Love’s Gamble

However, after her winnings had crossed sixty thousand dollars, Hiroshi stood up. “Enough!” he sputtered. “I will not have this. You are cheating, you must be! It is the only way you could be beating us like this!”

“Really now?” asked Freema. “It can’t possibly be because I’m better than you could it?”

Hiroshi fumed and took a gun out. Freema gasped and backed away. She had not been expecting this. It was stupid of her not to have been expecting this, but there was nothing she could do about it right now.

“You are cheating,” said Hiroshi, inching towards her. “And until you tell me the truth, I am going to cause you all manner of ungodly pain.”

Freema thought of Ken. How she wished that he was with her in this moment. How she wished that she had him to comfort her, to make her feel better. He had a way of making her feel loved, and making her feel worthy of that love. She missed him. In this moment she realized that he was everything she had ever wanted, and that she had been a fool to want to get away from him. She had to risk the vulnerability.

It was too late now, though. She just wished she could have had another chance. Little did she know, that chance was just about to burst in through the door.

*****

Ken burst through the door and looked at the scene before him. Money on the table, a man with a gun pointed at Freema, everything that Ken had been fearing was happening right now.

“Put that fu*king gun away,” said Ken. “What, you think because you’ve bought the police we can’t hurt you? You put that gun down right now.”

His mind was racing. He needed to create a scenario where this situation would defuse itself.

“I am a journalist,” said Ken. “I work for the New York Times. If you do not let this woman go, I can assure you that an article about this place with all of your descriptions will be published on the front page tomorrow. If you harm me, my colleagues have been told to write the article in case I don’t come back. Think about what you want to do.”

“She cheated,” said Hiroshi. “I’m not letting her out of here with this money.”

“She is going to take the money,” said Ken. “Or do you want an article published about how Hiroshi Miyazaki doesn’t allow people that beat him at poker to leave with their winnings?”

Hiroshi looked at Ken and then at Freema. He swore and then threw his gun onto the ground. “Fine,” he said. “Get the fu*k out of my sight. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

Ken grabbed Freema’s hand and grabbed a bag full of cash with the other and exited the gambling den.

*****

They got home soon, and Freema immediately collapsed onto the couch. Ken timidly sat on the edge of the couch. “What the fu*k was all of that about, Freema?” he said, his concern obvious upon his face.

Freema looked at Ken. She knew that she needed to tell him everything. She knew that she needed to be open about what she had been planning to do.

“Listen,” said Freema. “My father died a while back. I have no friends. This city has nothing for me. So for a long time, I thought that I would run away. To India maybe, who knows. I was saving up some money. I have almost three hundred grand with my recent winnings. When I met you, I felt… grounded. I felt like I had everything I needed. And that scared me, because firstly it was against what I had been planning for so long, and secondly because I was not used to feeling this way. I was afraid of hurting you, I was afraid of… doing something wrong.”

“And when I told you about my wife,” said Ken, “it just sparked your commitment issues even more. I am so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” said Freema. “I am the one who should be sorry. When I had that gun pointed at me it… it cleared a lot of things up for me. It showed me that I want to be with you, and that I want to improve my life. I want to go back to college, maybe become a chef. I want to start a real life. Would you… will you take me back?”

Ken hugged her tight and said, “Of course I will. I will take you back, there is no reason for me not to. And you can use your nest egg to fund your education, that’s a great idea. I can hire you as my chef, too. That will be a great way for you to get experience.”

Freema looked at the wonderful man that was her boyfriend. “I love you,” she said. She did not know where it came from, but she did not regret saying it.

“I love you too,” said Ken, not missing a beat. He seemed different somehow. More confident, but still himself. “I want us to move in together… if you want.”

Freema smiled and said, “I would love to… that would be so wonderful.” She kissed Ken gently on the lips and pushed him onto his back.

They were beyond satisfied, but more than that they were in love. And it was a love that they were sure was going to last a very long time indeed.

The end.