by Zara Zenia
I went back into my zone, slaving over a hot stove to please and impress my new mate. At least I would have someone to grow old with. I would never have to worry about spending the rest of my life alone. Having new friends was an added perk as well. There were plenty of things to look forward to in the future.
I was far away from my blood related family, but family to me extended far beyond the reaches of those who shared my DNA. I was thrilled to put down roots in a new and exciting place with new people who cared about me. I was better off. It took me a while to realize it, but I felt good knowing I’d established a foundation to build off of on Xicret.
Once the food had been seared, cooked and seasoned to perfection it was time for me to start decorating the dining room table. Now came the fun part. Back at home, I’d love to help my mom get ready for parties and get togethers. I had learned a lot from her over the years and knew I had it in me to be a fantastic hostess.
I took elaborate care and detail to decorate the table with a cozy and romantic theme of white lit candles and blooming full red roses that adorned the table with a splash of magnificent color.
I made sure to get the beautiful fine dining china from the cabinet and placed it down with precision and love. Everything I cooked and decorated tonight was extraordinary and representative to how I wanted to live my life with Harkzak. I hoped he would be impressed as soon as he saw everything put together with affection.
After I was satisfied with the way everything looked, I ran upstairs to shower and do my hair and makeup. A girl had to be presentable, fresh and beautiful for her handsome mate. I slipped into a revealing red cocktail dress that I was certain would drive Harkzak wild with desire. I wanted the color of my dress to match the vibrant red from the roses on the table.
I glanced at myself in the mirror before heading back downstairs. I did a fantastic twirl and giggled as I ran a hand through my soft blonde hair. I was sure I wasn’t the most beautiful girl in the galaxy, but I wanted to be everything to Harkzak.
I walked back downstairs and sighed with contentment, relishing in my platform of hard work. The effort I had put into making this dinner memorable was well worth it because everything looked absolutely stunning. I looked up at the perfect time to see Harkzak entering the room. He had on a nice suit. His dark eyes shined through the soft glow of the candlelit room.
“Hi there,” I breathed in a low voice and gave him a sultry, seductive smile.
“Wow.” Harkzak looked around the room, taking it all in. His eyes were huge with the surprise and delight I had been waiting to see all night. “This place looks incredible, and it smells amazing in here. Did you do all this?”
“Yep. All by myself,” I said proudly with a nod. “Shocking I know, but it’s true.”
“Really? No help from Esme?” He approached me looking impressed, which ultimately had been my goal in the first place. He grinned at me with a playfulness that made him look adorable.
“No, she did offer, but I said I wanted to make it special. I wanted to prepare the entire meal and table scape all by myself so that you would be able to know how much I cared about you.” I hoped he appreciated my efforts.
Harkzak had been smiling until this moment. His face fell into what I read as some sort of guilty sadness. I had no idea what had changed in the instant between what I said and his reaction. I began to sweat as my heart pounded in my chest with fresh fear.
“Is everything alright?” I asked with a nervous chuckle. My face flushed in self-consciousness. I suddenly felt sheepish. Had I gone overboard to the point of it being too cheesy and not genuine?
“Yes, of course.” He drew me in for a hug and kissed my lips softly. “I can’t wait to taste everything. The salmon looks delicious.”
“Thank you.” I looked at him measurably one more time before we sat down to enjoy our meal together.
He seemed to have quickly recovered from whatever had ailed him in the moments before. I decided to take his word for it. I shrugged and moved on.
I tried to squeeze his hand because he looked distracted through most of the meal. He barely touched the salmon and mainly tossed back the red wine I had poured into glasses for us. I was beginning to get suspicious that something was terribly wrong.
“Harkzak, does the food taste okay?” I glanced up at him and held my breath. I couldn’t exactly pass for a home cook, but I had done the best job I could at making everything flavorful.
“Yes, the food is wonderful.” His voice was flat as he stared down at his plate. He didn’t even have the courtesy to look up at me and his eyes looked torn, conflicted with grief.
“But you’ve hardly touched the salmon,” I pointed out with a whisper and I looked at his portion still sitting on the plate.
“Have I not?” He looked up at me and the whites of his eyes were red.
He looked stunned, as if he had just seen a ghost. He didn’t even realize he hadn’t been eating. I had to get to the bottom of what was suddenly ripping Harkzak away from me.
I leaned back in my chair and sighed dramatically. I wiped my mouth with my napkin and threw it onto the table beside me.
“Okay, Harkzak, am I missing something? I thought you would love this meal. I went to a lot of trouble to make it and I’m not sure why you’re acting so distant with me tonight. I wanted it to be a romantic evening, so I could prove to you how committed I am to our relationship.”
I couldn’t help the burst of accusatory emotions that were pouring out of me. I wished that sometimes I could just shut the hell up and not be so feisty.
I was already unraveling relatively quickly. Tears stung in my eyes and threatened to leak out and spill over my cheeks. I suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore. I had a sour taste in my mouth, but I knew it had nothing to do with the food in front of me.
Harkzak stood up, startling me. He looked so large and domineering. It was hard for me to read his facial features because he kept his face hidden from the light in the shadows.
“Where are you going?” My voice was a small squeak and I began to panic. I stood up defensively.
“The Looking Eye...” he trailed off and looked at the floor again. His voice was barely above a hushed whisper.
I shook my head. Why was he bringing up that device I had broken? I needed more information. “What?” I quizzed him.
“The Looking Eye is not what you thought it was.” Harkzak’s shoulders sagged. He looked exhausted.
I tried to search back in my brain to try to figure out what he was talking about. I shook my head. “What do you mean? What about it?” I remembered seeing my family in it, but other than that it held no significance to me.
“It’s a fake.”
The words slapped me in the face almost as if he had drawn a hand back to physically strike me. I struggled to process exactly what he was confessing. If the device was a fake, what did that mean for the fate of my family?
I took a deep breath. For now, I needed to try to stay calm, but I already sensed that I was bordering a meltdown.
“A fake? You mean everything I saw in there about my family wasn’t actually happening or true?” My voice felt stretchy and contorted. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. I prayed I was wrong and didn’t have the answers right.
I looked at him and his stellar expression gave him away without him even having to say the words I didn’t want to hear. He was telling the truth now. The true reason he’d been acting so strangely since returning home was finally revealed and it crushed my soul.
I didn’t say anything at first because I was still digesting all this new information. I wanted more answers. He had ruined the romantic night I had planned for him and rage bubbled up inside me, near the brink of explosion.
I didn’t even know what to say to him or how to internally react. It wasn’t as if I could run away and fly home to Earth. That was as impossible as what he was telling me.
“Lucy, I cannot live with this burden of guilt any longer.” He raised a hand and
pierced my soul with his burning sorrowful eyes. “The device was a fake. I didn’t realize it when I showed it to you, my father told me later. I should have told you right then after I found out what it really was. I had that obligation to you, but I didn’t use it. I let you press on here thinking you had no other alternatives and for that, I’m sorry.”
He looked embarrassed and his facial expression contorted in a wince of guilt. He was ashamed, I knew that much. That didn’t pacify my rising anger though.
I couldn’t speak, my voice was frozen inside me, my brain couldn’t formulate the right words to express my anger. After a few moments, when he realized I wasn’t going to answer he spoke again. He should have told me about this from the very beginning, as soon as he learned the device wasn’t real. He led me on in heartbreak, making me think my family had moved on without me.
“I can’t let you go on living this lie, that’s why I wanted to come clean. I understand if you want to go home to Earth and you have my blessing. It was never my intention to hurt you. When I saw how happy you became here and the sex we shared, I didn’t want to let go of that. I hung on to every fleeting second, but I knew there would come a time where I had to tell you the truth and give you the option to go home if you wanted it.”
He looked at me with pleading eyes, hoping I’d say something.
“Please Lucy, talk to me. Even if you want to scream at me, yell at me, curse at me or hit me-please, do it. I can’t bear this silence.”
He turned to face me, but I turned my back to him, unable to face him in that moment. I needed space, time to think. The air was stale and heavy. I needed fresh air in my lungs, craved a way to relieve the pressure building on my chest. He had offered me a way home. That showed how remarkably regretful he was over this entire situation. I had to let the options sink in before I talked to him about any of this. For the first time in my life, I didn’t explode into an argument. I stayed silent.
Without a word or even a glance in his direction, I walked from the room and didn’t look back to see how I’d left him hanging.
The walls were closing in and claustrophobia nearly collapsed me. I ran outside into the night air and finally expelled the sobs I had been holding in all that time.
Chapter Seventeen
Lucy
I wasn’t even that angry about what had happened only minutes ago downstairs. Well, I was mad, but I was in a calmer state of mind than I thought I would have been given the circumstances.
My first gut initial reaction wasn’t to scream and yell at Harkzak and say things like how could you or take me back home now. No, at first, I felt completely and totally numb. I felt as if an arrow had been shot through my heart and everything I ever knew was a lie.
I felt betrayed by Harkzak. I felt foolish as if my entire soul was being ripped apart. No wonder he had been acting so weird lately. I saw the measure of guilt spread across his face as he told me the truth as if it were eating him alive.
The longer I stewed in my dangerous thoughts, the more the emotional well around my mind began to crack. I knew that Harkzak hadn’t wanted to hurt me on purpose. He hadn’t realized that the Looking Eye was a lie from the beginning when he showed me.
I wasn’t sure if that helped me feel any better or not. Granted, he had even told me I could go home if I wanted to. Did I want to do that? I wasn’t sure. He was offering me a free ticket home and I’d be stupid not to pass it up.
Even through my anger though, I’d grown to care for Harkzak and I hated to hurt him at the expense of my own heartbreak. An eye for an eye wasn’t necessarily the best alternative in this situation.
My heart dropped, and the sting of fresh hot tears filled my eyes. If the Looking Eye really was a fake after all, then that meant that my parents and family probably were still hoping for my safe return.
If everything I saw through that evil, morbid screen had been a lie…then what were my family and friends really up to all those hundreds of thousands of miles away? I internally suffered at the thought of my mother drenching her pillow with soaked tears every night.
There probably wasn’t some perfect skinny bitch back at home that Fred had found to replace me with. I pictured him back at home in his apartment looking out at the night sky and wondering if he would ever see me again.
I missed Fred terribly, especially now that I knew he most likely hadn’t moved on without me. Another issue I was facing was the fact that I had no idea how the time shift worked between Earth and Xicret. Had it been years since I’d left my home planet even though it only seemed like a matter of weeks on this current one?
Torment dug at my anguished mind. My stomach was heavy as lead. I had a chance to go home and show them I was still alive. I imagined my parents wrapping their arms around me and sobbing their thanksgiving for this second chance. I would most certainly return their hugs of love and weep with my own tears of gratitude for being reunited with them.
There was another plaguing issue that gnawed at me. I might be falling for Harkzak. He was so handsome and up until now had shown me a really great quality of life.
I could do whatever I wanted. He allowed me to roam free between the palace walls and outside in the gardens. I was treated like a princess not only by him, but by his adoring staff as well.
I could see the way he looked at me tonight, even through all the pain he’d caused me. I knew he felt the raw, emotional guilt behind the veil. It gave me odd satisfaction to know that he was probably downstairs going through the same mental torture I was. There was always a fork in the road. The path to take was still up in the air.
There was also the fact that I’d made friends here who treated me with kindness and respect as if I was one of them. When I was hanging out with them, I forgot all my problems and my anxieties melted away.
They treated me as if I had been native to their lovely planet all this time. I looked up at the moon and sighed with what felt like a galaxy of frustration weighing on my shoulders. My body was exhausted, but I didn’t stop moving.
I paced and fidgeted and festered all that built up energy within me because I needed to find a way to release it. If I didn’t, I’d undoubtedly go crazy.
I had to keep going. If I sat down somewhere the stillness would kill me. I was surprised that Harkzak hadn’t pelted out the front door by now to come and find me. I was halfway expecting him to walk in and beg me to come to him. I was waiting for the groveling to start, for him to ask for forgiveness and mercy for withholding such a bombshell of information.
After a while, I began to wonder if he was going to come for me, fight for me. The window of opportunity was closing in. Maybe he wasn’t chasing after me because he wanted to give me space and some time to think about my decision. Maybe he felt so guilty he wanted to leave me alone out of respect or something.
I wondered about as second option. Did he not run after me because he didn’t care enough to fight for me to stay with him?
I wasn’t sure that was a sufficient explanation. He certainly behaved as if I meant the world to him. I was a bottomless pit of confusion with nobody to dig me out of this hole.
I may have been a virgin before I slept with Harkzak, but I knew that nobody would make love with that enormous amount of passion if they didn’t have deep rooted feelings for the other person.
I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to find another man who was as fantastic in bed as Harkzak. I’d seen Fred’s cock before. It was impressive enough, but nothing compared to the girth and thickness that Harkzak was packing beneath his pants.
The chemistry between us was like fire and ice, but in an exuberant way. He made my body tingle and go numb with the way he shot me through the clouds to orgasm. There was already a fire ablaze within me. Harkzak was able to shoot it through the moon like a rocket.
I was torn with indecision. I wished I had somebody to make the decision for me, but I knew that would never be a viable solution to my problems. The harder I walked, the more rampant my emotions ran
like a wild beast in the night.
My stride became faster, driven with purpose. My feet galloped in front of me quicker until I had reached the edge of town. I couldn’t believe I had gone this far on my own and nobody had tried to stop me yet. All the thinking on the way had been a blessing in disguise. I knew exactly what I had to do now.
It was getting late, but not so late that she would probably already be in bed. I ran into the high rise apartment building and impatiently punched the button for the 16th floor. I shifted my weight as I waited for the elevator to ding its presence in the lobby.
My heart raced in my chest. My palms were sweaty and I nervously ran a hand through my hair with shaking fingers.
Finally, it opened. A man in a track suit jogged out and gave me an eyebrow raise in greeting. It wasn’t extremely uncommon or rare to see a human around Xicret, but maybe this time of night it would have been a little questioning.
“Hello,” I said politely as I stepped aside to let him out first. I didn’t want to make small talk and I hoped he’d move along.
“Good evening,” he said passively and then the elevator doors shut and he was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief.
I took a moment to compose myself and then leaned against the railing along the sides of the elevator car. I hoped this plan worked, or I could gain some insight on at least making the right decision. I didn’t want to act brashly or hastily. I had time to mule this one over. Getting advice was my best bet right now.
The phone Harkzak had given me after I got to Xicret buzzed in my pocket. I picked it up and looked at the screen, seeing that it was him. I swiped ‘cancel call’ and shoved it back into my pocket. So, he was concerned about me after all.
I took another deep breath. I wasn’t ready to deal with him yet. Not until I’d had some time to make an informed decision.
