SIDH

Fear, love, anger. These are known as the strongest emotions that can overwhelm a single person in making dumb decisions. Decisions that end up being regrettable in the future or make you doubt yourself. Like the ones I took to end in this situation with the owner of my office building, a famous judge in Europe and... the only man who couldn't read his mind and swept me off my feet.

We are no longer a judge and lawyer playing the dominant game, rather, two oddities that got captured by a psychotic scientist. The kind of crazy that enjoyed opening skulls just for the thrill of it and his soldier lackeys hunted me like a wolf would a sheep. It was the nightmare I was avoiding for a very, very long time…

⬼⤘

Ever since my eighth birthday, I began reading people’s thoughts and, out of fear, told my parents about it. They took me to many doctors but, just like in fiction movies, no one believed me and was abandoned at a psychiatric ward because they all thought I was an attention seeker and bad luck. Eventually, after learning how to control these abilities without telling anyone and convincing everyone they were right about everything, the psychiatrist certified that I had “outgrown” the anxiety disorder he had diagnosed. By the time I got out, it was my fifteenth birthday; and when I was twenty-three in law school, I was no longer just telepathic. Rather, it evolved in psyche manipulation, whereas I could maneuver other’s desires.

In the beginning, I thought it was wrong to abuse this ability. College parties and alcohol can change one’s opinion about things. Especially when sexual attraction is involved. I can’t deny how exhilarating it was to change a person’s desires; it ended up being a bad habit of mine.

“Sorry Aneesa, my morning ‘appointment’ took longer than expected,” I say this to my secretary and best friend as I finish adjusting my coat while walking towards her desk. When I reached her side, one of the buffet lawyers was flirting with Aneesa while she timidly looked for an answer within her notebook like she always does when she is insecure about something. “Aneesa would love to have dinner with you.” She looked at me in a panic. Seizing the opportunity, I changed her state of mind, making her relax and desire the possibility of having a spectacular meal with the man in front of her. “Am I right, Aneesa?”

Once I finished talking she blinked as if waking up from a daydream, then looked at the young lawyer and said; “yes, of course.” Satisfied, the young man exchanged phone numbers with her to coordinate tonight’s dinner and left.

“Now that your first date in a long time is set and my morning hookup is over with, what is my schedule for today?”

She looked at me startled as if noticing me for the first time. “Oh, you finished with your visitor. I didn’t see him pass by.” She adjusted her glasses and simultaneously looked at the time and her agenda.

“Well, you were plenty distracted.” I gave her a roguish smile as I waited for today’s schedule. Her brittle pale features where bright red with embarrassment.

“It is too early for your teasing jokes, Camilla.”

“As austere as ever. Anyway, if my memory serves right, I have a meeting with that Australian judge, Ethan Hudson, and other top-notch lawyers today for a new case.”

“Yes, it starts in fifteen minutes. Which means you better hurry. I believe Mr. Hudson told me that he wouldn’t wait more than five minutes before beginning and whoever wasn’t present on time was out of the case.”

“Is he serious? Who is that uptight in this day and age?” Aneesa hands me the case files and notebook as I complain about punctuality. “Since this is a rare opportunity I’ll be on time. What a shame, this will damage my tardiness reputation.”

“Don’t say that with pride, you know being late is what damages your reputation.”

“Yeah, sure. Call me if anything.”

While waiting for the elevator I began to review my notes about the case, including the research I did on everyone that will be involved in this case. Hearing the familiar elevator chime, I briefly looked in front of me so as to not trip while entering the elevator.

A dry cultured voice belonging to a man standing next to the elevator controls, offered to press the floor number I was headed, glancing briefly at the control panel, I answered with a curt tone. “There’s no need.”

Nonchalantly, the man spoke softly, as if his thoughts escaped through his tongue. “How interestin’.” Now recognizing the distinguished English accent I closed my notebook to confirm who it belongs to. Ethan Hudson. His intense olive-green eyes never stopped observing my every move as he spoke to me. “It’s bad manners to collect information on other people without their knowledge.”

“Is it a habit of yours to pry and gawk at a woman?” I stared him back to try and read his thoughts, instead, I received nothing; I couldn’t hear anything.

Ethan stood within my personal space now. “Only towards those who robe my attention. I can say for sure that I am curious to know how a sticky beak like you has managed to qualify in our team.”

Before I could respond, the elevator opened. He then walked briskly out and down the hall towards the conference room.

⬼⤘

Several weeks passed and, without a doubt, judge Hudson has a very obnoxious personality. I find it vexing just to be in the same room and to think this case was only starting. To boot, I was the new and only woman on the team, making it more difficult to come up with surpassing ideas in their "brilliant minds". At today's meeting, I gathered more information from everyone's thoughts to try to unite them into a solid plan. Once today's debate ended, everyone had left the room while I stayed to organize the notes. Lost in my thoughts and without noticing his presence, Ethan reclined against the table, taking one of my notes. I glared daggers into him as I rebuked. “Normal and respected judges don’t take other’s things without asking. And didn’t you dismiss everyone because you had other things to do?”

“This is quite the dog’s breakfast.”

“What?”

He grabbed another one of my notes and kept reading, ignoring my complaint. “I am amazed by your dedication, Miss Duven. I will give you a fair shake of the sauce bottle for this case.”

I rolled my eyes feeling aggravated. “Stop rattling me with your slangs.”

Handing back my notes, Ethan spoke complacently. “It served its purpose anyway.”

“Why are you here? I have had enough of you already and I need concentration.”

“Ah, so that is why you aren’t in your office.” Slowly, he placed himself behind me. With one hand Ethan removed the pencil that I had used to tie my raven-colored hair in a bun. And with the other hand, he collected my hair and pulled at it, not too hard nor too soft; just the right way to turn on a woman who has been teased many times this way in the past weeks. My breath was shaky, and my body was aching in anticipation of what he might do next.

With the index finger of his free hand, he traced a slow line starting from behind my ear, the curve of my neck and shoulder. With a raspy voice, he spoke in my ear. “Now this room, along with your office and elevator, will remind you of all the “what if’s” your body is so antsy to enjoy.” Letting me go abruptly, he inclined his brawny body against the wooden table once again. “Now that your attention is completely mine; even if you are trying to kill me with those gorgeous sapphire eyes of yours. Tell me...why are you being followed?”

I cocked an eyebrow in surprise towards his question. “Followed?”

“I believe I did use a word you could understand it’s meaning.”

“Stop joking around.”

My brows furrowed as his mouth turned grim, his tone sounding grave. “I assure you; it is no joke having that psychotic scientist nearby. His men are following you so now you are going to tell me what you did to attract his attention.”

I stood and paced for a bit to process the fact that I had to toss my life once again to run from that lunatic. In mid-step I looked into his olive eyes. “How exactly do you know the men following me are working for a crazy scientist?”

He gave a half shrug; “I asked first.”

Folding my arms I relented and decided to tell him the truth. “Alright, I'll talk first, not because you asked. Knowing you, we could be all day bickering about it and you still won't tell me unless I do so first." I paused and took a deep breath to steady myself. "I’m a psyche manipulator; more specifically, I manipulate people’s desires which also includes reading their thoughts. When Remington first found me I was finishing law school and he had presented himself as one of my childhood psychologists from those days when my parents left me in a psychiatric center. When I discovered his intentions to experiment on me I changed my name and fled here to Northern Europe. I thought he had given up or something since it has been over six years since then.”

I fell silent, waiting for Ethan’s response; after a moment he spoke. “Guess I had more luck… My type of psyche manipulation is “absolute will”. I can manipulate other’s reality to whichever I want along with telepathy. If I am not mistaken and joined both stories correctly...by that time Remington had found you, I had recently gotten rid of him. It cost me a fortune but at least he was out of my way.”

“Wait, wait...have you been controlling me this entire time?”

“Of all things concerning, that is what worries you?”

“Well, ...no, but… Fine! Yes, it does concern me because, of all people, you are the only one I can’t read.”

With a cheeky smile now plastered on his sculpted face, he stood in front of me, hands in his pockets. “That’s for me to know and for you to suss it out.”

With that said, he strode off, leaving a stunned Camilla behind. Not long after while I was collecting my files scattered across the table,... everything went dark.

⬼⤘

My head was spinning, my vision was blurry, and everything was cold. How many times has this happened now? What day is it? How long I’ve been here? It was extremely disorienting to be experimented on. Every time I woke up Remington showed up to “test” a crazy theory about neurons he had. Something about how much electricity my brain could handle than the average female.

“Impeccable timing. This is some delightful progress.” His usual animated voice filled the dim white room. I never saw his full face, since it was always covered with a surgical mask. “No complaints this time?” His scrawny figure kept lurking about the room. “I was getting used to your begging this past week.”

I felt dizzy with panic. It had been a week since I was kidnapped by this lunatic. Will someone be searching for me at all?

“Oh! I almost forgot we had a guest today. I believe you two are close friends. Aneesa Arwin.”

My voice was barely a whisper by how surprised I was. “Aneesa?”

“You see, she is my daughter, also my spy to watch over Ethan Hudson since I can’t physically touch him, it wouldn't harm too much to keep up to date with every move he makes.” He stood beside the surgical table to peer down at me. “Aneesa was suspicious of you but nothing more… until you manipulated her psyche that is. If you had done nothing and kept going about with your normal life you wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Remington kept on talking endlessly about all the experiments he wanted to test based on the observations he had done on Ethan, all the while preparing a phew drugs and other surgical tools. I stopped paying attention to his endless prattling and started to drift away from reality when, all of a sudden, screaming and different metal noises filled the room. Then a familiar Australian English accent called my name desperately while I felt the straps on my wrists and leg loosen.

I began babbling disoriented. “Those drugs are giving me hallucinations...or is it the dehydration?”

“What nonsense are you spewing? Don’t confuse my handsomeness for a hallucination. It’s insulting.”

“What?” Instinctively I raised my hands and grabbed his face roughly to make sure he was real.

“Are you that happy to see my handsome face?”

I gave a weak chuckle at his quip. “No hallucination can beat the narcissistic Yara cabbage that I know.” Ethan’s stunned and offended expression was the last thing I saw before my consciousness faded away.

⬼⤘

Sunlight bathed the spacious and unfamiliar room I was now in. Welcoming the warmth I stretched out my sore muscles. Then suddenly remembering where I had been for the past week and what happened I sat up abruptly and looked at my surroundings. I was at a spacious white, gray and gold decorated bedroom that overview the busy city below.

Just then the door opened, revealing a casual-clothed Ethan. “Did you sleep well?” He placed a tray he was holding on the bedside table near me.

I looked at the breakfast on the tray and back at him. “What happened?”

He raised his hands in surrender. “I swear I didn’t do anything while I bathed you and changed your clothes, nor did I broke-in your house to get your clothes. You gave me a brief consent to let me bring you to my home as well.”

As he keeps mentioning unrelated details I noticed that I was, indeed, wearing my casual clothing. “Thanks. No, wait...that is not what I am asking about!”

Nonchalantly he ruffled my hair and sat beside me on the bed, all the while giving a sugary smile. “I apologize it took so long to find you. Actually...Aneesa in the last minute told me where you were.” I looked down at my aching wrists remembering what Remington had told me. “Before getting your conclusions in, you should talk to her.”

I nodded briefly. “What about Remington?”

“You don't have to worry about him anymore.” Ethan leaned forward and caught my chin with his hand so I would look at him. “More importantly, who is a narcissistic Yara cabbage?”

I inched closer. “The man with olive-green eyes in front of me that can will me to do as he pleases.”

I shuddered with chills as he slowly slipped his hand through my hair. “I never did, never could. The same thing that you hear when you try to read me is what I hear as well.”

Relieved to know I was in control of my reality I surrendered to his touch. At first, we started kissing and touching delicately and then it all rapidly escalated until we were a tangled mess wanting and desiring one another. Feeling as if every touch, every kiss, and every thrust wasn’t enough to catch up on all the missed opportunities. Until we were two exhausted beings looking at each other while regaining our breath.