Thomas followed behind Arielle and proposed, “Let’s go together. Since we have already run into each other, let’s have some fun.”
Arielle nodded as she laughed, “Why not? I would have suspected you to be some sophisticated kidnapper luring an innocent victim, but you have already spent more than I am worth. Besides, you look too much like old money to be a kidnapper.”
Thomas was surprised at her words, “Hey, I should be the cautious one here. What if you are here to steal my genes and my property?”
Arielle chuckled at his joke, “Well, I almost succeeded at the first one.”
She added, after some consideration, “Let me cancel my hotel reservations.”
“It would be a waste if I don’t enjoy a Presidential suite for free.” She added cheekily.
Thomas was amused at her self-invitation, “Be my guest! I would love to have you on board, and you have my permission to try and steal my genes throughout the vacation.”
He winked at her, which made her roll her eyes.
Arielle only said, “You already lost your chance, mister.” as she walked away to make a phone call.
Thomas could not hear the contents clearly, but the vague words made it clear that she was indeed canceling her hotel reservations.
It seemed she was there for three days.
Thomas was there for five. He would only have three days with her.
Thomas and Arielle bantered casually on their way to his hotel room.
They freshened up in separate rooms and took a nap together, lying in the same bed and talking about random things.
Arielle had more knowledge of that city as one of her colleagues had stayed there for two months, so she showed him around per her itinerary.
On the third day, they unexpectedly found themselves in the bathtub together - drunk, happy, horny.
More importantly, they were covered with sand and sweat as they had played like kids at the beach while sipping cocktails the entire day.
The cold shower woke them up slightly, but it was not enough to drown their lust.
Thomas was the first to sober up enough to reconfirm that they were both ready, “Are you sure you want to steal my genes?”
Arielle had the best three days of her life with him. She was happy to lose her virginity to the stranger she genuinely liked. She had never taken it seriously, but this was much better.
“Maybe not the genes but the feeling of it.” She slurred as she rubbed herself close.
Thomas understood her, and the rest of the night followed naturally.
Arielle had never experienced such a feeling of euphoria before. Knowing that it was her first time, he was gentle and patient.
However, the second time, he pushed her over the edge repeatedly and tested her limits until she was screaming at his pace, unable to keep up, unwilling to stop.
The next day, Thomas had to wake Arielle up as she was too spent to hear her alarm.
“Hey, it’s your flight time. Do you want to get up?” Thomas asked gently, caressing her softly.
“Hmm!” Arielle only moaned without opening her eyes.
Thomas went back to sleep as he was too exhausted himself. He was barely awake at the alarm, and it hardly took him half a minute to go back to sleep.
Arielle, however, came to her senses a few minutes after Thomas had called her out.
She rushed out of bed, not wanting to miss her flight, only to fall back owing to her weak legs.
Thomas woke up late in the afternoon to an empty bed, which made him frown involuntarily.
He freshened up and took a quick shower before his head cleared enough to think about what had happened the night before.
He scanned the room to see that all traces of her being there were gone, except for the messy bed, torn condom wrapping, and tissues.
He spotted a note attached to the mirror that read -
“Have a flight to catch. I didn’t want to wake you up from your slumber. I am sleepwalking myself.
Thank you for everything during these days. I would have never imagined stealing someone’s genes would feel this good.
See you when I see you!”
Thomas knew she was not the type who altered her plans or life for a man she barely knew. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked her.
But she was already gone, and he knew absolutely nothing about her, so he could only lock the beautiful memories away before going about his day.
**A Few Days later**
Thomas was on a cruise, scheduled to tour around two cities for three days before retiring. It was the last itinerary on his vacation. He would head back to work and his monotonous life after that.
He was lying on a deck, sipping fine wine but not enjoying it. He missed the green-eyed beauty a little too much for his comfort.
He thought he must be hallucinating when he heard a familiar voice, “you have got to be kidding me.”
Arielle was flying kites aboard a ship when a strong wind blew her kite away, and it got stuck to the topmost deck.
She followed it, but before she could reach it, she spied a familiar figure.
Changing her course, she made her way to the deck where she saw the man who had accompanied her for one-fourth of her vacation and made every moment worthwhile.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Arielle could not help but exclaim.
“Fancy seeing you here, Miss Thief!” Thomas was pleasantly surprised.
He thought fate was trying hard to bind them together.
“Let me guess! You had your itinerary set by the Paradise Wanderers. You took their premium package and got yourself a personal guide. The guide set an exclusive itinerary for you for a pretty price,” Arielle had figured out why there were so many coincidences on their vacation.
“I guess you ran into some people we have run into before, huh?” Thomas asked.
“I met a couple who asked me to take their pictures together. I met them in three different places. Then I figured it was not that much of a coincidence between us.” She answered in amusement.
“Where were you running off to?” Thomas asked.
“Oh! My kite!” Arielle exclaimed as she ran away.
Thomas followed her, and they spent the rest of the day flying kites and doing water sports together.
They ended up spending the entire trip together. Playing, feasting, drinking, fucking, and enjoying every moment to the fullest.
They both had an odd feeling like they were a couple on their honeymoon but shook off their thoughts.
They were both old enough to differentiate between a fling and romance. It was former, as fantastic as it was.
And it was so wonderful and relaxing, probably, because it was a fling with no strings attached.
Arielle and Thomas had parted ways for the last time - saying goodbyes and thanking each other for making their vacation special. During the time they had spent together, they had felt extremely comfortable with each other. Whether it was doing things they liked or talking about their past, dreams, fears, or taboos; while eating and drinking; or in bed - they seemed to be intensely compatible. At the same time, they were very much like each other in that neither wanted to intrude upon another’s private space or was fantastical enough to assume something could be permanent between them. They both felt they would be their most memorable dream, but just a dream and not reality, nonetheless. After returning to their own life, neither had thought about the other. **Two months later** Arielle headed to the headquarters of Payne Group of Industries, PGI. She was poached by PGI rather handsomely. Mr. Douglas, the HR manager, helped her complete the formalities and introduced her to eve
Arielle stood on the balcony of the ballroom. Payne Group (PGI) had hosted a Welcome dinner for her, which was more like an unofficial banquet given the number of people who had attended. It had been a week since she had joined PGI and settled in her new apartment. Things were looking great so far. Arielle had been worried Thomas might leak out something about their private lives, but he had been nothing but strictly professional, which had helped her relax and ease into her role effortlessly. This so-called gathering, however, was not something she fancied. She had always kept a low profile and let her work do the talking. Being bad at office politics and not normal enough to make easy friends nor having enough time to socialize, she kept everyone at a distance with a cold face. But PGI had organized this gathering to let their employees know that she was a specially recruited person with high status. It was Thomas’s way of showing his favor. She could not fault Thomas for this
**One month later** Arielle woke up late. She had slept past 3 am after completing the report she wanted to discuss with Thomas that day. It was Friday, and she wanted to get some things out of the way before she could relax for the weekend. Arielle had the unhealthy habit of being too engrossed in her work and forgetting about her health and everything else. The more work there was, the more she would work off on adrenaline, making herself extremely tired by the end of each grueling project. She shut her eyes as she leaned in the elevator and yawned behind her palm. She was aware of the people looking at her wide-eyed as if she were an alien. Arielle could feel a few unfriendly gazes on her, but she ignored them. She had almost two decades of experience in ignoring hostile looks. However, what prompted her to open her eyes a crack was a feeling of someone stealing peeks at her as if she was a precious treasure, and they were afraid of disturbing her. She ignored that as well
**Three months later** Thomas and Arielle were living in their high. Their work was going exceedingly well. They were practically living together. No one knew of the secret fling. They were happy and content with each other. However, the company was in chaos. Arielle was good at her job. She had accurately flagged most of the employees hired through back-doors - using connections or due to sucking up to others, rather than their workability. She had, similarly, flagged troublesome projects likely to end up as a liability. There were a lot of peaceful and forced exits and contract breaches in the last three months. That led to a series of unrest among the employees. The internal stir and tense environment had Arielle and Thomas cracking their heads. It was evident that people were let go due to their incompetence. As such, people hired on merit and doing their work well need not have panicked, but unfortunately, that was not the case. Arielle suspected that someone could be
Arielle was leaning against the counter while her espresso brewed when Emma arrived. “You! Make me a cup of coffee!” Emma ordered Arielle like she would order her servants at home. For Emma, her employees were nothing better than her servants. Being the oldest child, the only child for the first five years, and the only girl in the family, she had been excessively spoiled. No one in her family corrected her attitude as it went from bad to worse as PGI flourished. Emma’s grandmother was the only one who would not tolerate her behavior, even with her husband speaking on behalf of the kids. Perhaps, Emma and Thomas had different personalities despite being siblings because of their grandmother. Thomas had stayed with his grandparents since he was young because he disagreed with his elder sister, which led to constant fights. Emma would avoid anyone in the family who tried to discipline or contradict her. Hence, Thomas lived with his Grandma rather than his parents. Arielle ignore
Seeing Sophia coming toward them, Arielle smiled at Thomas and said, “Go take a long piss or something!” Thomas was dumbfounded. “Excuse me!” Arielle said without changing her expression, “I see Sophia Green making her way here. Let me talk to her in private.” Thomas frowned but did not turn his head. He left after saying, “Whatever she says, don’t take it to heart. I will give you an explanation later.” Arielle frowned but nodded before he left. Arielle acted unconcerned and started playing with her phone as if she had not seen Sophia. “May I take this empty chair?” Sophia asked, emphasizing the word empty. Without waiting for a reply, she took Thomas’s chair and tea as if she was marking her territory. Arielle kept her phone aside and said coldly, “Miss Green, I have company as should have been evident by the teacup on the table and the coat hanging on the chair.” Sophia sneered aloud, “Miss Ward, why are you so hostile towards me? I am here to offer an olive branch.” Arie
**Three weeks later** Arielle had all the proof to sue both Emma and Sophia. When she was about to take action, Thomas’s mother, Emelia Payna, approached her. It derailed her plans. Emelia threatened to make her disappear if found entangling with Thomas, who was due to marry Sophia. Arielle waited for two weeks for an explanation from Thomas, but he did not say a word. Thomas merely explained that Sophia was the girlfriend he had at college, the one who had tried to use him without knowing his identity. Thomas had assured Arielle that he did not have any feelings for Sophia, he had not had any in years, and Sophia was nothing to him. But he could tell something was bothering Arielle. His worries came true when he arrived in her apartment to see candlelight dinner, wine, and a table full of his favorite dishes. “What’s wrong?” He asked straightaway. “It’s scary how well you know me,” Arielle laughed bitterly. “El, what is it?” He panicked. “Let’s break up!” She said, looki
**Two weeks later** The second last Monday of Arielle’s contracted time in PGI proved to be a difficult one. Emma and Sophia had managed to collate some ‘evidence’ against Arielle and were determined to push her to the abyss. As soon as lunch break started, the main LCDs on the reception hall and the cafeteria blew up. A video, composed of a few small clips strung together, was played in a loop. Emma and Arielle were having an altercation in the break room that ended with Emma dumping hot coffee on Arielle. Arielle left the office without informing anyone. Since there was no audio, people only saw Arielle ignoring Emma and being disrespectful. Emma was, after all, a Payne, former CEO of PGI, and current Managing Director. Arielle was just a specially recruited contracted employee. Worse still, she seemed to be dating the CEO, sleeping her way to the top. The next video showed Sophia apologizing and begging Arielle while the latter only had a disdainful, indifferent expression
**6 months later** John dropped Brenda off at the police station and returned to Thomas and Arielle’s. Everyone was waiting for him except Brenda, Rick, and the kids. “Ideas, guys, ideas! How should I propose to her?” John paced back and forth. “I have no clue, buddy. I told Rick that my parents said getting married on Friday brings good luck. We registered two days later, on Friday.” Joe shrugged. “Most lame-ass proposal ever!” John looked at him in disdain. “Mat did not even ask me. He asked Belle to pick the wedding theme for us and plan for the winter wedding. We were at the dinner table, she squealed, and that was that. Damn! I got tricked.” Arabella said. John was at a loss, “Yes, you got cheated. And you are not helpful!” He looked at Thomas; the latter just shrugged. Arielle had a thoughtful look on her face. She caressed her pregnant belly and said, “Baby, your father has never proposed to me.” And she started crying. Thomas caressed and coaxed her while shooting a gl
Thomas decided not to overthink things and enjoy his wife’s enthusiasm. He told others they were taking an impromptu vacation for a week. Their friends did not even have to think to know that they were going on a honeymoon. Everyone knew that they had started to plan for their last baby, and what better way to make another human than to do it like bunnies. When Adrian came from school, Thomas told him that he and his mother would be going away for a week to make him another sibling. Adrian was ecstatic and ran off to Joe and Rick’s place without looking for his mother. Moreover, he shouted it at the top of his lungs for everyone else to hear. Thomas fed Arielle some food in her sleep, and she obediently ate after he alternated every bite with a kiss. He drove her to a port from where they would take a boat to an island where he had booked a small villa with a private beach. Arielle woke up when they were boarding. It had a private cabin and a person who was ferrying them to th
**One year later** Arielle pushed Thomas away when they were making out and dashed to the bathroom. It was a peculiar sight in the bathroom. Arielle was crouching down naked on the toilet and throwing her guts out. Thomas, also naked, was still sporting a boner as he rubbed her back and held her hair back. “Oh, God! I feel like I am dying,” Arielle cried after a while. Thomas pulled her to his chest, his boner gone by then. He lifted her and made his way to the shower as he rubbed her head and back soothingly under the warm shower. They brushed their teeth and went back to bed. Thomas spooned her and kept caressing her until her breathing evened out. Arielle had started throwing up in the morning. It was probably due to the cold pizza that she could not resist. The entire day she had felt funny in the stomach due to acidity and had been in a bad mood. Thomas had forced her to have some bland porridge to settle her stomach at dinner. Thomas wondered if she was pregnant. He
By the time Arielle and Thomas returned home, it was already 4 hours later. They did not offer any explanation. But the glow on Arielle’s face and the satisfied smirk on Thomas’s were self-explanatory. “You ruined my date to screw your wife. You have a big house; you could have done that anytime.” John grumbled under his breath. Having been friends with Thomas for over a decade, despite working for him for eight odd years, they shared a good rapport, even though it could not compare to that between Thomas and Mathew, who had been friends since diapers. Brenda heard him and laughed but did not comment on it. “She is sleeping now. I think John and I will get going now. I will come some other day to eat garlic shrimp.” She said to Arielle before she started tidying herself. “I would ask you to stay back, but we have not even started prepping for dinner. We will probably end up with takeouts now. You guys have fun. Call me next time you have time off, and I will cook you a feast.” A
“You are so absorbed in thought,” Thomas remarked. “I feel like these few years have gone by too fast. Not that I am complaining. These were the best years of my life. I have never been this happy before. It’s just sometimes it’s too overwhelming.” Arielle explained as she hooked her arms around his neck. “Do you want to go somewhere just you, me, and Adrian? To relax and have your me time.” Thomas asked as he picked her up by the waist. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he started to walk to the bed. “That sounds like a good idea. Maybe wait a few months. The twins will be moving with Joe and Rick soon. Let’s let them get used to it first. I have yet to stop breastfeeding. It will take a while.” She said, tracing his face with her fingers. “Are you happy?” He asked as he lay her on the bed and hovered on top. “I am not sure. I don't regret it. It will be hard in the beginning. But at the end of the day, the twins are our kids. They are just a wall away.” She explained, u
Brenda broke John out of his thoughts as she patted his shoulders. “You were so lost in thought. What were you thinking about?” Brenda asked as John wrapped his arms around her. “I was just thinking about life. How far all of us have come since Mathew, Thomas, and I graduated! Not to mention having five kids at home. It’s been a long journey and, thankfully, a very fulfilling one.” John explained succinctly. Brenda hugged him, “Well, you have good friends. They are so welcoming. It’s like living in a joint family but of your choice. You get all the good parts and not many bad parts.” John had to agree. “Well, you are more than welcome to join that family officially.” Brenda punched him, which hurt for real, “Ouch!” John cried. “Was that supposed to be a proposal? If that was, it was fucking lame.” Brenda punched him once more but managed to control her strength this time. John gulped and kept quiet. He would get beaten if he confessed that he had yet to think about marriage. T
**One and a half years later** John stood outside a police station in Pearl city, awaiting his girlfriend. A year earlier, he had broken up with Rick’s cousin after giving each other several chances. They were simply not compatible because they wanted very different things in life. Hence, they had broken up mutually. One day, he had ended up making a scene at a bar in a drunken stupor, and they ended up calling the police. The one who responded was a female police officer. The first thing about the female officer that John had noticed was the scar on her left eyebrow that made her look equally sexy and dangerous. John had an instant crush on her. Especially with how smoothly she handled everything. John had always admired people who were good at their jobs, which had also been one point of discontent with his ex-girlfriend. Rick’s cousin was never into one thing for long enough to do it properly. John had called Rick to help bail him out. Then, John found that the female police
Thomas finally voiced, “The idea sounds good. We all know how to run a company, but none of us know what to sell.” John nodded at the realization. “That’s right. You, your wife, Mathew, and I - have a finance and management background. Arabella is from product marketing, Joe is a network engineer, and Rick is a cop. We know how to protect and sell something. But none of us know how to produce anything.” Arabella chimed in, “How about we open a Logistics company?” Mathew asked, “Logistics?” Arabella hummed, “There isn’t any good logistics company where we grew up, especially at the international level. Same with where they currently stay. It’s been a nightmare when I have to send something to this cavewoman.” Arielle rolled her eyes at the reference, “So, I take it you did some research?” Arabella clinked her glasses, “Touché!” She shrugged and added, “Work habits are hard to suppress. There is a good market for it, though the initial few years would be bad. Combined with all o
The week went by exceptionally well. The friends had not spent time together in a long time, and some of them had never met. They all got along like a house on fire. Mathew got enamored by Arabella’s spunky personality and her honesty. He was pleasantly surprised to see how well-mannered Belle was and how well Arabella had raised her daughter, all on her own to boot. He asked her out after a few days, and she agreed. Arabella thought Mathew was fun and adventurous and seemed to be a good guy. He already knew all about her, thanks to all the nights they had spent drinking and spilling secrets. She felt comfortable being herself with him. More importantly, being Thomas’s best friend, he was probably not trying to score her to just hook up with a single mom. She was not looking for a marriage at the onset, but she was not okay with one-night stands or flings. Surprisingly, they got on much better than either had dared to hope. They had similar interests and were both adventurous.