You know those scenes in movies, when a super-hot guy comes out of the shower in slow motion, all wet and confidently running his hand through his hair, wearing only a towel around his waist, with sexy chords as a soundtrack and all? Well, that’s how it was when she came back from her jogging session. Except, maybe, for the abs! The man was clearly already feeling at home, walking around the kitchen like that, drinking her water!

“Oh, hey, here, you want some!”

The thought that she had to bear with that annoying yapping of his for who knows how long...

She passed him by, completely ignoring him, of course, opened the fridge, picked up a Coke, and opened it. The ‘psss’ sound and the sudden commercial-like scene, left him with his hand hanging. You know..., those soda commercials... with a hot sporty chick in sexy tight sportswear, all sweaty, gulping with such thirst, that a drop is seeping all the way down between her... 

“That better not be my towel!” she wiped, in a menacing tone while heading to the bathroom. (You should have heard the CD screech sound effect at this point.)

“Oh, right! Hey, can you take me to my place, first? I need to get some clothes ...and my wallet ...and my car...”

“I was going there anyway... to inspect the scene! Be ready in ten!” she ordered.

 

○ ○ ○

 

The house was a complete mess after, at least, a dozen people wandered around, searching the place upside down, like he was the criminal.

“It’s gonna take weeks to get rid of the smell...” he complained, contemplating the living room in horror. “I might have to replace the entire floor!”

Of course, Kara was ignoring him. She knew better than adding fuel to fire. Her hawk eyes were vigorously scanning every detail.

“Gosh, thinking about it, it’s so scary. I mean, he was actually about to burn me alive!”

“No, he wasn’t!  Stop being such a drama queen!” she broke. After all, she had her limits.

“What you mean he wasn’t? He knocked me off, tied me, and spilled gas everywhere! He was about to set the house on fire! With me in it!”

“Trust me, when you decide to kill someone, you don’t put on a show! His deal was to scare you off!”

Suddenly, she planted herself in front of him and confronted him with arms crossed and a dramatic expression:

“So, what did you do?!”

“What?!” playing the innocence card.

“You must’ve done something to piss off someone like that!”

“Hey, I’m the victim here! You people seem to keep forgetting that.  And I’m an honest lawyer. I don’t joke around when it comes to my job.”

“You felt like you had to add that last part, ha?!” she pierced him with squinted eyes. “You seem to be certain it’s job-related! Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? What else would it be?” he said quickly, using a faster delivery than usual.

“Hmm, I was thinking more like a romantic get back”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!  I’m a gentleman!” while turning away. He managed to retrieve the casual tone, but she caught the effort behind it. She gave up stalking him and turned back at scanning the place.

“Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll find out anyway.”

“By all means, please do!” Hmm, his voice was squeaky all of a sudden… “I’ll go upstairs for now, to pack some things”.

After a while, she followed him to his room. Fair to assume, it was more out of curiosity than for inspection purposes.

“You planning a world-round trip or something?!” she couldn’t refrain from patronizing him, noting the huge suitcase on his bed.

“I mean, it’s gonna take a while to get the smell out of this place...” he replied from the bathroom as he was emptying the cabinets. “I think it might be necessary to replace the floor. Of course, I’m gonna have to call the interior designer to evaluate the damage first, but ...” at this point he was struggling to carry the items as he didn’t have enough arms for all of them, “I’m afraid I’m gonna have to stay at your place for a while...”

“Oh no!” a muted cry crossed his mind, making his heart stop. She was standing in the middle of the room, with empty eyes locked on the painting on the side wall. As soon as he appeared in the doorframe, she turned away, expressionless.

“You have to come to the station to sign a few papers. Don’t be too long.”

He took the place where she was standing; a dark mist shadowed his eyes as he was gazing at that painting.

 It was an acrylic work, not in the best shape - the paper was visibly messed up and the colors washed up. But it had a golden vintage rococo frame! It was a night scenery, with a crescent moon reflected on the water of a lake. In the bottom center was the silhouette of a girl standing on the shore with her back at the viewer, her black hair and long blue dress blowing in the wind. She seemed to be praying really hard to the moon. But there was something odd about that moon. Crescent moons are usually the main attraction, but in this case, the shadowed side was captivating the eye. It was depicted so ostentatiously too, like forcing the viewer to acknowledge it.

“It’s gonna be harder than I thought...” he sighed.

                                                                          End of Scene 

Author’s Thank You Note

I hope you enjoyed the story so far. Please look forward to the next episode.

Also available on Amazon e-book and paperback at https://amzn.to/3YHk507

I’ll be waiting for your feedback, comments, and theories.

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