I woke up, feeling strangely cold for some reason. Not like freezing to death kind of cold, no. Just chilled enough to feel bothered. My organism clearly wanted to sleep for a while longer, but discomfort wasn't about to let me do just that. What time is it even?

A moment later, I failed to find my phone in its usual place on the bedside table. Strange. I opened my eyes, blinking repeatedly to clear my vision. The room was almost dark. Blinders were doing a good job, keeping light from going inside. Oh. Right. I was still in the past. When I was falling asleep yesterday, a part of me was half-expecting to either wake up in a hospital, in my older body, or not wake up at all.

Now to what made me wake up. I looked downwards and discovered that someone stole my blanket. Most likely culprit was quietly snoring on my left. My best guess about what happened would be next. At some point of the night, she found it too hot to sleep under the same blanket, a typical story for people not used to sleeping together with someone else. Then, at another point, she got a bit too cold without a blanket and decided to take the whole thing for herself. Another typical story, only for those who are used to sleeping with someone. Afterward, she found the blanket cocoon a bit too warm and kicked half of the blanket off, exposing herself.

"Note to myself, buy a second blanket." I chuckled silently.

The glimpses of last night flashed through my mind's eyes. The feeling of her skin, soft, smooth and warm. The look in her enchanting eyes, passion, joy, lust, euphoria. Even her taste, the sweetness of the kiss, the slightly salty taste of her skin. Sweet smell of her perfume. The wet, warm tightness of her insides. All small reactions on her pretty face. Feeling of her arms around my neck and back. The sound of her moans in my ears. It was a magical experience, so hard to put into the proper words.

And now, when the magic of the moment went away, all that was left was a single foreboding question. How much of it was just an illusion I forced myself to believe in?

I shook my head, trying to shoo away my usual skeptical realism, bordering nihilism in the worst moments. Does it really change anything for me, be it real or fake, if in the end I enjoyed it and wanted more? For as long as my interest holds, I wasn't averse to pay for this illusion to last longer. But what if…

I needed something to distract myself, and what is better to clear your head than a good old routine. Good old jog will help me sort my thoughts. Or at least to ignore it for a while.

***

About an hour later, I found myself in a curious situation. I had no idea whatsoever where my jog brought me to. My phone was dead, so I left it back at my place, along with my keys and wallet. Not the brightest idea ever, yes.

I was currently somewhere inside the park. The one I stumbled upon on my run. In the spur of the moment, it felt like a great decision to go inside. At least it beats running through the same streets, I thought.

Wasn't so great right now, though. In my absentminded state, I quickly lost my way inside the unfamiliar park and, without the usual convenience of the phone with GPS map, had no idea where I should go.

The rare passersby were, for the most part, other joggers. At nine in the morning on Saturday! Well, or more like ten by now, but still. Weirdos. Either way, there weren't all that many people here right now. I spent at least fifteen minutes trying to get someone's attention to ask for directions, before I lucked upon an acquaintance.

Well, calling her that was a bit of a stretch. A cashier from the convenience store, hm, Claire or something, right? The cute, but quirky girl with no brain-to-mouth filter and relationship problems. No idea if she recognized me or not, but, either way, she was kind enough to help a stranger and took the time to give me directions. I thanked her and we both went our separate ways.

Huh, what a coincidence. Also, in her sportswear, she looked pretty hot. Chalking up another half a point to her attractiveness in my mind, I ran towards my apartment.

***

And so, I was back after about two hours in total. To be honest, it wouldn't be all that surprising for me to find an empty apartment, with a distinct lack of my last night company and an empty wallet. But today appeared to be about as weird as yesterday, since it wasn't the case.

Instead, my wallet was still in place and full, and her jacket and high-heels were also in place. In addition, I could hear music playing in the kitchen, accompanied by the smell of cooked eggs and bacon.

I took my running shoes off and went to check what was going on. The sight that met me there was half-part outlandish and half-part enticing. And wholly interesting.

The girl stood with her side turned towards me, holding her phone in one hand and a bacon-egg sandwich in the other. She was reading, or maybe watching, something on the screen, periodically taking a bite from the sandwich. All of this while her body was slightly moving along with the rhythm of the music. She looked so relaxed and carefree. Almost… happy?

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Finally noticing my presence, she turned her face to me and smiled.

"Welcome back. I didn't know when you would return, so I decided to make myself breakfast first," the beauty in front of me said in a cheerful tone. "Want me to make some for you as well?"

Looks like she took a shower, while I was away. Or so it seems, from the way her hair appeared wet. Or by the fact she was wearing one of my old t-shirts and the way it was currently clinging to her figure. Since it was one of the old ones, it looked like a really short dress on her tall frame. And she clearly didn't wear any underwear right now, making my eyes wander.

"Yeah, sure," I agreed. "Sounds great to me."

She nodded, acknowledging my words, and turned to open the fridge to get ingredients.

"Take your time. I need a shower after my jog." I continued, holding down the gulp after she bent over and her make-shift dress pulled up, giving me a confirmation of the lack of panties. "Maybe a cold one."

"Or, perhaps, we can continue what we were doing last night?" A moment later, she spread her legs a bit wider, bent a bit deeper and even arched her back to make her posture look as enticing as possible. She also turned her head back towards me, with a half-teasing, half-passionate look in her eyes.

"Maybe. But later," I shrugged. "For now, it's shower time and then breakfast."

One contrast shower later, I was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast. It was simple sunny-side eggs with bacon and toast, a bit too lightly seasoned for my taste. I wasn't complaining, though, since she had no way to learn my preferences beforehand. The fact that it was cooked for me by a beautiful girl made it quite a bit more appetizing. If only I had proper coffee to accompany this breakfast. Well, not like we can have everything we wish for. Green tea it was then.

The said beauty was currently sitting on the windowsill, slowly sipping the instant coffee from her cup, still doing something on her phone. Whatever it was, she had fun with it. At least judging by the small smile adorning her lips.

I was eating slowly, almost too slowly, as if stalling for time. The next conversation will break the illusion for good, and a part of me really wasn't looking forward to it. Another bite, wash it down with green tea. How stupid.

"Hey." I started, without taking my eyes from the plate before me. "Would you prefer cash or transfer?"

"Huh?" was an answer I got. "What do you mean?"

"Your payment." I put the fork down and looked at her. "Would you rather get it in cash, or should I transfer it to an account of your choice?"

I looked at how her smile slowly faded, replaced first by the surprised frown, and after a while by an expression of vague disappointment. A curious reaction.

"Ah, right, payment." She bit her lip. "Yes. Of course. It was a job. Just a job…"

The end of her phrase was muttered so softly that I couldn't hear it clearly.

"Though, if you want the cash, we need to visit the bank first. I don't have thirty grand on hand," I continued regardless.

"Thirty grand?!" she sounded surprised.

"Well, yeah. Our arrangement was three hundred per hour. Let's say it was around ten hours. So, three thousand in total," I counted aloud. "The deal was that I'd pay tenfold if you do a good job. And it was a damn fine one."

For some reason, it didn't look like she was all that happy to hear my words.

"Can I take part in cash and part transfer?" her voice did sound a bit empty.

"Sure," I nodded in agreement. "Now that we took this out of the way, there is another thing I would like to talk about. Well, more like another deal I would like to propose."

I paused my words, waiting for her to say something. She chose to keep silent instead, so I continued.

"It was the best night I had since…" I paused again, trying to remember exactly when. My memory drew a blank. "Since forever. And I want more of this illusion. And I'm ready to pay for it."

This sounded even weirder after being put into the words. Still no sound from the girl. Well, yeah, I would've been weirded out by now as well.

"My proposal is simple. You name the price, and I will pay it monthly for you to become what is, essentially, my mistress."

"What is the catch?" I finally heard her saying something.

"Hm? I don't quite understand the question," I was genuinely curious.

"My usual rate is three hundred per date. Then along came the most handsome guy I've ever seen, and paid a hundred times the amount for the best experience in my life," she fired in a rapid succession. "And now he is telling me that he is ready to pay again, so he can show me even more good times. What is the catch?"

What a weird girl, was my only thought. But it was a good and very timely question.

"There are a number of them, of course," I smiled with my best salesman smile. "For example, I am already involved with a number of women and, knowing my nature, this number can change at any given moment. Another one would be the fact that, while I'm currently interested in you, it can change at any given moment as well. There are also a few things that I would prefer to keep from telling you, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't ask unnecessary questions."

She fell into a deep contemplation. And I wasn't about to hurry her, either. The better she thinks about it right now, the less future problems are here for me.

"I," she finally started about fifteen minutes later. "Agree to give it a try. What are the other conditions?"

"Eh. Nothing much, to be honest. You won't take any other 'work' for the time of our contract. You will make sure to be available when I ask you to. In case you have external circumstances, please tell me beforehand. And if, at some point, you decide that you want out of our arrangement, please tell me in advance as well," I told her. "As for my side of things. I will take care of your financial needs, that much is obvious. You can always ask me for help as well. I can take care of quite a wide range of things. As for the specifics, we can always work them out in the process."

"You know, for some reason, it sounds a lot like you want to rent a girlfriend," she said with a chuckle.

"Rent a girlfriend? Sounds like a great way to get cucked instead." I joked back. Then my demeanor changed, and I proceeded with a severe tone. "Though, if you decide that cucking me is a great idea, I will kill the both of you. And it's not a joke or an empty threat."

Those words were left lingering in the air for a long moment. Some things are better said upfront. If she decided that our arrangement isn't interesting enough anymore, I wouldn't really stop her. But hiding the fact and, essentially, betraying my trust was a bottom line for me.

"Ten grand. That's how much I ask. A bit more than I would get if I decided to "work" every day." I heard her saying after a moment of silence. "It's more than I need either way. And if I need extra, I can just ask you directly, no?"

"Huh? Sure," I easily agreed. "As I said before, I'm not one to complain about prices being too low."

I heard her laughing at my stupid joke. Honestly, it sounded more than a bit strained in my ears, as if she just needed a release after going through a stressful situation.

"Hey," she called out to get my attention. "So, now that I'm your, eh, mistress? What does it really change?"

It was a great question indeed. And I had no idea whatsoever how to answer it.

"Nothing really? And absolutely everything at the same time." Yup, this came out just about as paradoxical as I felt currently.

"And how am I supposed to behave now?" Another strange question that I had no idea how to answer.

"However you feel like. Aside from the baseline conditions, all I really want from you is, well, you," I tried to put my erratic thoughts into words. "I want to see more of you. So show me exactly that. Whatever this entails."

"You know. Whatever I was expecting yesterday, agreeing to play a stand in for an acquaintance in that harebrained scheme of theirs, this situation definitely wasn't the first possibility that could come to my mind," my conversation partner said while smiling wryly. "But I am strangely glad that my past self agreed."

And once again I got myself mesmerized by the look in her eyes. Yet another new mix, as usual unexpected and not making much sense for me. Content, relief and happiness. How? Why? For what reason? Don't know. And don't really care all that much, either. But there was one thing that I really wanted to know.

"Can you tell me what's your name?" I voiced the most important question.