The shining star of Briarcliff, Sister Jude, known as the stern, diligent, exceedingly responsible and disciplined nun and head of the mental institution for criminally insane, always faced the black hearted circumstances of the life that had taught her as she was the student, whilst the life was actually playing the role of a teacher. Thanks to the adversities, she was being taught to less trust, constantly keep her wits about the others and the prejudices that might jab her.
As Jude canned triple times one of the riots who attempted to escape the façade though the guards were aware of the rebel, the patient still bended down on her hard wood desk, holding his dragged trousers, exposing his bare bum which was clothed in welts and ruddy tint. Signs of the whips damage. The patient, himself, wore a cunning, wicked smirk across his lips with each canning as she was sickly crazy over the middle aged pious woman, dirty talking to her whilst she overlooked him and was rather focused on punishing him rather than listening to his foul babbles. In the corner of his azure eyes he watched her by the way she grasped the wooden, lacquered cane that contacted his pale skin of his stark rear. He wasn't like the majority of the patients who flinched and yelped every time whenever they were punished by Jude. Even demonstrating hints of apprehension and turmoil. He discreetly enjoyed every time when he was in her office for retribution and earned it with whips.
When the blonde lifted up in swift motion her cane to assault the disobedient inmate's butt, she cautioned him, moments before the impending whip:
"Stanley, you should keep your mouth shut or even 40 whips wouldn't be enough for your rebellion."
"Oh come on, beautiful! I like by the way you whip." He spilled the tea impulsively, vulgarly. Stanley, himself, genuinely relished the moments whenever Jude was taunted and easily perceiving his taunts with ire, conquering her. "You should keep me for a bit longer there since it's your hobby to cane patients like me on your desk. Hm?" The younger man didn't halt with his scoffing as he truly beheld the strict sister of the church as beautiful, in spite of she scarcely believed and it was too oblivious for her, due to the fact it has been years since she was complimented about her looks. At least, she was cryptically flattered by addressing her beautiful, although she wasn't in mood to accept compliments at all especially from rattling inmates, mounting her nerves.
Stanley was a man in the beginning of his 30s with short dirty blond, shaggy hair, sly sapphire eyes and pale skin tone, layering his well-built, still appealing body. He was tall circa 6'1 and he was committed as a patient in Briarcliff less than 3 years, due to his lewdness, besides he used to be a drug dealer. What was driving him insane to bones was every time whenever he was sent in Sister Jude's office for punishment, he relished it instead of huffing and protesting like the rest of the inmates. He loved the sight of the exasperated nun with a cane in her hand and testing her patience. Furthermore, he was attracted to her not only physically, however, in peculiar way which she really can't put her finger on and was beyond disquiet. Fortunately, she didn't find him physically and sexually attractive as much as he did at all.
"I warned you, Stanley! One more dirty talk or taunt, and you will…" She menaced through clutched teeth, canning him without warning though he had expected it and he didn't flinch at all. Moreover, Jude was weary and it was almost in the end of the day. All she craved for was to finish with her whips and to have an extra, good night sleep to calm her mentality and physical vitality.
"Oh, sister! I didn't know how kinky you are and probably you used to be before to…" He was cut off by her when she leant forward as her face was barely an inch away from his, attempting to petrify him in unthinkable way to haunt him for the rest of his days.
"Stanley, I warned you! And you know what?" The blonde was about to resume her sentence until a door tap interrupted her and her hazel eyes glanced at the door, yelling plainly "Yes?"
In the interim, the security guard Frank stepped in her office as he looked down at Stanley and Jude as his sapphire blue eyes were crucially focused on Jude as their eyes met, rising from her desk as she commanded Stanley sternly, cold-bloodedly:
"Do not move, I will finish with you after a minute!" She approached the security guard with folded arms, unable to calm down. "Frank, I have an issue."
"What's it, Sistah Jude?" He questioned dryly and the oblivious circumstance to him was leaving Jude's office door askew opened.
"I think you should take care of this beloved rebel by taking him for a hydrotherapy and then in the solitary." She held the cane yet as she couldn't help as a mischievous smile looming on her face, turned to Stanley, glimpsing him with a scorching glare once again until she turned to Frank back. "I think the whips won't be an effective punishment not only for his attempt to escape, but also for his foul language he uses!" She furthered through a yawn as she clamped with a hand her mouth.
"Okay, Sistah! I will take care of him." In the meantime, the former cop walked up to Stanley as he grabbed him by his wrists, maneuvering him to rise up and guide him to the exit, incapable to escape the security guard's strong hands.
"Thank you, Frank! I truly appreciate it." The nun observed the scenery of Stanley being dragged off her office.
"No problem, Sister!"
Meanwhile, all of a sudden, Timothy emerged in the left part of the doorframe, witnessing how the security guard was dragging off Stanley as his bewildered chocolate eyes were darted to the both men until they exited the nun's office.
"Don't worry, beautiful! Sooner or later, I will be in your office for these hot whips again." Stanley clarified as Timothy's and Jude's faces were all flushed in sanguine hue, bathed in embarrassment and turmoil.
Once Stanley was out of Jude's office as Timothy stood dumbfounded and paralyzed on the doorframe, he refrained to demonstrate more evidential reactions and mimics.
Hence, Jude's hazel orbs were fixed on Timothy as she walked up back to her desk, gesturing the priest to enter in her office and left the cane onto her scarcely adorned desk:
"Don't worry, Monsignor! A lunatic just like the other lunatics."
In this moment, he made his own way to her office, stepping in as he shut the door, greeting her politely:
"Hello, Sister!"
"Oh hello, Timothy! I would like to apologize for this scenery but…" Under the scenery, she meant when Stanley addressed her twice beautiful in remorseless way as her mischievous smile vanished, being replaced with a demure, feminine one, formed on her lips.
"It's alright, Sister! It's important the business is took care off since it's up to you if the whips weren't eventually a solution for his behavior." In the meantime, the holy woman gestured Timothy to take a seat without peeling a word as she revered him as a respected man of the clergy and in general.
"I ordered Frank to take him to the hydrotherapy and therefore in the solitary for what he did."
"Good! Hmm," He paused as initially Jude presupposed he will question her what Stanley has specifically done after he knew right away he tried to escape though the guards were excellently organized. "Sister, I came up there because…" The bashful member of the clergy stuttered as he couldn't sort his mind what directly to say to her as he was promptly aware she will react astounded by his madcap suggestion which he will pose as a question in a matter of seconds. His heart raced, subsequently throbbing heavily in his chest as the intension escalated between the both pious members of the church. "…do you remember our dream?" He opted to readily shift from one topic to another as he didn't want to be drastic.
"Rome?" She said through a little, encouraged smile, shaped on her lips.
"Exactly! The Mother Superior and the Pope!" He stated in velvety voice as he was encouraged to keep on with his utterance due to Jude's smile.
"Timothy, I am just only Jude or Judy. Don't call me Sister anymore, if you don't mind." She retorted, trying to not being brash in her exclaimation.
"As you insist, Jude!" He responded enthusiastically as she couldn't oppress a growing smile in the corner of her lips, saturating her smugness. "As much as the Rome miracle offers us glory and honor, I think…this won't utterly satisfy us, I mean…something chimes me to take different direction in the life."
"Oh!" She cried as she sighed frustrated, moistness pooling her eyelids as she couldn't suppress it, sensing the heartache that enveloped her brittle, loving, warm heart. Jude concluded with the circumstance that Timothy will leave her to work in a mental hospital, crowded with lunatics, whereas he is living peacefully somewhere in the countryside. "Are you planning to resign off the church? Is that your actual plan, Timothy?" She kept on though she abstained from weeping, placing her hands on her desk in uneasiness.
"Not only that since I have a special companion to share the miracle of having a family and live happily after."
The emphasized words special companion sent her in the netherworld as her smile faded on her face, reflecting her grotesque distress and desperation as she was eager to know who was this partner he mentioned and she felt even heartbroken he might have found younger, more beautiful woman next to her and prefer her over his right hand, who sacrificed and would sacrifice everything to please him as she cooked scrumptious dinners for him and they had a platonic, professional dinners once a week, besides at last but not least, she helped him to progress with his dream to achieve it with his success. Their age gap wasn't dividing them with more than a decade as she was a decade his an addition, little did she know what to expect as a response from him in this moment. The blonde was beyond staggered.
"Might I know…who's this special companion of yours with whom you would want to spend the rest of your days out of the church?"
"Oh Jude!" The younger priest gasped as Jude arched an eyebrow, awaiting for his reply at last. "It's nobody else than you. You know I haven't occasionally chosen you as my right hand." She nodded, utterly paying attention to his words as a broad, radiant smile bloomed on her plump, rosy-coloured lips. "You are my rare bird! You care about me and you cook for me, and you helped me a lot to reach up to here with the divine dream. I know you love me but you are hiding it and it's obvious what are you actually feeling for me."
The words that Timothy arrowed her were like cupid arrows, aimed to her heart as it bled pink blood of her fragile heart. She appreciated him and his concept of fleeing along extremely soon though it was just too abrupt and unexpected adventure for her. It was true she loved him because he loved her deeply too. Gratitude, warmness and glee oozed from her hazel irises, goggled into his chocolate ones.
"As you know already me how much I love you and I have concealed these feelings and emotions, due to the abstinence, but I would like to know since when you are like that…you know what I do mean actually."
"Jude, it's such a difficult question! Not because of my goal to be one of the most powerful and influential Anglo-American priests unwed, childless and yearning for power and glory. It's because I know how miserable I would be and I will regret for never being happy but being possessive and revered Pope. My worldview has rapidly changed and I don't think the power will make me happy as much as becoming a family man." He commenced with his monologue as his hands reached up for hers, taking her petite, surprisingly warm, frail in his larger, smooth, his thumbs kneading her pinkies, looking up directly into her eyes. "The reasons why I emigrated there are several: the war, the mesmerizing land that God created, the nature and the freedom."
She nodded her head, affirming his words as she didn't peel a word, sensing shivers down her body of sweetness, pleasure and comfort.
"And do you know what? There will be neither a Pope, nor a Cardinal from the both home countries. I am proposing you to marry me and become my wife, and come with me in the cottage with a handful of acres land in Pennsylvania."
Jude couldn't contain heated cheeks under her blushed complexion, sensing discomfort to question him though her plucked up courage right away, considering it immediately:
"Timothy, have you ever wanted to have children?" The suddenness of his proposal jolted her like a lighting bolt. It couldn't be even more painful if she questions about the children.
"Oh, Jude! I have never thought of having children until I met you and realized you are the ideal woman for me. I mean," He paused as he exhaled sharply. "I can imagine you as a wonderful and loving mother to our children." Then he casted a scrutinizing look at her face, recognizing something urgently gnawing her. "Is there anything wrong?"
"I doubt it you would want to stay with me for eternity if you find out what's the reason." She swallowed a lump. "I can't give you the children I really want to have with you. I am sterile." She confessed the ugly truth as she couldn't handle the soreness of the painful proposal anymore, crystal, icy tears started to well in her eyes, tumbling down her soft cheeks. "Go find somebody else who's able to give you children."
"Shu, shu, shu, Judy," He removed one of his hands as it managed up to her face, wiping her bitter tears of her gorgeous face. He admired her grace even if she was dressed up in conservative, clerical wool attires. "Do not say that! Of course, I want you no matter if are sterile or fertile. We will find an alternative and one day any child might come in our life." He opted to reassure her as he was being optimistic in his reply.
"Let's not forget, we have never dated. We have never kissed. We have always been friends even colleagues."
"Jude, it's doesn't matter because you are perfect to me and that's why I want to resign from the church, and marry you, and live together in our cottage. All I want is your smile on your face and your happiness to flow from you, encompassing you as a rainbow aura." Meantime, he wiped the last tears that gushed down her face as she stopped to cry, besides her heart molted after hearing his words as he was more than determined to leave the church in a matter of hours with her and go in Pennsylvania, where he owned a lovely cottage. Further, the nun, herself, was being profoundly touched when he said our cottage, truly meaning their nest and her home. What made her even more excited was about the children's idea of having them some day in peculiar way though the abysmal, plaguing heartache she felt whenever she thinks about this afflictive question.
Timothy felt bad for Jude when she admitted she's sterile and couldn't deliver him a baby, besides he would adore the concept if whether they had a daughter with her adorable hazel eyes or a son with her precious smile, embellishing his face.
"Tomorrow morning I will wait for you in seven-thirty in the morning!" He declared formally as she couldn't help smiling broadly, charmingly. It aroused her impatience until the morning after when she will pack her luggage in her suitcase and release herself from the moldy, rigid wimple and habit of the church in which she was dressed up for the last decade a half period of time.