A few weeks later, after losing my virginity to Alex, I was looking at my cute boyfriend, sleeping next to me, looking so handsome and sweet. He had a rocking chiselled body and sharp facial features that reminded me of a Roman soldier, especially with his strong jawline and sporty broad shoulders. Whenever he smiled with his white straight-teeth and big bright smile, feelings of excitement bubbled within me, with girlish squirms that I felt silly for experiencing.
Losing my virginity to Alex had been pleasant and sweet, but it wasn't as amazing as I had hoped sex would be. After my physical wounds had healed, and my mental scars from the ordeal in Jerusalem were slowly fading away, it had seemed like the natural step to progress our relationship. When I was a virgin, I never understood why people were so pre-occupied with sex, and now that I no longer am a virgin, I still didn't know why it was such a big deal.
To me, physical connection can never surpass emotional and intellectual connections. While an orgasm is great and amazing, it is just a short-term fleeting moment of spikes in serotonin levels. Mental and emotional experiences, on the other hand, can fill me up with a long-lasting sense of joy and tranquillity. Sex is crucial to keep our species around. But compared to the perfect geometry of the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Sequence, or the sweet harmony of a well-composed musical work, such as Bach's, it's insignificant.
Since my ordeal in Israel, something had changed inside of me. Before I turned 18, I spent most of my time pursuing spiritual perfection: singing, making music, and forming friendly and emotional connections with people. While these pursuits were fulfilling and gave me great satisfaction, they did not change the world around me, or served to further my goals. Now, that I had matured into adulthood, I believed that I could fulfil my desire to make the world a better place, using my superpowers and high intellect.
I studied Alexander closely. Except for the scarring from a broken arm from when he was a kid, there was nothing that indicated that he had lived a difficult life. Indeed, staying in his father's extravagant Vaucluse house, Alex was better off than most kids growing up. Yet there was something about him losing his mother at an early age. Growing up with a cold and distant father that made me feel connected with him. I trusted him completely, and Alex fulfilled my needs physically. I realised that Alex was someone I could trust and love as well. But would he satisfy me, intellectually? I decided that now was the time to find out.
I opened my online trading app, where I now had a balance in the millions of dollars. A drastic change from the $1,000 I started out with, just two months earlier. I had been trading obsessively for the last few months. While I realised, that it wasn't healthy to stay fixated for days on end on the online trading sites, sometimes forgetting to eat or sleep, it had been my coping mechanism.
I nudged Alex and he woke up. He yawned, gave me a sweet look, and said: "Baby…. What an amazing night we have had. What are you looking at?"
"I was simply curious about your opinion on something. Should I put or call on this $10,000 investment option on the Euro currency exchange rate?" I asked. With my heightened intelligence and my premonition, I knew which direction the floating currency was heading, but I was still curious about how Alex would respond to my question.
Alex shook his head and replied: "Just turn off your phone, Sabina. It's not good for your sanity to use internet devices, day and night." I realised that Alex thought I was playing a virtual game on my phone instead of making a real financial stock market investment. "But you do know that pressing the right button on this phone will have a tremendous impact on my bank account? I can make or lose several years of a high-paying salary at the click of a button." I stated.
"Okay, show me this game you are playing," Alex said, and had a closer look at my phone.
"It's not a game, it's my actual trading account," I stated proudly.
"Oh my God! There are millions of dollars in there, is this real money?" Alex asked in shock.
"Yes," I replied.
"But you have never mentioned this before, and I have seen your family and your apartment. They are not wealthy?" Alex asked in bewilderment.
"I only became a millionaire a couple of days ago, and I reckoned we had better things to talk about. More important things," I replied.
Alex was silent for a while, struggling to process the news of my sudden wealth. Eventually, he asked tentatively "So, how are you going to spend the money?"
I smiled at him and replied: "I haven't decided yet. How would you spend the money?"
He thought for a while and replied. "Hmm, I would like to contribute to cleaning up the oceans."
I was happy with Alex's answer, cleaning up the oceans from plastic waste was one of the many projects. that I was interested in supporting. That he had thought of a charitable cause, instead of luxury, showed me that we were in harmony. Although admittedly, I would get myself some luxury as well. I was not the saintly prodigy child, that I was in my former life. "Great, Alex. I would like to clean up the oceans as well. Tomorrow I'll donate $250,000 to the Ocean Clean-Up charity."
After making the trade, I turned off my phone, so it wouldn't disrupt my sleep. As I put it away, Alex winked at me and spoke: "I thought we could do something else before we go back to sleep…"
I smiled back and replied: "Great idea, I was thinking the same thing."