For me or yourself?
For me or yourself?
"Baby...?"
Chloe sat up immediately she heard the familiar voice.
It was David. Her boyfriend.. or rather, her Ex boyfriend.
She took off her sleeping mask as flung it to one side of the bed and said nothing while waiting for him to speak first.
"Hello? Are you there?" He asked but was still met with silence.
"Chloe I'm sorry. I know I deserve this and all but you need to understand that I cannot live without you. No matter how much I try to think about it, I can't just let you go. I haven't even done anything for you yet. Chloe please…"
She ended the call immediately and threw her phone on the bed before running her hand over her hair roughly.
No matter how much she thought about it, it was the best decision to break up with him. She had been dating him for four years. Four good years!
That time, she newly entered the university while he was in his second year when they met.
He was from a rich home and liked to live lavishly. He spent recklessly and always partied.
They had both clicked from the first day they met during the freshman welcome party but by the time he was in his third year, his father's business failed. His father could not handle the whole thing because the more he put in money, the more it crashed. It got to a point and he died. She remembered how distressed David had been back then. She had made sure to be there for him and helped him with all he needed. But it seemed he couldn't get over the fact that they were now poor.
He dropped out of school since he could no longer afford it and because he didn't want to lose face in front of his friends, he kept borrowing from her to keep up with his lavish lifestyle.
At first she thought he was eventually going to get over the whole thing and face reality but ur hadn't worked. After that, she thought he was making good use of the money to cater for his mother and 2 younger siblings, but she realised he even bought drinks for his friends in clubs just to show he was still in charge.
Several times she advised him to change and accept the fact that things can never be the same. She had even asked him to go back to school and promised to help him with some money for tuition but he said he was already too old for school... at just 25!
She couldn't spend cash carelessly anymore since her parents had noticed how money was constantly leaving the account and now monitored it so she could only give him limited cash so her parents wouldn't suspect.
This had led to a little problem between the both of them because he kept asking her to take more while she kept trying to make him see she couldn't and most times, he snubbed her out of anger but kept promising he was going to pay her back.
Few months ago, he told her he was finally willing to go to school but needed some funds and she had been happy to hear that. When she saw an opportunity to have good cash by putting up her brother's apartment for rent, she hadn't thought twice about it and had asked James to send it directly to David's account, hoping Leo wasn't coming home till the next year. But not only did he party with the money, he had even begged her for more.
That had been the height of it till she finally thought it was best to just break it off after giving him the money. She made a resolve to never look back no matter what. It was truly over and she was done with him!
She picked up her phone again and after a moment hesitation, she blacklisted his number.
************
Mia didn't have any class to attend that morning so she slept in. She was tired from having read her books the entire night... or better still, pretending to read when nothing actually entered inside her head.
She woke up with an headache that morning after vigorously shaking her head the entire night so that Leo's image would stop popping up.
"This is frustrating!" She said as she reached for a bottle of pills.
She took out some pills but realised she was out of water which meant she had to leave the room for the kitchen.
First thing she did was to peek outside to be sure neither Tara nor Leo was inside and when she was sure none was in the sitting room, she tiptoed to the kitchen without looking back and also peeked inside the kitchen to be sure he wasn't inside.
Leo's head hovered above hers without her knowledge as he also peeked inside the kitchen. "What are you looking at?" He asked, startling her.
She jumped in shock and whipped her head around to see Leo standing behind her. She didn't know where he had come from or when he got there.
"Good Morning" He greeted with a smile while waving a hand in front of her face.
She looked down and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.
"Good morning." She greeted.
"Where you looking for me?" He asked with a teasing smile.
Mia began to laugh nervously and shook her head. "Of course not. I was checking for Tara." She said to him without meeting his eyes.
"Tara is behind me." He said with a smile while using his thumb to point behind.
"What?" Mia's eyes bulged out as she looked behind him to see Tara wagging her tail. The moment their eyes met, the dog barked while still wagging her tail and she jumped in fear.
Leo chuckled and moved away from her front so she was fully exposed to Tara. He knew if he continued to stand there, she was going to hold unto him again to hide.
As she was about running inside the kitchen, he pulled her back by her arm and turned her so she was face to face with Tara.
"What are you doing? She is going to bite me!" Mia said in fear as she tried to move away but his hands on both side of her arms were holding her firmly in place.
Leo pressed closer to her as if in a backhug and whispered inside her ear "Just be still. Tara do not like violent girls"
"I don't like dogs either!" She said with a loud screech as she kept trying to turn but he held her firmly in place.
Tara charged towards her. She closed her eyes and screamed as she waited for the dog to bite but surprisingly, she felt the dog rubbing its fur on her leg and opened her eyes. It was as if Tara was dancing around her legs.
"I told you. She only wants you to like her." He explained as he slowly let go of her shoulders.
"I can't move Leo.... I feel like she is going to charge at me at anytime." She said in a frightened tone. Her whole body was frozen in place.
"Shhhh... just stand still." This time, he pulled her into a back hug with his hands resting in front of her belly and his chin resting on her shoulder.
Mia's whole body froze.
Leo could hear his heart pounding in his chest. He still didn't understand why he was always doing this to himself and to her.
Maybe because he was used to ladies always being around him and now he couldn't seem to control his hands and mind from doing what they wanted to do.
"Are you... trying to make the dog like me or you're... doing this for yourself?" Mia asked in a stutter.