Chapter 1
Life wasn’t easy growing up. I mean mummy did all she could, but I never got the one thing I had always wanted. Either way, I had blossomed into a successful young woman, what else mattered? I’m waffling far too much as usual, but hey that's me. Sapphire Thompson. 26-year-old business woman without a degree to her name as mummy loves to remind me every so often.
I remember one of our many holidays, just me and mummy. It was great till she started drinking again. One day after church, Grandma and her friends were yapping away as they always did. But there was one who turned to me mid-sentence. Her cheeks rose, her eyes began to disappear and small creases that branched into her wrinkles formed on either side of her eyes as she smiled.
‘You see Sapphire, she’s like an egg…just like an egg.' It wasn't said in English but this was the direct translation.
I was 15, standing at just above 5ft and weighing just under 13 stone (yes I was a very heavy child) it was pretty clear to me that she was referring to my weight as she chuckled to herself and everyone around cooed and nodded in agreement. Immediately, I sucked in my stomach feeling self-conscious. But later that day mummy informed me that she meant I was delicate, like an egg, those who came close would have to handle me with the most care. It took years to understand what she truly meant but at 26 I'd like to think I was almost there.
Some years later, after a bout of bulimia and obsessing over the gym the chubby me that everyone loved so much had disappeared. Life changed. Everyone wanted to know me. The popular girls who had loved the fat me and sought after my advice saw me as competition as they began to distance themselves from me because they noticed the guys who swarmed over them were paying attention to me. Usually it was just friendship, but now they were telling me how beautiful I was, I knew all that was on their pubescent minds was sex, but from the stories I had heard I wasn't ready for heart break just yet. I spent much of my day fantasising about the man of my dreams and having a field full of babies, but the thought of REALLY falling in love filled me with the up-most fear. Like most women, at the first sign of attachment I’d push him away or refuse to believe it was real. But something about him had changed me.
Him being Karl. We'd been together for almost 4 years. It started off as one of those unofficially official relationships, you know the you’re mine and I don't have to tell you sort of thing. Then we realised the feeling was mutual and the rest was history as they say. I’d grown to love him more than I loved myself sometimes, but found it hard to say it. Crazy considering we’d been engaged for a few months now. The thought alone made my stomach churn but my heart smiled so much at the same time. After I did finally experience my first heart break at the tender age of 20 I was so sure I'd be single till 40 because God wanted me to work on being a better me, but I guess the powers above had other plans. Every time I saw girls from school they were enjoying the fruits of their labour with a flourishing career after landing a decent graduate job, some were happily married and others, pregnant for the second and sometimes third time. My life hadn't been as straight forward as I had hoped but I was happy with how things had turned out.
Tonight was the re-brand party for Esther and Faith’s fashion and gossip blog; VivaGlamLDN. They were friends (I use the term friends loosely) that I had met through Karl who were well established in the industry. They had plenty of connections so staying in their good books was paramount if I wanted to make it any further.
I was going with the girls - Tiffany, Crystal and Jade. Getting ready to go out had become such a chore. The hair, the nails, make up, the outfits I was beginning the despise it all. As an up and coming brand people were always watching so I had to look good all the time. I was pretty happy with my hair up in a bun and a pair of jeans but it was never enough. Plus, having Karl stood behind me naked with his perfectly sculpted arms wrapped firmly around my waist whispering 'One more round…' didn’t make it any easier.
I could feel all of him, warm and hard, sat snugly between my bum cheeks. But I was too busy rummaging blindly through the 100’s of dresses stacked in my wardrobe to want more sex. I sighed deeply as he began to bite and kiss my right shoulder. Slowly, I felt his palm glide down my stomach and his fingers run along my bikini line before they ended up between my thighs. He rubbed and pinched lightly as I let out a string of broken moans and spread my legs. His breathe hit my nape so I moved my hair to let his tongue caress it in its entirety.
Karl turned me around and pulled me close.
The sensation of his tongue on my bottom lip aroused me further. As he spread my cheeks with his firm grip exposing my plump lips to the cold air, the violent vibrations of my phone on the windowsill killed every second of passion we had shared. It was Tiffany. I’m guessing she wanted a lift as usual.
With the phone clenched firmly in my hand I was hesitant to answer it.
'Ignore it.' said Karl. 'If you’re already late, why not be a little later?' He whispered as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me close enough to steal a kiss.
I looked back at my phone and realised the time.
'It’s 3! I'm going to be late. We need to be there for 6!' I exclaimed.
'So you’re just going to leave me here?' He mumbled.
'You can come but I'm pretty sure you don't want Esther bombarding you with questions about Jason? This is the reason I told you to come home tomorrow. So we can actually send time together.'
I could feel yet another argument brewing so I looked down and scrolled through my phone aimlessly to avoid it. He grabbed my face and lifted it till our eyes met.
'Move.' I blubbered starring him dead in the eye as he had pushed my cheeks together making it hard to speak.
Surprisingly, he listened and handed me my towel. I threw my phone on the bed, picked up my tablet and made my way to the bathroom.
I placed my tablet in the centre of my bathroom worktop, just to the left of my sink. It rested perfectly under the large frame-less mirror mounted on the wall. I always watched my naked self as I brushed my teeth and let the shower run for a while. Working in fashion, people often made me feel as if I should hate my wide hips and muscular thighs, but I loved all of what was covered by my deep mahogany complexion and designed clothes for women built just like me. I had worked hard for it and nothing could take that away from me besides a cheese burger or two.
Just as I had turned on the shower I looked to see if the bathroom door was open. Karl had a tendency to “need the toilet” about 5 minutes into my shower. I tried to listen out for his footsteps but the piercing video call dial tone was far too loud. Finally, Tiffany answered.
'Hey.' She said
'You alright?'
'Yeah not bad. Are you naked?'
'Yeah!' I shouted above the sound of the water pouring from the shower head.
'Anyway...what time are you going to be ready?' She asked.
'Around 5 or 6. You want me to pick you up?'
'So that means 7? Yeah please, I’m in Edmonton at the moment. I’ll message you when I get home.'
Tiffany was like the annoying younger sister that always tried to run before she could even crawl no matter how many times you told her, but we loved her all the same. She tended to coast along and took each day as it came whereas Crystal, Jade and I were updating our 5 year plans weekly. We called ourselves The Real Housewives of Tower Hamlets, cringey I know but it kept us motivated. I had lived here with Karl for a while and the girls had recently moved into some new builds not too far from us. We were well on the way to the top and nothing was stopping us. Tiffany always knew someone who knew someone and never ran out of money, but could barely hold down a job.
But, one thing was for sure, she was gorgeous. With her long dark hair and bright blue eyes, she attracted and dated nothing but the wrong type of men. We'd always warn her but Tiffany trusted far too easily. She'd always come back crying when it was all too much, but she was not one to be messed with – she once dated a guy who tried to sleep with someone she knew so she dumped him at a party and made sure the other girl was there to confront him too. She was a hand full, but still the sister I had always wanted.
'Okay babe. I don’t have…'
She interrupted me “I don’t have anything to wear!” Tiffany mimicked me in an absurdly high pitch tone. 'That’s all you ever say when you have your own clothing line!' She said in disgust.
'Yeah, but I've worn it all, well most of it anyway. I’ll ask Karl to help me find something.'
'We need to book you a dress fitting!' She said in excitement.
I couldn’t help but smile when anyone mentioned the wedding but we wanted it to be prefect. Well, that and the fact that sometimes I tried to convince myself I wasn’t getting cold feet or that we weren’t moving too fast...but again I am waffling, stick to the story Sapphire!
The bathroom door creaked. I rinsed my mouth, stood straight and covered my breast with my right arm.
'I’ll call you later.' I whispered to Tiffany but she just kept talking. I cut the call and tried to remain oblivious to Karl's presence.
I stepped in to the shower as Karl walked towards the toilet. Usually, he would grab my bum or at least say something, but today he wasn’t interested. What man could resist a naked woman, his naked woman no matter how angry he was at her? Clearly he could. I rinsed off and patted my damp skin dry with a large grey towel before wrapping myself in it. He could tell I was irritated so he watched me in the mirror as I did my make-up, making eye contact occasionally as he waited for me to snap and say something. He always did this, and when I retaliated I was blamed for causing all the arguments. I'll admit it, I overreacted a lot of the time but I was learning to woosa my way through life and it seemed to be working.
I’d just about finished my hair before he walked into the room again.
'You look nice.' he said
'Thanks.'
Chapter 2
I watched my silhouette as I stood up. My black latex pencil skirt clung on to me in all the right places whilst my bralet hoisted up the little cleavage I had.
‘The black court heels with the spikes, wear them’ Kyle said as he walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
One thing Karl had was great fashion sense, hence why I wanted him to work with me. We may have not been talking, but he always wanted me to look good so I didn’t argue and changed my shoes. He was probably the most stubborn person I knew, but it never lasted long.
Dressed and ready to go I checked my hair and make-up one last time before grabbing my car keys.
'Bye!' I shouted as I left.
I heard him mumble something but I didn’t have the patience to go back and find out what it was.
As we enter the venue, the room was filled with what at a quick glance seemed to be attractive young men who could actually hold conversation. But at these events there were usually only 3 types of men who turned up.
1. The guys who weren’t anyone but wanted to show face because they had a substantial amount of followers on social media. They made the event look popular so more people got involved. We called them Loons, short for Balloons. Looked big and pretty on the outside but they were full of air.
2. The guy who had a small buzz and genuinely wanted to get to know people in whatever industry he was trying to get into so he could take what he had started further, just needed a push in the right direction.
3. Finally, TIC's short for The Infamous Cunts – sorry mum. They were well known for being good at being oh so bad. You had to stay away from this kind of guy. They came to meet ambitious women just to have sex and never talk to them again. I don't know if you can call it a fetish but that is exactly what they did. They were well established so they had no problem getting women, they just had a thing for the intellectual type who also worked for herself or tried to pursue the more mature woman to prove how much of a man they were. They'd often buy out the bar and turn up in a nice car but you had to steer clear of all their gimmicks.
It was an open bar tonight so Crystal and Jade were bored out of their minds. No men to entertain and expect a drink from in return for their time. I had caught a glimpse of Faith and Esther but they were too busy being interviewed by various online channels and magazines to stop for a chat. These girls were hot properly on the net. They were like the Olsen sisters of black UK fashion with a dash of Perez Hilton.
'Oh my Gosh, Sapphire!' Esther exclaimed as she walked towards me with open arms.
Don't get me wrong, these girls were lovely but I was never too sure if they were being genuine with all their affection, not so much with Esther but Faith was literally the Devil in Prada. None the less, I showed just as much enthusiasm when I approached her. Our cheeks touched as we exchanged kisses.
'Long time no see Esther. You look fabulous as always.'
'You too! Latex I see, big next season! Let me see the ring! He really didn’t cut any corners did he! Congratulations.' She lifted my hand to inspect the ring closer before hugging me again. 'We've been trying to contact you. So many people have been asking about the pieces of yours that we posted last month. By the way, how is Karl? Have either of you seen Jason recently?'
Just as I had guessed Karl's cousin Jason was what Esther really wanted to know about as she looked around and lowered her tone to ask about him.
'Oh!? I haven't got anything from you, did you email or…' I asked.
'We emailed.' Faith replied in her usual monotone manor. 'Your business email address, not your personal by the way. You really need a proper assistant Sapphire. Your fat friend isn’t enough. Oh and congrats.' She said lifting her head slightly in the direction of my engagement ring.
