I couldn't see myself walking out of this room without the feeling of wanting to hurl. So, I unintentionally enslaved my boss tending to my every need and mending my broken sanity while I reclined to his comfy foam mattress bed all day. He served me three-course meal, some tranquilizers and aspirins, bottomless juices, water and wifi password while he checked up on me every now and then.

He said that he'd be sleeping in the guest room downstairs while I remained in his bedroom but I secretly wanting him to accompany me in this room for the night.

"I mean, it's still your room, you can crash in if you want to," I negotiated.

"I'm fine, Zahida. You'll have the room to yourself," Nick chuckled at my foolish reasoning.

"This room is big enough for the two of us. I need someone to accompany me for tonight, please," I insisted. "But we can only limit ourselves to cuddling. I still want my future husband to officiate the consummation."

His chuckling turned to laughter, shaking his head and left the room. He returned minutes later with a couple of duvets and a pillow and laid them on the floor next to the bed.

Well played, Nick Pholadi, well played.

         ✨🍀⭐✨🍀⭐✨🍀⭐✨🍀⭐

I couldn't sleep, though. I was at war with myself trying to wipe off the gruesome images from my mind. And at the same time, I was making sure that Nick won't be attempting to pop my cherry while I was sleeping.

But if it's true that I'm ugly as per his claim, what am I protecting my vanity for? Most of all, why am I still a virgin at the age of nearing 30s? Was it because of religion? My religion states that having sex is permissible only if married, it doesn't disallow coitus at all. It's not like I'm killing someone. If Nick has the intention to shag me, so be it.

I checked up on Nick lying on the floor, curious to see the way bad boy sleeps. But he was still wide awake, eyes fixed on his iPhone screen.

"Having trouble sleeping?" he caught me peeping on him. I turned away, feeling flushed.

'Say it, ZJ. Tell him you want to break your code.' I said to myself. 'Tell him you want to be deflowered by him.'

"I guess I slept too much during the day that I don't feel like sleeping," I replied instead. "Also, what happened last night still bothers me."

"I shouldn't have let you in there," he sighed in remorse. "I was just trying to prove my point. What you saw back there was just the petting zoo, you haven't seen the jungle yet."

"No, I'm sorry. You've warned me about entering into your felonious life but I was too thick to listen." I responded.

"Look, if you can't sleep, we can do something else," Nick suggested.

'That's it, that's the cue,' my mind prompted. 'That means he wants to shag.'

"Let's have a chat, then. About anything. I'm all yours," he offered.

Well, that's a let-down.

"Where should I start?" I asked, while fantasizing his next response, 'You can start by giving me head'.

"You can start with Abs if you want to. Like how you two met?"

Another let-down.

"We first met at the dodgeball tryouts. I didn't like him at first because he has that conceited attitude but assertive, hanging out with popular kids. I can't blame him, though because he's good looking and talented. He was the coach's favourite, one of the best we had.

"I was his messenger for the girls, his human Tinder app, providing access to an array of girls within my network. In return, he would coach me and let me be under his limelight. But we had one thing in common that bonded. Our dead parent. He told me about his mom died in a container while being deported–"

"I'm sorry. I have to stop you right there," Nick interjected. "Abs actually told you that bullshit? I've always known him as a self-centred narcissist, but never thought of him being heartless."

"What do you mean?" I asked in astonishment.

"His mother is still alive and well, Zahida," Nick clarified. "It was my mother that died in the container."

"What?" I propped my elbow lifting my upper body, turning to Nick. "So, I've been lied to all this time?"

"Yeah, she still keeps in touch with me," Nick clarified. "I was 16 when she and my mother got deported to Afghanistan. They were discovered in Greece and they lacked oxygen. Abs' mother was only unconscious, so the rescuers rushed her to a local hospital, but my mother didn't make it, she already died along the way."

I was too flabbergasted by Nick's other side to a story that I felt like I was cheated on throughout my friendship with Abs. Why must he lie to me? So that mutual empathy could make it easier for me to be his dog? I just felt like strangling Abs' air supply to my heart's content at that moment.

But what happens if Nick was the one concocting? Which side of the truth are the actual truth? Nick's or Abs'? What if both were telling lies? What will Nick achieve from this? My sympathy?