Love’n’Lust

Belle waited patiently all through the day as the girl had a good time sleeping, she didn’t think she meant it when she said she would sleep till it was evening time.

She was about to fall asleep herself when she saw the girl walk through the beaded curtain with a short towel around her neck which she used to clean her wet face and hair.

“Look who decided to take a shower,” she smiled at Belle when she saw her.”Hope you ate something?” Belle didn’t give an answer so she smiled more.”I would recommend you feel at home, eat whatever you want and you have the bed to yourself while I am at work tonight.”

“What do you mean tonight, you are taking me to a good hotel right now, aren’t you?”

“Ohhhhh, did I say I would do that?” Belle felt her insides boil with anger when the girl said that.

“You said you would take me when you were done sleeping,” Belle reminded her calmly.

“Yeahhhh, about that, I have to be at work in the next ten minutes, I’m actually behind time, so that wouldn’t be happening anymore. Forgive me.” Belle clenched her fists in anger and picked up her bag.

“You know what? At this point it’s easy to see that you are playing with me so I don’t need your help anymore.” Belle opened the front door to leave.

“Be careful, it’s not very safe at night here!” The girl told her and picked an apple to eat.

Still fuming with anger, Belle stomped her way downstairs. She didn’t realize it was already dark outside till she got downstairs. The street was empty, unlike yesterday when she came for the first time and the streetlights weren’t very useful anymore.

After contemplating whether to continue walking through the empty, almost dark road, and return to where she just left, she made a decision. With a hurried pace, she found herself up at the top floor of the tall building again. This time, it was the girl who opened the door like she was expecting her to return so soon.

“You are back?” The girl acted surprised but only got an angry look from Belle.”I’m gonna be on my way now, you take care of yourself, make sure to lock the door.” The girl smiled as she walked past Belle to go to work on the same road Belle just ran from.

Belle noticed that her hair was no longer blue.

*****

Next morning.

It was almost like yesterday. Belle woke up with the girl’s leg over hers. The only difference was that she didn’t jump out of bed, instead, she just shoved her leg off, waking her up in the process.

“What time is it?” She asked Belle but got a question from her too in return.

“Why won’t you just help me? It’s almost as if you don’t want me to leave. What do you want from me? I will pay you, all you just have to do is show me to a hotel, please.” The girl looked at her with sleepy eyes and then sat up, rubbing the sleepiness in her eyes away.

“I don’t want your money,” she yawned before continuing.”And you are right, I don’t want you to leave.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know, I guess I just don’t wanna feel lonely anymore. You are the first person to stay this long at my place and it makes me happy.” The girl sighed for what she was about to add.”I usually assume there’s like something wrong with me to make people not wanna be around me. I’ve got no friends, lost my family already, I do not like my colleagues one bit but then there’s you, you are okay, you know. You didn’t even judge me by my look the first time you saw me so yes, I don’t want you to leave. Please stay?”

“I don’t even know you, how can I stay.”

“We’ve slept on the same bed twice now, getting to know me couldn’t be that hard, could it?” She smiled but as usual, Belle didn’t.”Please be my roommate, you don’t have to pay while you stay, I just need someone to come home to, a friend to tell how my day was.” She explained lastly, why she wanted Belle to stay.

“My name’s Zina, let’s start there, what about you?”

“Belle?” Belle said her name, unsure if to trust her yet.

“Nice to officially know what to call you, Belle,” Zina smiled again. Belle looked at her for a while without smiling back, then she laid back down on the bed.

******

When Belle woke up later, she didn’t see Zina in bed like she expected, since she stayed in bed all day yesterday. She perceived pancakes coming from behind the beaded curtain.

“Is that the only thing you like to eat?” Belle leaned on the wall with her arms folded as she asked her. Zina turned to her after flipping a pancake in the kitchen.

“It’s my favourite food to eat. If you want, I could make you a sandwich?”

“It’s fine, I’ll eat what you are eating,” Belle replied.

“Here,” Zina passed her the maple syrup across the counter after using it. She didn’t eat till Belle had had some of it.”How is it?” She asked excitedly.

“It’s okay,” Belle said plainly even if her taste buds knew that the pancakes Zina made were way more than okay.

“What can I be doing to contribute as I stay here?” Belle asked later on, while they were still eating.

“Nothing. You just have to stay here all day, you know, chill with me then you can have a good night’s sleep when I go to work at night.” Zina said in response.

“No, I’m not doing that. I can’t just sit here all day and then sleep while you go to work at night.”

“So you wanna work? Even when I’m offering to take care of you?”

“I don’t need to be taken care of,” Belle thought to make it clear to her but then Zina said something that made her remember what she was almost forgetting since just a day and a half away from City S.

“I thought you ran away from wherever you came from? If you go out every day, someone might recognize you.”

“I didn’t run away, I just need some time off some things, how can you even assume that?”

“‘I need some time off some things’; Classic sentence for ‘I ran away’,” Zina said and drank some of the packet juice in front of her when she got an annoyed look from Belle.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

“I’m sorry,” she decided to apologize but Belle got up and went to the room to be alone.

Belle sat in the room rethinking what Zina said. Maybe it was true, she did run away, but there wasn’t anything wrong in running away from a problem you can’t handle-she thought to herself.

She began to wonder if Brie already knew that she was no longer in City S. She also wondered now, if Ben had also found out.

‘He surely must have, but gladly I left my phone behind.’ Belle thought again. She knew Ben probably came by the house he got her to see her but didn’t find her there.