Chapter Five
His breath was still caressing my ear when he whispered words that struck me like a lightning bolt: "I don't like redheads..."
I felt an insult that stabbed my pride to the core. I stared into the darkness behind the black fabric and wished, in that moment, that I could change my color; I was ready to dye my hair brown, black, or even blonde any color that would please his eye and make him stay with me.
But he left no room for my sorrow, as he whispered again in a tone that made my heart leap: "But you caught my attention, Red."
A wave of overwhelming happiness surged through my limbs. My God... he liked me! Despite his reservations, I had managed to breach his walls. Emboldened, I said in a voice thick with plea: "Can I see you now?"
"No."
He answered with a single word, sharp and cold as a blade.
I let out a stifled, frustrated sigh; I was burning with longing to see the face belonging to that voice and that ferocity. I heard the creak of the bed as he rose from atop me, followed by the sound of fabric rustling.
He was dressing with cold indifference, while I remained lying there, naked and shattered atop those chaotic sheets.
Suddenly, he asked in his deep voice: "What is your name?"
I answered quickly, as if I were handing him the key to my life: "Stephanie... Stephanie Miller."
I spoke my surname intentionally; I hoped deep down that he would search for me, that he would haunt my name in the city records and find me again. I waited for him to tell me his name, to leave me a thread to hold onto, but all I heard was the sound of his heavy footsteps receding, followed by the creak of the door opening and slamming shut.
A deathly silence prevailed. I called out in a trembling voice: "Are you here?"
No response came. My call echoed through the cold red room in vain. I said with desperate rebellion: "I'm taking off the blindfold!"
I challenged his command, but silence was the only answer. I raised my trembling hands and untied the knot; the black strip fell from my eyes.
I blinked several times to adjust to the dim red light and looked around eagerly... but there was only emptiness.
He was gone.
He had vanished like a diabolical dream that passed through my life only to destroy it and leave. He left no name, no number, not even a word of farewell.
A wave of sadness and resentment choked my chest, and I began to touch my body, which still bore the traces of his touch and his cum inside me, realizing that I had become addicted to a man whose eye color I didn't even know.
Weeks passed while I lived in a spiral of hallucinations; reality no longer had any taste, as my every dream and waking moment centered around that man.
I replayed his touches and his groans in my ear like a magic incantation that bound me.
Kira sat beside me in my room, looking at me with concern. "Stephanie, my friend, what is wrong with you? Ever since that night we went to the bar, you haven't been right... you've completely burned out."
I leaned my head on my hand and said in a low voice: "Kira, I can't forget him... I feel cursed by his memory."
Kira sighed and said frankly: "I won't lie to you, what you told me about that night made my body shiver and react just by hearing it... I understand perfectly that he affected you.
But it's been weeks, Stephanie! Weeks!"
I interrupted her insistently: "Even if months and years pass, I cannot forget him."
She replied helplessly: "But you haven't even seen his face! You don't know who he is or what he looks like... how can you not move past him? You're exaggerating."
I stood up and exploded: "I am not exaggerating! Yes, I didn't see him and I don't know who he is, but his touches... the way my body reacted to him as if he held my private keys... my mind cannot erase that feeling."
Kira looked at me with pity. "I think you really are going to go mad."
Suddenly, a flash of hope hit me, and I rushed toward the door: "Let's go to the bar! Let's look for him; maybe he's there now."
Kira grabbed my arm, desperate. "Stephanie, how many times have we gone there and found no one? And besides, even if he were there, how would you recognize him when you've never seen him?"
I sat back down on the bed, feeling defeat settle in my depths. Kira tried to change the mood, saying excitedly: "I almost forgot... I brought the fried chicken wings you love, I ordered them especially for you."
As soon as she uttered the word "wings," and the moment she opened the bag and the scent invaded my nostrils, my stomach turned upside down.
Nausea surged in my throat with a power I'd never felt before. I stood up with lightning speed and rushed to the bathroom.
I collapsed before the toilet and began to vomit violently; it felt as if my insides were tearing apart and coming out of my mouth.
Kira came behind me, terrified, holding my hair. "Stephanie! What's wrong? Do you have food poisoning?"
When I finished and felt a severe weakness in my limbs, I said as I wiped my mouth: "I don't know... just the sight of that thing and its smell made me sick."
I couldn't even say the word "wings"; just hearing it made my head spin and my stomach churn in a strange, terrifying way.
Kira gasped in shock, her gaze freezing on me: "Stephanie... when was your last period?"
A chill ran through my limbs as I tried to gather my blurred memories: "About... about a month and a half ago."
In that moment, realization slapped me like a thunderbolt, and the words came out of my throat choked with terror: "My God... am I pregnant?"
Kira tried to calm me with a nervous touch on my shoulder: "Calm down, we aren't sure yet. Maybe it's just a disturbance from stress."
I screamed in despair: "How can I be calm, Kira? He came inside me, my period is late, and I'm vomiting my guts out! The signs are as clear as day!"
She shook her head, refusing reality. "You can't get pregnant from just one night... the chance of that happening is very low."
I told her, my eyes overflowing with tears: "Low... not impossible. The body doesn't lie."
She said firmly as she stood up: "I'm going to the neighborhood pharmacy right now. I'll buy a pregnancy test and come right back."
Kira left with lightning speed, leaving me alone in the room to battle the ghosts of that night and the scale of the catastrophe that might turn my life upside down.
Time passed like years.
Finally, Kira returned, panting heavily, and threw a bag on the bed: "Here... I bought eight tests from different brands to be absolutely sure."
I took the bag bitterly and went into the bathroom, my heart nearly stopping. I urinated into a paper cup and placed drops on all eight tests, then returned to sit on the floor with her, watching the minutes pass in deadly silence.
The result appeared on the first test... two clear red lines.
I screamed in panic: "Kira... I'm pregnant!"
Kira quickly covered my mouth with her hand: "Shhh! Lower your voice. There are seven tests left, don't rush to judgment."
But one after another, the truth slapped us coldly; all eight tests showed two lines.
My pride collapsed completely, and I burst into tears: "What do I do, Kira? I'm pregnant by someone whose name I don't even know... I haven't seen his face, I don't know who he is!"
At that moment, the door was thrown open violently, and my half-sister, Valentina, entered.
We froze like statues.
Valentina looked at us, then at the tests scattered on the floor, and a diabolical smile spread across her face: "You're pregnant? And by a man you don't even know?"
She let out a provocative laugh that filled the room and continued in a tone dripping with venom: "I just wonder... what will father do when he finds out his spoiled daughter is carrying a nameless heir?"