It was beginning to take effect as Abby was starting to slip off from her consciousness. She wondered if it was the cough prescription which she had taken earlier. The world was spinning around her, and she was beginning to wonder if she was fit enough for a vacation. Her mother had warned her not to go on a holiday since she was feeling sick but Abby had not listened.
If only Abby had listened..
She began ambling her way back to her cabin which was Cabin 81 but her head was spinning and she could hardly make sense of her way. She saw a cabin door which was left slightly ajar and a walkway of petals which led to the cabin. Abby broke into a grin. Samuel was so sweet to have lied that he was away to plan for this, she smiled.
The lights were completely off as she managed to make her way to the bed. Samuel caressed her and planted kisses all around where she wanted him to do so. He then used his fingers to make sense of where were her clothes, and gently lifted them off her. Abby was complete, with the man whom she had loved the most, giving herself to him. The moment was so inexplicable. She knew that he was the one whom she wanted to be with forever, and he knew that she was the one whom he had wanted to be with forever.
“ I love you Samuel”
“ I love you too Tiffany”
Then, it was almost like an instant realization of some sorts that the pair blinked in tandem.
“ Samuel?”
“ Tiffany?”
They instantly broke away from the grasp of each other and Abby broke into a half-mortified scream. Darren sprang up from the bed and rushed for the switch, where he nearly fell.
When the lights came back on, neither could believe what was before their eyes. Neither of their partners were at sight. It wasn’t Tiffany whom Darren had been making love to. It wasn’t Samuel whom Abby as well. The apparent mistake of identity sent shivers down Abby’s spine as she grabbed the thick blanket and attempted to cover her fully nude and exposed body.
“ What is this? Who the fuck are you?”
“ I don’t know… I mean.. I am Abby. Why are you here? Who are you?”
“ I am a guy in MY room. And I have no idea why are you in my suite?”
Darren asked, eyes wide with horror, as if he was about to kill Abby. Why was it this girl? Where was Tiffany?
“ I am supposed to be on a vacation with my boyfriend, Samuel. Why are you in my room?”
“ Excuse me- this is my room. Not your room. If you don’t believe me, you can check the room number yourself”
Covering the blanket around her, Abbey ran to the door and realized that indeed, it had not been her room and that she had been mistaken.
“ I.. I.. I was feeling drowsy all of a sudden.. I entered the wrong room but I never wanted to do anything with you!”
Abbey protested. She was about to break down in tears when he broke into a sigh.
“ Just leave. I don’t want to see you again”
“ Neither do I”
Abby felt so cheated. She knew it had been her own fault but she couldn’t help but have the feeling of being so cheated on. She had just wanted to enjoy her time with Samuel, so why did things turn so ugly? What would Samuel think if he found out about this?
She realized that her cabin was actually beside Darren’s cabin and since she was too ashamed to stay any longer, she hurriedly ran back to her cabin, with the blanket wrapped around her and her room key card in her other hand, figuring that Samuel wouldn’t be back so soon. Darren sighed. What would Tiffany think if she found out about this? A night of proposal had turned to a one-night stand instead. What luck. Most importantly, where was Tiffany?
Abby swung open her cabin door.
An older lady was giving Samuel a massage and he was clad in only an underwear.
She didn’t know what to think of the scene before her. Tears just brimmed at the corners of her eyes as she tried to digest what was happening. She felt a tinge of anger, despair and frustration. The thing about being betrayed is that you wouldn’t know how to respond at first. Then, the rage sets in, no matter how kind a person you are.
She yelled and demanded to know what they were doing. Samuel explained that they were just casual friends and nothing more, and that the lady had been kind enough.
“ I thought you loved me. I gave you all my money. I have nothing left now”
“ What? You bumbling idiot. You have no more money left? Then what use are you to me? Just go away and do not disturb my session with Fiona”
A fist landed straight onto Samuel’s cheeks and sent him reeling across the room. The punch was well-given and it was Darren who had delivered that punch after he had heard a commotion and went to check it.
“ Shut up and leave the room now. I believe it was this girl here who had paid for the room. Leave”
“ Who are you? Ohh… I see.. you are her new lover, aren’t you? Look at how she is dressed in..wait, or should I say undressed..Well, good luck for you. You have found yourself a real idiot”
Samuel left with the woman whom he had been having an affair with, and left Abby and Darren in the room.
Darren had thought that Abby’s boyfriend had been such a jerk. He could not tolerate men who had been unfaithful to their significant others, as his own mother had been driven away by his father’s unfaithfulness. He felt a little less hostile towards Abby by now, after realizing the plight that she had got herself into. He was still angry with Abby for making him feel guilty for what he had done. How was he to face Tiffany from then on?
Abby put her clothes on in the cabin’s toilet before she sat on the bed, and wept. She didn’t know what to do, other than to weep. To weep for her silliness that a man like Samuel would actually like her when he had been making use of her all along. Why had she been so ignorant? He had been making purchases through her cards all this while and obtained money from her, but she had thought of it as not much of a big deal since lovers share money anyway, right? Her tears flowed onto her shirt and onto her skirt and onto the bed.
The state of which she was in would make any normal human being with a decent heart feel so sympathetic towards her. Darren had a conscience, and he sat beside her as she wept.
“ Cheer up. Don’t feel so bad about yourself. It is him who is losing out on you. You deserve better”
“ I thought.. he was.. the one.. He was my first boyfriend”
“ Well the next will be much better. So be happy, yeah?”
“ I know.. maybe I was lying to myself..I knew that maybe he didn’t love me like what I thought.. but I kept telling myself that it was just me… what pains me now is that my money.. it is all gone.. I have given them all to him…”
“ YOU HAVE LOST ALL YOUR MONEY?”
Darren took a step back and he struggled to understand how anyone can be as naïve as Abby.
Abby nodded and recounted the story of how Samuel was her superior at her office, and how he had asked her out, been so nice to her, then started requesting for her to pay for his meals, gifts for others, as well as lend him money to start up a business outside the company. She had given everything to him.
“ Well I happen to have some contacts in the casino. And I can make him lose all the money he has by today”
Chapter 4
Payback
Darren was disappointed that Tiffany had not showed up. He had called her phone but there was no response. Since he had nothing much better to do while on cruise, he decided to help Abby, the poor girl who had just realized that she had been cheated of her love and of her money.
He summoned his assistant, James, to take care of Abby’s dressing. To enter such a classy casino, Abby could not afford to be dressed like how she had just dressed- a floral old-fashioned shirt and a dull grey skirt to her knees. James took a good look at Abby and summarized that she was in sum-a fashion disaster. James whisked her off to a shop in the cruise, which sold elegant dresses. Abby took a look at the price tags, and swallowed her saliva. They were all so pricey, and it would take months of her sala
ry to buy just one. James assured her that the dress of her choice will be on loan, and that she didn’t need to pay for anything. She tried dress after dress, and finally chose one which James thought looked great on her.
As Abby approached Darren at the upper deck, he gasped.
She was so beautiful.
She was dressed in a gorgeous black cocktail dress with intricate white laces on them. The only thing that felt out of place were her black-rimmed glasses.
Darren walked towards Abby who looked half-embarassed to be seen in a dress, as if she had never worn one before. He took off her specs, which she gasped.
“ What’s the matter? You can’t see without your specs?”
“ No… No.. it’s not that. I have light myopia. I can still see quite well. Why take off my specs though?”
“ Because it makes you look less old-fashioned without it and we are about to step into a classy place”
“Oh..”
“ Don’t you want your money back?”
“ Yes.. I do..”
“ So give me your glasses”
Abbey gave her glasses to Darren and he walked into the casino with her. He ushered her into the VIP place where they saw Samuel and his lady there, seemingly having a joyous time. They sat at the table where Samuel and his lady set.
They blinked and couldn’t believe that the ugly duckling had turned into a beautiful swan. Indeed, Abbey was not a ravishing beauty, but she was quite beautiful without her glasses. She had a down-to-earth beauty about her, with her big dolly-like eyes.
It happened that Darren was a master at the Black Jet and that very night, he had assisted Abby in the games, making sure that the amateur Samuel had lost at every game, leaving him to becoming a pauper by the night. Whenever Abby raised the stakes of the games, Samuel’s heart would sink. She kept thinking of why he had done this to her and what she had done to get this treatment. She felt rage and so much more rage, that she just wanted him to vanish forever.
By the end of the night, Samuel was indeed broke. He didn’t even have enough chips to pay for the last round. He tried to make a quick escape from the casino with his lady, but at the snap of Darren’s fingers, the guards pinned Samuel to the table, as he squirmed in terror and anguish.
“ Abby, why don’t..why don’t you decide how you want to deal with him?”
Abby nodded and although she had initially been unsure, she felt a surge of determination, as the frustration and pain rose within her.
“I will let you go. Only if you will kneel down and apologize”
Samuel did not even pause to hesitate. He instantly went down on his knees, and crawled towards Abby’s feet, where he grabbed hold of her legs.
“ Please forgive me, Abby. Please let me go…”
Abby fought hard to swallow her tears as memories of Samuel began to playback in her mind. How he had taught her to ride a bicyce..how he had baked a cake for her. He had never done all these for her. It was all for him.
“ GET OUT OF MY SIGHT NOW. I DO NOT WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN”
“ Thank you.. Thank you Abby..”
Samuel and his partner made a mad dash towards the exit and Abby had got her revenge. She had managed to get back all the money that he had owed her, and got to disgrace him in front of distinguished guests of the casino. His ego had been deflated and he was now a miserable prick whom everyone in the casino would despise on. The guests of the casino burst into laughter at the miserable man and cheered on at Abby for having been so courageous.
“ Although you were the one who had broke into my room, I suppose as a gentleman, I should have bothered to check who you were. So I guess, we are quits now?”
“ Quits”
“Now will you do me a favor”
“What favor?”
“Everyone thinks you are my girlfriend Tiffany whom I would be proposing to. I am embarrassed by how she had not turned up. Can you put on a show- pretend to be Tiffany and agree to my proposal?”
Abby could not decline. He had helped her by such a great amount that it would go against her conscience if she were to decline. Furthermore, it was Abby who had mistakenly entered the wrong room and caused trouble on him.
The pair ended the night with Abby agreeing to Darren’s fake proposal, with the witness of the ship’s crew. Everyone was offering their congratulatory words. The night seemed almost too beautiful to be true, with the fireworks in the air.
Chapter 5
The Accidental Pregnancy Kit
A month later, it had been life as usual for Abby. Just that this time, there would be no more idealizations on any men. Once bitten, twice shy. Abby knew that she would be more careful this time. Yet, she was still the same old Abby, who was used to being ordered by everyone else around. Well, Abby’s mother had often told her when she was a young child that one cannot be useless in life and Abby knew that since she did not have a distinct personality, she might as well make use of her agreeable personality and make herself useful.
The loser Samuel had been sacked from his job after he was found to have embezzled company funds. Abby was so glad that she didn’t have to see him around anymore. It would be plain misery to be reminded of what he had done to her.
It was the birthday of Abby’s sister today. Abby had taken great lengths to prepare for her sister’s birthday. She had baked a cake, made some tarts, prepared some dishes, and adorned her sister’s house with decorations. At the birthday party, all her relatives had asked when Abby would finally be married off. Abby cringed and tried to get herself out of such conversations, since she didn’t want to be reminded of how nobody wanted her. Abby’s mother insensitively remarked that Abby had been so naïve to believe what the cad Samuel had told her. Abby sighed as she glanced at all her sisters. They were all married and Linda was pregnant.
She was the black sheep of the family where nobody would want to marry her.
Just then, someone suggested that she go for a matchmaking arrangement and Abby was so terrified of the idea of meeting someone new since she was not good at socialites. Another chimed in that her neighbour, Billy, was a good catch. Billy was fat and had pimples all over his face. Linda wondered what kind of a good catch that was, and rather her sister be single than marry a guy like him. Abby excused herself to the kitchen where she spent the night baking great desserts for everyone, to be pardoned from conversations revolving men, relationships, marriages and babies..
The next day, Abby went to work, as usual. She felt a wave of nausea overwhelm her all of a sudden, and made a dash to the toilet where she puked into the toilet bowl. She had been feeling a little sick recently, but owed to the fact that it must had been something bad she had eaten recently. Yet, it had been going on for some time, and she was getting worried that she may be having some internal disease. She saw a lady with a huge belly enter the ladies when suddenly, a terrifying thought came to her. It made her feel sick to the guts as she walked back to her office.
Abby was so sick at the idea, that she decided to skip her lunch. Making use of her free time during lunch hour, Abby decided to do what she should do, to give herself a piece of mind. There was an unsettling feeling gnawing within her. She wouldn’t be so unlucky, would she? The unfortunate thing for Abby was that during peak lunch hour, the vicinity around her workplace was filled with throngs of people, and it would be rather embarrassing for Abby if she should be caught going to the store to get a pregnancy kit for herself, especially when everyone had known that she was single and due to be forever alone. A week ago, her colleagues had joked about Abby’s stupidity for believing that Samuel had really loved her. If she was caught buying that thing, they would most likely assume that the child would be Samuel’s.
Abby decided to make herself appear less recognisable by wearing a dull green jacket with a hood over her. She hurriedly walked to the convenience store just beside her workplace building and eyed nervously at the range of pregnancy kits. She decided to choose a moderately-priced kit, just to be sure.
At the counter where Abby made payment, Abby couldn’t help but fidget around nervously. It was her own conscience pricking her, as if she were afraid that the lady at the counter would judge her.
At the toilet, Abby nervously lifted her skirt and proceeded to use the pregnancy test kit. She heard some shuffling noises which was followed by a loud bang, as if someone had dashed into the toilet and closed the cubicle door beside her with much force. Then, all went quiet. Abby wondered why the lady in the cubicle beside her was in such a hurry. Abby’s mind was in a whirl. She certainly hoped that she would not be so unlucky. What could she do if she were pregnant? Then, the moment of truth arrived. It was as if Abby felt like she had been struck by something.
It had been positive. Abby had been pregnant. She was a mother now. She felt her hands turn clammy, her stomach gone cold and her heart in her throat. What could Abby do? She was single. There was no way of contacting the man whom she had a one-night-stand with. She didn’t even ask for his name. Why didn’t she ask for his name? Why didn’t she get his number? Oh right, she was ashamed. It was embarrassing. What were the chances that he would do something about the baby even if she had his name? He did mention that he had a girlfriend right? He did mention that he was about to propose to her right? Abby froze and felt the blood in her limbs run dry. What had Abby done?
A deafening knock shattered her thoughts. There was a husky male voice coming from the front of her cubicle door.
“ Open up! There is no way for you to hide now. So just open up!”
What in the world was going on? The baby thing had been confusing enough, and now this? Abby’s life was turning topsy curvy.
“ I am still using the toilet. Who are you? What do you want?”
BANG!
The door swung open after the man had delivered a karate kick and Abby was so shocked that she sent herself reeling against the wall. The man had a solid gun in his hand and he was pointing threateningly at Abby. He had two other men behind him who looked equally menacing as well.
I Was Fated to Love You Page 2
