YET TO COME

..TEN..

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

She walked home in low spirits. Her bag pack was on her back; her makeup box was in her right hand and her clutch in the left. She trudged along, trying to think of anything but the tall handsome stranger that had awoken something in her, something she couldn’t dare let be. It was something called want, need, greed. It was something she shouldn’t dare desire. She sighed and looked up, realizing then that she had almost passed the bus stop. She stopped and stood, waiting for the bus, absentminded.

She was pushed easily partly because she had not been expecting it. She lost her footing but managed not to fall as her clutch was pulled. She kept a strong grip on it as she screamed for help. It came, and it surprised her. It did because it came in the form of the very person she had been thinking about. He punched the young mugger across the face causing him to lose his grip on her clutch. He caught him by the left upper arm as he turned to flee. He struggled for a while before giving up. The mugger returned his direct and intimidating stare blatantly though he was afraid. He covered the distance between them.

‘You’re too young for this. How old are you?’ he asked him.

‘Seventeen and a half sir,’ was the young mugger’s reply. He accessed the boy. He was scrawny and definitely looked hungry. He had compassion on the suffering fellow.

‘Do not do this again,’ he said to him. He let go of his hand. The mugger turned to flee but froze halfway and turned back to him.

‘I thank you sir,’ he said.

‘Take this,’ he said giving him a few brown bills. He attached his complimentary card to it. He received it. ‘What is your name?’

‘It’s Desmond sir,’ he said.

‘Call me Desmond.’ The mugger nodded and ran away before he would change his mind. He turned to her then.

‘Fancy meeting you here,’ he drawled purposefully. It irritated her, the pretense on his visage.

‘You followed me!’ she threw at him, furious. How dare he do that? For some impeccable reason, it gladdened her. Her gladness vexed her.

‘You're welcome my darling,’ he replied as if she had thanked him.

‘I did not thank you!’ she snapped at him.

‘Yet,’ he replied her. ‘You did not thank me yet Samantha.'

‘Don’t call me that,’ she shrieked irritated at him. He chuckled. She growled in frustration.

‘You’re pretty today,’ he complimented. For some reason, despite her anger, the compliment brought warmth into her.

‘That’s why you followed me?’ she demanded, disbelief and vivid doubt in her voice.

‘No Samantha, I followed you because I desire you,’ he told her candidly. ‘I couldn’t let go of you. ‘I admit I followed you –I do so every day.’ She humped in annoyance. His expression hardened, serious. ‘I followed you to make sure that you are safe. You might imagine what could have happened some minutes before if I wasn’t here, If I hadn’t followed you. I saved your damn properties from a mugger who could have harmed you.’ And you changed a person, she thought. He was sure that he was just exaggerating. Desmond didn’t look like he could harm someone, but you might never know. As they say, Dangerous situations begat dangerous criminals.

She lowered her gaze. He was right. He had helped her, protected her and yet she had snapped rudely at him, ungrateful and unkind. She felt remorse creep into her at her unwarranted outburst and outright rudeness. It appalled her. She had never behaved like this. It did not surprise her, at least not anymore. She did things around him that left her worried.

‘I'm sorry,’ she apologized to him. ‘I'm sorry for lashing out at you. I am glad you followed me to make sure I am safe. It was quite thoughtful. I might not approve of it because it is a little bit creepy. But still, Thank you,’ she said with gratitude. He smiled.

‘Once again, you're welcome my sweet,’ he said to her with a broad yet charming smile. The bus came at that moment.

‘I have to leave now,’ she told him. He took the hand with the clutch.

‘Please, please Chloe let me drop you off,’ he practically begged. She nearly laughed.

‘I prefer the bus Mr. Stalker as I do not really know you,’ she said teasingly though she meant every word she had said.

‘Then, show your gratitude some other way,’ he requested. She began heading for the bus as she spoke to him.

‘How do I do that?’ she asked him with a puzzled look.

‘Come on a date with me Chloe, to know me better, so I can give you lifts. Please do not say no or I won't let you get on the bus.’ She was at the door of the bus now.

‘Why are you hell bent on wooing me?’ she demanded. He smiled at her. His hands came up to her face, putting stray hair behind her ears, stroking her cheeks in the process. The caress made her skin grow hot, leaving desire in its wake, that fleshly overpowering desire that she was yet to understand.

‘I already told you Chloe, I want you,’ and with that he kissed her softly on the lips, gently, like she was some rare delicate flower. A slow all consuming passion swept over her, causing her to be weak in the knees, all her bones turning into gel and her mind into baby mush.

‘Say yes,’ he whispered seductively against her lips, staring straight into her eyes. She was no match for his skillful seduction. She fell for it totally like a Christian convert, a new believer, straight and headlong into sin, lured by the master of temptation, the devil himself, Lucifer.

‘Yes,’ she whispered back. He drew away from her smiling sweetly at her. It took a while for her to process that during the kiss he had lifted her by the waist into the bus.

‘Goodbye Chloe,’ he said to her as the bus ignited. ‘I'll call you.’ She hadn’t given him her number but she knew that he would. From what she knew of him, he always had a way. The bus began to move then. She stared at him.

‘Goodbye,’ she whispered just before he was out of sight. As if he had heard her, he waved and she wondered if he was telepathic. She climbed into the bus and found a seat. There was an empty space. She took the window seat. She stared out of it as the bus drove, thinking of the man that had succeeded in leaving her hot and bothered. She didn’t know what had prompted her to say yes to his question, a crazy reply to a crazy question, but she knew that she was doomed. She wasn’t looking forward to the date, dreading it even. She prayed that he be not disappointed, like the persons before him.