down. 'He might be a vile creature, but he was no coward or weakling,' Eric thought.

'Look, man,' Eric said, raising his hands up as a sign of peace. 'We don't have to do this. Let's just stop this madness and talk about this. If you want to go to court, fine. But please back down.'

'Please, Jason,' Asha pleaded, her voice interrupted by sobs. 'Please. Don't do this.'

'Shut up, you bitch. You didn't beg him to stop when he was beating me like a mere dog. Now, I am about to unleash my power, and you beg me. Well, too bad. Your pleading wouldn't save your lover. He would suffer for what he has done. I would break him.'

'Don't call her a bitch,' Eric said, still raising his hands up as a sign of peace. 'I have warned you thrice. You are out of strikes. Although I would like both of us to walk out of here with some level of dignity, I would be forced to break you if you insist on behaving like this.'

'Fuck you,' Jason yelled as he advanced to launch yet another blow. He pulled his arm back and was about to throw a punch, which Eric was surely going to dodge and counter when he suddenly heard an authoritative order that he was forced to answer. A firm voice that even his animalistic and maddened mind had to obey.

'Freeze,' yelled a uniformed officer with his gun drawn. 'This is the police, and you two are under arrest.' Said the cop as two other uniformed men and a detective walked into the restaurant. The two junior officers put Jason and Eric in cuffs and led them out of the restaurant while reading them their rights. The detective stayed behind to question Asha and restore order to the restaurant. After everyone was calm and some semblance of order was restored, the detective focused on drilling Asha in order to get a grasp of what really transpired between the two men since she was clearly involved.

However, although the officer heard the story, he didn't understand the tale. He only understood the facts. Jason was Asha's husband. Eric punched first, and Jason didn't hit Eric. And so when the detective got to the station where Eric and Jason were being held, he asked Jason if he wanted to press charges against Eric. For in the eyes of the law, Jason was the victim, and Eric was the assaulter.

Tales are sometimes described as accounts. And many times, people give accounts of things that have happened in the past. But the problem with tales is that they aren't like numbers and currency. They can't be fully and completely accounted for. And when we stick to black and white, we miss the numerous colors that create the picture, and what we see is a great falsehood.

And so it was that Eric's fate was in the hands of a mad man whose sole purpose in life was to amuse himself with the misery of others.