It was always you

Chapter 5

Quack Quack Quack Quack

Urgh! Sasha groaned, feeling an arm on her, suddenly remembered Raphael and her broke up, she panicked, it barely lasted a second then she remembered Mateo stayed over, a wave of relief washed over her as she melted into his arm.

"Morning"

"Morning Mateo" she wished, as she got up to get ready, Mateo slowly got up as well.

"I'll be leaving soon, how are you feeling?" he asked. "Slightly better, thank you"

"Hey, want to hang tomorrow? I would love to buy you dinner as a thank you." she grinned "Sure, but I gotta check in with Clay, he should be arriving tomorrow or the next day."

"Oh okay. Text me?" Sasha sounded unsure, "Yeah, will do. Look I got to go, text you later" he assured her as he was leaving, he hugged her and pecked her cheek.

***

Later in the day, she remembered this time not to forget to text Adonis.

Sasha : Hey wanna grab coffee later? I'll be off at 3pm

She tucked her phone away and continued filling in some paperwork and responding to her emails. She felt slightly better today, thanks to Mateo, at least she isn't crying like a deranged woman today. Sasha kept reminding herself that things will get better and she will be alright.

Will you? You are alone after so many years.

You are not beautiful. No one will ever want you.

Just as she felt better, her demons were back, she fought back the tears but her ex Drake words will always haunt her.

No one will ever want you.

No one will ever want you.

No one will ever want you.

She felt herself starting to get an anxiety attack. She knew she needed to calm down, she knew that she wasn't what Drake painted her to be, she knew but her demons always came to haunt her at her lowest.

Drake was a great boyfriend in the beginning, then one day something changed, he started becoming possessive, he didn't allow her to have friends, he controlled what she ate or drank and her whereabouts. Then it slowly evolved to emotional and verbal abuse, he called her every swear word he could think of, he would belittle her and make her feel less than. It went downhill from there, she changed, her confidence was gone and she didn't speak to Clayton or Mateo for a month, she was in withdrawal, by that time they were together for 4 and a half months. Drake soon started physically abusing her, whenever he drank he would be extra hansy and when she refused he would force her, and the beating went on in silence. She barely slept in those few months, afraid of Drake, then one day 6 months into the relationship she bumped into Mateo in a cafe, he hugged her then she winced. He immediately knew something was wrong, he asked her and she denied anything running off. Somehow Drake found out, and he got drunk and lashed out, but this time was worse than the usual, this time he raped her repeatedly and he hit her unconscious.

Buzz buzz - Her phone vibrated, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Adonis : Sure, meet at your place? :)

Sasha : Sure. See you.

Smiling Sasha knew that as long as she had company, she was distracted and she can slowly heal. Packing up her belongings, she knew she was done for the day and she could leave, she would need to tidy up the apartment a little as well.

***

Once she was home, she showered and tidied up a little, knowing she was going to have company. She pulled out her phone;

100 missed calls Raphael

20 text messages Raphael

3 Voicemails Raphael

Clay : We need to talk. See you soon.

She sighed. She didn't want to think about that. Another problem for another day.

Lawyer; Clara : Sasha, everything is prepared for Mr Hsu. He has reverted on the signing date. Once all completed, I will send you an email and a hard copy of all the documents.

Sasha : Thanks Clara. See you soon.

Knock knock knock

She opened it, Adonis was standing in front of my apartment smiling like a little boy in a candy store, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Come in" she gestured.

"I bought you a starbucks frappe, and some indian food from down the street" he said nonchalantly, she mumbled "Thank you." She set up the food in front of the TV, they both sat on the end of the couch and started eating in silence, but they both felt comfortable with the silence.

"So tell me, what happened?" Adonis questioned, with food hanging out of his mouth. She shook her head and shrugged "I caught him cheating on me with a girl from work. He said he loved both of us, so I dumped him and his belongings" not wanting to go into so much detail and falling apart again, Sasha decided to give him the short answer.

"Son of a bitch" Adonis hissed, "How are you feeling now? Well to me you look better than yesterday"

"Yeah, I feel better than yesterday. I'm healing, we've been together for 3 years and he's been cheating on me for a year, who knows if there were any other girls before or during the cheat. I'm just glad that I found out now and not when we were married with kids." he just nodded in agreement.

"So your best friend's brother stayed the whole night huh?" Sasha raised her eyebrow, wondering how he knew, "I saw him in the lift as I was returning from my run" as if he knew what Sasha was thinking, he answered.

"Yeah, he stayed, it was really late. By the time I was done crying, I didn't want to send him away like a used tissue." she chuckled and continued "We've known each other for a really long time, and he's always there for me"

"Then why isn't he your best friend?" he asked. "Well I have no idea actually, maybe because I knew Clay before Mateo, but Mateo always manages to find me at my worst, while Clay was my consistent support, and Mateo was always busy with his gym, when I first met Mateo, he was only 19 and I was 15, he wanted to open a gym, so he put in a lot of effort in making his dreams come true" satisfied with her answer.

"So I haven't seen Laura recently?" Sasha's attempt at changing the topic, he shifted in his seat and said "We broke up, she wanted a baby and we've only been dating for 2 months, she stopped taking birth control and she wanted to stop using condoms. I really liked her, but it was a huge step to take in such a short time, so we argued and decided not to see each other anymore"

"Oh" not knowing how to respond "But it's okay, I've got my eyes set on someone else actually, have been for a while now" he answered smiling.

"Cool, do I know her?"

"Nah, if I get the guts to ask her out, and if she accepts then I will introduce you guys. She's amazing but she also just got out of a relationship, so imma take it slow" Sasha simply just nodded.

They continued their chit chat for a few hours, then he called it a night and left for his own apartment. She sat there realising that she hasn't thought of Raphael, and she realised it hurts lesser now. She feels contempt with her evening, she learnt a lot about Adonis background, he migrated from Greece when he was very young but still visits Greece every year, that would explain the hint of accent and his name matches his appearance, like a God she thought as she giggled.

Just as she was cleaning up, she heard the front door rattle, her eyes immediately zoom and she was afraid.