Echoes Of The Heart

Episode 33

“Apart from calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend, everything we’ve done from the time you came is what lover’s do. If you had time to do all that, then you have time to date Sibu.”

He could tell he had cornered her.
“I thought I was done dealing with lawyers,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Ted obviously missed her point.
“I always feel like I am on the stand.” She said.
Ted laughed. “Well, I think you can hold your ground quite alright. Is that why you don’t want to date me…because I remind you of your ex-husband?”
“No,” Sibu replied a little too quickly. She had taken the bait.
“What do you mean No?” Ted asked, his face wrinkling into a smile. “Then you just don’t like me?”
“No, I mean….” she was clearly flustered. “You know what I mean Ted. Why are you trying to be difficulty?”
He was grinning triumphantly. “Because I want to know what you mean,” he insisted.
“I know what you are doing,” she called him out. “Stop treating me like a defendant.”
“Sibu, look at me,” he said.
She turned only once to look at him and then turned back. Ted placed his hand under her chin and slowly turned her face to look at him. He kept his hand there while he talked.
“Look me in my eyes and tell me that you absolutely have no feelings for me. Tell me that you don’t like me and I promise you…I will not mention my feelings to you ever again.”

“I am not going to play Tom and Jerry with you,” she tried to get up but Ted placed both his hands on her shoulders and kept her down.

“Um um,” he was smiling and shaking his head. “You are not getting out of this one so easily.

“What do you want me to say Ted?” she asked. “Nothing between us will change even if I tell you that I like you. Even though you are no longer close with Jacob’s father, you two used to be friends. What sort of woman would that make me if I dated you? I have enough drama in my life to add more to it.”

“I don’t think that’s such a big deal Sibu.” He countered. “All our friends know that Martin is the one that went after you despite knowing how I felt about you. If anyone should be shamed, it’s neither you or me, it’s him. If you say yes, and if it bothers you that much, we can continue living here where nobody knows about our past and you wont have to go back to that place. Unless you tell me that you are still in-love with Martin, because I am not buying all these excuses you are giving.”
“I am not in-love with Martin and I can promise you that we are never ever getting back together. He thinks he’s still in-love with me but that’s just Martin being Martin. When someone tells him he can’t have something, that’s when he wants it more. Now more than ever, I am convinced that’s the only reason he married me.”
“Then if you know that, why do you care so much about his feelings?”
“Because he is the father of my child.”
“And that will change if you marry me?” he asked sarcastically.
She scowled at him.
“Sibu,” he took her hands into his. “You like me, don’t you?” he asked. “Look at me…no, don’t look away.”
“Yes, I like you Ted,” she finally admitted. “You are a great guy, any woman would be lucky to have you….”
“But,” he added for her.
“But I don’t plan on ever remarrying. I just want to raise my son in peace.”
“Jacob will grow up and set up a family of his own,” Ted said. “What will happen to you then? Grow old and die alone? Do you have any idea how lonely it can get being alone? Ask me, I can testify. I have spent the past seven years waiting for a woman whom I know likes me but doesn’t have the guts to admit it.”

“I just admitted it,” Sibu said. “I like you but I just don’t want to remarry.”
“Why don’t you want to get married again?” Ted asked. “You said that you have enough drama in your life, could it be something to do with your aunt?”
Sibu gaped at him, wondering what and how he knew about her aunt.
“I heard about what your aunt did at the office years back when I was in Zambia and then I remembered something you had said during the interview. There was something about what you said that has bothered me all these years. I know you wont say it directly…but you constantly refer to it, unconsciously in conversations. I want to know what that is Sibu…what is controlling your life so much that you would feel you don’t deserve or need anyone’s sympathy?”

This was the first time someone was directly confronting her about her past. For years Martin had tried to get her to open up about her past but he had no clue exactly which part of her past affected her so much? However, from just one sentence she had unconsciously uttered seven years ago, Ted had managed to pick up something specific to query her about.
“Sibu, I know you heard me,” Ted called out to her.

“I need to go back to work now, lunch break is almost over.” Sibu said, completely avoiding eye contact as she quickly turned to leave. Ted ran after her and caught her before she stepped through the door. He held her by the shoulders and had her back pressed against the wall.

“What are you doing?” She tried to turn her face away but Ted’s face was so close, only a few inches away from hers and with his arms on either side of her pinning her back, there was no room for escape.

Ted kept his gaze on her quivering lips. His thoughts were written all over his face and Sibu could smell his intentions from every part of his body.

“I am very different from Martin,” Ted leaned in further and whispered the rest of his words close to her ear.
“I won’t let you walk away from me when I can obviously tell that something is up. I am not trying to compare us…I just need you to know that if you are going to try to get rid of me, you will have to develop a few new tricks. Sibu, I don’t care about whatever drama lies in your past or in your life. I don’t care if you had an affair, if you don’t get along well with your family…or if you killed someone…. All I care about is the woman standing right here in front of me, right now.” he deliberately brushed his lips against the edges of her ear, causing her to wince in bridled pleasure.

Even though she knew that Ted was just saying things for the sake of it, his words gave her some kind of comfort, hope…for a moment, he gave her hope.
It was as if she was meeting him for the very first time. She desperately wanted to believe every word he was saying despite the hard lessons she had learnt from her past.

She wanted to look him in the eye and see what lay behind them. Would she the see the truth if she dared?

Slowly, very so slowly, Sibu raised her head to look into Ted’s eyes. He was smiling down at her reassuringly. he was begging her to believe him…and she wanted to…if only for a moment.

How long had she waited for someone to say those words to her?

“You are thinking about kissing me…” Ted teased her, drawing his face closer to hers and brushing his lips against hers.

Sibu tried to move her face away but she almost ended up locking her lips against him, again.

“I don’t know what you are talking about…” she said with her eyes flickering up and down his face. “Doesn’t this sort of thing constitute sexual harassment Mr Attorney?” She nervously tried to make light of the moment.

Ted was grinning. “I’m sure it does,” his masculine voice drawled closer to her skin. “But I am also sure that there’s a law somewhere that would explain the meaning of you constantly wetting your lips like that…I think it’s called the Law of Attraction .”
Sibu’s face turned red. She tried to look down, away from his eyes but her eyes landed on his lips instead. Until then, she had had no idea he had such deep brown eyes or that his lips were so thick and smooth. How could she keep her senses about her when looking at him so closely made her feel so dizzy.

Before she knew it, his lips were hard on hers.
With one hand cupping the back of her head and the other grabbing her waist, Ted tilted her head back and drew her towards him by her waist, sealing whatever distance had been separating them.

Although she kept trying to fight him off, Sibu could feel her resolve slowly slipping away as Ted brought her straight into his world through his lips.

He had started hard, his lips working fast against hers but when he felt her fight him, he paused and pulled her head slightly back to look into her eyes.

Her eyes told him a different story.

Sibu couldn’t hide her disappointment when Ted pulled away. When was the last time she had felt a man’s breath hard against her? When was the last time her heart had throbbed like this? For how long had she yearned for the kind of warmth that was radiating from Ted’s embrace?

Ted didn’t need any more persuasion. Placing his hand back at the back of her head, deliberately gliding his fingers deep through her mane of hair, he drew her head towards him and la!d his lips against hers, his movements slow and deliberate this time.

As he slid his tongue slowly through her warm and inviting lips, Ted felt her body quiver underneath him and as if driven by a force unknown, he drunk from her and she from him.

She placed her arms over his shoulders and with her hands she held on to his head and locked him in position.

A bolt of lightening reaped through Sibu’s body, melting her insides as Ted quenched his yearning thirst from her and she from him.

If Ted had not moved his arm from around her waist to drive her further deep against him, she probably would have not known just how much her hunger rivaled his.

That realization bolted her right back to reality.
Quickly unlocking her arms from around his neck, Sibu stepped back and away from Ted, the sudden realization of her response to him almost freezing her in horror.

“I should really get back to work,” she stuttered before running off, leaving Ted dazed and confused.

The only thing Ted could think about at that moment was, she kissed me back…she kissed me back!

That night, Sibusiswe’s nightmares returned with full force after two long years. and they continued for nights that followed.