Clara Uriel:
What!? Live with him?
Wait, hold on, I need a minute...
So I was standing in this room, waiting for my first time to happen in a manner that's completely opposite of what I wanted and then this man shows up wanting nothing to do with me, we talk and now he asks me if I want to live with him?
This is a plot straight out of a romance novel, surreal, reckless... a leap of faith.
And can I trust him? Like sure I opened up quite easily to him and I was ready to give myself up but this is quite an unexpected question...
I want to trust this man, something in my gut is telling me to trust him but this is so radical
But I knew I couldn't keep him waiting, so I took his hand and started asking questions of my own.
"You're seriously going to buy me out?... Can you even afford that"
I said throwing him a look of curiosity, financial status doesn't really matter to me and I'm honestly in no position to even consider something like this but I have to make sure I'm not a burden to this person.
"You don't have to worry about money, I don't go out often and I have quite a bit saved. Pretty sure I can afford buying you out of this place." He said nonchalantly
"But why? I asked. "Why would you go to such lengths?"
He shrugged the question off simply "I don't know, it just doesn't sit right with me for someone like you, undeserving of this to succumb to this fate."
"But what if there are other girls?" I asked selfishly, instinctively, almost like I wanted something for myself for once... someone. It is a strange feeling.
"Honestly I can't do this for everyone and I'm scared and I thought about it, I panicked in the few seconds it took me to come to a decision but I just have this feeling that you are special, so I want you to come with me and I want you to become someone better than what fate has in store for them."
"Quite the charm you've got on yourself" I said, putting on a smug expression. "So you basically are telling me that you just met a woman in a brothel and you found her so special that you're willing to buy her out and live with her, do you hear how insane that sounds?"
I couldn't help my laughter. But by this point I already had my answer.
"That is the gist of it, yes, what's life if we don't do something unexpected once in a while? You should wait to see my friends faces when the woman I was supposed to sleep with suddenly is coming to live with me"
"So you already are assuming I'm gonna say yes?"
"I'm not assuming it, I knew it from the moment you took my hand."
He said putting a bright smile to his face, one that outshined even the rays of light coming from the moon through the window.
I really do feel at peace at this very moment. Like I made the right choice, the right decision.
That smile was disarming. Not because it was perfect, but because it wasn't. There's uncertainty behind it, like he isn't sure himself if this is the right choice but he feels it deep inside his own heart that it is.
And that's what makes this moment real.
I tightened my grip on his hand, just to ground myself.
"You're either very reckless..." I said tilting my head a bit "or stupidly confident."
"Crazy might be the more appropriate term for this situation to be completely honest."
I let out a small chuckle.
Silence followed, not the awkward kind but the kind that settles when a moment becomes bigger, a moment that could stop time itself.
I glanced around the room.
The dim lighting, the next to non-existent furniture, the chair where he was standing just a while ago. It feels like I'm saying goodbye to a place I had with me forever, but at the same time I've just been here only one night.
This place I told would become the end of myself... a place where I thought I'll not be able to get up from now has become... temporary.
He appeared by chance in front of me and he's a door, not a perfect one, not a safe one, but a different one, an unexpected one. But I want this to be more... right now he might just be an escape for me but... at the same time I feel like it could be more.
"You realize" I said, my voice softer now "this isn't just you helping me. If I leave with you... I'm putting my life in your hands."
His expression changed, now more serious, more steady "I know" he answered quietly.
No grand speech, no attempt to convince further, just that. And somehow that was more reassuring than anything.
I exhaled, took a moment and then my gaze dropped to our hands... intertwined.
Strangers, a moment ago.
Now standing at the edge of something neither of us fully understood, something that neither of us was ready for.
"You're not what I expected to be honest."
He took a moment to process what I said and asked "In a good or a bad way?"
I couldn't help myself "You're more terrifying than I thought you would be. I expect someone to try and have his way with me, not to try and take me home."
"Isn't that just better?" He asked, tilting his head to match my gaze.
Cocky bastard.
"I'm gonna make your life a living hell, so you better prepare yourself for what's coming your way, Arthur."
I said as I took a small step closer
He grabbed me by my waist, holding eye contact
"Just what I would expect from you."
I raised my eyebrow. "You are assuming you know me just from the short interaction we had?"
"I know you enough to know I'll be fine with whatever as long as I get you out of this place."
His words left me once again speechless.
For a moment neither of us moved.
If we did this fragile understanding between us would shatter.
But reality was catching up to us. The night, almost over, gone in a flash.
Noise echoed from beyond the door, voices, footsteps, my grip tightened instinctively.
This place isn't going to wait for me to make up my mind forever.
I looked at him, with a look of certainty
Arthur nodded, he let go of my waist, and grabbed my hand and moved one step further.
"You're allowed to back out" He added, after a second, his voice lowered. "Even now."
"You're giving me an escape from my escape? I knew you were insane but this much?" I said moving to stand next to him.
"I'm giving you a choice" He corrected.
Choice... something so simple, yet so foreign... I had no choice but to come here.
I can't lie, doubt crept back in, not loud, not overwhelming, just enough to remind me that this wasn't normal. That I barely knew him, that this can go wrong in more ways than I could count.
But not enough to make me turn back.
"I'm walking out of here with you." My voice heady now "I'm not turning back."
"Good," he whispered.
And with no hesitation, no uncertainty, just intent. We walked through the door.
Each step felt heavier than it should've. It was more than me leaving a room behind, it was me leaving behind a life I already planned in my head.
Just for a second I stopped and I glanced back..
The light, the door, the silence, a version of me that almost stayed.
"No regrets," I said aloud.
Arthur didn't rush me, he just waited. Giving me all the time in the world.
And that made it easier. I stepped forward.
We headed straight to the owner of this brothel, no security tried to stop Arthur in his way, he just barged in forward and with a loud thumb he stormed his hand on the desk.
"I want to buy Clara!" He exclaimed.
The owner was taken back by his request, he, a business man at heart, didn't back down.
"I'm gonna assume nothing happened from the look on your faces, and I'll come out and say it, she's a virgin, that's quite a lot of money I'm losing if I give her to you."
"Clara, please leave the room." Arthur asked me.
"I want to stay, why?" I asked, not knowing what his intent was.
"Because no real price can be put on you, so I'm asking you to leave the room."
... I understood what that meant.
It's not about the money, it's about how I will perceive myself moving forward.
So he even considered this aspect.
Minutes felt like hours, I tried my best to not listen to what was going on in the room behind me.
Clients were passing through the corridor giving me glances.
And I realized I haven't put something else on. I was still in my night attire.
But soon Arthur left the room and he gave me a reassuring smile.
He took off his jacket and put it around me, covering me as much as possible.
He grabbed my hand, again, and looked straight into my eyes.
"Let's go... home" He said.
A sense of warmth wrapped around my heart, tears started flowing and I could just nod.
This is the beginning of my new life.