Page 86 of Don't Leave Me

I literally gasped – he wasn’t proposing, but he was pretty damn close to it. He held it up between his fingers and smiled at me. It was a band, that almost looked like rope, that had the infinity symbol at the front.

“Inside its engraved – it reads ‘Forever Michael’s’,” he raised his eyebrows, then took my hand with his.

I watched as he slid it on my ring finger and it fit perfectly – it looked perfect and it felt perfect – and I started to tear up.

“Thank you so much,” I bit my lip, putting my arms around his shoulders.

“You’re welcome, baby. I love you,” he said softly, putting his hands to my waist.

I quickly pressed my lips against his and he pulled me closer to him before he picked me up and carried me to the bedroom.

18

Chapter 18

The movers brought all of my belongings to Michael’s the next morning and it was very apparent that there wasn’t enough room for everything in his nice, albeit small, apartment.Maybe we’ll get married and get a bigger place, maybe in Brooklyn? Alright, stop getting ahead of yourself again, Han. Just take it one day at a time. As I unpacked my necessities, Michael went out for a run, leaving me alone to do more inevitable snooping. I went through his drawers, his desk, the one junk drawer in the kitchen, finding nothing incriminating. My heart dropped when I saw his Macbook sitting neatly on the nightstand.Don’t do it. That would be way too far. I went against the voice in my head and opened up the laptop, no password required. Is he doing this on purpose or something?I opened up Safari and went to his browser history: random google searches for work, links to his work e-mails, a google search for “gifts for a submissive” and for BDSM toys. I smiled to myself as I looked down at the ring on my left hand, then returned to my snooping: iMessage chat history. He didn’t have many messages…a lot from me, some from his family, some from work, but there was something that stuck out: there were messages to and from someone named Jackie. I opened the text history and started to read:

Jackie: You should change your password. Who’s this new submissive you’re shopping

for?

Michael: I’ve changed it many times, Jackie. Leave me alone.

Jackie: Do you love her? Did you give her the sub ring yet?

Michael: Yes, I love her. And yes, I did…but this time, I mean it.

Jackie: Ouch.

Jackie: I give it a month. You’re so quick to move on.

Michael: Jackie, leave me the fuck alone.

Jackie: Did you tell her about me yet?

Michael: No. You are irrelevant and unimportant.

Jackie: That’s not what you were saying a few months ago.

Jackie: Remember? You tied me up and told me to call you daddy.

Michael: That was before I knew how fucking sick you are, Jackie. Go check yourself

back into Lenox Hill.

I suddenly felt nauseous, outraged, and livid with jealousy.What the fuck! He was with this woman just a few months ago? He gave her a ‘sub’ ring too? Did he just dump her and immediately move onto me? And daddy? Really? Why is she sick? Is she sick, like me?I furiously shut the Macbook and stomped into the living room, pacing the room and my happy energy quickly turning into agitated, angry, annoyed energy. I hurriedly went back into the bedroom, put on leggings, a sweater and sneakers and grabbed my phone before I bolted out the door, jogging my way west and towards Emily’s apartment. The cold air filled my lungs as I kept repeating Michael and this mysterious Jackie’s conversation in my head.Why did Michael never mention her? Especially if she was so important to him that he gave her a fucking submissive ring. And what happened between them? Why does she have his password? Is she a fucking stalker? How crazy is this woman?My head was spinning by the time I reached Emily’s apartment and rang her buzzer, completely out of breath. She didn’t even bother to ask who it was – she buzzed me right in and I jogged into the apartment building, frantically knocking on her door.

“Han!” Emily greeted me, all smiles.

“Em,” I choked out; I started to cry hysterically.

“Oh my god, Han,” Emily immediately wrapped her arms around me and guided me inside, quickly closing the door behind us. “What’s wrong, babe?” she asked with concern, stroking my hair.

God, where do I even start? Should I tell her about mine and Michael’s relationship? I can tell her anything – I’ve always told her everything and she has never judged me.

I wiped my eyes and looked up at her innocently and hesitantly. “Do you know what a dominant/submissive relationship is?”

She smiled at me with her eyebrows raised a bit. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

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