PERFECT TEMPTATION

FOURTEEN

One session was all it had taken to imprint Micheal in her mind all over again. It was as if she had fallen out of love with him for two minutes only to fall back harder than she had before.

She had even dreamt of him on three consecutive nights and it was driving her to the point of losing her sanity. If not for Jonathan being a heavy sleeper, he would have questioned her already. That is if he was not already questioning her on why she seemed to not be herself. Her excuse of course was that she did not feel well.

Her mind kept wandering off every five minutes and she could not help it. She was torn between deciding on whether to let the mistake she had made remain a one time thing or have it happen again because truth be told, she sure as hell wanted it to happen and she did not exactly see it as a mistake.

It was mutual, passionate and intense sex between two consenting adults. How could that be considered a mistake? Not that Jonathan would feel the same way if he ever found out. Her mom on the other hand. She saw things on a whole other level.

She had been right to think that her mom knew something because she did. Her mom had seen her at the bar, better said, she had followed Leena to the bar and seen Micheal. She had recognized him immediately noting the biggest change in him from the man she had seen her daughter cry for a few years back. He was rich now and what could be better than a rich man who had fallen in love with you.

Suddenly everything she had said about him not being worthy of her daughter in the past did not matter anymore, as long as Leena kept the money coming. Her mom had even jumped to the conclusion that Leena had convinced him into partnering up with Jonathan.

As expected, nothing Leena said was enough to convince her mom that she had not been sleeping with Micheal. It had only been once,not that she would ever mention that, and she never intentionally planned on meeting him. She could have controlled how things panned out after meeting him though. Perhaps started by keeping her distance, but Lord knows she tried.

That was what ate up her conscious. The fact that she had failed to control it. To contain her own emotions and the fact that whether or not she accepted it, she was at fault. She had broken her marriage vows.

Ding Dong!

The doorbell brought her back to reality finally making her notice the not so faint smell of food burning while she stood in the kitchen completely absent minded. She quickly turned off the gas and headed for the door, paying less attention to the burnt greens in her pan.

"Sandra!" She said upon locking eyes with the person at her doorstep.

What was she doing at her place? Not to mention the fact that she looked infuriated and her overly done makeup sort of made it worse. It was like one of those stern never smiling pale models she saw on runways. Sandra did not wait for an invite as she stormed past Leena yelling as she moved in.

"What do you want from my boyfriend!"

It was obvious she meant Micheal. Leena knew that yet for a while it seemed as though she had forgotten all about her existence. Except, she  never expected this reaction from Sandra. It's not like what she and Micheal had done was a public affair so Sandra had no reason to complain about her. At least not yet.

"I don't know what you mean by that. I'm only working with..."

"You really think I don't know your type? A married woman seducing other rich men. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"And you should watch how you speak to my daughter," Leena's mom cut off Sandra making them both turn to her taken aback by her presence.

She stood on the first stair and from the looks of it had been standing there for a while, watching the drama unravel downstairs.

"I think we can all agree that the only person seducing anyone here is you and you're miserably failing at it. My daughter is doing her job. I'm afraid I can't say the same about you."

"Is seduction her job then?"

"This might be new to you but planning is an existing job and it pays. Gold digging isn't."

Sandra hung her head in shame as the words from Leena's mom slowly hit her with a calmness yet brutality that made it sound expensive. An expensive insult. That was new.

"I know your type too. You have nothing to your name and from what I can tell," she said eyeing Sandra in disgust from head to toe then looking directly into her eyes,

"you're still young. Fresh out of college if you went to one. Probably still trying to pay off your student loan. If not then you're probably one of those people who failed in life and so you'll leech off of anyone who seems to fall for your charms. It's just sad that you failed at this too. To garner this jackpot you happened to stumble upon."

"Mom, that's enough," Leena cut her off, fearing that if she let her continue, Sandra would pounce on her for a serious fight.

"Sandra please leave, else I would have to call your boyfriend to come get you."

That was enough to serve as a reminder to Sandra. She was only a paid actress going beyond what she was paid to do. If Michael found out that she went against their signed contract, Lord knows what he would do to her. He had a temper only people not so close to him knew of, and she was one of those people.

She left, slamming the door behind her in anger knowing at the back of her mind that in a way, directly or indirectly, Leena's mom was right but she genuinely had started feeling something. Something she could not quite get her hands on, but it had everything to do with Michael. She wanted him. Not as a contract girlfriend but something real. She just had to figure out how to get him to feel the same way and in her mind it was not so hard. The first step just had to be removing Leena from the picture first.