Babel Novel
Karma
(SOFIA'S POV)
I turned round another street corner, my mind occupied with nothing but pure rage and hurt at the way things turned out moments ago. Did it really take nothing for my whole life to collapse underneath me?
Only after leaving the restaurant did I realize that I had left my car behind. I didn't bother going back to get, but kept moving. I had to get rid of this pain in my heart else it might choke me, and the only means that came to mind was to walk it off. "Our engagement has been cut off...," I heard Jared's words resounding in my head like an unhealthy alien echo.
I could still picture the look of satisfaction on Arielle's face after he'd so easily dismissed me with the most convenient excuse.
"I can't deal with your public embarrassment and obnoxious attitude anymore..."
How convenient for him, I thought to myself. Before today, I'd been pretty sure he loved me for 'being fierce and very expressive'. I dashed my foot against a loose cobblestone and the pain shot up my body, adding fire to my already aching heart.
Maybe I hate Jared now. The shock and rage had passed and in its place sat an ominous cloud of righteous fury, curled around my subconscious like a serpent. I doubled my pace to match the growing tempest in my head.
To think he'd cancel everything just because Arielle showed up in our lives again. The mere thought of her name made me recoil with anger and venomous hate. How was it even possible that she pulled off a transformation as major as that? And it hurt a million times more that it took her nothing, not even a word, to capture Jared's attention back at the restaurant. Jared was practically eye-worshipping the witch!
Karma, I thought to myself, and shook my head in a furious attempt to rebel against the obvious. Putting the blame on karma felt very much like conceding defeat and I was pretty sure I didn't want to lose to Arielle. It just didn't make any sense. I should have the upper hand. Always.
My vision had grown blurry at some point because it took very loud honking from an irritated ice cream van driver to pull me back to reality. That and the strong grip on my arm from behind me.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" the ice cream van driver hollered angrily as he drove past.
I blinked my eyes furiously, realizing I'd been crying the whole time and I'd almost walked into my death. My anger was replaced with a tinge of shock-but only momentarily.
"Whatever it is you're going through, trust me you're better off alive."
I turned around to find a man, tall-at least a good head taller than myself, with a ripped body and a friendly dimpled smile. I don't know why, maybe it was the shock, but I didn't say a word to him. I simply extracted my arm from his gentle hold and turned around to carefully cross the road.
"Maybe a good old 'thank you' would be okay?" I heard him call out sarcastically behind me.
I walked twice as fast as I'd been walking before, brushing past bodies in my path without turning around to apologize for every time I received an irritated 'watch it!'.
When my legs began burning from
exhaustion and my lungs cried in protest, I walked over to a nearby bench and collapsed on it. A gust of wind began kicking up in the distance and I looked up to find dark clouds forming in the skies. The air smelled thick with rain. I let out a sigh and collapsed even further into the seat-assuming that was any possible. I let my head fall, my hair forming a curtain over my face. It felt to me like a safe place to let out my tears without intrusion from anyone.
Moments after I'd put my head down to cry, I heard a pair of footsteps approach me from across the road and stop a few meters away from the bench. I looked up to find the same man from the intersection where I'd almost walked into a moving van. Looking at him now, I noticed he had a very smooth brown skin and brown eyes that smiled honestly before his lips caught up on the action.
"Well, would you look at that? Fancy running into you here again," he said with a kind smile.
"What do you want?" I snapped, expecting him to see my rudeness as a cue to leave.
"Easy there, miss. I'm Jabari, and I mean no harm," he said and nodded slowly when he realized I wasn't forthcoming with my name. "I can tell you're going through something. Now while it's not my place to ask what, a guy I know once said if you're having a hard time, work it out in the gym," he looked up and I followed his line of sight to find a gym right across the road.This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.
How much would it hurt? I thought to myself before rising up from the bench. I didn't say anything to the man, nor did I acknowledge the smile on his face at my decision to accept his offer.
"I'll just get you a pair of gloves and you'll show me what you got," he said once we stepped into the gym before disappearing into a locker room. He shouted his hellos to the other guys who were too busy throwing punches at each other to notice my presence—until he led me into an empty ring.
I felt their eyes bore into me but I ignored them wondering why I was looking forward to throwing a couple of punches at this stranger-even though it was his idea.
"Punch me," he said, lifting up his hands which were padded with training mitts.
I poured all the anger and hurt in my heart into the punches and even though there was no pattern or routine to the way I hit the mitts he held up before me, they landed with power.
Soon, I was yelling with my hair flying into my face as all I saw now was Arielle's face at the restaurant and how taunting it was.
"Woah. I take you're pretty pissed then," he remarked when I took a break. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No! You know nothing about me! Now fuck off!" I yelled out, halting every activity in the gym. I angrily yanked off the gloves and marched out of the gym, my heels in one hand as I stepped into the rain which had begun falling.