Becoming Mrs Jones: My un-Valentine Love Story

CHAPTER 2: GOD'S WORK

Axel
Thank goodness that's over with and I can head home, I sigh to myself in exhaustion as I finish locking up the downtown soup kitchen my family runs in Braamfontein, one of the city's roughest parts.  It being Valentine's Day and all we had a special dinner for the homeless with the works; decorations, cards with accompanying candies. A Sunday style dinner and heart shaped desserts top it all off.  I personally don't like Valentine's Day but making others happy always makes me happy, so I consider it a day well spent. I'm just ready to head home, take a hot shower and enjoy a glass of red wine with a movie in bed.  Being a blonde 6-foot-tall white man makes me stick out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood, so I make sure to be quick about getting to my black Jeep that's parked across the block at the Black Bull Bar parking lot. It's safer to park it there where there's constant foot traffic than parking in front of the building that holds the soup kitchen since it's on a quiet street with no working street lamps.

"Help!  Please somebody, help!" I hear a hoarse desperate scream that sounds like it's coming from a woman just as I reach my car and my protective instincts instantly kick in. Where is she? I do my best to try and discern movement in the dim parking lot as I walk in the general direction I think the sound came from.

"...nobody is coming.  It's just me and you," I hear the tail end of a taunt coming from who I assume is the attacker as I round the corner of a large SUV type car and watch in horror, disgust and anger as he violently slams the top half of the indefensible woman's body against a car's bonnet, obviously bending her over for his vile intentions.  

Hearing her pained gasp and fearful whimpering at the action springs me into action to stop him from further violating and traumatizing her.  I catch the attacker in a surprise chokehold, so he is unable to make a sound and I pull him away from her. I hold him until he stops struggling and succumbs to the unconsciousness the lack of oxygen causes.  I check his pulse to make sure he’s alive, and once I'm satisfied, he's breathing normally but won't be a further threat, I tentatively approach his victim, so I don’t startle her. She’s still bent over the car, crying softly.

"Miss?  Are you okay?" I softly enquire as I gently lay my hands on her to pull her upright and straighten her dress to cover her modesty, restoring some of her dignity.  I slowly turn her around and the beauty my eyes behold takes my breath away. Whoever she is, she was surely created by God with the utmost care. Her chocolate skin radiates a youthful glow even in the dim light.  Her soulful, brown, almond-shaped eyes, though wide and reddened by fear, are still as captivating as the stars on a clear night. The adorable way her left cheek hints at the deep dimple it holds every time she sniffles, flurries my belly with butterflies.  Her full luscious lips temptingly part, surely holding a thousand tales a man would give up his soul to hear but once. She is a beauty amongst angels, and I feel honored just to breathe the air she does. She is God's greatest work in my eyes.

"I...  I-I'm fine. T-thank you for s-saving me. R-really," she shakily speaks in a velvety soft voice which breaks me out the trance her face had entrapped me in, but ignites an even stronger need to protect her. She is precious.

"I'm glad I came by when I did.  Are you sure you're okay? I think we should go to the police station and open a case.”  I search her face for assurance of her wellbeing while I steady her trembling hands by covering them with my mine.

"N-no... no.  I just n-need to g-go.  Thank you for your h-help.  I can t-take it from here.” She vehemently shakes her head in refusal, causing her curly pink tipped hair to bounce around her face while she pulls her hands from my touch to open the driver's side door of the car she was attacked on.  I step back to give her space but when she stumbles while trying to enter, I know I can't let her drive in her condition. I won't save her from one dangerous situation just for her to drive herself into another potentially deadly one.