It rang once, twice, then thrice, and on the fourth ring, the call finally connected. "You took quite a long time to call me." Nelson's voice slithered from the speaker, and Cixi involuntarily jerked her phone away from her ear as though his words had burned her skin.
She switched it to speaker and placed it on the coffee table, keeping it at arm's length, as if proximity to his voice might infect her.
"I called to talk about my money." Cixi offered no pleasantries. She was terminated without any investigation, without hearing her side, and was thrown out of the company as if she were a petty nuisance. So, no, she owed him nothing.
"Is that all you want to talk about?" An irritation flared in Nelson's voice, with a flicker of disbelief crossing his face as he processed her words, as though she had ruined an entirely different conversation he had been playing out in his mind all along. "After sending me the video, telling me all those naughty things you want me to do to you. After making my mouth water to taste you. After driving my cock insane, hungering to be buried inside you, you want to talk about money?... STOP playing hard to get, BITCH!"
Bile rose in Cixi's stomach, ready to spill at any moment, while a wave of disgust mixed with anger surged through her veins.
Marion rolled her eyes with such force that it was a wonder they did not stay permanently lodged in the back of her skull. How could this man be so spectacularly dense as to believe that the video was sent by Cixi, when she had openly rejected his advances every single time?
"Let me make this very clear, Nelson!" Cixi's voice emerged stronger. "That. Is. Not. Me. In that video! I didn't make that recording! And I would never do something like that, especially for you! I have better taste and higher morals than to chase after a guy like you. You had better cut the crap right now because all I feel is disgust."
What came next from Nelson's mouth knocked the oxygen from the room. "So, if I divorce my wife, will you then give me a chance?"
A disbelieving silence followed Nelson's outlandish question.
Marion's jaw dropped, her mouth falling open in a display of repulsion so visceral that it bordered on physical pain. Even for Nelson, this was a new depth.
Cixi gritted her teeth. Her fingers curled into a fist so tight that her nails pressed crescents into her palm, and even though it stung, she did not care. "Sure, when pigs fly!" Her voice dropped low as she restrained her rage. "I called for my money. The wages I worked for. I am not demanding anything extra, even though I am entitled to a one-month notice period, which you conveniently ignored when you terminated me. I am trying not to file complaints against you or the company. Because I don't want to cause trouble for either of us. So give me my money back."
Cixi felt a tide of rage building up inside her—a feeling she had never experienced before. Something inside her demanded that she confront Nelson, grab his collar, and kick him hard in the balls in front of all the employees he had so cunningly stumbled upon. And then throw him down the stairs and watch his bones crack, ensuring he wouldn't be able to rise from his bed for weeks. Despite not understanding why she was suddenly desperate to make all those violent thoughts a reality.
She hated Nelson! She hated his wife! This hatred intensified with every passing second, and Cixi didn't even realise she was biting her lower lip so hard that it began to swell and bleed. Just then, Marion stood up from her seat and walked over to Cixi, placing a hand on her shoulder to pull her out of her raging thoughts.
Cixi snapped at Marion, and when she realised it was Marion, her expression softened, and her anger subsided before she stared at the phone.
"You want your money? Fine!" Nelson's tone shifted to one of wily cunning. "Meet me tonight at a motel. And I will give you a bonus along with it."
Cixi's expression instantly reflected her repulsion, and Marion's face turned sour.
This time, Marion wanted to scream into the phone. She wanted to unleash every swearword she had ever swallowed in that office on this shameless, predatory excuse of an insult to a human being. Yet, like Cixi, she held herself back. Because she still needed her job and the income.
Just like every other person in that company, she was a hostage to her life circumstances.
Some have large families to feed, or are single earners in their families. Some had debts with high interest rates. And some of their loved ones were in hospitals whose treatments cost more than their monthly salary.
That was why people stayed even after being abused by Nelson and by higher management. They paid well compared to other companies. That was why Cixi had tolerated Nelson's harassment for as long as she had.
Cixi finally spoke. "I am not going anywhere, Bastard!" Cixi's voice came out clear and final. "You will transfer the money to my bank account, or soon you will be receiving a legal notice from the court."
In response, Nelson laughed. He laughed hard, then laughed even harder. Cixi could almost imagine him clutching his stomach, laughing as if she had told some joke. Marion and Cixi exchanged glances before redirecting their attention to the phone, only to listen to his inane audacity as if he hadn't heard a word that Cixi had been telling him since their conversation began.
"Meet me at six p.m. at the Saly Hotel," Nelson's reply oozed smug certainty. "Otherwise, forget your money." He knew she needed the money. And he had been calculating from every angle and had come to the conclusion that desperation would deliver her to him one way or another.
Even to hire a lawyer, one needs money. And Cixi had none. He made sure that throughout those three years, she had only enough money to survive and no extra to save.
She would come to him. She would listen to him. She would submit to him.
He even hired someone to follow her and investigate her past and present, only to find that she was utterly alone. No relatives to back her up. No one would even ask about her if she had vanished from the earth.
She should feel grateful he had not kidnapped her, or forced himself on her, and put her in the basement to use whenever he wanted. And that thought made Nelson move his tongue over his gold teeth.
She should be thankful to him; he did none of it.
She was still carrying her V-card. And he intended to be the one who claimed it. So no, he would not easily cave to what Cixi wanted unless she gave him what he craved in return. "Try to act smart, Cixi, or I'll post that video where even the cops won't be able to access it easily. And who knows how many people might be waiting to grab you off the street and throw you in a cell for their amusement?" Nelson's voice lowered to a chilling finality. "My wife took the video down, but that doesn't mean it's been deleted."