RELIEF:

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Arthur had a faraway look on his face, as he took a sip of his whiskey shot, letting the amber liquid run down his throat. He wanted a little break, after a busy day.

“What a look on your face, man,” Micah said by way of greeting, at the same time patting his shoulder.

He glared at the newcomer, then gestured for him to sit down next to him.

“It's all bullshit,” he replied, shaking his head, and placing the empty glass on the bar counter.

“What do you mean?” 

“When it's one thing, it's another,” Arthur shrugged. “Sometimes, even all together”

Micah motioned to the barman to pour him a drink and join his friend.

“What is it now?” He asked, before raising his drink and making a toast gesture.

“Women!” exclaimed Arthur. “Some are a walking complication, but for some strange reason, necessary.”

“All women?,” Micah questioned, motioning with his hands to put quotation marks, “Or are you referring to a specific woman? Because of that bad mood of yours, I take it you're referring to just one, am I wrong?”

Arthur took a deep breath, for he had known the Israeli since they were in high school, and their friendship was a brotherhood. Sometimes he was scared because he had a feeling that he knew more Micah knew about him than he did himself. 

 

“I mean Jen,” he cocked his head to the side as he answered, and put his hand behind his neck. “Sometimes I don't understand her, I just know that she doesn't seem to understand boundaries”.

“Congressman Anderson's wife, what does she want now?” His friend wanted to know in a sarcastic tone.

“She wants me to travel with her for eighteen days to Hawaii,” Arthur replied, giving her an angry look. “No right of refusal, regardless of what she thinks”.

“And where will she leave her husband?” Micah asked with a hint of mockery, waving his three-fingered hand at her.

“Obviously, she'll be there too.” He said dismissively, “That's why she's traveling”.

“That would be dangerous, in fact, it is reckless”.

“You’re absolutely right,” Arthur agreed.

“But Jennifer doesn't care about the trouble it can bring if we're seen together more than we should be. She just wants me to do what she says, which makes me think she wants to have control over me. She is piss off me”. 

Arthur was in a completely bad mood.

“How do you plan to get out of trouble?” Asked his friend.

“I don't know, Micah,” he shook his head in frustration.

Jennifer Anderson was a forty-five-year-old woman married to a congressman. They had met, by chance, more than four years ago at a charity gala where he was invited by one of her many friends. At the end of the event, he noticed that the couple was being attacked by criminals. Arthur intervened and had since become a friend of the influential government official, and her frequent lover.

At the time, Arthur worked for a construction company and had his own real estate firm. Thanks to that night his bank account, and his business had increased.

“I don't understand shit,” Micah took a sip of his drink. “If you don't know, who else would?”

How to explain to his confidence that in the last year, his relationship with Jennifer had gone downhill? Since she was demanding things from her that he couldn't give her, and that he flatly refused. In her mind, she could not visualize herself in a formal relationship like the one she wanted, much less living together. She was thinking about the possibility of divorcing Congressman Anderson.

Arthur made her change her mind when just reminded her that she couldn't give him the lifestyle she was used to. And that all her business depended on the man she had been unfaithful to.

However, the mature woman was pushing him more and more every day. Wanting to control him, and manipulating him. She threatened him if he did not do what she wanted. She was going to withdraw all his financial support, and that was a problem for Arthur. Because his last business deal was a disaster, he had bought some land to make his own project in the construction area, and it turned out that he had been swindled.

To his great regret, he had to ask Jennifer for financial help to get out of that issue. The woman did not refuse, but she made it a condition that he would become her lover. A little more than a year had passed since then. She made her husband take him into account for some projects, and that benefited him enormously. Arthur now had a small empire in construction.

“I've told her I can't,” Arthur replied dryly, “I have too much work to do to afford the luxury of forced vacation, and I'm not lying”.

“But we know this woman…” Micah said.  

“She doesn't understand refusals,” Arthur finished his friend's sentence.

At that moment they both looked to the sides and were distracted to see that there were more people in the place than usual. There was an atmosphere of glamour, of which neither had been aware when they arrived.

“Are there any special activities at the club tonight?” Micah asked the barman.

“Yes, it is the presentation of a new product,” replied the young man.

Arthur frowned, for it seemed a little out of character.

“But is it a private party or for the public?” He wanted to know.

“They are special clients, that company always takes the VIP area for their events,” the barman answered and shrugged, “They come here frequently”.

“Well, look there…” Micah mouthed at Arthur and put his hand on Arthur's shoulder.

Micah pointed out two girls, one shorter than the other. But at that moment it didn't matter the size, as they were both very pretty. However, that girl with her short stature lacked nothing. She had the curves that a woman should have, Arthur shook his head and then took another swig of his whiskey.

“You are incorrigible…” He said to his friend, laughing.

“Negative.” The Israeli clicked his teeth, “I am a lover of beautiful women”.

“So you don't say that you collect them”.