Suburban Cyborg

by Gloria Martin

  “I missed you, Melissa,” he immediately responded, sincerity reflected in his eyes. I shut my closed tightly, wanting to believe him, but I knew that he was just saying that. How could he come back five months later for a person he had dumped as easily as throwing out the trash at night? Before he knew it, my hand flew roughly across his face. Shock crossed his face, his hand now rubbing the cheek I have just slapped.

  “Go to hell!” I screamed angrily, balling my hands into fists beside me. He looked taken aback, astonishment flashing on his face. “I won’t let you hurt me again, you asshole!”

  He let out a sigh before throwing his hand up. “I’m not trying to hurt you. What I did was messed up, I’m aware of that.”

  “It’s way more than messed up, you son of a bitch,” I growled, glaring at him from under my eyelashes. He was holding up his hands in defense, unsure how to deal with my aggressive manner.

  “You think I don’t regret it? That’s why I’m back now! Come on, we can fix things. We can pick up where we left off.” He reached out his hand to stroke my cheek but I slapped his hand away.

  “Pick up things where we left off? You can’t just come back to someone you abandoned and expect everything to be okay the moment you reunite with them!” I yelled, waving my hands around frantically.

  ”Can I please come inside?” he questioned.

  Without giving him an answer, I slammed the door with tears welled up in my eyes. My heart was clenching with pain as I leaned against the wall, stunned. He opened the door, peeking his head inside at me with a worried expression before slowly letting himself in.

  “Please,” he pleaded, studying me cautiously to see if I would explode again. I didn’t say anything in return but just stared at him in betrayal and anger.

  He looked around my small, cozy apartment, while letting out a somewhat relieved breath. He took a seat on my nude couch. That’s when I noticed the outstanding Dior suit he was wearing, which made me stop myself from rolling my eyes. He was always one to show off.

  “Nothing has changed since I left, this place is exactly the same,” he said. He smiled slightly, his green eyes hopeful.

  I crossed my arms on my chest as I stood across the room from him, keeping my distance. I wiped away the tears that were lingering in the corner of my eyes. “What do you think was going to change, the shape of the walls or something?” I sarcastically remarked.

  This time, he let out an irritated breath, crossing his left leg over his right. He rubbed his temples. “Melissa, listen. I’m just trying to make amends here and you’re not making it any easier.”

  Amends? Did he really think it would be that easy? But unfortunately, I couldn’t ignore the feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to take him in, to sit down and listen to the Nathan that was once going to be my husband. Giving in, I slowly found myself taking a seat next to him. Half of me wanted to jump on him and kiss him but the other half of me wanted him to leave and not come back.

  “This whole summer, while I was away from you, I could not stop thinking about our relationship,” he said. He paused, dryly laughing as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I missed you so much to the point I had to move back. I just couldn’t stay away. I was stupid for leaving you. I should never have left you.”

  I nodded my head in agreement, shooting him an indifferent look. “It still doesn’t explain why you broke off our marriage,” I spat, holding back the tears I can feel threatening to well up in my eyes. I couldn’t cry in front of him, I refused to.

  He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again, as if he changed his mind about saying anything. A regretful look appeared on his face as well as sympathy, and that’s when I kind of got a clue on what it was about. “I cheated on you with someone else and I ended up falling in love with that person.”

  I gawked at him for a long ten seconds before a hurt, cold laugh escaped my throat. Tears welled up in my eyes as he studied me closely and I quickly wiped them away before they could fall. All over again, my heart felt like it was getting ripped out of my chest and stomped on. I stood up from the couch, walking over to the kitchen to be away from him, so I could recollect himself. The sound of his Steve Madden dress shoes clacked against the ground as he followed me shortly after. I leaned my arm against the wall, looking down at my feet in defeat. In the wall, I could see the outline of his shadow as he stood behind me.

  “I was extremely dumb and I was going through a crisis at the time,” Nathan said, moving my black hair around my other shoulder so he could reassuringly rub my shoulder. “It…it’s just hard to explain. I promise I’ll tell you at another time.”

  I inhaled sharply before letting out a heavy, deep breath. It surely helped me calm down and restrain myself from bursting out in tears in front of his face.

  “There’s no explanation needed when it comes to cheating,” I whispered, balling my hands into fists.

  “I’m not saying that it was okay but—” He stopped, letting out a stressful breath and I can imagine him grabbing a handful of his hair. “Listen, I would tell you if I knew how to put it in words. Eventually, I’ll be able to know how to tell you properly.”

  What can possibly be so hard about admitting to the fact that he cheated? There shouldn’t be an explanation or a story. I shook my head, keeping quiet.

  He squeezed my shoulder gently, sending electric waves in every part of my body. He stroked my exposed shoulder blade agonizingly slowly, my heartbeat accelerating.

  He turned my body around so I could look at him, looking down at me with sincerity shown in his eyes. He was so good at lying that I didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not. But I didn’t feel like debating with him any longer because he always won, no matter what. He made sure of it too, I don’t know how he did it.

  “Okay, fine,” I said. I sniffed my nose, crossing my arms on my chest. “But I want the whole truth. I want to know everything.”

  He smiled in relief, glad that I basically agreed to hear him out. It didn’t mean that he was forgiven though. I will never forget what he had done. But since love was such a powerful emotion, it was so easy for him to brainwash me and make me fall into his arms again.

  He pulled me into a warming tight hug, rubbing his hands around the small of my back. I instantly relaxed against his chest, closing my eyes as I inhaled the scent of his expensive cologne. I didn’t hug him back though, I just stood there frozen. He kissed the top of my forehead before releasing me, looking down at me since he was a few inches taller than me.

  “I’ll come by either tonight or tomorrow so we can go out to eat at this amazing restaurant I know. I have to get to a business meeting now,” he said, taking out his phone.

  Oh yeah, did I mention that he was a big time billionaire? After his father passed away a couple of years ago, the company was signed over to Nathan and he became in control of the whole corporation. Ever since then, he became such a busy man but that never interfered with our relationship. Actually, I had originally thought that his work was the reason he had abandoned me, but I guess I’d been wrong about that.

  “Tomorrow is fine, we can go out for lunch,” I agreed, walking with him so I could lead him out of the apartment. I didn’t want him to leave. I somewhat was fond of his company but there’s no way I was going to tell him that. At least not yet.

  He tidied up his blazer, brushing off invisible dust from it, and popped his collars. His rose gold Rolex watch shimmered with his movement that he made, making him even more attractive than ever. “That sounds great, Melissa,” he said. He smiled, opening the front door and turned to me again. “It was nice seeing you again.”

  “Yeah,” I replied as our eyes bored into each other. Something flashed in his eyes that I couldn’t quite comprehend but it was like I was looking at the Nathan from the past. Just as I realized this, he turned and walked down the corridor to leave.

  Later on at night, I couldn’t stop replaying Nathan’s shock visit in my head. The glint in N
athan’s emerald green eyes, the way his lips moved so perfectly, his soft, luscious dark brown hair pushed back. I felt pretty ridiculous thinking so hard about a guy that broke my heart as I laid in a bath full of bubbles with candles and a glass of champagne. I thought I was over him but I guessed incorrectly when I saw his face again. Something about him seemed different but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

  My phone rang from the surface next to me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I grabbed it and pressed it against my ear. “Hello?”

  A deep voice chuckled into the phone, making my eyes bulge out. It was Nathan’s brother, Jason. “I see my brother came back to California,” he said.

  “What do you want, Jason?” I asked him, alertly sitting up on the tub. This wasn’t a good thing that Jason was calling me after Nathan’s return, because that only could mean one thing...he told him.

  “I can’t call to check up on you?” he said, and laughed lightly. I rolled my eyes, taking a sip of my champagne. “Don’t worry kitten, I won’t tell him.”

  “Good because that’s supposed to stay only between us. We made a deal,” I growled through clenched teeth. Out of all the regrets I had, this was probably my top regret in the list.

  “I didn’t make a deal, you did,” he said. “I never said you had to. You decided on sleeping with me to keep your good spot in the corporation so, whose fault is that?”

  I cringed at myself when I had a flashback of us having sex on his office desk. But it hadn’t been my idea, he’d blackmailed me! I shook my head, holding onto my glass tighter.

  “You son of a bitch! My job was on the line, and I was so close to losing it because of the bullshit your wonderful brother put me through by taking off. That’s when you came to me with that proposal.”

  He laughed bitterly. “Okay, Melissa. Anyways, why are you worried about me telling him? It’s not like he’s in love with you anymore. You’re nothing but an ex-fiancée to him now.”

  I wanted to scream, I wanted to shout. I wanted to yell out everything I hated about Jason and how he was the only vile one in the corporation that I knew of. I should have known to not work in Nathan’s company but, I didn’t have a choice at the time. I was unemployed and in desperate need of a job and being the secretary saved me.

  “You know what, Jason? Screw you!” I exclaimed.

  “You already did. And enjoyed every second of it,” he whispered in a mocking tone, making my anger grow even more. That’s when I hung up the phone and slammed it back onto the surface. My heart was rushing from my rollercoaster of emotions and I just laid back into the bubbles to ease my mind. I couldn’t ignore the concern about Nathan finding out but would he really believe me or his brother? That was one question that I was scared to find the answer for. Anxious, I chugged the rest of the gold bubbly and relaxed my hair into the water as the tipsy was affecting me. I couldn’t let someone repulsive like Jason get to me.

  *****

  It was the day of my lunch date with Nathan. I dressed my best to set a good impression on him. I didn’t want him to think that I didn’t care about how I looked anymore. One of the main ways to get back at a man is to look good; everyone gets captivated by a pretty woman in a dress. His favorite color on a woman was blue so I wore a tight, navy blue dress that reached just above my knees with my shoulder-length black hair curled. I applied a thick coat of pink lipstick with light makeup and put on his favorite Chanel perfume that he’d bought for me a few months back. I looked great and hopefully, he would think so too.

  The car ride in his Range Rover to the restaurant was dead silent. We only made casual small talk like, ‘how was your morning?’ and so on. But other than that, I spent majority of the time looking out the window as I listened to my heart pound tremendously against my chest from his presence. This felt like the very first date all over again. I would have to impress him if I wanted to win him back.

  “You didn’t have to do this,” I told him, the wind whipping through my hair as we sped down the highway.

  He turned to me for a second before fixing his gaze back out on the windshield. “You didn’t have to agree. It’s not like I pointed a gun to your head and made you agree.”

  “True,” I weakly said.

  We pulled up to an Oceanside restaurant, which made my heart clench and flutter at the same time. I can tell from the dishes the waiters were serving that it was a highly expensive restaurant. Nathan escorted me to table with a good view of the harbor. The table was secluded.

  “This place is beautiful,” I gasped in awe, looking around as my curls whipped behind my shoulders. Nathan stared at me with a smirk, popping open the bottle of champagne with one movement before pouring it into two glasses.

  “I had to bring such a beautiful woman to such a beautiful place,” he flattered, making my heart skip a thousand beats. I let out a breathy laugh, turning my gaze onto the table nervously.

  After we ordered our lunches and made small talk, I decided to jump into a serious conversation. I sipped on my champagne before putting it down on the table. “So, when am I going to meet the lucky girl that stole you away from me?” I snapped, receiving an incomprehensible expression from him.

  “I’m no longer with this person, you know that right? I’m actually a single man.” He informed with a glint of hope in his emerald eyes, as if he was planning on that to change.

  Relief washed over me from the news, and I couldn’t hold back the happy smile that crossed my face. “That’s good to know. But, am I ever going to meet this person?”

  Nathan hesitated for a couple moments, clamping his lips together as he rubbed his hands. “She’s not…” he began, but shook his head. “Never mind, you guys are going to meet soon. I’d say sometime next week.”

  I wondered what he was going to say before he changed his mind, and why he wanted me to meet her, if she was no longer in the picture as he’d said. But whatever, I wanted to meet the bitch that stole the love of my life away, to find out what she had that I didn’t. I decided to change the topic.

  “So since you’re single, does this mean that we still have a way to possibly work our relationship out?” I nervously asked, gazing into his eyes. “She’s obviously out of the picture so that means we still have a chance. I just want to believe that you won’t cheat on me again.”

  Nathan let out a deep breath before sliding his hand across the table to grab mine. He laced our fingers together, his warmness lingering on my skin. “Believe me, I would take back that day if I could. But, I don’t know if us getting back together would be a good idea.”

  I blinked repeatedly, my heart overtaking with an overwhelmingly hurt. “But why not? We were so happy together and we love each other.”

  “You’re right, Melissa.” He nodded his head. “But, I just need a little bit of time.”

  “A little more time for what?” I exasperated, throwing a hand up. Nathan ignored my question, looking over my shoulder at someone.

  “Oh look, our food’s coming. You’re going to love this restaurant.” He clapped his hands with a laugh, changing the subject. I observed him awkwardly as he tipped the waiter after he placed our plates on our table. There was something he wasn’t telling me. I had my own secret from him too, but this was about our relationship. I definitely had to find out what he was hiding.

  Two hours after our lunch date and him dropping me off home with a kiss on the cheek, I decided to dial my best friend, Veronica. We’ve known each other since we were sixteen and she needed an update on what was going on between me and Nathan.

  “Hello?” her voice croaked into the line after a couple of rings.

  “Veronica! I need your help!” I hissed into the phone, clacking my heels against the tile floors as I made my way in my small kitchen. I poured myself a glass of wine.

  “Why, what’s wrong?” she inquired more alertly, giving me her full attention now.

  “Nathan is back in town for good and I need a way to get him back!” I told her before sipping
on my glass.

  “What, he’s back?” she gasped into the phone. “And get him back? For what, so he can cheat on you again? Hell no!” she said. Veronica loved Nathan for me ever since we first started dating but when she found out that he abandoned me, she hated his guts. I don’t blame her, I hated him too. But he came back to California for me, and that had to mean something. I just had to do some deeper digging.

  I let out an exasperated sigh, pushing back my hair in frustration. “I’m close to finding out the entire truth on why he left me. Now, are you going to help me win my fiancé back or not?”

  She let out a defeated sigh, not wanting to suggest anything simply because she preferred I didn’t get back with him. But, she gave me her ideas, anyways. “Wear something that he loves. Talk about the things that first made you guys realize you were falling for each other. Talk about memories. Hell, invite him over this weekend and wear your sexiest lingerie piece, that’ll definitely drive him crazy.”

  I thought deeper about the lingerie, imagining myself walking out of my room in red lace and high heels. He always had a thing for lace so, that would be perfect. He definitely wouldn’t be able to turn me down if he saw me dressed like that. That could be my second attempt, my first attempt would be bringing up our memories right before seducing him.

  “Veronica, you are a genius! I know I’m going to get my man back, thank you so much!” I excitedly said, confident that everything was going to go smoothly. This could also lead to him telling me whatever he was hiding from me...

  “That’s what I’m here for! To help you in need whenever you need help.” I could hear the smile in her slightly high-pitched voice as she said that. Before she hung up, she also brought up something else. “Are you ever planning on telling him about Jason?”

  I hesitated, biting on my lower lip as I stared at my half-empty glass of wine. I didn’t want to tell Nathan but if I didn’t, karma would do its job and he’d find out somehow. “I will, only if he tells me his secret.”