The car ride this time around was even more awkward than the first. Tension lit up the atmosphere in the car and Arnold could feel it poking at his neck, almost having him at a choke hold.There was a certain long and dragged-out silence that Arnold couldn't shake off. He wanted to hear her voice. He wanted to hear his voice. He needed to get over the awkwardness in the car and move on to lighter things. Past what had happened before they embarked on the journey. Back to the lightness they'd practiced while texting and calling each other in the space between their last meeting and today.What kind of conversation can I bring up? Arnold thought, stealing glances at Jia.What kind of conversation could diffuse the tension?He squeezed the steering wheel and thought harder.After a little more than thirty more minutes, he cleared his throat and spoke, slicing through the tense silence. "You know, growing up, I never really had a female figure in my life."Jia reacted in an unexpected way
Jia welcomed the silence. It lasted throughout the remaining part of the journey and she enjoyed the space it gave her to think about their destination.She was going to visit someone she had not seen in a long while -- her maternal grandma’s younger sister, that is, her grand aunt. After her grandma’s death, she was the only other person remaining that was related to her later mother’s family, save for a few cousins she was no longer actively in touch with. Hence, she made it a habit to visit her grand aunt as much as she could.Sweet Mrs Ling would have missed her thoroughly. She had decided to keep on living in this remote village far from the city and far from Jia, which shortened Jia’s amount of visits, because she had to properly plan ahead before visiting.Jia had told her grand Aunt countless times, to move to the city with her, but the old woman always refused, insisting that she wanted to spend the rest of her life in the comfort of her village, farming and weaving baskets.
Arnold entered the rickety, old home, his body aching. If he thought he could sacrifice a large amount of things to get closer to Jia, he was damn wrong. He had only stayed for a day in her grand aunt’s home and he was ready to run, screaming, murder.Jia’s grand aunt wanted to murder him. Why else had she given him all the hardcore work on her farm?He liked physical labour because it built his muscles and he had recently been skipping gym days due to his tight schedule and the new important stuff that kept creeping up, so he’d welcomed the work at first.But, Jia’s grand aunt had insisted on giving him the more advanced work because according to her, he was the man here.He entered into the small room he was sharing with Jia and went straight into the bathroom to freshen up.The night before, he’d slept on the cold hard floor because Jia had refused to sleep on the bed with him. His muscles were sore from sleep on the floor and doing menial farm work.He couldn’t wait to get over wit
The next day passed by in a jiffy. It was long and dreadful, but nothing as new and shocking as the first time working all day in the sun had been. He could see that he'd tanned and he wasn't complaining. It would increase his sexy appeal. But, would he even be interested in flings when he went back to the city? He didn't think so, but he couldn't also predict his sexual thirst.Finally (and it couldn't come any faster), it was the last night of their very impromptu, very peculiar stay at Jia's grand aunt's home.Jia was arranging her things in her traveling bag carefully while Arnold stuffed the shirts he'd ordered online into his small laptop bag. He'd ordered some shirts after having to wear one sweaty shirt for too damn long. Jia had laughed at him when he finally got the new shirts, changed into them, and sighed like he'd quenched some inner thirst. He'd gotten so good at ordering clothes online, so it came in his exact size. He'd, however, forgotten to order a traveling bag, so
It seemed like Arnold was a magnet for a lot of work — whether physical or not. As soon as he returned to the city, Mr Xiu bombarded him with a lot of work. It was like Mr Xiu had piled up all the work that he had missed in the three days he had called in sick and kept it, waiting for him to get back and do it.The sun was high in the sky, blazing through the car and the office, alike. He was just coming back from Mr Xiu’s office after a long, hectic day engaging in a lot of strategic and analyzing discussions with the old man.He all but slapped himself on his head as he remembered, yet again, how he’d lied through his teeth to his mentor.Mr Xiu had asked him how he was fairing, relating to the fact that he’d called in sick for three days at a row. He’d lied about his health through his teeth. Even though he hated that he had to do that, he knew it was for the best. It was better than having to explain that he had spent three days, holed up in the same room with the old man’s daught
Mr Cain waved his hand in front of Arnold’s face, stretching to move close enough to him. “Are you still with us, buddy?”“Yes,” Arnold replied, plastering a very fake smile on his face.In fact, he was no longer with them. He was utterly disgusted by their behaviour and the lies mixed in with bits of truth they were feeding him with. He acted like he was oblivious to the lies, and like he was still listening to them, but he’d long since checked out from this entire farce of a conversation. All he did was nod at intervals and affirm whatever trash they were continuously spilling from their lips.“Okay,” Mr Cain said, standing up. The other followed suit. “We’re all done for today.”He brought out his hands to shake Arnold. Arnold shook hands with him and the other two of them. Then he left the building, entering his Aston Martini like it was a safe haven.As soon as he left the gold mine, he began to search, using Siri, for reliable private security agencies that could trail all the b
The night air smelt like roses and opportunities. Arnold sniffed it in briefly, before walking towards the club for the second night in a row. This time, Zach had driven him all the way here before getting off for the day. He rarely used his driver now, only calling him to drive him on certain occasions."Arnold!" an angry voice yelled out his name.Oh, great, such a lovely way to welcome me here, he thought.He turned abruptly towards the direction of the voice instantly, finding it oddly familiar. But, who knew him by his name around here?The person came into view and he regretted his choice of turning to look instantly. It was Sasha, the very woman he'd put on a good fighting show just to have fun with her for a night and earn some juicy reward from the system (more like, avoid some scandalous effect if he failed). Also, the very woman who had made him to almost lose his friend, Jia.He rolled his eyes.He absolutely despised one night stands who just couldn't get the memo, but ins
Arnold felt both extreme disgust and a rush of adrenaline as he threw the first punch. He stood straighter and threw another one on Mr Cain's stupidly handsome face. The crunching sound as his fist connected with the man's cheeks gave him a sick kind of feeling. But, that wasn't enough. He wanted to beat the man senseless. Until he would never even dare to touch him ever again.Fuck! Fuck!What was happening?He had an idea, but it was too shocking to even process it fast enough.All he could feel was utter disgust. He wanted to purge his soul. He wanted to hit Mr Cain senseless until he purged the foolish man, too.He hit the guys face again and again and again. And, as his fist kept on hitting different sides of the man's face, he reveled in the satisfaction of instant reward for bad doing. Mr Cain was unlucky to have tried that with him and he would wake up the next day, regretting it bitterly.As he hit the man, he thought: So, Mr Cain wasn't just a douchebag to women but also to