Seeing that he was regaining his own consciousness, I froze in horror, mildly regretting my choices up to this point. I didn't know what to do, but when I finally decided to just act, he was already staring at me.
"Abby? Ah.. sorry, I… I think this whole apocalyptic event is getting to me. I think I might have hallucinated your eyes changing color or something like that."
My heart started racing the moment he started speaking about the eye color. Even if I didn't know what made it happen, it definitely felt like a precursor to my power.
'If he remembers everything that I said to him during that time, I don't know what I'd do. Should I just continue being shameless and push even further for it? Or should I try to deny it so that I could keep what little faith he probably has in a woman like me? If I deny it and he does believe me, then perhaps I could find another time to continue testing this ability out on him. Maybe I can add conditions like forgetting what he hears during my mind control time.
Heheh!~ Maybe this apocalypse ain't so bad after all. If I can somehow understand how this works and use it on demand, then… maybe I could have a harem!
Heheh!~ Oh, what an incredible future! And it all starts with this man I can barely even find in my own dreams~
But it's already hard enough finding someone like this; I shouldn't be too greedy so soon. Besides, it's not like he's already mine. He's still heavily attached to that tomboy woman of his. Hmph! I'll have some fun trying to steal a man away. I kind of want to see the despair on her face as he fucks me in front of her! Yes~ I-'
A hand I didn't even notice appear on my shoulder started to shake me.
"Hey? Abby? We need to get out of here. I can only think of one more place that Robert might be. If I can't find him there, I don't think we need to keep searching for him, or else we might never get out of here."
"Y-yeah, l-lets do that then."
I only gave a mild response to what he explained, as I was just taken out of my fantasy. The next moment, he grabbed my hand and started leading me towards a door that seemed to go outside. What I focused on was the warmth that our hands created. I gave him a little squeeze here and there, but he didn't seem to notice.
'Small steps, Abby! Small steps! It would be too much if I could just brainwash him outright. So I have to work a little for this, no biggie! Watching him gradually become mine is much more satisfying anyway!
Though I'm not religious, thank you, God! Is this mind control power because of the job I chose, maybe? Does that mean other neurosurgeons like me might have similar powers?
Hmm, since I gained this power, does that mean everyone has something similar? I wonder what Nova has then. Is it possible that he doesn't know about it until its requisites are triggered, or is it possible I was just extremely lucky to get it? Maybe I unlocked my potential early or something.'
Once again lost in thought, I was awoken to the beep of a car unlocking. A slight chill instantly flowed across the hand I used to hold his, and a slight frown marred my face. It disappeared just as quickly, though, as I had to make sure he didn't notice before I hopped in the passenger seat.
'Humph, not even saying a word for me to prepare before letting go, I'll have to fix that little flaw in the future.'
But as I buckled my seatbelt, a gleam of light hit my eyes. The future I thought of was sent to the back of my mind as I reached to touch the gleaming metallic ring around my finger.
'What's wrong with me? How can I just do all of this without a single regard for my previous life and relationship? Am I a horrible person for wanting this? Maybe, how could I possibly think of destroying this man's relationship and taking him for myself just because my own relationship is horrible?
What happened to me? My life? The happy marriage between Joseph and me?'
I still remember how it all started.
Back then, he was the cool and popular kid, and I was just one of the kids in the back. I never did anything that drew attention to me, nor did I even style myself in any specific way. Just a simple large hoodie was what I wore on most days.
Joseph was quite into sports, a typical jock, but he was never arrogant. In fact, he made sure to interact with everyone he had class with, which made it so most people in class liked him, if not simply had a good impression.
He had helped me on more than one occasion, so I, of course, had some good impressions of him. Then seemingly out of nowhere, he asked me out on a date in private. I was honestly a bit worried as he would be my first, but I couldn't think of any reason not to; instead, everything only told me that it would be a great choice. In fact, he told me I was his first as well.
In no time flat, everyone seemed to know, as it became the next hot topic, and honestly, I enjoyed a bit of the attention.
A lot of the other girls were bummed out that I was chosen, and a few even tried bullying me, but Joseph stood up for me. For the remaining years of high school simply became better, and I started to find a decent style for myself.
After high school, I continued my education in medicine, and Joseph got a scholarship to an athletic university. We had to go our separate ways since our universities were a little way apart. He asked before we parted to have sex for the first time, but I was too shy for that, so I simply told him that we'll do it soon.
I made sure to spend some time every once in a while to visit him, and he visited me as well, asking for sex, but as time went on, his visits to my university slowed, and over time, I went to his dorm. There was an odd smell mixed with more floral scents.
He told me that his dorm mates loved throwing scent bombs and embarrassingly told me that he masturbated thinking about me often. He also said that he was getting less and less free time with classes, and I believed him.
During our second year, I figured it was time. I called him and told him that I had a surprise for him, but on the other side, there was muffled moaning that he simply dismissed as a horror movie in the background.
When I got there and told him that I would finally have sex with him, he was surprised, but I was the one surprised in the end. Everything he did felt so smooth and fluid; it was supposed to be both our first times, so I was expecting it to be a little more awkward, but I simply chalked it up to him being talented.
'Thinking back upon it now, it's so obvious what he was doing behind my back. It's infuriating that he was my first and only partner.'
During the last year, his scholarship was revoked due to a debilitating torn ACL. Seeing what happened, I decided that I would move out of the dorm and instead rent an apartment so we could live together. Luckily, we didn't have to pay his medical expenses out of pocket, and instead, the school decided to pay as a final gift to him.
One thing I didn't expect out of him was just how horny he was all the time.
At first, I indulged, but simply didn't have the time to do it so often as it seemed like having sex was the only way we were bonding for a while, besides when I helped him move around for physical therapy.
When I was fully focused on the exams of my bachelor's, I found him in a similar situation as I did in his dorm. Only this time, he said the scent was from cleaning.
The 4 years of medical school seemed to improve Joseph's character again, and he started gaining hobbies and interests again. I was happy to see him starting to look so alive again. Once he was able to walk properly, he left often, eventually getting a small job somewhere.
After months of saving, or so he says, he bought a ring and asked me to marry him. Being the dumb bitch I am, I believed that this change would continue and grow him as a person.
Next was my year-long internship at a hospital, followed by my 7-year residency, in which Joseph seemed to change drastically compared to when I first met him.
He was no longer athletic, instead becoming fat and lazy.
He kept talking about his time in high school and those years of university before his injury like he was stuck in the past, but when I brought up that he needed to move on, he would get violent and lash out at me. Afterwards, he would say how sorry he was for doing something like that and that he would make it up to me.
What was supposed to be something for me ends up just as another way for him to relieve his own pent-up frustrations through rough sex. I was careful each and every time, though, making sure I wouldn't become pregnant.
I used the next 3 years to specialize in 2 subsidies of neurosurgery, and it seemed that Joseph was becoming bored with me. He would frequently leave home even though he quit that job of his, and by now I was starting to think more deeply about his actions and situations, now that I had achieved my goal of being in the medical field.
He focused most of his time away from me, and when we were together, it was either sex, though I stopped doing that with him a few months ago, him asking for money, or me one-sidedly trying to connect with him. He only ever spoke of his own interests and hobbies, while never once asking about me or my interests. I brought it up once, and he simply said, "You're a doctor, right? You're probably just interested in people's body parts and injuries; you like fixing people's arms or legs, don't you? What's there to even ask about you?"
It was like he didn't even know what I did, legs and arms? I had spoken to him on so many occasions about what I had to deal with, but what got me was that final remark.
It made me think, think about what happened in my life that led me here.
Honestly, I only came here with him so that he wouldn't throw a tantrum, and perhaps just a small part of me thought we might be able to reconnect, but that was before something I saw.
Just yesterday, I saw something. I was looking out our window, enjoying a warm drink, when I noticed a car pull up just beside our driveway. The passenger side door opened, and there Joseph stepped out. My current view wasn't great, but we had a camera facing the direction. I quickly pulled it up as I felt my heart racing and saw clearly as Joseph and an unknown woman were finishing up their kiss, and as he copped a feel of her chest.
My own chest felt like it had exploded and was draining from my body. It was hard to understand my thoughts and emotions, so I simply hid them and pretended I never saw them. When he came in, a somewhat familiar floral scent entered my nose, and I felt my eyes water, but it didn't matter since he didn't care to notice.
This morning, the whole tour felt like a blur as I tried thinking about what to do. In the end, I knew I couldn't be so innocently naive anymore, and I made up my mind that this would be the last thing we did before I would talk to him about divorce. But I guess that plan is gone now; in fact, he might even be dead, which somewhat makes me happy.
'Since it's the end of the world, I should be able to do what I want! I've spent so much of my life miserable while taking care of that bastard, only to get nothing in return. It's only right that I get to have a happy ending too, right?! Even if it's at someone else's expense, I don't care anymore!
The man next to me is not only lean but also extremely handsome; my heart skipped a beat when I first saw him.
Joseph wasn't particularly handsome, but he was popular because of his friendliness and athletic body. Now that he's lost that, I wouldn't even be able to point out anything about him that makes him special.'
I clenched my fist with the ring before I took it off and shoved it in my pocket, disgusted with the fact that I even still had it on.
The fact that he's younger than me and is still attracted to me makes me feel like I'm still in my prime. Heh, aren't some men into older women? Maybe he's one of them. After all, there's absolutely no way that woman on his phone can fulfill all his desires, right?'