Chapter 43: Last Kiss

IN THE afternoon, he asked her if she wanted to go fishing for their dinner. She enthusiastically agreed and told him that she'd catch a bigger fish than him. After 2 hours of fishing, they caught a lot of fish but let go of the small ones and competed in getting the biggest one. In the end, they ended up with two Largemouth Bass and lay them side by side. He caught the bigger Bass, and he couldn’t stop annoying her about it.

"Nice try my little one, but I'm better than you in everything," he says mockingly.

"Stop calling me that! My dad doesn't even call me that." She responds, clearly not enjoying his playful remarks.

He moved towards her, tucked the hair behind her ear, held her chin upward, then tilted his head towards her. "Well, I'm the daddy that you can sleep with, and you are my little one that I can use and abuse." He says while playfully booping her nose.

****

By six o’clock in the evening she finished cooking the sweet and sour Largemouth Bass. While eating, she felt uncomfortable. He noticed the change in her mood and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

She slowly puts her cutlery down and says, "You took a video of me." Her eyes lowered and she looked unhappy.

He held her hand and explained with an assuring tone, "No, I did not. The camera light and flash were on, but it was not recording. The camera is in the basement. I’ll show it to you later."

After they ate and cleaned the dishes, they went to the basement. He turned on the camera and showed her that there was no recording. She heaved a sigh of relief and felt better instantly. He walks towards the stairs after showing it to her. Meanwhile, she stood in the basement for a moment, trying to take a mental picture of the place, and reminisce about the sick stunt he pulled on her. She then marched towards the stairs when she heard his footsteps heading out of the basement, but before she could even take her first step, the basement door was shut close.

She laughs then says, "Very funny, Blade!"

She tried to open it, but it was locked from the outside. She bangs at the door, "Hey! Open up."

She knocked on the door a few more times but no answer from him. She stops then leans on the door, trying to listen for any movement from the other side. She was met by silence.

Her eyes widened, then frantically banged on the door again, "Blade! Open the door!"

"I know you are in there."

"This is not fun anymore."

"It's dark in here. Please..."

In every sentence her voice continues to die down.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, he stood still staring blankly at the basement door, as if he was not hearing anything. He then starts to mumble under his breath, "Stay there. Stay with me, my little one."

A heavy gust of wind entered from the open window and knocked over a half-empty bottle of water and the sound of it hitting the floor brought him back to his senses, and soon he opened the door. He saw her sitting on one of the steps while leaning on the stairs pilar. She looks aggrieved, pitiful and disappointed, like a child that was put on time-out.

In a low voice she asks, "Why?"

There was a confused look on his face, as if he had no idea what he'd just done. She brushes it off as he might still have caught up with the masked man's persona that he made for the roleplay.

By eight o’clock in the evening, he blindfolded her and then carried her to the car. Her hands wrapped around his neck, she could smell his scent and she loved it. She then asked, "Is this necessary?"

"Yes, it is. I don’t want you seeing the plate number. It’s not my car, but I rented it using my personal details."

"You know I can also check the CCTV footage in the hotel to get the plate number." She replied while holding him tightly.

"They don’t have any CCTV in that area on that day," he replied.

"You really thought this through, did you?"

"Yes, I did."

Shortly, he put her down and opened the car door. "Finally, I get to sit in the passenger seat," she says. She's about to remove her blindfold, but he stops her. "What now?" She asks with a slight annoyed tone.

"There are road signs."

She sighed deeply and understood what he meant. She finds it rational and, for the duration of the drive, she agrees to be blindfolded.

To pass the time, he switches on the radio, and vibes to the different genres of music that were being played. Suddenly, Evanescence - My Immortal was on the radio. Still blindfolded, she could sense Blade was about to change station, but before his finger touched the stereo. She roared at him in an authoritative voice that he had never heard her use before, "Change the channel, and I'll break your fingers."

Stunned by her words, he let the music play and, to his surprise, she starts singing. Her voice is different from her speaking voice. It's as if it's a different person. He continued driving, his smile never faltered. He enjoyed her captivating voice, her presence, and everything about her. "Why does this need to end?" He asked himself as he glanced at her in the corner of his eye with visible sadness written all over his face.

An hour passes, and he asks, "Where do you plan to get off?"

"Is the Tavern along the way? She asks.

"Yes!"

"I’ll get off there, let’s part ways at the place where it all began," she added with a faint smile on her lips trying her best to hide her despair. Her words left an unsettling wave of grief for him, but he never said anything.

After another hour, they were near the Tavern.

"Five minutes, and we’ll be in the Tavern," he says, then removes her blindfold. She squinted her eyes to adjust her sight and she saw the familiar road.

He handed her bag with all of her things inside. He stopped the car a few blocks away from the Tavern and stared at her. She’s about to open the door, but he stops her.

"I’ll drop you at the Tavern," he said. His hand firmly holding the steering wheel.

"What now? Are we going to keep in touch and hope for the best?" She asks, knowing that’s not the case for them.

"No! I don’t want you to contact me anymore. I’m planning to confess everything with my girlfriend, I want to come clean, and fix our relationship." He says, his eyes staring blankly outside.

She knew how it would end and even anticipated it, but still hearing his words were like daggers piercing her. Despite that, she nods in agreement, then she sees him remove his 2nd sim card and break it in half in front of her.

Her eyes reddened, and she felt a sudden shortness in her breath, but she hid it immediately.

He then continued driving to the tavern, before he could properly park the car without him noticing she took out something in her bag and put it on her seat. She then leaned to kiss him on the lips. This startled him. She took advantage of the situation, opened the door and walked away without looking back. He was about to follow her, but before he could compose himself he could no longer see her.

Soon it started raining as if the clouds were in mourning.