*Song: Crashing by ILLENIUM & Bahari*

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Her place is freaking massive. I didn't really take a good look last time. Now I notice, next to her living room, there's even a patio with sunbathing loungers.

A flat is an understatement. This is a penthouse.

'This is officially my career goal.' I say in admiration.

'Glad to know you have such a substantial goal.' She teases as she takes off her heels. 'Well, what do you want to drink? I've got some red wine and scotch.'

'Um, the cheaper one is fine. I don't want to drink to your bankruptcy.' I can tell by basically her everything that she has an expensive taste of alcohol as well.

She smirks, 'Please, like I'm gonna let that happen. I'm only offering in repayment of your red bean soup.'

'Okay, then red wine.' I need something less strong to keep my head in the game. 'I never asked you how you thought about the soup.'

'It's actually not terrible after I got used to the taste.' She shrugs and pours out two glasses of wine, gently swirling the glasses to decant.

'See? I didn't poison you.' I sink into the sofa, and Cherry jumps out of nowhere, starting to rub me with her head.

I look up and notice there's a cigar box and an ashtray on the corner of the TV shelf.

'Do you smoke?' I ask curiously.

'No.' She answers with clear disgust on her face, 'Do you?'

'No.' I reply hastily. 'I mean, I rarely do, only for socialising purposes.'

'Okay. One of my most important rules—never smoke around me, not even for socialising purposes.'

She comes and folds her long legs on the sofa, resting her left arm on the back pillows, facing me.

'And you should quit, nonetheless. It's bad for your health.'

She glimpses at the cigar box and ashtray, 'Those aren't mine. They're my father's.'

I open my mouth, but she raises her hand to stop me from speaking, 'No more questions. I didn't let you in so that you can interrogate me.'

'Then, what do you feel like talking about?'

She glances at me curtly, 'Tell me about you.'

Her face is unfazed, I can't tell if she's really interested or not.

'What do you want to know? I have my background info on the CV already.' I say slyly.

'I know. Ugh, your biography basically said you're a smart Indian-Spanish ass who came all the way from Singapore to become an event manager. How could we refuse you?' She rolls her eyes in amusement.

'So you know me quite well, I see.' I joke.

'Yeah, right.' She rolls her eyes again, 'Tell me something that's not on the paper then.'

'Like what?'

'How about...your love life?' She suddenly looks all serious, 'How did you come out?'

It catches me off guard. I didn't think she'd be interested in love-related topics, and I never mentioned anything about coming out.

My facial expression must've given me away as she says, 'I figured you must've come out at some point since you're so...comfortable with it.'

She seemingly wanted to use a different adjective but eventually settled with 'comfortable'.

'You don't have to tell me if you don't feel like it.' She waves her hand dismissively.

'Nah, it's okay. I was just surprised that you asked.' I sip the wine, 'Well, it all went quite smoothly for me really. I was caught watching lesbian porno, but I told them it was for a sexual health school project.'

'Of course, you did.' She curves her lips up slightly.

I chuckle, remembering my mum's suspicious face and my dad's shocked-but-composed face.

'I don't think they bought it anyway. But I fell hard in love with a girl and came out for her shortly after on my 15th birthday.'

'How did it go?'

'My mum said she loved me no matter what, and my dad went silent for a long while. I guess he didn't quite approve, but eventually, he said as long as I was happy. That's it.'

'And you and the girl lived happily ever after?' She asks teasingly.

'Psk, no.' I shrug, 'She didn't want to be with me, so no, I didn't get the girl.'

'Too bad. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here bothering me.'

'Hey, you invited me in yourself.' I retort.

'Right, I regretted it the moment I did.' She jokes, seemingly more relaxed after a glass of wine.

'What about you?' I ask, drinking my wine as she refills hers.

'What about me?' She smirks, 'No, I don't have a lover currently if you cannot tell.'

'Don't worry, I got that perfectly back in the club.' I waver my brows smugly as she gives me a jokingly deadly look.

'I was asking if you ever came out.' I clarify.

I decide to get comfier. I unzip my boots and cross my legs on the sofa, facing Danielle.

She gives me a glare but says nothing.

After slowly taking a sip, she answers, 'I didn't need to. I wasn't really into relationship stuff.'

So she's been a sexy ice queen all along.

I watch her interestedly, resting my chin in my palm, 'How about the relationship with you-know-who?'

I want to slap myself when her expression tenses up a little. Damn it, Sage, you have to ruin the moment.

'You know what, it's okay. We don't have to talk about that.' I quickly dismiss myself, drinking the wine at a gulp.

She goes silent for a brief moment. 'It's fine, Sage. She and I weren't official, not publicly anyway. We had some shared friends, they knew about it and were quite supportive.'

She continues, 'I didn't hide it nor tell people about it actively. They just learned when they saw us. There was no need to "come out".' She finishes her second glass, 'When I left, everything about the relationship stayed there, in the US.'

'So...no one here, other than me, knows you're into women?'

'No. It's none of their business anyway.' She quickly adds, 'Or yours.'

'Should I be concerned about my safety?' I frown, pretending to be worried.

She lets out a laugh, 'Not around me. I'm sure your clumsiness and lack of orientation skills will do the deed some day.'

'Mean.' I say jokingly and bend forward to reach for the bottle of fancy wine. Oops, it's empty.

'Look at that,' she raises a brow, 'You do have the potential to drink me bankrupt.'

She looks at me with a relaxed soft smile on her face. Her fair cheeks now are in a shade of light pink, half-veiled with strands of her loose curls, making her look all lazy and sexy.

I gulp as she subtly touches my legs with hers, moving in a bit closer.

'Tell me...why are you here, really?' She asks in a low voice. 'Spare me the chat-and-drink, what exactly are you expecting?'

'I don't know.' I murmur. It must be the hormones and alcohol, I can't really put together my thoughts.

I'm here out of, curiosity? The mysterious connection? Or I am simply into bitchy, hard-to-get women like her?

'After tonight, I'm still your boss, you know?' She says to me, but somehow sounding more like to herself. Her light blue eyes seem to darken a little, like the colour of the sky before the storm.

I nod slowly, eyes unintentionally falling onto her stained-red lips. They look so soft and luscious.

I should probably look away, but I'm mesmerised. I can't bear to look away.

Everything is silent at this moment, I can only hear my heart pounding so loud like it's going to jump out of my chest and right to her.

Somehow, her lips seem to zoom in, getting closer and closer in slow motion. I don't know it's me or her, or both of us, but I don't care.

I close my eyes and subconsciously hold my breath when I feel her warm soft lips on mine.

It is light and gentle at first. We both move cautiously, delicately testing the boundaries for a few seconds. She tastes like a mix of red wine and chocolate. Bittersweet.

I unknowingly slide my hand up to the side of her neck and pull her closer, deepening the kiss. Just like the way I did in my dreams.

She lets out a soft moan, starting to suck my bottom lip hard, hands wandering around my exposed waist.

I gasp at how good it feels when she touches me. The reality and dreams overlap, I feel both safe and excited in her arms.

It is like fireworks exploding inside me, surrounding me with the familiar and secure scent of hers.

I suckle her upper lip desperately, wanting to slip my tongue into her mouth and taste more of her. She's intoxicating like fine wine, I can't seem to get enough.

I nibble, asking for permission to enter.

Just when she grants me, a loud meow cuts in and kills the vibe in an instant.

Oh, for fuck's sake. Great timing. I love cats, but not at this particular moment.

I reluctantly open my eyes, seeing Danielle's eyes snap open. I can tell she's still a bit dizzy and lost, but she backs away nonetheless.

'You should go.' She says coldly in a husky voice, avoiding my gaze, but her face is bright red.

I reach my hand out, wanting to calm her, but she quickly leaves the sofa and walks to the door.

'It's late. I'm calling you a taxi.'

Her voice is unwavering. She has her back to me, so I can't see her expression.

'Okay.'

As much as I want to talk, I know better than to press her, so I quickly take on my things and walk out of her flat.

I peeked at her face when I walked past her, she looked a bit bothered but composed, like she was at the gala.

'Be safe. Let me know when you're home.'

I hear her whispering behind me, but when I turn around to say goodbye, she's already closed the door.