𝚄𝙽𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙳.

one.

Song Inspo: Flames by Tedy 

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"Perfect," Chance murmured to himself, taking a seat across the street from the small café where his newest conquest was employed. By the looks of it, he'd made it at the perfect time, even though he was a bit later than usual. Her face was flushed and she moved quite clumsily onto the floor to begin her shift. Chance had just about collated all of the information that he'd gathered over the past few weeks to create a pretty (extremely) accurate layout of Nahla's average day, creepily starting from the moment her alarm rang to the second she kissed Jackson goodnight. 

What he gained in doing so was the complete element of surprise. He knew where their spare key was, and then the other in case they managed to lose the first. Being able to allow himself into their apartment at any time gave him this feeling of baffling power, like, he knew that he could just waltz in and dispose of the fiancé at any given time...especially with both her schedule and his. While he wasn't going to play much of a role later, Jackson had to go before things were to begin, and that made him the most important chess piece. Everything was falling into place until the 'getting him alone' part of the plan came into play. Where one went, the other followed. If Nahla saw Chance as a monster, there went all chances of her falling for him. 

His mind drifted back to the first girl who he'd developed such an obsession for. He'd had relationships and little flings since her, but none ever made him feel the same. He loved her to death---quite literally---and all she did was cheat. Knowing her history with men before, Chance made it his goal to make her feel like the queen that she was, and still, none of it had been enough. When he found her in his bed with another man, that awakened an anger and pain inside of him that he'd never felt before. Without going into much detail, he assumed that the majority of others would've done the same thing he did to her had they been in his shoes. 

Chance was beyond over it by now and even found himself making jokes at times. 'What if I exposed myself now? I wonder how many pats on the back I'd get for offing that cheating slut.', was one that he had often, and sitting there on the bench, still found himself chuckling at it. But no. Her screams had been enough satisfaction, even more so knowing that they were far enough from civilization to where nobody could hear her begging and pleading for mercy. To say that he'd gotten lost in his thoughts would've been an understatement, because he hadn't noticed that Nahla was no longer in view, or that there was now a beautiful Asian woman sitting next to him now. 

Minutes had passed before he finally zoned back in and realized that she'd disappeared from his sight, and another to notice a girl walking towards him. Chance had no idea where she'd come from, but she was a cute little thing. Perhaps he could work his magic and have her in his bed for the night...even if she wasn't what he truly wanted.

She'd noticed him not long after and their eyes met, his kind smirk receiving a dazzling smile from her, "Hello." She said, waving awkwardly. 

She  had slanted eyes and the cutest nose, with an even, olive complexion. She was beautiful, to say the least, and it was obvious that he thought so with the way his eyes drank her in. "Hello," Chance replied, scooting over to make a space for her to sit under the shade. "The sun is brutal, come, sit." He insisted, his accent becoming apparent now that more words had been shared between the two. 

The woman glanced at the bench and then back at him, seeming quite hesitant to sit so close to him, but it only took a few seconds for her to do so anyway, offering him a soft 'thank you' in response, to which he nodded.

Silence fell over them then with only the sound of the bustling trees and soft thunder in the distance to fill the air. It was like they were both trying to find the right thing to say to each other.

"I'm Chance-"

"I'm Emiko- oh, sorry!"

They began at the same time, pausing the instant they realized the other was speaking, only to be met by a moment of laughter from both ends. 

"You go first," Emiko insisted.

"No, no, it's alright," Chance assured. "Well, Emiko, what brings you out here today?" 

He questioned, scooting as far as he could on the bench until his butt was just at the edge, only to turn and raise his right knee onto the seat and then draping his arm over the back. She had his full attention for now, because at least he knew where Nahla was. 

"Oh, I just got off of work, actually. I take the bus home most days, especially when I don't feel like walking or when it's going to rain like today," She nodded, avoiding his eyes and nervously rubbing her hands back and forth against her jeans. It seemed that he intimidated her quite a bit, despite having no intention to, but she seemed like a sweet girl so far that he wouldn't mind getting to know. If anything, maybe she would be able to keep the urges away...or calm them, at the very least.

. . . 

Fifteen Minutes Later

Nearly twenty minutes had passed since Emiko first sat down, and it was insane how well the two were hitting it off. She'd begun opening up almost immediately once she realized that he didn't have any bad intentions, so he now knew that she went to school at Sutton, worked at Java Lava, and was also fairly new to town as well. 

He'd nearly forgotten about Nahla by this point, and found himself fixated on the raven haired beauty before him. 

Remembering his later plans and how the reservation was set, his blue eyes lit up at the opportunity to have someone there with him. The reason he was going would seem weird without having a plus one, and who better to ask than a struggling college student who had probably never had the luxury of being able to pop up to a fancy restaurant on a whim. 

"Hey, Emiko," Chance began. "How would you like to go to The Resort with me later? I made a reservation and accidentally had it set for two seats anyway, but didn't actually have anyone to go with."

"Right," Emiko snorted, her brown eyes searching his for a moment before she sat up straight, realizing that he was serious. "Really?" The woman quirked a brow. "Sorry, it's just...men like you don't fall out of thin air and ask girls like me for a date." She laughed nervously.

He smirked at her and shook his head before leaning forward to remove his phone from his back pocket. "First of all, thank you for the compliment. Secondly, I'm completely serious. I'm a traveller; it's my job to do cool stuff, I just so happened to find you on the day when I would've been sitting at a two seater alone. Doesn't seem like a coincidence to me," The man spoke, holding his phone out for her to take. "You can put your number in and I'll text you before I leave."

When she reached out, he realized that she was wearing many rings that sparkled in the sunlight, and all he could think about was Nahla and that stupid engagement ring that shined brighter than the sun sometimes, not-so-subtly reminding him that she would never really be his as long as Jackson was in the picture. Huffing softly, he clenched his jaw and turned his attention to her typing away at his keypad, waiting until she'd completely made a contact to take his phone back from her and send the new number a message. 

"Alright," He smiled once her phone screen lit up. "You text me your address when you have time and I'll let you know once I leave." He repeated, glancing over his shoulder when he heard the gentle crunching of tires on the road behind them. The bus was approaching, meaning that Emiko would be leaving and he would finally be alone again. Though, now that he had something more important than average dinner to attend, he wouldn't stay much longer so that he could head home for preparations...assuming that she would be coming home with him. 

Even if that wasn't the case, what home couldn't benefit from a quick cleanse?

. . .

Hellllllo! I'm so happy to finally be able to publish this chapter. You don't understand just how long it took me to write this. I was so disappointed with the outcome over and over and over AND OVER again, but I promised that I'd only put out content that I myself would enjoy reading, and this is finally that!

Thank you to all of my new readers for being here, I appreciate you!

Don't forget to interact with the story. Leave comments!!! I love to read them on other books, so I can't imagine on my own. 

Okay, okay, let me get started on chapter two! Enjoy!