The Clock Is Ticking – Episode 33

Sequence 33

 

Christina couldn’t sleep. She’d been tossing and turning on the bed for a few hours now.

 

She couldn’t stop thinking about Chard, the years had not changed him one bit he was still handsome and attractive.

 

Seeing him again had only awakened the feelings she thought were long buried. She wasn’t going to sit down and watch her sister have the only man that she had ever loved.

 

Yes she was engaged to Jericho and she loved him but things were different with Chard he evoked feelings she had never felt before. She would do anything to be the one dating him and not her sister Mattie.

 

Christina sat up, not getting anywhere in her attempt to sleep.

 

*****

 

She had been young and far too romantic for her own good when they’d met four years ago at a night club.

 

She was sitting at the bar when he walked into the room and their eyes met. He gave her a half smile and she felt her knees go weak.

 

 

He approached the bar a few minutes later and ordered a drink before he walked towards her.

 

‘Hey,’ he said while looking at her, Christina nearly melted as she looked at his eyes.

 

The rest of the evening, they had only eyes for each other. They talked, danced, laughed and touched.

 

For Christina, it was loved at first sight, she had only read about this kind of love in novels and she was excited to finally experience it.

 

He took her to his house later that night and they had sex over and over again.

 

Afterwards they had fallen asleep in each other’s arms at dawn.

 

When she had awakened the next day, she took a shower and made breakfast for him.

 

‘Morning,’ he had greeted her after waking up.

 

She had just finished setting the table.

 

‘Morning yourself,’ she’d smiled.

 

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him romantically. When he finally pulled away from her, they had breakfast together and he drove her to school. She was a student at that time.

 

They exchanged numbers and linked up a couple of times after that, Chrissie felt safe with him. He might have been a little older but he knew exactly what to do and when.

 

For Chrissie it was always going to be like that, she had met the man of her dreams.

 

And then everything blew up in her face.

 

She remembered that Saturday morning as if it had been yesterday.

 

She had driven to his house to surprise him only for her to walk in on him na.ked with another girl curled up in his arms.

 

She was numb and confused and the pain finally kicked in. It hit her so bad, it was intense she could barely breath.

 

‘What are you doing here Chrissie?’ he had angrily asked her when she had screamed out.

 

‘What’s happening here?’ she asked

 

‘What do you think is happening?’ The lady had responded

 

‘Hey, I will handle this,’ he had told the girl before he rolled out of the bed and wrapped a towel around his waist.

 

He grabbed her arm and walked her out of his room.

 

‘What are you doing here?’

 

‘I came to surprise you.’

 

‘I didn’t ask you to come did i?’

 

She remembered staring at him, feeling so much pain in her heart. She had expected him to be happy.

 

‘Chard?’

 

‘Listen girl we had fun and that’s it. Leave.’ ‘I thought you loved me?’

 

He had laughed, ‘Love is for the weak, what we had was sex baby,’ his tone was cold and harsh.

 

‘But..,’

 

‘I am sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, I never said I loved you, we had sex, we met up a couple of times so what?’

 

‘Chard!’ she had said, her voice breaking with emotion.

 

‘Chrissie, you have to go now, I need to get back to what I was doing.’

 

She had stared at him for a few minutes, willed him to reconsider, to give them a chance.

 

‘I am sorry if I offended you in any way but please don’t push me away, I love you and I know you feel the same way too.’

 

Chard was shaking his head as he looked at her, ‘I don’t know a thing about love, I keep women for sex and nothing else.’

 

She had blinked her eyes away as she turned to walk out of the house.

 

A few days later she had gone back to his house to plead with him only to find him with a different woman. He had kicked her out without giving her a chance to talk. Was it possible that the same man who had rejected her had fallen in love with her sister and was ready to marry her? What did Mattie have that she didn’t? She was younger and maybe even more beautiful than her.

 

‘I am going to fight for you Chard, I swear I won’t allow Mattie to have you.’ she

 

said under her breath.

 

****

 

Chard was infuriated, just when things were looking up for him and Mattie, Chrissie had to show up and ruin everything.

 

It seemed like the odds were against him and his past was catching up with him. Chrissie was a mistake he had only hooked up with her for sex and that morning when he had woken up, he had intended on kicking her out like he did with the other women but she had prepared breakfast and kicking her out would have appeared to be mean.

 

 

They had breakfast and he drove her to school, she grabbed his phone and saved her number in it then got his number.

 

They met up a couple of times and eventually he got bored and let her go.

 

How was she going to convince Mattie that he loved her? What did he have to do to prove to her that he had changed now? That she was the only woman for him and she would always be?

 

He couldn’t afford to lose her.

 

***

 

When Chrissie woke up the next day, it was nearly 9. She climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom, turning on the shower she brushed her teeth as she waited for the water to warm up. Afterwards she climbed under the warm spray and bathed as quickly as she could.

 

After her shower she dried herself and threw on her clothes. She applied some make up and styled hair.

 

She headed out of the room to the living room, her mother was watching television.

 

‘Morning mummy,’ she said

 

‘Morning baby.’

 

‘Where is Mattie?’

 

‘She went out.’

 

‘Oh.’

 

‘Yes.’

 

‘I was asking for Thomas’ number.’

 

‘Why?’

 

‘I need to talk to him about something.’

 

‘What?’

 

‘Ah mummy are you going to give me the number or not?’ ‘Get it from my phone, it’s in the bedroom.’ ‘Thank you.’

 

She rushed back to the room and copied his number.

 

‘I am going out,’ she told her mother.

 

‘Aren’t we meeting with the caterer at ten?’

 

‘I should be back before then but if I am not back you and Jericho are capable of

 

closing this deal.’

 

‘Okay.’

 

‘But you know we are supposed to go back home today.’

 

‘I don’t think that will be possible mummy, I will stay here a little longer.’

 

‘Chrissie!’

 

‘I just realized I need to spend more time here, my wedding is going to be in Lusaka don’t you think it’s time I moved back here?’ ‘And where will you stay?’

 

‘With Matilda of course, she would never kick me out and you know it.’ Her mother shook her head, ‘Is this all about Chard?’ ‘What about him?’

 

‘You still like that man?’

 

‘No,’ she said defensively

 

‘I saw how you were looking at him last night.’ ‘Mum I was just in shock nothing much.’

 

‘You are as good as married Chrissie, Jericho loves you and he comes from a

 

decent family, I don’t want you to waste all this for a man-whore like Chard.’

 

‘I would never do that.’

 

‘Okay.’

 

‘Trust me.’

 

‘I trust you.’

 

‘I will see you later, just call me when the caterer comes.’ ‘Sure.’

 

She smiled and headed out of the house.

 

********

 

TBC

 

##############################

 

 

The Clock is Ticking

 

Ella❣