5 - For A Long Time

“I want to break up with Reval and celebrate that as well.” Maureen couldn't accept being the one left out. She had to make an impression worth fighting over that night.

“Again?” Serena turned the car into the parking lot, obeying Maureen's request.

The momentary stop gave Serena a chance to argue, “You don't count how many exes you have?”

The advice was just an afterthought. Maureen covered her ears with her forefingers until her best friend could be seen taking a deep breath.

Maureen picked up her handbag from one of the piles at the back, “Talk to my hand, Beb!” and thrust out a black card with a limit issued by a local bank.

Serena immediately cheered in agreement. There was no refusal. Pool parties call for sexy, seductive bikinis, Maureen thought.

The hotel location was their immediate destination after shopping for clothes for the next two days.

Maureen felt the need for a vacation after the trial and the party. She would not ask her mother for permission for a second reason.

“Did your mom really give you permission?” asked Serena after Maureen made a voice call while taking care of the room reservation.

“Anyway, I must make Reval regret blocking me this time!” Maureen had already squinted in such a way, with various thoughts of her strategy to take over the attention of a wicked woman full of schemes.

However, it turned out that God granted her request first. Maureen became the target of the many eyes that filled the foyer in front of the receptionist.

“Why are you hiding behind me? Did you say you wanted to be the sexiest queen and make your future ex regret it?”

Serena was puzzled to see Maureen's confidence fade away instantly. The shopping bags she was carrying fell as Maureen, who was actually taller, used Serena as a shield.

“There, is my uncle?” pointed Maureen low on Serena's shoulder at the questioning gaze towards them from in front of the other receptionists.

“You're an old man's mistress?”

Serena and her native, unfiltered accusation mouth until Maureen smacked her friend repeatedly on the back.

“What the fuck your mouth!” Maureen turned her back to Serena with her arms crossed. “That's..., my stepmother's sister's son.”

“It's so hard to name. What did you say?”

“My step-cousin!” called Maureen irritably.

“You said uncle, now you say cousin. Which one is right?” Serena could not take her eyes off the figure walking towards them. “This guy looks cool too. Let's go over!”

“No need!” Maureen pulled Serena's arm, forcing her to come closer. She was too worried about Serena actually approaching Darren's whereabouts.

“Maureen ....” Serena tugged at Maureen's grip, making her friend realize that the man she was worried about was very close.

“Rin?” said a heavy voice that Maureen hadn't heard in a long time, a voice that could still bring out more thuds in her heart. Darren.

“Hi, Uncle!” Maureen turned awkwardly, greeting the man who still made such an impression on her with a low wave and a forced smile.

“Who's she, Dear?”

Another greeting turned their attention to the owner of the soft, gentle voice. Like her voice, the face of the woman in the wide headscarf who immediately wrapped her arms around Darren's waist also looked very shady.

“Uncle Abra's daughter.” Darren emphasized their relationship by putting his arm around her shoulders.

Maureen felt hot and burning at the couple's possessive behavior. She vividly remembered the feel of Darren's grip on her waist while chasing release, even though it was so long ago.

No other man could reach Maureen that intimately.

“Oh, hi!” The woman's friendliness instantly faded in Maureen's sight when observing Maureen's overall appearance that was very different from her. “She came to our wedding?”

Maureen was self-conscious about coming to the place for party purposes. Her white shirt and single skirt had been replaced by overalls that revealed the smoothness of her long legs as well as a low cleavage.

“I don't think I've met anyone.” Darren looked up, remembering.

There was nothing to explain, they just didn't want to see each other again. Both Darren and Maureen found it hard to hide the impression of a 'normal' past. The relationship between them had changed greatly.

“Why didn't you come?” It was obvious that Darren's wife was trying to familiarize herself in the midst of the two people's silence. She reached out to Maureen. “I'm Iqlima.”

The veiled woman felt that Darren was only talking to her even though he had greeted the child of her husband's uncle.

“Maureen. Reen, not Rin.” Firmly stating her name without welcoming a handshake, Maureen turned to look at Serena who was painstakingly gathering their shopping bags. “Where are we going to party?”

Maureen emphasized the word party. She didn't want to look more pathetic even though she knew that her gaze was too sharp when it met Darren's dark eyes.

“Seriously, you're talking about a party in front of--”

Serena almost protested. However, her words were silenced by Maureen's stinging pinch on her waist.

“Hurry up!” Maureen whispered as she forced a smile at Iqlima.

To her, Iqlima's look was just a mask. Who knew the woman would chop her up if she understood the reason for the frozen atmosphere between them.

Maureen was jealous. Very jealous, more so than her traitorous exes. And she didn't know the strongest reason.

Time didn't work as a cure. Time only exacerbated the addiction that bound her to him.

Maureen desperately needed an escape, many times greater than before.

“Bye, Uncle!” Trying to look okay, Maureen waved as cheerfully as she could after forcibly pulling Serena into the elevator.

Darren froze, stiff. Unlike his wife who waved back at Maureen.

“So, Dear, do you want to explain why you came to her earlier or do we take separate room reservations?” Iqlima released Darren's embrace from her shoulder. The smile on her serene face disappeared, replaced by a whimper.

Meanwhile, Maureen had just released her grip from Serena's arm. Her legs relaxed to the point of needing to lean against the elevator wall.

“What the hell are you doing?” complained Serena after the steel doors hid their appearance from the public eye.

It was unusual for Maureen to misbehave in front of men and Serena questioned, “Afraid they'll snitch?”

Maureen could breathe a sigh of relief in the confined space. Not only because of avoiding Darren, but also because of Serena's wrong assumption.

Maureen, who is usually very confident when speaking in front of clients during internships, campus presentations, and even sexy stripteases at parties, was running away from a mature man.

She was more worried about Serena's scorn for being neglected after giving up the most precious thing in her life. Maureen's friend was a master at spilling the beans.

“Do you know how protective my mom is?” Maureen's head swayed left and right, imagining every advice from her biological mother. “No drunk, drugs, let alone sex parties.”

In fact, Maureen was very curious, wanting to try every prohibition if only the threat from her step-grandfather about her credit card limit being reduced was not there.

“I'm glad your father doesn't bother you,” Serena said.

“As long as I take care of myself.” Maureen agreed.

Maureen's lifestyle was indeed a free one, as long as the reports from her mouth were in accordance with the supervision of the guards at a safe distance. There must be no scandals or bad publicity.

“By the way, was that really your step-cousin? Familiar?” Serena asked after they arrived in Maureen's single room. She would go to the room opposite after making sure Maureen's luggage and hers were separated.

Her level of curiosity was heightened by Maureen's answer. “Never been familiar.”

Not only Maureen, Serena also considered Darren's figure to be almost perfect in terms of appearance. Tall and well-built, he had the right muscles under a shirt that emphasized his shape.

That did not include the contents underneath the cashmere pants, which was Maureen's point of interest.

“What's underneath?” Serena asked frontally.

“Are you crazy to ask me that?”

***

Serena almost protested.