Prologue
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“So this is your idea of a party?” I asked as I looked around the house, taking in the overcrowded living room where people stood in little groups, shouting over music that was way too loud for a place where no one was actually dancing.
Outside, people by the pool were splashing, and were actually having fun.
Inside? Dead.
I leaned back into the couch, crossing my legs as I glanced at Tania. “It’s so boring.”
Selene and Natalie burst out laughing.
“It’s not like you had a better idea,” Natalie said. Ronel just sat there with her glasses on, listening to us complaining.
“It’s not that bad,” Selene said.
I didn’t bother replying.
Tania nudged me. “So… you and James. Officially done?”
I turned to her slowly. “You really think I’m going back to that cheater?”
“I’m just asking. He’s been begging, apparently. What was his excuse?”
I laughed. “He wanted to sleep with me. That’s it. And when I didn’t, he found someone who would.”
That shut them up for a second.
“I don’t give husband benefits to boyfriends,” I added. “He knew that.”
Natalie leaned forward immediately. “Wait… you’ve never…?”
I looked at her. “Never what?”
“You know what I mean.”
I smiled a little. “Then you heard me right.”
There was this pause, like the whole conversation shifted.
I leaned back again. “But if I ever wanted to spite him…” I said, like I was just thinking out loud, “I’d take him back.”
Tania’s eyes lit up.
“Only after my body had been used by five men.”
Tania choked on her drink. Natalie just stared at me. Selene went quiet.
Ronel looked at me properly for the first time.
“That doesn’t sound like a virgin talking,” Tania said, still coughing.
I shrugged. “Maybe you don’t know what a virgin sounds like.”
That’s when I noticed an overweight guy in a green t-shirt walking past us, looking straight at me, smirking.
My cheeks turned blood red. “Oh my God… don’t tell me he heard me.”
“Who?” Natalie asked.
“That one.”
She glanced over. “Oh. Choppy.”
I frowned. “That’s his name?”
“That’s what everyone calls him.”
“Why?”
Natalie let out a laugh. “Just look at him, he’s completely chopped. I’m sure that’s where the name ‘Choppy’ comes from.”
“I thought it came from his actual name,” I said, frowning slightly. “Like Chad… or Cheslyn… or even Chuck.”
“Well, now that you’re single,” Selene added, “you could get with him. He’s been staring at you all night.”
“And he’s rich,” Tania said.
“That still doesn’t make him attractive,” Natalie cut in. “You go for rich and handsome, and he’s definitely not both.”
Yep! I exhaled slowly, already over the conversation as I pushed myself to my feet. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
The walk felt quieter as I reached for the bathroom. Then suddenly, the hand that grabbed me came out of nowhere.
It closed tightly around my arm, pulling me sideways before I could react, and within seconds I was dragged into a room with little light, the door slamming shut behind me that sent a sharp spike of panic through my chest.
I turned immediately.
The heavy guy in his green t-shirt.
His expression was different now, colder, intent.
“You talk a lot,” he said, his voice low.
“Let me go,” I snapped, though the tension in my voice was obvious.
He stepped closer instead.
“Five men,” he said, as though testing the words. “That’s what you said, right?”
“That’s not what I meant,” I replied quickly, my pulse beginning to spike.
Before he could respond, the door behind him opened.
Male voices filtered in, laughing, careless, unaware or unconcerned.
“We’ve been looking for you,” one of them said.
He didn’t even look back properly. “Yeah,” he said casually. “You’re just in time.”
My heart beat so fast from the nerves.
“No, wait…”
The door closed again.
And then… Everything went south.
I don’t remember how long it took.
I just remember the number, Five.
When I finally walked out of that room, the music hit me all at once, loud and disorienting.
I don’t even remember fixing myself. I just walked straight back.
“I want to go home,” I said when I reached my friends, my voice still shaky.
“Are you ok?” Ronel asked.
“I just want to go home.”
They didn’t ask any further questions until we reached the car.
The ride was quiet at first, until I started speaking.
“I need to tell you something,” I said.
After I told them everything, the silence that followed felt heavier than anything that came before it.
Then Natalie exhaled sharply.
“Come on, Arlene,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s no need to implicate anyone. You said it yourself.”
I turned to her slowly.
“You just didn’t expect it to be like that,” she continued.
“That’s not what she meant,” Ronel said, but there was something solid in her tone now. “She said something stupid at a party. That doesn’t mean she agreed to anything that happened after.”
“Then what did she mean?” Selene chimed in, her tone edged with doubt. “Because it sounds like regret to me.”
I stared at them, something inside me shifting in a way I couldn’t quite explain.
“I think,” Tania added, “you feel guilty. So now you want to blame them.”
The words settled heavily in the space between us.
And in that moment, something inside me didn’t break. It hardened.
Five. I closed my eyes briefly, the number echoing again, no longer something that haunted me, but something that anchored me.
Because this wasn’t where it ended.
This was where it began.
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