Nigel was a hater, plain and simple. He hated a lot of things that was ongoing in his life: his job (the fact that he felt cheated almost every day by his supervisor), the government (that they had to be into his pocket on taxes and interest rates), his apartment (God, I swear if that fucking landlord stops by my doorstep one more time to ask about when I'm going to fork up the money for this month's rent, I'm going to pop him one), his brother (for winning a state lottery last month and taking his wife and kids off to live it large in Hawaii and never once bothering to enquire how he, his older brother, was faring) ... he as well hated his sex life which had practically gone to shit since he discovered online porn.
Tell the truth, there were a million and one things that Nigel despised ... but for the moment, none bore much spite from him than the interracial porn, or anything related towards that line of things. How many times had he grimaced when walking back home from work and seeing a white girl locked in the arms of a black man? Although he wasn't -- or rather he never considered himself racist -- but that was for a psychologist to decide and not you, dear reader.
Although he detested any porn that had anything to do with interracial sex, he couldn't help visiting such online sites that catered to such. The better just to heckle other online visitors there for his own selfish amusement. Lately he'd gotten himself fixated on perusing such sites like Literotica.com where he could spend much of his spare time reading up erotic stories and in then end leave some belittling -- often derogatory remark -- at whatever story he'd read. He was reading one of such stories one Sunday morning when his girlfriend Mika came out of the shower, finished drying herself up and then began putting on her clothes. Nigel had his eyes glued to what he was reading and it wasn't until she called out his name that he realised he wasn't the only one in the room.
"Huh? What's up, girl?"
"I said that I'm about taking off."
"Oh ... yeah, sure ... of course ... hey Mika, come to a look at this."
Mika went to him grudgingly. She knew already what it was he wanted her to see, and she could do nothing but sigh inward. The last thing she wanted was have another ensuing argument with Nigel. Yes, they had made love a while ago -- nothing too spectacular about it, but reassuring -- and she'd hoped to make her leave with nothing to make the day any worse. And now this.
"What is it, Nigel?" she asked, leaning over his shoulder as he pointed at the monitor screen at the page he wanted her to see.
"Check this out. This so-called asshole -- I don't know who he is, but I know he's black -- he's posted some new interracial story again. This one's about some black dude banging his boss's wife. Could you believe this shit?"
Mika couldn't help but shrug. "So it's a story as you say it is. What could be harmful about that?"
"You're missing the point, Mika. It's a story alright, but the premise is stupid ... outright silly. When was the last time you ever heard of a white boss's wife sleeping with a black man who works under him?" Nigel's voice climbed a notch higher. "And asides from that, why does this asshole --whoever he is -- have to keep writing this same type of stories? I don't see him writing something about a white-collar white boy fucking his black boss's wife. That would make for a good story, wouldn't you agree?"
Mika was having a headache just standing there swallowing his diatribe. She could never understand whatever it was that drove him to be like this, and she knew it was only a matter of time before he exploded on her. Maybe not today, but who knows what's in store for her tomorrow. In other for peace to reign, she could do nothing but pretend to agree with him.
"Whatever you say, Nigel. I have to go."
Mika hurried out of the room and from there out of the apartment before he had the chance to stop her. Even as she slammed his apartment's door behind her back, she could still hear him clearly, plying curses at whosever write-up he was reading.
"What's up, Mika?"
She snapped out of her daydreaming abruptly at the sound of the friendly voice behind her shoulder. It was Cameron who worked in a similar cubicle like hers though his was located down the lengthy corridor of their office space. At the moment they were in the midst of their lunch break and were down at the cafeteria with trays in hand, following the line of fellow white-collar workers that led to the buffet table.
"Oh, hi Cameron," she pushed a lock of dark hair off her face. "I didn't notice you were the one standing behind me."
"Probably because you had something nudging your mind. Care to talk about it?"
"I would, though I doubt if you'd understand ... it's a ... private matter."
"Sure, I understand."
She filled her tray up with edibles and went in search of a lone table. She was almost through with her meal when the thoughts of her daydream came back to haunt her and all of a sudden she couldn't take another spoon of her cub cake. She glanced around the cafeteria and spotted Cameron seated at a lone table, sipping a cup of coffee while staring out the window. She picked up her tray and went over to join him.
"I'm sorry about what I said to you earlier," she said.
"Wasn't anything wrong with whatever it was that you said. Just looked like you had a lot on your mind back then."
"Yeah, I really do. But like I said, it's private -- well, actually it's about my boyfriend."
"Hey, you know you don't need to say anything if you don't want to," Cameron reminded her.
"Yeah, I know. I just need someone else's opinion on things that's been going on between us. I figure you're the only one around I could really talk it out with. Though you'd have to promise not to let anyone else hear of it, okay?"
"I'm never a tattler, Mika. I promise. What's bugging you?"
She swallowed before starting. "It's my boyfriend, Nigel. For the past couple of months he's been acting a bit weird, uncomfortable for me. At first I figured it would ride out, you know. But of late ... things have been getting pretty worse and I just don't know what to do about it. I don't know if it's me ... or if it's something else."
For the next thirty-plus minutes, Mika rambled to her friend and colleague about the problems she'd been having with her boyfriend. She was so into her tale, she barely noticed the slight change of awareness that lit up her colleague's face when she began talking about the way he had reacted yesterday while reading the erotic interracial story in the computer. It was at that moment that Cameron's hand touched hers, making her stop.
