08

**ETHAN NDZAMBA**

It had already been a week since we were on vacation, my week had been super busy and full of lessons with the outings I was doing with Professor Matéo. I was also coming back from the airport like that, I had accompanied him because he was going back to France today. I had loved these moments so much that it had reinforced my desire for this profession, I definitely wanted to be a surgeon and I was going to do everything to become one.

It had already been a week since we were on vacation, my week had been super busy and full of lessons with the outings I was doing with Professor Matéo. I was also coming back from the airport like that, I had accompanied him because he was going back to France today. I had loved these moments so much that it had reinforced my desire for this profession, I definitely wanted to be a surgeon and I was going to do everything to become one. I had arrived at the house and there was no one there.

Christmas had taken place three days ago and my parents had left the next day. So I was all alone at home and it seemed too big and too empty, a feeling of loneliness had wanted to overtake me but I had done violence to myself and I had taken out my phone to reach Seb and find out where they were. I hadn't seen them all week because I was too busy, I didn't come home until late at night and I had just enough time to answer a few messages, wash up and sleep.

>

We ended up hanging up. I had gone upstairs to take a quick shower before changing and going out. I had received Seb's message and was on my way there. I had stopped at the red light of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because it was the pedestrian crossing. As I did, I turned my head to the sidewalk and saw two young girls walking by, laughing. When I looked closely, I realized it was Myrna and her girlfriend. I started watching them, especially Myrna. I was doing it so much that I didn't even realize the light had turned green.

It was the horns of the drivers who were no doubt annoyed by my inaction, which had brought me back to earth. I had then started and continued on my way. This girl, I didn't know what was happening to me with her, since the last time I hadn't stopped seeing her in my mind and it even got to the point where I dreamed of her at night. It was basically erotic dreams where we did things that I couldn't even mention. The delirium was pushed to the point where the nude videos and photos that the girls there sent me, I replaced them all with her.

That is to say, when I watched a video, my brain automatically replaced the girl's face with Myrna's, it was happening so fast that I couldn't even control it. I didn't know exactly what was going through my head but it was as if someone was having fun throwing obscene pictures of the poor girl at me. Where my brain had gotten that, I didn't know. And if at the beginning, I was offended and tried to drive these things out of my mind, I got to the point that I now took pleasure in seeing her like this in my head and I sometimes had fun creating scenes of us in my mind. The idea of doing it to me had become tempting and not so stupid as that.

I arrived at the swimming pool, after having paid to return, I had had access to the place and I had joined my friends who were already there with a few girls. I greeted them before sitting down, removing my glasses from my eyes and placing them on the table along with my phone.

Rick: (to me) What does it say? It's really been a while since we've seen you, nda (ndami= friend)

Me: I know, I was really taken with the old man and a friend of his. But it's okay now, I'm yours for the whole week.

Eddy: That reassures me. You know it's not the same when you're not there.

Me: (smiling) I know, your dad (dad) is back kids and he won't leave you alone anymore.

We all burst out laughing before pulling ourselves together.

Me: But, where is my drink?

Sébastien: We didn't take anything from you, unless you followed us with the liquor.

Me of course. Send me a drink.

Donnel had fetched this and given it to me. I served myself a mixture of Jacques Daniel with coke and a few ice cubes. After the first sip that I had taken the time to savor, I had settled in and looked around me. I could see that many of the girls who were present, on chairs and others in the water were fidgeting looking at me. I smirked every time I caught a stare from a girl. It had been a week since I had slept because of the occupations I had, but today I was not going to bother myself, I had full purses and therefore I had to free myself. I was going to pick one from the pile to try to warm up in a hurry.

I was talking with my friends and I was also looking for the one on whom I was going to set my sights. I was surprised to find that my research was directed towards those whose physical characteristics approached those of Myrna. De facto, I eliminated all those who were too light or too dark, the half-breeds, those who were too tall or too short, those who were full and those who were too thin. I ended up with two girls who looked more or less like him. Of the two remaining, I looked at the one that seemed to be more shy than the other. I watched them for a while and spotted her.

She was the lucky one. In the absence of the original, one could at least be satisfied with a pale copy. I stared at her for a while. A friend of hers whispered something in her ear and she looked in my direction. As soon as our eyes met, I gave her one of my best smiles, she replied by lowering her gaze and pulling one of her braids behind her ear. It was a good sign, the message had passed, I just had to go help myself.

Me: (emptying my glass before getting up) I'll be right back.

Eddy/Donnel: where are you going?

Me: I'm going to relieve myself (wink).

They started smiling at me because they understood what relief I was talking about. I headed, hands in my pocket, to where she was with her three girlfriends. I walked naturally with all the bragging in the world and I knew the girls were watching me. My target and her girlfriends were also getting agitated as I got closer. It was with a smile tucked on my lips that I stopped in front of the small group.

Me: (smiling) Hello.

They: (in chorus) Hello.

Me: (staring at her) Can I talk to you for two minutes?

Her: (struggling to realize I was talking to her, touching her chest) Me?

Me: (smiling) Yes.

Her: (looking at her girlfriends, skeptical) Okay.

She got up and told her friends she was coming. I could see that the others were looking at her with a hint of jealousy. And for good reason, there were some among them, those who were much more beautiful with more than speaking assets compared to the one I had chosen. And also, she was the darkest of a group of two mixed-race women and a very fair girl. Certainly all said to themselves that she had to be the last that a guy like me had to choose from such a group. Yet it was she who interested me, not her personally, but because of her resemblance more or less close to my fantasy of the moment so that was her chance. I had moved her slightly away from the group so that we could talk well.

Me: (staring at her) Hello again.

Her: (intimidated) hello again.

Me: (smiling) May I know what your first name is?

Her: Ariel.

Me: (smiling) Arielle, that's nice. I'm Ethan.

Arielle: Alright.

Me: You know you're very beautiful Arielle, since my eyes met yours, I can't turn away from it.

Arielle: (smiling) Thank you.

Me: You must have noticed that I looked at you for a long time before approaching me.

Arielle: Yes.

Me: It's because I was impressed, impressed by your beauty. In all my life, I have rarely seen such beautiful girls.

I saw her lower her eyes with a smile that grew steadily. She was lucky to be black because if she had had the complexion of her friends, we would have immediately seen her face flush. Normally if it was a girl from my high school, I wouldn't have needed to talk much like that. But this one was not from my establishment, we did not know each other and had never seen each other before. And given the rather reserved character that was hers, I had to use a few nice sweet words to convince her and that was what I was doing.

Me: I don't know what's happening to me, I assure you that it's the first time I've done something like that and you probably have a boyfriend, because I know that a girl as beautiful as you can't be single. (She lowers her eyes quite flattered) But I really want to ask you for your number, would you do me the honor of giving it to me?

Arielle: (slightly hesitant) Okay. But what are you going to rate it on?

Me: I have an elephant's memory, don't worry.

Arielle: Ok. It's 062…….

Me: (Retaining) ok. (Smiling) I hope you didn't give me a wrong number to quickly get rid of me huh. You beautiful women there you are often like that.

Arielle: (laughing) Of course not, that's my real number.

Me: (smiling) Alright. I'm not going to keep you any longer pretty Arielle, I can see that your friends are starting to get impatient because the one who made their time interesting and pleasant has been taken away from them. Just watch your phone because I won't be long in writing to you.

Arielle: Alright.

Me: Go ahead sweetie.

She turned around and went back to her friends who were quick to ask her what I wanted. I turned around and went to my seat with a smile on my face. I sat down again, taking my phone to register his number.

Rick: I thought it was the one with big buttocks that interested you.

Me: (smiling) Absolutely.

Rick: Is that the one you tackled or is it a strategy?

I had continued to keep my smile. Currently, the technique I had used could make me put them all in turn because when the girls walked together, those who thought they were the prettiest often found it incomprehensible that they were left for their girlfriend who in their eyes seemed to be the least pretty of the group. Suddenly, it was they themselves who approached the guy to try to understand why he had chosen their girlfriend to their detriment and at that moment, they were ready to do anything to prove to you that you had made the wrong choice by not not taking quite to be laid down on the spot. We didn't call it "reverse psychology". It almost always worked on girls because of their mani of always wanting to be seen. And that was exactly what was going through these girls' heads the way they were looking at me now. But unfortunately for them, it wasn't psychology that I wanted to do, it was pretty much their friend and her alone that I wanted, well anyway, what she rather represented.

Me: It's not a strategy, it's what I want.

Them: (after looking at him subtly) Why?

Rick: It is however not the prettiest of the group.

Donnel: And she even seems to be more shy than the others.

Me: (smiling) I know.

Sébastien: Ok. And what does it give?

Me: In 30 minutes, I'll settle his case.

Eddy: 30 minutes? You exaggerate.

Me: (smiling) Focus on your little ones in the water and let the game master do the trick.

After that I had let 15 minutes pass without paying any attention to her, I observed her discreetly and I saw that she was watching her phone. Then I took mine and started writing to him. I reiterated my compliments on her beauty and teased her at the same time, which occasionally made her smile. She was now focused on her phone and barely paid attention to her friends. I took the opportunity to tell her that she was much prettier than the rest and that I didn't even understand why she was walking with these girls who were drawing her down.

It was naturally to flatter her self-confidence because I sensed that it was her perception of her person compared to others that made her so shy. And she confirmed my words by telling me that it was the first time that anyone had said that to her, that normally people always said that she was the least pretty of the four. I had immediately reassured her by telling her that it was a lie, she was, in my opinion, the one who raised the level of her gang.

When I felt that she was much more confident, I teased her with flirtations and her reaction was immediate. I had told her that she had a very pretty mouth and that I hoped that one day I could kiss her. In my head it was Myrna's mouth that I saw but hey, she said she wouldn't mind doing it. I smiled and lifted my head to look at her and she did the same. We exchanged a smile and I looked at my phone again to write to him.

-Me: And why not today?

-Arielle: I will.

-Me: (smiling) I'm waiting for you by the shower cubicles.

I got up with my phone in my hand and went over there. I looked at my phone and she hadn't answered my last message. I smiled before locking it up and putting it in my back pocket where I also touched to see if I had my condom and it was there. I had mentally counted from 10 to 0. That was how long I estimated it would take her to come find me and when I had reached 0 someone had patted me on the right shoulder. I turned around with a big smile on my lips. I put both hands on her hips to pull her closer and kissed her for a moment before releasing her and putting a slight distance between us.

Me: (still holding her by the hips, smiling) You came.

Arielle: (responding to my smile) Yes.

Me: I am the happiest and most fortunate of all men. I can even die tomorrow that it won't matter to me as long as I had the chance to hold and kiss the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

I had said that these creatures liked when they were lied to, so there was no hesitation. She smiled at me with bright eyes, that plus the kiss we had exchanged earlier was enough to make her spread her legs at my request and that's what I did. The next few minutes I was going back and forth inside her in one of the showers that were there. She was barely able to hide her moans. One thing was sure, if there were people who had passed by, they had surely heard that people were having sex in the shower.

10 minutes later, I came back to sit with my guys and without me saying anything to them, they knew that I had concluded. After 2 minutes, she was out to join her friends and her gait had changed slightly. For good reason, I was big enough for her. She was no longer a virgin, but she had never dealt with anything of my magnitude. Hence his approach. The whole procedure, between the moment when my gaze met his and when I finally came back to sit down with my friends, took me 1h and 5min. The guys looked at me with wide eyes.

Sebastian: You are dangerous.

Eddy/Donnel: I assure you.

Me: (bringing my glass to my mouth after serving, smiling) I don't see what else I did.

Br, Br. It was a message. I looked and saw that it was her.

-Arielle: It's the first time I've slept with a boy I don't know.

-Me: You know me, I told you what my name is.

-Arielle: I mean, like, we meet today and we also sleep today. It's the first time.

-Me me too. I did not understand what happened. I think it's love at first sight.

-Arielle: I think so too. It was really magical and despite the pain I felt at the beginning, I really enjoyed it.

I was laughing in my head. Ah lord, the girls were so naive it was not possible. In any case, I had continued to discuss with her until the moment when we had decided to leave from there. The instant I got in my car, I deleted our conversation and blacklisted his number. After the swimming pool we went to eat embers in Louis (district) where we separated from the girls who accompanied them before landing in a bar to drink while waiting for the opening time of the nightclubs. While we were there, Rick had brought up the subject of the bet regarding Myrna.

Rick: Can you imagine if you could put her in your bed as quickly as you had the little one earlier? It would be really funny, I assure you.

Sebastian: Of course. Imagine there arching in front of you, standing grabbing a wall and you going back and forth in her dripping wet pussy.

I had no trouble imagining it like that because earlier with this girl in the shower, it was this position that we had done and of course in my mind it was with Myrna that I was doing it.

Sébastien: Damn I would pay a lot to see such a scene.

Rick: What about me? Imagine there sucking you with her tiny little mouth while holding your cock like she holds the microphone with which she sings in her church?

Donnel: (laughing) What a picture!

Rick: If she sucks as well as she sings, that would be something.

We burst out laughing at his last sentence. We had already heard on rare occasions, this girl singing. Often when she was sitting alone in their corner or if they were praying in a group, she would sing and we had to admit she knew how to do it. The guys there had continued their delirium and the wine helping, their twisted imaginations were very fertile. After that we went clubbing before leaving there at 4am for my parents' second house where we had made our mess with girls we had boarded...

The days had passed and it had been two weeks since we resumed classes. This last week of vacation was really something. To party, we did it. The day we stopped was the Sunday before classes resumed. We had drunk, danced, slept and not slept in a mess, it was terrible. Luckily even classes had resumed otherwise I think we would have been sick following this rhythm. In any case, the party was over and we had to get serious about studying again.

On the other hand, the little girl there never left my mind, I wanted to do it more and more and I had decided the day when I had come across a photo of her that someone had posted on Facebook. She was in her church, holding a microphone singing in front of people. She wore a fairly close-fitting dress and had left her hair loose, which gave her face a particular look.

She had very little makeup on. I thought it was just lip gloss and a little bit about her eyes. The legend said that she set the church ablaze on the night of the 31st on the 1st. Me it was my sex she had inflamed. I had seen this photo, the Sunday before the resumption of classes while I was scrolling the news queue of my Facebook account. And when I got out of my car the next day to go back to school, I saw him getting out of his mother's. I had stopped for a moment to look at her.

She had turned her head in my direction and sketched a weak smile at me before entering the school. It had become more than obvious that I had to put her to bed otherwise, I was not going to be quiet. I had then worked to follow her discreetly to see what she was doing and how she occupied her time outside of class. Her schedule was pretty fixed and revolved around school, church, and her friend Sara who she was constantly hanging out with. It had taken me two weeks to get his schedule from school and church. We obviously didn't go to the same places and didn't discuss the same topics.

To approach her I had only two options because I couldn't go head on with her, it wouldn't work, I had to manage to insinuate myself into her mind and for that I had to be very close to her. My options were a school approach because I had noticed that it sometimes helped people in difficulty in certain subjects. However it was quite delicate on this side because I was a hard worker and my reputation was known to all in addition to being a class above her, how could I ask for her help?

The other option was an ecclesial approach, there I really didn't know anything and that could be an excuse for me to take her as a mentor. If I remembered correctly what she said when she came to do her evangelism in my class, she said that she was there if people needed to be accompanied or if they needed to know more about his Jesus. I was an ideal candidate. I wanted to know, way beyond that...

Me: Guys I agree.

We were on a break in the yard. It was recess.

Eddy: Okay why?

Me: For the bet.

I had seen their eyes which had started to shine at the hearing of this word. Rick rubbed his hands together while Seb and Don touched their chins.

Eddy: What made you decide?

Me: Nothing special, I thought it must be a great experience.

Sébastien: (grabbing me by the shoulders) That's my guy. There I recognize you, always ready for challenges.

Me: But I have conditions.

Them: which ones?

Me: First of all this story must stay between us. No one else at any time, even after this challenge, should learn of it.

Them: No problem.

Me: Second, I want 1 million instead of 500 miles.

Rick: What? 1 million?

Me: Take it or leave it.

Rick: Hmm.

Sebastian: We take. 1 million. 250 miles each.

Rick: But then we want concrete evidence of you doing it.

Me: (smiling) You will have your proofs.

Rick: Okay.

Sebastian: That's it?

Me no. I would need a lot more time to achieve this. Looking at the task, I can't do it in two weeks, I want to be realistic.

Donnel: How long are we talking about?

Me: Let's say three months.

Them: three months?

I do. Until the Easter holidays.

Sebastian: Alright.

Rick: But not another day. So if the Easter holidays arrive and end without you having put him to bed, we consider that you will have lost.

I do.

Rick: And it will be up to you to give us 1 million.

Me: Without fail.

Them: Okay.

Me: On the other hand, I will have to get away from you during this period.

Them: (frowning) That is to say?

Me: You will understand later. So do we have a deal?

Them: We have a deal.

Sébastien: (smiling) A Tiger is not a rag.

Rick/Donnel/Eddy: NEVER GOOD NEVER CAN BE.

Me: (smiling while moving his head from side to side) sure.

They had repeated a phrase that was often used in the face of challenges that were considered to be of great magnitude. I lifted my head in one direction and my gaze met Myrna's. We stared at each other for a moment before she turned hers away and responded to the questioning from her friend who was in first B.

Me: (In my head) Short, short little butterfly, the countdown is on for you, by four mornings, you will be moaning in my arms as true as I am a Tiger, the only and the true...