Obsessed with Me - When she rejected him, he set out to destroy her - book 1 (11 page)

It’s three days later when I finally visit my family. Bogas hangs around and waits for me as instructed by Tarago.

“So you’re okay with it, then?” my mother asks, her eyes scanning my face.

“Yeah, sure!” I say in what I hope is a spritely voice. Reaching for a biscuit prevents me from meeting her eyes. I take a bite of the biscuit then put it down.

I can’t eat.

My mother always said that a mother knows her children, and I fear that she sees my hurt and stresses quietly over it. I really don’t want that because of her health.

My sisters and brothers sit quietly and say little. I can tell I’m not fooling them.

They loved Ashwin too, so they too are experiencing a sense of loss and betrayal.

“They’ve invited us to their wedding,” my sister Lima says.

“Wha …what do you …?”

She leaves the room and returns with a wedding invitation.

With my heart beating like a bongo drum, I accept the invitation.

It’s white with gold printing, simple, but classy.

As I read the tears fall. I can do little to stop my heart from breaking. It just splinters in front of my family.

My mother takes me in her arms where I bawl – unabashedly. Everyone cries with me.

“No man is worth it, Tanin,” my mother says. “You get up, dust yourself and be happy and if you can’t, just fake it till you make it.”

I nod slowly.

“Because you will. Trust me, you will. You are Tanin. You will rise above this in record time.”

I don’t know if I can say that I feel better after that display of emotion in front of my family, if it was cathartic as such, but I can tell that my shock and disbelief has finally morphed into anger.

As Bogas drives me back to my gilded cage, I am seething. I will be expected to join all Tarago’s boozy mates once again tonight and it pisses me off.

How dare Tarago put me through all this because of his obsession of me? Doesn’t he realize that I lost the man I loved because of him?

My hatred of him soars as I think about all my hopes and dreams being crushed because of some moronic, racist bastard.

When I arrive at the house, the party is on again. I walk straight up to the bar. “Tequila please.”

I down it without bothering with the salt.

“Another please.”

Six shots in less than an hour and I’m not even drunk.

I know that Tarago is watching me, but I don’t even look at him or bother to talk to anyone.

“If looks could kill, Tarago would be dead by now,” a guy I’ve never met before says.

“And that would make me very happy,” I say, as I sip on …I don’t know, some drink that was placed in front of me.

“You really don’t like him, do you?”

I look at the guy next to me. Come to think of it – he looks familiar. He has short, sandy brown hair and grey-blue eyes. He’s tanned and muscular with an eyebrow piercing and a scar above his right eyebrow. I’ve seen him around but I’ve never spoken to him before.

I shake my head from side to side. “He’s a
vark
(pig).”

Scar laughs. “You sound funny when you speak Afrikaans.”

“Mff. If I had a rand for every time someone said that to me, I’d have a lot more money than
vark
(pig).”

“Actually, talking about money, you’d be a very rich lady if he died.”

I look at him. “What do you …?”

“You will inherit everything since you are his widow.”

I blink rapidly. “How does he know that we are married? Maybe Tarago told him.

“I know someone who can help you,” he says.

“Oh?”

“All your problems will be gone for twenty grand upfront.”

“That’s it? All my problems vanish for just twenty grand?” I make that a month with the allowance Tarago gives me.

He nods. “Twenty grand upfront, and ten million rands when you inherit. Want me to arrange it?”

I laugh my butt off. “Ten million rands? Are you fucking nuts? Do you really think I will have that much money if the motherfucker dies?” I knock back my drink.

“You’ll have a hundred million and more. He gets royalties from governments around the world when any of his devices are sold.”

“Get the fuck out of here,” I say with a laugh. “One hundred million. You’re nuts.”

“And if I’m not? I get ten million?”

I squint at him. “Suuuuure,” I finally say. “I’ll double it if I get one hundred million. I will give you twen’y mill.”

“Okay, but twenty grand down. Now.”

I turn to face him. “You know what, I more than anyone else would love to see that imbecile dead. But I don’t have twenty grand right now so unfortunately, he gets to live. So sorry.”

“That will do,” he says. I follow his eyes to the gold and diamond bracelet given to me by Tarago a week ago.

I run my fingers slowly over it. A very expensive monitoring device.

“I have no idea what it’s worth.”

“About ten grand,” he says. “And it’s insured. Tarago can replace it like that!” He snaps his fingers.

I look at him, then open the clasp and slide it over to him.

He surreptitiously pockets it and disappears.

I get up and to my surprise I’m stumbling around. I make it to my bedroom where I pass out fully clothed. 

****

It’s been two weeks since I was dumped by my ex and betrayed by my best friend. The hurt lingers. To clear my mind, I go to the edge of the cliff, sit on a huge boulder and stare at the water.

The tears don’t come as often these days and sometimes a whole minute goes by when I don’t think of my boyfriend and my best friend’s upcoming nuptials.

When I don’t think about the surprise on people’s faces when they see Rheema’s name where mine should have been.

When I don’t think about the questions my mother would have to answer from needling relatives.

When I don’t think about the looks of sympathy I would get from people who think Ashwin is a great catch.

Unfortunately bitterness is like new Velcro – it fastens around my heart and won’t let go.

Tarago appears next to me, whisky glass in one hand, wine glass in the other. Without a word, he offers me the wine glass.

I accept it, without looking at him, then give the water my attention.

He sits beside me. “Why you so mad at
me
?”

“Other than that you’re a pig?” I take a sip of my wine and bestow him a generic smile.

Of course, he doesn’t smile back.

“Maybe it’s because you caused me to lose my boyfriend whom I loved very much. And in the process I lost my best friend too. You engineered it so, that I lost them like that.” I snap my fingers. “How can I not be mad at you and want to kill you, huh?”

“Mff. I did you a favor, Tanin. He was cheating on you with two of your friends.”

My head jerks to look at him. “What?! Two? Which other friend? And how do you know all this?”

“The girl with the spikey …” He touches his hair.

I cock my head and look at him. “The girl with the …Alison? Thin …?”

“Ja, that’s the one.”

“You serious?”

He nods. “When you were not working, he’d pick her up. I watched him all the time. ”

I stare at my drink for a few moments as I digest his words. Then I look up at him. “You are such a liar, Tarago Jakoooobus. Ashwin loved me. He didn’t cheat on me.” I scramble to my feet and look at him, eyes blazing. “You are such a goddamn liar. You’re just a trouble maker. You saw how much we were in love and you decided that you wanted that too. Jealousy – that’s what it was. Pure jealousy. And you didn’t care who you hurt in the process.”

He shrugs. “Okay.” He takes a sip of his whisky.

“He did not cheat with Alison. He missed me and he…he …well, my absence, it drove him into the next best me – Rheema, my friend.”

“If you say so.”

“I say so.” For a few moments I glare at him, before I turn around and stomp off.

“Okay!” he calls out to me. “You should pay her a visit sometimes. If you can handle the truth.”

I pause, spin around to glare one more time at him, before I walk away.

If I can handle the truth. Mff!

****

Been waiting for more than an hour for her.

I am prepared to wait all day if I have to. I
need
to know. No matter how much it hurts, I’m the type that has to know.

I time it such that I bump really hard into her.

“Sorry!” I cry. “So sorry.” Then I look into the face of the woman I bumped and gasp. “Alison! Oh my God, it’s you!” I smile. “How are you? Lovely to see you again.”

“Hey, Tanin, good to see you again. How’ve you been?”

“I’m good, I’m good,” I say. “It’s been a while, right?”

“Yeah. Months.”

I touch her arm. “Hey, you wanna grab a coffee? I’ve got about ten minutes. My treat.”

Before she can protest, I lead her into a nearby coffee house.

We make some small talk, before I bring up Ashwin. “He’s getting married in less than three months,” I say. “Lucky me, I escaped the noose.” Big laugh.

She laughs too and I notice her shoulders relax.

“He was such a cheat!” I say as I spoon sugar into my coffee. “But then, I know that you too were a victim here, so …” I pause to throw out my hands.

“Ja, that’s true. He lied to me. Told me that you and him were in an
open
relationship, and that’s why I bothered with him. Told me all the things I wanted to hear and I trusted him.”

Tarago was right after all. Fuck!

I feel like I just swallowed a roll of sandpaper.

I spoon more sugar into my coffee and nod my head as she talks.

“I really like him, you know. Made me feel special. Talked about me meeting his family. He even sent me a ticket to visit him in London not long ago.”

“He sent you a ticket to…to London?”

“Ja, and it was a wonderful long weekend. Hey, that’s a lot of sugar you take in your coffee.”

I quickly put down my spoon.

“It was cold in London, so we spent most of the day in bed.”

I feel my hackles rise and I struggle to get my facial muscles to resemble a smile.

“We got wasted on champagne and …”

As she talks I zone out. Who the hell was Ashwin?

Why didn’t I take the time to look at him and see him for who he really was?

How could I have missed this about him?

How many other girls were laughing behind my back?

When I leave Alison, I give her a hug and promise to stay in touch.

I would love to walk over to Ashwin and take a baseball bat to his face. And his car. And his nuts. Really I would.

Bastard!

****

Seeing Alison is not enough -- I need answers from Ashwin. I need to see him and confront him. I feel like I didn’t do and say and ask enough the last time I saw him and Rheema. I need to see him.

But how?

Tarago won’t let me, I know that for sure.

Deciding that it’s worth a try asking, I go in search of my tormentor and find him at the pool area, shirtless and engrossed in the sports section of the newspaper.

With folded arms, I lean against the door and watch him for a while.

He must have seen Ashwin from his ‘throne’ at the restaurant and realized that this guy was messing me around. I must have looked like a total fool. When I think of how I used to run down to Ashwin and how he used to scoop me up and swing me around and tell me how I was worth sitting in the dark waiting for me …

What a goddamn fool I was.

Tarago probably senses me looking at him, because he looks up from his paper at me.

Slowly he lowers the paper.

I walk over and flop into a chair across him.

His gaze is questioning.

“I went to see Alison.”

His eyebrows shoot up.

I nod. “She confirmed what you said.”

He turns out his palms in a there-you-go gesture.

I look away, uncomfortable with the knowledge that he was right and I was wrong.

“
En toe
? (And now?)”

I shrug. “I’d like answers.”

“From?”

“Ashwin.”

His jaw sets. “And what would that achieve?”

I shrug. “Closure? To a degree maybe?”

“Forget it,” he says and lifts up the paper again, blocking out my face.

I hop out of my seat, grab a patio chair, place it in front of Tarago and straddle it.

After a moment he lowers his paper and looks at me, then at my crotch. I’m wearing a skirt, of course you can see my panties.

His eyes travel up to my face. Holding his gaze, I inch my thighs apart. His eyes flit between my crotch and my face.

“If I see him anywhere near you, I will shoot him and you,” he says in English.

I roll my eyes. When I look at him again, his eyes are serious.

“Fine!” I say and get up from my chair. Obviously sex didn’t cut it this time.

He buries his head in his paper again.

I help myself to a glass of orange juice from a nearby table.

As I sip on it, an evil thought enters my mind. I remove my shoes, creep behind Tarago and empty the glass of orange juice and ice on his head and all over his newspaper.

Then I run and hide inside the broom cupboard. I hear his loud footsteps and him asking

for me. My smile is genuine. My first smile since I got dumped by Ashwin.

Chapter Thirteen

My disbelief over Ashwin and Rheema’s betrayal, Ashwin’s cheating on me with so many other women has morphed into full blown anger. I’m sullen, snappy and I no longer care. About anything.

It shows, so I’m hassled at the lunch table.

“So are you still crying over that nice Indian chappie?” Hanlie asks, peering at my face.

Great, everybody knows now. Wonderful.

“I once went on a date with a nice Indian chappie,” Anneline says. “He was sweet. Spent money like crazy on me.”

Erika nods. “I wouldn’t mind a nice Indian chappie…”

My head jerks up to look at them. “Why the hell do you have to use the words
Indian
and
chappie
in the same goddamn SENTENCE ?”