"Do you mind if I sit next to you ?" I whispered unto Sophia's ear. My gentle whisper was able to jolt her in surprise.
"N.. No.. Go.. Go ahead sit," Sophia said after she was able to manage her surprise. I gave her a thin smile before pulling the chair next to her then sat on it.
We were then busying ourselves with pretending to read. I obviously only stared at my book and turned its pages every now and then while actually my whole mind was on the beautiful young lady beside me. Meanwhile, Sophia was only staring blankly on her book, not even turning its page.
"Are you okay ?" I finally asked her with whispering tone. "Sorry, I don't mean to be nosy, but you haven't turned a single page for more than thirty minutes," I reasoned my self.
"Oh.. yeah.. I.. I just have something in mind," she said then gave me a thin smile.
"Care to share it ?" I asked again, closing the book in front of me.
Sophia frowned. "Sorry.. I .. I don't share my problem with stranger," she said. Al though being annoyed, she still tried to be polite.
I smiled then outreached my hand in front of her. "Let's not be strangers then. I'm Tom. Tom McCourtney. I take Civil Engineering, 2nd year. And you ?" I introduced my self and urging her to say her name at once.
Sophia glanced at my hand. She thought for couple of seconds before received my hand. "I'm Sophia Sawyer. I'm a freshmen in Art Department," she said, gave me another thin smile. To have her beautiful smile, my lips curled up instantly.
That was the first time we officially met. It was about four months after the incident of The Sawyer couple. Right after the mission, I requested to have unpaid leave for two years. My supervisor of course knew my real reason even when I only said that it was personal. Because I had never taken any leave since I joined the organization, my supervisor couldn't reject my request.
After having my leave, I enrolled at the same college as Sophia at Spring. I made my fake transcript as if I was a transfer student from other university and was in my second year. I had to leave the university the next two years, whether my personal mission was succeed or not. I chose Civil Engineering because its building was next to Art Department. Still, I only had a chance to approach her in the library almost a month later.
My personal missions were couple, actually. First, I wanted to erase her mourn over her parent's death. I felt so guilty to see how mournful she was at her parents' funeral. The happiness and full of life Sophia used to had were gone. And I was the one who responsible for it.
The other mission was that I was being delusional to think that maybe when I knew her well, I learnt her bad behaviors or character, thus I could undo my feeling over her.
Of course the second mission was failed terribly. The fact was, the more I knew her, the deeper I fell in love toward her. I loved everything about Sophia. Even her annoying acts, like wiping her snot with her sleeve, or her deaf-tone ear that made her the worst karaoke singer. Still, I didn't mind hearing her false voice when she sang along songs on my car-radio. I even wiped her snot with my sleeve.
Fortunately, my first mission was succeed. I, slowly but sure, could erase the mourn in her heart. It took me about seven months to finally able to have the old Sophia back. It made me sacrificed my shoulder to be wet for hours by her tears. Also countless sleepless nights when she often to call me in the middle of the night to outburst her emotion onto me. And I did it without a single complaint.
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"Thank you for accompanying me," Sophia said meekly while linger her gaze toward me.
"Don't mention it," I said to her, petting her thigh gently while keeping my eyes on the road. "It is the hardest time of the year for you. I'm happy I can accompany you to bear the burden," I added.
We were just visiting her parents' graves as it was their one-year memorial. She asked me to come to her hometown with her. She said, she wasn't strong enough to face this rough moment alone. I of course agreed.
"It's not good," Sophia suddenly murmured.
"What is not good ?" I asked, frowning to her weird statement.
"This. I mean.. I'm being too dependent on you," she said.
My frown went deeper. "Why is it not good ?" I asked again.
"I mean.. nothing," she cancelled out her answer.
I finally turned my head to her. "Sophia.. what is it ?"
Sophia just shook her head.
"Come on, talk to me," I said to her softly.
Sophia shook her head again then covered her face with both hands.
I pulled a side the car. After the car stopped, I reached both of her shoulders. "Come on.. you can talk to me about anything," I coaxed her to speak.
"That's just it. It makes me too dependent to you," she said mumbly.
"What's wrong with you being too dependent to me ?" I urged.
Sophia uncovered her face to stare at me. "What if.." She snot. "Someday.. you will have a girlfriend, right ? What if that day came while.. while I'm already in love to you.." She ended her statement by hiding her face under her hands again.
I was stunned, couldn't believe my ear. "You love me..?" I asked dumbfoundedly.
"No," she said in instant, but her head was nodding instead of shaking. She was the worst liar I'd ever met
I opened her hands that still covering her face. "Sophia.. I love you," I finally confessed my feeling. "Why do you think I stood by you all this time ? That's because I love you. I've loved you since the first time I saw you."
Sophia looked at me with complex expression.
"Now, please tell me the truth.. Do you love me ?" I asked her again.
Sophia answered me with a single nod.
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That single nod was the most valuable affirmation I had. I was above cloud nine to know that my feeling was not one sided. That evening, we were officially in a relationship with each other.
I loved her so much that I'd never forced anything that against her will. Including sex. We did kissed and fooled around, but she never wanted to step beyond that. So I ended up held back my lust or excused my self to please my self in bathroom. I even didn't have the heart to ask for her hand service. And I never asked her why. Until one night..
It was my 'birthday' so Sophia made me special dinner at my apartment. While she was cooking, I went to bought a bottle of wine to accompany the dishes. The dinner was perfect. We finished the wine almost the same portion. I could see that Sophia didn't get use to drink alcohol. Her face was red and she was a bit wilder than usual.
When we were on my couch watching a romantic movie, suddenly she rubbed my inner thigh.
"Pumpkin, don't tease.." My statement was halted by her kiss. I of course responded her kiss immediately.
Soon, the heat was risen exponentially. We were both naked. I was munching her boobs while my already erected manhood was rubbing her opening.
"Can I come in, please ?" I asked, holding back my lust since I knew she would reject me.
"Ahem..." Sophia sighed while nodding. I was so surprised to here it.
"Are you sure, Pumpkin ?" I asked excitedly. Finally she allowed me to enter her.
"Y.. Yes ?" Sophia answered unsure. Being covered with lust, I didn't hear her unsureness.
I kissed her passionately while putting my manhood in front of her opening, ready to enter it. But I noticed Sophia was frozen out, she didn't even reply my kiss. I distanced my face to see hers. Her eyes winced and closed. Tears were raining down from both of her eyes.
"Pumpkin, what's wrong ?" I asked her gently.
Sophia answered me with a sob. "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.."
"Hey.. that's okay, Pumpkin.." I calmed her down. I shifted my body to be beside her then reached her head to lay it on my chest.
"I.. I really want .. to.. to.. make.. make love.. to you.." Sophia said in stammered.
"But you're afraid ?" I made a guess. Sophia nodded. I curled up my lips.
"Are you a virgin, Pumpkin ? I'll be.."
I didn't finish my words to notice Sophia shook her head repeatedly then cried again on my chest. I tried to calm her down by petting her hair gently.
"Talk to me.." I whispered to her ear.
"I.. I was.." Sophia tried to stop her sob. "It.. it was homecoming. I.. I was.. cheerleader. We won the game that time. So.. so the whole football team and cheerleaders decided to celebrate, So.. So I went along. We.. we were partying hard. I was so drunk and maybe high in the same time until I fell unconscious. When.. when.. I was .. awoke.. I.. " Sophia cried again.
After about two hours, finally Sophia was able to tell me the whole story. When she was awaken, a man was pounding her. She screamed in pain since the man was fucking her like animal. But instead of stopping his action, the man slapped her to make her unconscious again. When she was awaken again, she was still being pounded. This time both from in front and behind. The pain was unbearable until she fainted again.
Sophia's story outburst my heart entirely. She couldn't point out who were ones did that to her. She didn't see their faces and she was barely sober. She only recognized all men who did it were white. She also didn't tell this to her parents. She was too ashamed of her own act, being carelessly drunk and high at that time. So, she could only gulp the tragedy to her self.
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I waited for more than five minutes in front of Sophia's dormitory's door before she opened it for me.
"What's wrong ?" I asked to see her gloomy face.
"I just got called from my high school's friends. She said there is a weird thing happened," Sophia said while sitting next beside me on her bed.
"What do you mean ?" I asked her to explain.
"More than ten of my schoolmates have been died these couple of month," she said.
"That's awful," I murmured while wincing my eyes in empathic way.
"I know.. Two persons were because of food poisoning, one had a sudden heart attack, caught in fire, car accident, and even suicide," She said. Sophia then looked at me with a deep frown. "What weird is.. they were all my high school's football players."
"Maybe your football team has jinx," I said unchantantly.
"Maybe," she murmured. I reached her shoulder to make her lied beside me before I munched her lips to make her forgot about the news.
Twelve. I had took twelve lives of her white football team's members for the last two months. And still 8 to go, since there were 20 white members in that team at that year. I managed to get their names in news paper that published article about their winning game that day. Since she didn't know who raped her, I decided to just kill them all. It would take my time to do it all. But I had all the time and patience I needed.