Chapter 6
It was during the following morning of business at 9:30 am that the phone started to ring. There were no customers present within the store at the time of the phone call, prompting both Sable and Mabel to turn towards its chime.
"I'd better answer that" Sable said, shutting off her sewing machine to walk to the phone. She was still feeling glum, but sewing always made her feel better. Her mood was now mixed, and was about to dip once more. Upon picking up the phone, Mabel watched her sister's face with intent.
"Hello, Able Sisters store, how can I help you?" Sable asked. Mabel felt her heart seize as she saw her sister's pretty face sink into a depression. She knew exactly who was on the phone.
"Give me a second" she replied, putting her hand to the receiver. Morosely, she nodded her head, confirming the man on the other side of the phone. Detaching the receiver (it was a wireless phone they had), she took it upstairs. Once safely in her room with all doors closed, she cleared her voice.
"What do you want, Mark?" Sable said, her voice spiked with anger.
"I want to talk about your boyfriend" Mark said bluntly. "Who is he?"
"Why do you want to know?" Sable retorted.
"Because as your previous love, I should be entitled to know who has taken my sweet lady's arm in my place, yeah?" Mark explained, a hint of annoyance floating in his voice.
"I….I don't feel I should tell you" Sable decided. "Squandering his trust like this…it just isn't right"
"So…you're not going to tell me?" Mark asked.
"No" Sable replied defiantly. There was a large sigh on the other side of the receiver.
"Sabe, have you completely forgotten?" Mark asked strongly. "I know a lot of things about you babe, and when I mean a lot, I mean a lot"
"You…you can't blackmail me like this!" Sable yelled suddenly. "I-I'll have the police on you, just like that!"
"You won't be able to record this conversation: I had one of the technicians at the lumberjack firm, who is also my friend, to tweak my phone accordingly so no calls can be recorded from it. Also, you have no cameras at your shop. Therefore, no proof of blackmail" Mark explained. "Besides, I don't want to know everything, just the identity of the man you're dating"
"…Why…*sniff*…why are you doing this to me?" Sable sobbed, breaking out into tears.
"Because I love you, Sabe" Mark said in a hushed voice.
"Well, I don't love you!" Sable shouted back, unawares that there might have been a customer downstairs. "Just leave me alone, okay? Find someone else to bother!"
"Not until I know who you're in a relationship with" Mark demanded. "Don't push me"
Sable wiped her tears in defeat; there was no way out of this. If she hung up on him or refused his request, he would surely tear her reputation to pieces. Her life would never be the same again.
"…His name is Tom Nook" she whimpered in loss.
"Tom Nook?" Mark hummed. "Haven't heard of him"
Sable felt a little relief bubble inside of her; thank the heavens he didn't know. But before she could hang up…
"Wait!" Mark yelped suddenly. "Nook…where have I heard that before? It sounds…really familiar…"
Sable's heart started to beat in fear; how did he recognize the name? Had he entered Nookington's at some point?
"That shop I bought the axe in…"
Yep. He had been.
"It was called Nookington's, right?" Mark asked.
Sable didn't answer. She could tell by the sounds of his sharp breathing that he had figured out who Tom Nook was.
"…No, not him!" Mark exclaimed. "Please, please don't tell me you're in a relationship with that raccoon!"
"I am, Mark, I am!" Sable revealed loudly.
"But…how can he be better for you than I am?" Mark asked, almost laughing at the image of Sable and Tom Nook.
"He was my first true love Mark…" Sable explained. "We grew up together, and he left for the city after high school"
"Because he doesn't truly love you, isn't it?" Mark insinuated.
"You don't know a thing" Sable spat.
"Well, thanks babe, for telling me about him" Mark thanked. "Still, you will be back with me. I just can't go on without you, you know that?"
"Stop trying to be sweet, Mark" Sable cursed. "You've been pathetic enough as it is, chasing me and stalking me like this. Why can't you just let it go? I know that…well, that incident happened between us…but you've proven to me that we're just not a good match for each other. You ended up in jail, for Pete's sake!"
There was another silence. Sable started to fear a little; the last time Mark had fallen into a silence, he had managed to say something to bring Sable down again from her small victory. She could hear an impatient silence on the other side of the receiver, something bad was about to happen, she thought.
"…Sable, I didn't really want to say this, but…" Mark grunted. "…it looks like I have remind you, again. What do you think Tom boy will do when he hears about that little incident, hm?"
Sable knew this was coming. She silently cursed to herself, trying to hold back her tears.
"This…this isn't fair" she stuttered, trying to get some sense into Mark. But he wouldn't have any of it.
"I miss you and I want you back" Mark stated. "I'm gonna give you until the end of the week; that's three days; to leave Tom and come back to me"
"No!" Sable yelled. "I won't leave him for you! You're…what do you hope to gain, anyway? I'll never love you; you'd never get the love that you want! Face it, we're through, and always will be!"
Suddenly, Sable clicked onto a new sound through the receiver. It was the sound of chuckling, which quickly broke into a suppressed laughter. It was absolutely confusing; what was so funny about being rejected?
After his laughing had ceased, Mark continued to talk.
"Oh, Sable, that was funny" he said, holding his laughter back. "It's not just your love that I want. It's you as well. Love's only a fragment of it"
The insinuation turned Sable sickly within. She could only manage a stutter.
"Y-You…you s-s-sick, cruel…." she uttered.
"Three days, today included" Mark stated once more, hitting the point home. "Leave Tom Nook and come to me. If you haven't done that by the three days, then I'll just go on ahead and exercise my freedom of speech. Or even better, you can tell him all the ins and outs of our past. As a reward, I'll be nicer to you. How about that?" he asked deviously. He didn't get an answer, for Sable disconnected the call at once, throwing the receiver against the wall and collapsing onto her bed in tears. At once, the sound of rushing came from below, and Mabel burst into the room, panicking.
"What was that noise?" she yelled as she rushed into the room. She caught sight of Sable and gasped, quickly moving to her side and gently hoisting her crying sister into her arms.
"Sable, oh Sable, what is he doing to you?" Mabel groaned in despair as she looked in her sister's eyes. She quickly dried them, trying her best to console her sister. Her eyes were red and her sobbing was erratic.
"M-Mabel…" she stuttered between sobs. "He…h-he's got me"
"No" Mabel consoled, rubbing her sister's arms. "There's no such thing"
"B-But…" Sable continued. "…He's given me three days to leave Tom…or otherwise he's going to tell him all about the things we've done…including that…"
"Surely he can't do that to you?" Mabel argued, trying her best to lift her broken sister's spirits. "We should call the police on this"
"It won't work…" Sable sighed.
"But why?" Mabel continued, becoming exasperated.
"He told me…I had no evidence"
"You mean you can't record the conversation?" Mabel asked in disbelief. "I know our phone can't do that, but can his?"
"He tampered with it so it wouldn't work" Sable explained, slowly calming down "He also mentioned the lack of cameras in the area. He's really thought it out"
"That creep" Mabel spat. "I don't get it, either. Why is he doing this to try and win you back? It's not as you've got no choice but to re enter a relationship with him. If he thinks that, then he's a complete idiot!"
"I-I know…" Sable uttered. "He's…a bit of an emotional sadist. I think he's more into the idea of hurting me as much as possible rather than actually being in a relationship with me. He really hates my guts because of what happened. Even though I'd like to think it was his fault, he won't let me believe that"
"He's just emotionally torturing you while he can" Mabel suggested. "He doesn't love you at all. He just loves watching you cry"
"I'm…I'm going to have to talk with Tom Nook" Sable decided.
"Are you sure you can do this?" Mabel asked, holding her sister's shoulders reassuringly. Sable nodded her head slowly, drying her eyes.
"I have to" she said firmly. "It's the only way"
"Are you going to tell him…everything?" Mabel asked.
"…No" Sable replied. "Only the relationship. He doesn't need to know the details…yet. Maybe some day, when I'm old and grey, I'll tell him. But not now. Not when he's doing well with his life after such a hard time"
Mabel stood up from the bed, rubbing Sable's hand softly.
"I'll go downstairs and tend to the store. You can stay up here and rest if you want to" she asked.
"I'll be down in a minute" Sable replied quickly. "Let…let me just get my bearings back together"
Mabel nodded in response, casting one more glance at Sable before moving back downstairs to continue with business. It would be a full half an hour before Sable would join her sister downstairs, shivering with the impending task laid upon her. She decided to talk to Tom Nook the following day, as soon as their stores closed…