Valeria's husband, Mark Brinstrone, had called her to ask her to go home and pretend that they are still happily married. He is asking for her help after she sent out incriminating and scandalous photos of Mark with Lex Lindi to several main newspapers, gossip papers and posted it up on social media using fake accounts.
Valeria had hung up on him after telling him off. It was the first time she has ever done that to him without worrying about the repercussions. She no longer live with him so she can do whatever she wanted.
"Well, that's interesting to listen to, glad that at least you grew some balls,"Ari remarked.
"Balls schmalls…who needs to grow balls…balls are the weakest part of a man, I say, I am glad for my vagina as it is, female vaginas are indestructible as it can squeeze out a full sized baby and still survive it," she retorted.
Ari rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Not like you've ever pushed any child out before," he said.
Valeria blanched at that. This fact hurt. It is a sore point for her. Not being able to conceive even after 15 years of marriage. Okay, maybe 8 years. The first 8 years, she and Mark still enjoyed sex and made love regularly. It was after that, that Mark stopped sleeping in their room, stopped coming home on most nights, stopped touching her unless it is to slap her or to kick her.
Now that she think about it. She and Mark has not had sex like a real married couple in seven years. She didn't even realise that.
"So what? A woman's worth is not tied to whether she can give birth to a baby or not!" she told Ari defensively.
He looked unperturbed. "I don't care lady. I am a reaper remember? I only care about taking souls, I don't care about the delivering of new souls,"
She rolled her eyes. Demons will be demons. Stubborn to a fault. Not that she knows of any actual demons. She only assumed a demon would be stubborn and annoying like the one lying there in her room.
"Not. A. Demon." Ari bit out, annoyance in his tone.
Her phone rang again. It was Mark again. She stared at it. Why is he so persistent? She cancelled the call.
"He will keep calling," Ari remarked.
"Well, I am not going back, I don't give a flying fish stick about him or his mother or his entitled sisters," she said.
Sure enough, her phone rang again. She cancelled it again and put it on mute.
"There, I will let it ring till it gets cut off," she said.
Ari merely shrugged. He got up and went to the closet and took out a futon. He went back to where he was sitting, shifted the bean bag and unrolled the futon.
"I am lying down to rest, you can do whatever…stare at your buzzing phone, just don't disturb me," he said.
"Well, get out and get your own room then! This is my room and I need to take a shower and change out of these clothes," she told him.
He gave her an "Do I look like I care?" look, lay down and turned his back to her.
"I won't look at you, do whatever you need to do," he said. "You keep forgetting that I am a reaper, we do not have an interest in humans,"
She glowered at his back. She was tempted to go over and kick him.
"Don't you dare do it," he murmured.
"Well, you would have deserved it!" she shot back.
He merely sighed and didn't reply.
Her phone buzzed again. She threw it into her tote bag. Let Mark call all he wants. She is no longer singing to his tune. She will shower, change into comfortable clothes and then maybe surf the net to check on the damage she did on Mark's precious reputation.
She went to the attached bathroom. It was just as gorgeous as the room, fitted with modern fixtures and yet still has that Zen appeal to it with plants placed all around. It is quite huge too, almost like the bathroom in her master room…no, her former room. There is a bathtub and a shower stall.
She quickly undress and stood under the hot water of the shower. It has been a particularly cold winter this time around. Nothing like a scalding hot shower in the deep of winter.
After she was done scrubbing out the griminess she felt from her encounter with Mark and the soul reaping. She may act as if it did not bother her but it still does affect her. She was so close to interfering and getting help to save Lex Lindi earlier.
From Ari's memories in her head, it was obvious he doesn't have any feelings or emotions. He can just reap, reap, reap and continue reaping without any feeling. It was like a job for him. Like plucking tea leaves. Or giving someone a Brazilian wax. She must learn to stop feeling anything whenever she reap a soul. Otherwise, it might affect her psychologically eventually.
After her nice hot shower, she dressed in her thick sweat pants and sweat shirt. She pulled on a pair of thick fluffy socks too. Her room is nice and warm, probably from central heating, but she still liked to dress warmly. Temperatures might drop later in the night.
She went outside to see Ari still lying down in the same position, with his back to her. He has a blanket now and it is pulled all the way up to his chin.
"Well, good night if you are sleeping…I will wait for the reaping list before I go to sleep," she said.
She only hoped it won't be like a 2am reaping. That would not be fair at all!
"It might happen. I once got a 12.01am reaping," Ari said.
"Well, if it is a 12.01am reaping, too bad, I won't make it in time, they didn't give me any teleporting power," she retorted.
She went over to her bed, also a thick futon laid out neatly on the tatami mat and lay down. Despite her reservations, it was rather comfortable too. She pulled her blankets over her body up to her chin. Nice and warm and snug. She likes it.
She can hear her phone buzzing again. She sighed. How annoying. She crawled over to her tote bag and took out the phone. It was Mark. Again. She let it ring till the line cuts off. She checked. That will make it 40 missed calls from Mark.
Wow. He is desperate.
She checked the messages. He had sent at least 20 messages but all of it were the two same messages. All of it were merely "Please answer my call" and "Please call me back". Nothing more, nothing less. She shrugged. Whatever. Let him stew and let him suffer his worst nightmare of scandalous news about him.
She chuckled at the thought. Surely he is at wits' end on how to handle it. His board of directors will not be pleased. A scandal involving the company CEO is not a good thing. It could affect the company's reputation.
"Serves you right Mark Brinstrone!" she muttered under her breath.
"Yet, you will still go back to him," Ari suddenly said.
She laughed bitterly.
"No way demon. I am not stupid," she replied.
"We shall see then," he replied cryptically.