Chapter 2 - Before the Consequences

Eva woke up much earlier than the alarm which is one of the rarest happenings. Her body was still heavy from the night that refused to fade away.She stares at a ceiling that she doesn't recognize. Did she sleepwalk into a friend's room? She looks at the sheet she is covered in. They are warm and this doesn't feel like her sheets. These are made of high-quality cotton.She turned to the other side, and it was empty like no one had slept in there. The sunshine was already filtering into the room through the curtains. A Tv? She doesn't have any in her room. Is that a mini fridge? Since when did she get these appliances in her room? They were supposed to be in the kitchen and the joint living room she shared with her apartment mate. A throbbing headache hits her, and something flashes- a memory. She was at the bar ordering bottles. Wait 4, no 5 bottles. And the Corner Man has appeared in front of her. He asked what?. Her memory is still scrunched up, she remembers she had cried in front of him. Wait, cry! How can I cry in front of a stranger? She has not only cried but told him everything about her ex. She remembers vividly how the stranger had not comforted her. So why did she get so comfortable with and tell me what she should have told no one? But that still doesn't add up to why she is in this strange place.Then it struck her, they left the bar together. He mentioned something like making her forget her ex. Geez, she palmed her head in her hand. She flirted with a stranger and to add came to the hotel with him. She looked at the and there was the pink top, blue boot cut jeans, and her underpants on the floor!. The strange man mentioned she will be sore the next day. Ava tried to get up from the bed and fell back down right back to the bed, her legs were so sore after the sex they had. Ava Miller had sex with a Strange Man!But where is the man in question, she looks around the room and finds no one. She managed to walk to the bathroom, wrapped herself in the bed sheets, and checked. He wasn't there. Did he just leave her alone before she woke? She had not planned to go to the Bar to end up in some high-end hotel with a Strange Man. She has always been a girl of high principles. The kind of girl who sneaks out of the house to attend the party her friends have been fantasizing about. She sits back on the bed in silence but her head is as loud as a children's playground, still trying to get a grasp of what had happened. She wasn't some loose girl and yet everything that happened the night happened out of her free will. She wanted it to happen and she enjoyed every one bit- his touch, smell, and how his body felt on top of her. Nathan Blackwood just had one of his best nights at his favourite hotel. He always frequents this hotel because of its ambience and the comfort it gives. Paying the large sum of money he used to book the room was definitely worth it. He turned to his left, and she was still sleeping peacefully. She looked so pretty as she was sleeping. A sleepy beauty whose sleep mustn't be interrupted and he made sure to tiptoe around the room without disturbing the sleepy beauty's sleep. He goes to the bathroom and takes a shower. He will most likely go to the office from here. He needed to wash away all the pleasurable sweat from his body. After he was done showering, he stepped out. Dressed up and made sure he looked clean.He looked at the girl on the bed again, a very mysterious lady. She talked his ears off, he had never met such a lady before. Her aura kept on drawing him into her. She seemed like an egg that needed to be carefully taken care of. The way she smiled at him shyly at the bar or was it when he unhooked her bra and she looked somewhat shy. She looked like a student of the City's college, maybe around 23 years old or so. He looked at her face and kept admiring her beauty, she was really an epitome of gorgeousness. She was too young to be heartbroken by some idiot. He was damn sure the idiot was some loser maybe a quarterback who worked part-time at KFC.Nathan believed emotions were liabilities, things that blurred judgment and weakened control. In his world, attachment always came with a price, and he had learned early that he preferred certainty over comfort. Many might think he's ruthless but knew that emotional attachment only makes a Man weak. He trusted structure, discipline, and distance more than feelings he could not manage.He trusted structure, discipline, and distance more than feelings he could not manage. She should move on and forget it all happened and he would do the same. It had been one night, nothing more than a moment of weakness he allowed himself. He told himself it was kinder to leave cleanly than to offer something he had no intention of maintaining.He had to leave, he told himself. Any more minute and he will be running late for the meeting with the investors. They have been on the contract and finally they agreed on making a deal. He looked at her for the last time. He had to go and leave the gorgeous mysterious lady behind. Just as he got into his car, he remembered he never asked for her name. They might never cross paths. It. All just a fling on one of the nights. Something felt missing and it wasn't just him leaving. The air felt heavier, like the room knew something she didn't. Her body felt awake in ways her heart wasn't ready for.She replayed how his touch felt and what it did to her body. The way had paused during his touch to look her in the eyesShe turned onto her side, pulling the sheets tighter around her body, as if that could shield her from the strange mix of warmth and hollowness spreading through her chest. The imprint of him still lingered not just on her skin, but deeper, in places she didn't have words for yet. The scent on the pillow wasn't hers. It was masculine, subtle, and unfamiliar, and yet it made her heart ache in a way that amused her.She told herself to get up and shower, and then dress. To leave this room and never think about it again. But her body didn't listen. Instead, she lay there, staring at the sunlight that slipped through the curtains, replaying fragments of the night like scenes from a dream she hadn't fully woken from.His voice came back to her calm and soothing. The way he had listened to her patiently and never interrupted her. The way his eyes had stayed on her face, not judging, not pitying. She remembered laughing at something she couldn't even recall now, remembered how he had made her feel safe with the few hours they had spent. That was the part that unsettled her the most. Not the hotel. Not the decision. But the comfort.Eva exhaled slowly, pressing a hand against her chest as if to steady herself. This wasn't like her. She didn't trust easily, didn't open herself up to strangers. And yet, last night, something in her had been tired of being careful. Tired of being strong. Tired of pretending she was fine when she wasn't.She swung her legs over the side of the bed again, bracing herself this time. The soreness was a reminder she couldn't ignore, proof that the night hadn't been imagined. Carefully, she stood and moved toward the window, peeking through the curtains. The city was already awake, everyone moving around and doing their business, indifferent to whatever emotional storm was brewing inside her.On the other side of the city, Nathan drove with one hand on the steering wheel, his mind far from the traffic ahead. He told himself he did the best thing, leaving nothing undone, nothing unresolved. Yet, for the first time in a long while, his thoughts refused to cooperate.He had done the right thing. He knew that. Staying would have complicated something that was never meant to extend beyond a single night. He didn't belong in anyone's life in the way she might expect. He had responsibilities, expectations, and a world that demanded clarity and login not sentiment and emotions. Still, the image of her asleep lingered. The softness in her expression. The vulnerability she had shown without realizing it. It wasn't regret he felt at least, that was what he told himself but a faint, unfamiliar feeling, like he had walked away from something unfinished.Nathan tightened his grip on the steering wheel and forced his focus back to the road. Whatever that night had been, it was over. It had to be.Back in the hotel room, Eva finally began to dress, each movement deliberate, as though she were closing a chapter with every item she picked up from the floor. When she was done, she paused, glancing around the room one last time. It already felt different. Smaller. Empty.She straightened her shoulders. This was just a night. One mistake. One memory she would hide away and never repeat. She would return to her life, her routines, her plans, and forget it all.And yet, as she stepped out of the room and the door clicked shut behind her, she couldn't shake the quiet certainty that something had shifted. That some choices, no matter how brief, had consequences that waited patiently to reveal themselves.Neither of them knew it yet but the night they were both trying to forget had already carved its place in their lives.