Raymond looked at Ciara who had paid him a sudden and unplanned visit. Something seemed off about Ciara, Raymond observed.
Ciara kept staring at nothing in particular and Raymond knew she was lost in her own thoughts. He sat still, staring at her, allowing her to wander in her thoughts. Raymond knew Ciara wasn't the type to stress on things but her state told him something else. After a few minutes of silence, Raymond decided to break the silence.
"Ciara, are you alright?" he asked but Ciara didn't reply nor move. "Ciara" he called out a bit louder, which had Ciara snap out of her daze.
"Raymond" Ciara said, as she forced a smile which couldn't reach her eyes.
"Are you alright?" Raymond asked.
"Yeah, I am" Ciara replied
"If you say so" Raymond replied
"Raymond, there's something I wanted to talk to you about"
"I'm all ears" Raymond replied
"Can you promise me utmost confidentiality?" Ciara asked.
"Yes, I promise" Raymond said.
"I..I.." Ciara stuttered
"Relax, Ciara. Take in a deep breath" Raymond said and she did as he said. "Out. Breath in again. Out"
When Raymond was certain, she was calm enough to talk, he said; "I'm all ears, Ciara"
"Look, Raymond. I don't know how you'd take this but the moment I heard Vanessa and you were married, I had a déjà vu. Like everything we talked about had happened before, yet, it was in a different setting. I couldn't shake the feeling off. Suddenly, pieces of images, I don't know if they happened in the past or among the numerous nightmares I've had, started popping up in my mind. I heard voices I could barely recognize, they sounded more like fragments of a conversation."
"I see" Raymond said. "What images did you see?"
"Eerie images. Blood, parts of the human body, an images of a faceless child screaming"
"What fragments of the conversation do you remember?" Raymond asked as he sat straight.
"Do it now! Dead? More blood. Who's there? These are all I keep hearing. It feels something is blocking my memories" Ciara answered truthfully.
"I will take you out one of these days. We'd find out if they're nightmares or things that actually happened in the past. Until then, let's be discreet as much as possible" Raymond said.
Ciara felt as if a heavy load had been lifted off her shoulder after she confided in Raymond.
"Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?" Raymond asked.
"For now, I don't think there's any" Ciara replied.
"There's something I wanted to talk to you about. I actually planned on finding you, basically I would have come to you if you hadn't come here" Raymond said smiling.
"What's it about?" Ciara asked
"About Arnold and you" Raymond replied.
"What about us?" she asked.
"Arnold likes to tease you. For all the years I have known him, he's teased only two women, Kelly and you"
"I don't like some of his jokes since they seem expensive. Like what he said today. Quickie! I
mean why did he have to irk me?" Ciara asked almost fuming.
"Ciara..." Raymond said, raising an eyebrow. "I have heard people tell you things much worse than this, but they weren't enough to rile you up. Why was it able to rile you up?"
"I don't know. I just got angry when he said that. I wasn't expecting him of all people to tell me that" Ciara replied.
"Ciara, from my point of view, he was only teasing you, he was actually playing a friendly match with you and somehow, you turned it into a world cup finals!" Raymond said and they both burst into laughter. "Arnold was quite hurt with how you took it. Mind you, Arnold doesn't carry condoms around because he sleeps around"
"I see. If he doesn't sleep around why would it be necessary for him to keep one?" she asked
"Don't you think it's good for a healthy gentleman to keep one for safety reasons?" Raymond asked.
"Raymond, do you keep condoms?"
"I do, not because I buy them but because they're provided for us at work every week. At least the government will relax, knowing his military is safe out there" Raymond replied.
"Can I ask you something quite sensitive? I know you won't spill anything but let me try" Ciara said
"Go on" he said
"Did you sleep around when Vanessa was away?" she asked
"No" he replied truthfully.
"Ok" Ciara smiled.
"Ciara, feel free. Ask anything you want to know, at least it's better than holding onto false assumptions" Raymond said. He knew very well, Ciara wanted to ask about Arnold but wasn't bold enough to go straight to the point.
"Why did Arnold break his engagement?"