Yin quickly excused herself, busy as ever with work in ‘her family’s restaurant’. Satomi still didn’t look all that great, and Olivia offered to drop her off at her place. Ah, I almost let out a tear. My silly girl did something without asking for my approval beforehand.

I wouldn’t decline, anyway. Since Patricia and Satomi were essentially roommates, the blonde bestie of my girlfriend asked to join the ride as well.

Only after the four of us started our walk towards my parking spot, Olivia froze, remembering that I usually drove two-seaters. Her expression was so comical, I almost burst into a laugh.

I gave her an encouraging smile and dragged her after me, since she was still hugging my arm. Good thing that I changed the car earlier.

***

Being stuck in the traffic jam sucked big time. This phrase was about as true and real as the Sun rising in the East, and setting in the West.

At least I had someone to talk to. Or, well, more like someone who will do the talking. Olivia, in her usual chatterbox mood, once more was retelling the things from her day.

“Hey, Olivia. So, what exactly happened and how it led to today’s issue?” I asked, after waiting for a moment when my girlfriend stopped talking for more than an instant.

“Hm? Oh, the Camilla stuff?” She asked back. Hm, who the hell was that? “The girl together with… How did Pat say it? Little piglet? Yes.”

Oh. The hoe.

“So, she is the ringleader of our friend circle. Because she sucks Alex’s cock. Not that you will remember his name, but it’s the guy in question.” My girlfriend continued her explanation. “So, she and Pat got some beef going on between the two of them, something about my bestie trying to seduce Alex or something like that. Which is obviously bullshit. So, Pat just decided to ignore the crazy.”

“Which didn’t help at all?” I voiced a token of my attention.

“Which didn’t help at all.” Confirmed Olivia with a sigh. “And just like that it slowly came to a point, where all of our, now ex, friends started to shun Pat.”

My girlfriend sounded half-fuming, half-sorrowful.

“I suppose the three of you decided to stand by her side, then?” I asked another question, to show that I was still following along.

“Yeah. Well, Pat and Mimi are graduating this year, and Mimi decided to return to her hometown after. Su was always there as a plus one, for the most part.” Olivia paused at the most interesting part. In the rearview mirror, I saw her glancing at me a few times. “As for me, erm. Well. There is you and… I wouldn’t want to ruin this opportunity over some stupid misunderstanding.”

I could see a valid concern in what she said, so, once more, it was the right decision on her part. Hm. Misunderstandings. The weird reaction of my girlfriend’s blonde bestie and Su clan’s first young lady emerged in my memory.

“Hey, Olivia. There is one thing I wanted to ask.” I paused.

Actually, how should I even phrase this question? Should I even ask? Do I need to ask it?

“Honey?” Olivia’s voice brought me out of my mind. Huh, luckily the traffic didn’t move at all right now, as I was completely lost inside my head.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I'm just trying to decide if I should even ask.” I responded. “It’s about your ‘work’.”

I looked in the mirror, watching in fascination how her expression went through a series of changes and landed on something completely unreadable.

“Oh, so you finally decided to ask, honey?” She questioned in an awkward tone.

“Yeah, well, Patricia brought this in the conversation, and her and Yin’s odd reactions made me feel curious.” I explained.

“I will end her…” Hissed my girlfriend. “Ugh, like… Holy crap, this is the exact thing I wasn’t ready to tell you about last time.”

Oh. Right, she mentioned something like that.

“If you don’t want to talk, just forget I asked. I was simply curious.” I… shrugged

“It’s not that I don’t want to talk about that… It’s more about that I don’t know how to say it… Or if you will even believe me, either…” Olivia said quickly, taking a weird pause between each phrase.

“Oh.” I drawled. “I can just confirm it with Yin later. If need be.”

“And you will believe her just like that?” It was more of an accusation than a question.

“Yin is a subordinate, and she knows what will happen if she decides to lie to me?” I cut to the chase, negating the potential misunderstanding.

“Isn’t she the same ‘mistress’ as I am?” I knew it would come to this.

“You are my girlfriend. Someone I treat as an equal, and this complicates things a lot.” Heavens, this was a hard thing to explain to someone who wasn’t me.

“Huh?” Seems like my words surprised Olivia. “Honey…”

Looks like I pushed the buttons of my silly girl with these words. Again. I looked at the navigator screen, ETA thirty-something minutes, red as far as sight can reach. Welp.

“Mind if I… Get some early practice?” My temptress of a girlfriend said something equally unexpected and enticing.

I felt her hand landing on my leg and slowly creeping toward the zipper. On one hand, I still was very pent-up. On the other hand, letting her escalate her already overly physical, positive reactions could lead to a potential disaster at some point.

With a great reluctance, albeit much less than I imagined, I stopped her advances, catching her hand with my own, and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Olivia. I appreciate your eagerness to please. I really do. But let’s wait for when we get home, OK?” After a bit of contemplation, I added a light kiss on the back of her palm.

“Yes, honey…” followed her answer.

The rearview mirror showed me how lust drained from her expression, leaving behind only joy, content, and that brilliant smile of hers, that I liked so much.

The rest of the way was spent in a pleasant, even if a bit odd, silence. Olivia kept stealing glances at me and at our still clasped hands. All the while keeping a thoughtful expression on her makeup-marred face and smiling softly at something only she knew.

I still felt curious about hearing the whole story, but the current mood was pleasant enough for me to reconsider. It had some of that peculiar sense of tranquility that my inner thrill-seeking self craved the most. The moment of respite for an exhausted traveler. A breath of fresh air for a drowning man. A cup of cold water for an unfortunate soul stranded in the scalding desert.

There was always next time, I decided.

***

Olivia was doing her homework. I was lazing around, trying to guess how exactly my meeting with Long Hào would proceed, and, once more, lamented about Bella’s current absence from the seat of my advisor. There wasn’t much information about the Clan Head of the Long clan in my memory, either.

At least he didn’t seem to be hostile, at least completely, judging by our brief meeting today. I also could hope for the Kouzuki twins' support. Ugh. Worse comes to worst. I don’t think it was dangerous enough to kill me. And that was more than enough for me.

Too lazy to cook anything, we decided to order a takeout. The usual Chinese eatery, which Yin, allegedly, worked at. Should I visit there? Nah, it was too much of a hassle, and cheongsam would make her look sad right now.

A slow evening turned into a peaceful night. After finishing her practice, my girlfriend assumed her already traditional little spoon position by my side, relaxing herself into my embrace.

I closed my eyes and focused on the steady breathing of my silly girl. Hm, I felt a sense of déjà vu. But then again, it was a new norm for me as of the last two weeks. I chased away the useless thoughts in the vain hope that it wasn’t enough to jinx myself.