I didn’t expect to talk about Joseph to Sienna. He was my past, my presence, and hopefully, my future. It was too difficult to open up talking about this to anyone. People were judgmental, and I didn’t like anyone to step in to talk about my business. But this was Sienna. And she talked about her trouble first. I didn’t expect her to talk about her life to this depth, either. But again, we switched from tea to Chardonnay for quite a while already, and that definitely influenced her speech.
First, she talked about her difficulty with her long-distance relationship, then she revealed her girlfriend’s infidelity, then this idea of an open relationship. I understood the concept well and simply nodded through this whole affair. Well, if it worked for her and her relationship, then I guessed it worked. What made me raise my eyebrows was her renewed relationship with Cameron. And what made me drink a whole glass of wine in one gulp without a pro
Yvonne described her relationship with Joseph as an addiction, and I didn’t know if I could use the same word with my feeling about Xavier. As I lay here on his bed and let him pound into me, I didn’t know if I could call it an addiction. I screamed his name over and over. I scratched his back as he was more rough and forceful, and I welcomed every stroke with my legs spread wider. He was different. And sex with him made me forget wanting to have sex with anyone else. Cameron stopped texting for days anyway, and I didn’t even care to text back. My mind kept thinking about Xavier, and it was his bed I had slept on these past nights. We were all over each other, and I couldn’t get enough of him. I found him so desirable with his college hoodie and jeans. And so, every day after work, I came here to his room, stripped nak
The door was locked. I saw Cameron locked it, or did he? I don’t even care. After a bottle of champagne, two cocktails, and three shots of vodka, why should I care anymore? All I know is there is a warm body, Cameron’s body, in my arms, and his lips are hot. **Knock Knock** “I think they are cleaning the restroom. Let’s find another one down the hall,” I heard a voice said that from the other side of the door. I stay quiet until the sound of the footstep disappeared.Looking up at the man whose idea was to escape into the restroom, his eyes show a childish, playful glint that I find so charming.“What if we are caught?” I said it against his neck and nibbled it as he laughed. Despite our predicament, he seems to not be in any rush.“They are welcomed to watch.” He said huskily. He kisses me again. His tongue meets mine, and I moan to the taste of the cocktail that still lingers in his mouth. He is intoxicating, and I am intoxicated by the taste of him. It doesn’t
I sit next to Nora. She is wearing a bohemian sparkly sequined dress; the gleaming brightness of her dress contrasts her sexy tanned skin.“Hello, professor, I’m back. What did I miss? How are our people?” The woman who is sipping red wine gave me a teasing smile. Nora is doing a fellowship in Archaeology. I don’t know much about her work, we have been friends since undergrad in Cambridge, and since we studied different degrees, I did Economics, and she did Archaeology, our career interests are not exactly aligned, but she is good fun at parties and an outstanding museum tour guide. And not to forget, the biggest gossip I have ever known. The girl is observant.“Nothing much. Yvonne went home early since she had an early meeting tomorrow. And before the meeting, she told me she will have a yoga session at 5 AM. Can you believe that girl?” Yvonne is a fashion designer and a business executive. She runs the London office of her family’s luxury brand in Paris. She probably throws herself
Cameron asked me for a dance.While I was enjoying acrobatic shows and a man that pulled out a fire-breathing stunt, Cameron walked up to me and asked for the honor of a dance. I look to Nora. She must have seen this played out a thousand times between him and me. The usual charade of will-they-won’t-they nonsense. Cameron was my serious boyfriend of three years in Cambridge. I’m not sure who fell out of love first or after which time we broke up. But the physical attraction still stubbornly lingers.Cameron is part of the polo club, and that is the reason I am here. In fact, all our friends here met in a college polo club. I quit a long time ago. When I flew back to New York soon after my graduation, there was no need to continue the sport. My focus was on my career.He has always been a good dancer. His one hand is on my waist, and one hand is holding my palm. I let him take the lead. The blinking blue, white, and yellow flash in the ballroom starts to make me dizzy. I hold on tight
“It’s our five years anniversary today, and you are not showing up?” I tried to keep myself calm, but Sophia must have been joking when she told me she had an important meeting to attend this evening.“Do you know how hard it is to book this restaurant? It took me three months! Three months, Sophia! And all you have to do is just to show up. Just one job, and you can’t even do that?” I closed my eyes. I tried not to cry. But disappointment was an ugly monster I couldn’t get rid of.I know this meeting was important to her. It was probably her investors changing the time of the meeting unexpectedly. Again. And I knew how much our company needed more money to stay afloat at this stage of expansion.“Baby, come on, don’t be like this. I need this meeting. WE NEED this meeting. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for our company. They love the pitch and want to discuss finer details. I just need to be there to clarify a few things. And besides, all I said was I will be late, but I will
Sex with Sophia that night was a phenomenon.She was all over me after I said yes.I said yes. Not to marriage. That question was never asked. But to fly across the ocean and build a name for our business in London.She was usually too tired to touch me, and we hadn’t had sex in months. She used to reject my advances just because there was a meeting the day after. And she rarely looked at me like that after our first year together. The glint of lioness hunger in those pairs of dark brown eyes.She didn’t even wait until after we paid the bill. She just left a couple of hundred-dollar bills that were probably twice the price of the meal and tips on the table. The restaurant toilet was where Sophia led me to. We were lucky it was late, and most of the guests had left.She pushed me against the wall in this tiny restroom stall, fondled my breast, and sucked it after she quickly unzipped my dress. Access wasn’t difficult since I didn’t wear a bra.I gritted my teeth to stop the sound of a
The sound of a siren is blasting through the quiet night in Spring. My hands are shaking, and I am sobbing uncontrollably when the paramedics carry Cameron into the emergency ambulance. He lost a lot of blood and was unconscious by the time any help arrived. He is soon rushed to the nearest hospital as I am tended by a paramedic to see if I am hurt. I see blood everywhere—blood on his waistcoat, blood on both my hands and arms, blood on the cobblestone ground. Nora runs out to see me, along with some party guests that are alarmed by the noises and commotion of the tumultuous incident. I hope she can hug me, giving some comfort, tell me it will all be okay, or this is all a dream. But she does not touch me. She can’t. I’m covered in Cameron’s blood. My black dress conceals the severity of the stain with its darkest of night color, but I feel the sticky liquid drying up, and it clings to my skin. “Madam, here is some water. Please sit down, so we can do a che
I landed at Heathrow Airport and waited for Kyle to pick me up. A few key members of my team had already landed a week earlier, and they helped set up our office in Canary Wharf. I was given a list of people to meet and piles of paperwork to run through.Trying not to think of work, I looked around. London was the same gloomy and gray city I remembered—the rain, the wind, the cold—and I loved it so.Back when I was at Cambridge, I got on a train to London every other weekend. The city had its own magic with all the wonderful place I loved. Oh, how I missed the museums, parks, clubs, pubs, and malls. And the activities and parties I attended were memorable. Or arguably unmemorable since I lost half of the memories from drinking way too much. Typical college kid.It didn’t take me long until I spotted Kyle walking toward me. Wearing a black turtleneck and a long gray coat, his wavy brown hair, poetic brown eyes, and confident strides caught the e