Free I Broke My Heart by Addie Warren

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 1
     
     
     
    Since the breakup, I found myself like many single wo m en, without the comforts of a man in my life.   To put it plainly, I had not had sex in five months. Normally, being who I am, it wouldn’t have bothered me. However, as I left my office today, I overheard my colleagues discus s ing how sex could help in managing their stress. I had been a physiologist for five years, and the fact that sex could help in dealing with stress should not have su r prised me. However, when I thought of sex, I thought only of what the body undergoes in the process. Te m perature begins to rise, respiration becomes rapid, a r teries constrict, muscle tense, heart rate and blood pressure accelerates and if it wasn’t that sex is fun and necessary for continuity of life, the thought of what the body undergoes would be enough to discourage me from sex.
                  In the parking lot outside of my workplace, I cranked the key in the ignition to start my car and then pulled out into the street. As I drove, I couldn’t take my mind off the thought that had occupied my mind since I left office. I began to think that maybe I was truly stressed because my sex life wasn’t that great. Since my college days, I had spent most of my time studying and when I was not studying, I was busy working in the l a boratory. My undergrad experience in research and laboratory work got me a job at Taolab biopharmaceut i cals. Ever since I took the job, my life had not been much different from when I was in college. My life was still the same boring routine of studying and conducting biolog i cal researches.
                  In this past month, I was beginning to hate my life and mostly my job. It was boring and it was begi n ning to suck me into a thick fog of loneliness and d e pression. In fact, I didn’t even know how to have fun anymore. Besides that my job had taken fun out of me, it was stressful. Today was even more stressful than other days. After I completed my daily research, I had to pr e pare for the new supervisor that would be reporting for work the next day. I spent most of the day making sure everything was in place.
                  I yawned as I stopped at the traffic signal. After a hectic day, I was hungry and fatigued. At that point, I remembered that I didn’t have anything at home that could be prepared quickly for dinner, so I would have to pick up some groceries. Immediately, I made a turn and headed towards the nearest grocery store.
                  I pulled up at Wal-Mart parking lot and before I got out, my phone signaled that I had a text. It was a text from my friend, Max. Max was the only friend I had. He was also evidence that a man and woman could be close friends without any sexual relationship involved. He was my age and lived only few blocks away from me. We had a great platonic relationship.
                  I read his text message. It read; Hey Addie, dinner at my place tonight. Love, Max. I smiled, because I knew I wasn’t going to have dinner with him that night. Having dinner with Max during weekdays was a recipe for lat e ness to work the following morning. I quickly texted him back that I would not be coming.
                  After the text, I rushed into Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries. When I reached the checkout, I searched in my purse to find my wallet. It took me a long time to find the wallet because it was hiding in a corner in my big purse. When I finally found my wallet, I raised my face and my eyes fell on the young man at the checkout opposite of me. He was tall. In fact, without my high-heeled shoes, he was almost twice my height. The suit he was wearing fitted his height and it looked more expensive than any suit in my wardrobe. His horn-rimmed glasses, though stylish, made him look nerdy.
                  “Cash or card, Ma’am,” the impatient voice of the cashier