I was up on the hill overlooking the valley. It was a little cold but I didn't care. Below me, the city stretched out like sparkling golden sea.
I had driven aimlessly along an empty street for what seemed like forever and then ended up here. My mind was still fighting with nagging thoughts to even care where I was.
The stink of alcohol and smoke still clung to my hair and clothes. I wiped the tears off my face. It was quiet up here. I didn't see anyone, except the outstretched flower bushes and swaying trees. It wasn't how my day should have ended.
I tried not to think of Piper's words that wedged deep into my chest like thorns, bright steel thorns. I tried not to think of the insult those American kids said to me, but it was impossible. I thought of my father thousands of miles away having the time of his life, and of my mother, especially my mother. I started to cry again. How could there be more tears in me? They flowed like slow rivers, burning my eyes and were hot on my skin.
The night was getting colder. My fingers were too numb, I couldn't bend them anymore. I didn't want to move, but I shouldn't stay here. I decided to leave the vista and the starlit sky then returned to my car. But when I started the engine, it sounded like it was choking then it went dead. That was unexpected from a brand new car. I tried to ignite it again, but it wouldn't start. Then I realized I had run out of gas. My forehead banged against the steering wheel with a groan.
"Well done, Nina," I murmured at my own stupidity.
After a while, I took out my phone from my purse. I needed to call someone for help. But then who? I didn't know anybody. Obviously, I wouldn't want to call Jay. He probably didn't want anything to do with me now. I had just become a plague that ruined his sister's love life. There was nobody I could depend on.
I felt depressed, scared, and exhausted. Then my thought flickered to Allecra and all my despair doubled.
She wouldn't know that I was here all alone crying a river. Maybe there wouldn't be a fragment of me in her thought. For the life of me, I didn't know how and when I became so attached to her. I was trying my hardest not to think of the blonde girl and the complexities she brought into my life, but I was losing the battle.
Now I was stuck in a foreign land, like a person who got stranded on a desert island and the world she knew was lost forever.
If I called the cops, they would ask me where I lived and want to see my license and ID card or stuff that I didn't bring along with me. They would call my aunt and Robert in the middle of their holiday. Robert would think I was a crazy delinquent, who they shouldn't have taken under their wings.
There was no taxi or bus at this hour. I ran my hand through my hair and took a deep breath. The street lights were on, but it got so dark beyond that field. I leaned my head back over the steering wheel.
Allecra, help me! I wanted to scream.
I sat there for a while, and just as I thought all hope was lost, a bright headlight flashed through my window. I looked up and saw a black shiny Lambo zoomed over and screeched to a stop a few feet away. The scissors doors automatically lifted up and a slender leg with heavy boot popped out from the driver side.
Allecra turned her elegant body around. My jaw dropped. I had never felt so relieved in my life. Her beautiful face turned to me, and our eyes met. My heart skipped a whole long beat.
Another bulky figure emerged from the other side. It was her brother Triton.
In ten graceful steps, Allecra was by my car. I stepped out with tears on my face. She reached out for me, and I reached over for her like we were two survivors in a drowning sea. Relief filled my chest to the brim, and I couldn't speak.
"You're alright?" she whispered. I nodded.
I held her waist and burrowed my face into her warm body. Allecra rubbed my back, drawing me closer to her.
After a moment, she took a step back. Her warm breath brushed faintly against my face. I realized how desperate I was to have our lips connected again.
"I couldn't go home—my car—" I chocked. My voice didn't sound like my own. It was croaky, clogged and wet and heavy with tears. Allecra smooth my hair as if to calm me down.
"I know. It's alright. You're safe now," she reassured me then turned me away from the door. She bent over into my car and retrieved my purse. She turned to her brother again.
"Take care of it, Triton," she said to the smiling man. We walked away with our arms around each other like two wounded soldiers getting off the battlefield. She escorted me into the Lambo. The car was so dark and low inside. Allecra leaned over to yank the seatbelt and strapped me in like I was a baby. Then she slammed the door shut.
The interior looked like an alien space ship with all the lit screens. But the smell of mild exotic perfume calmed me. It was clean and fresh with some traces of Allecra's exquisite scent.
She got into the car soon after. The ocean depth of her eyes gleamed in the dark. When she turned to me, those eyes dimmed down a little, but her elegant brows furrowed.
"We're not done talking yet," she said and expertly shifted the gear. And I swear no man could do that so attractively like Allecra.
The car eased out of the hill and sped onto the road. I sat in silence. The whole time, Allecra didn't look at me again. I didn't know if I was being an inconvenience to her.
We stopped at an intersection as the traffic light turned red. She revved the engine a few times, causing a deafening crackle from the engine. Then she turned her face to me. It made my heart pound at a frantic tempo again. I was intimidated by her steady gaze. Her flawless angelic face looked tensed with some sort of conflicting thoughts.
"Tell me where your house is, I'll take you there," she said.
But the thought of parting from her so soon saddened me.
"I don't want to go home yet," I murmured and looked down at my fidgeting hands. If I was being honest, I actually missed seeing her.
"You're not making it easy for me," she said, but it was more to herself. When the light turned green, she stepped on the accelerator again. I was jolted back into my seat. I glanced at Allecra. A slight frown marred her face. The light from the street did little to help me see her expression in the dark.
"There's no one home," I said again. "Please take me somewhere else."
"Why were you out at night all alone?" she asked.
"I went to someone's party and then I left early," I told her without giving too much detail.
"What happened, Nina?" she said. I realized she must have noticed my miserable state a while ago.
"I don't want to talk about it," I said with a shrug. Allecra's hands on the wheel tightened.
"Alright," she sighed. "I will find out eventually."
We stopped at another traffic light. She turned to me once more. This time, her eyes softened and her brows smoothed back.
"You feel better now?" she said, which made my heart flutter at her caring tone.
"Buy me a drink," I told her boldly. She laughed and shook her head in amusement, but she didn't refuse.
"Okay," she said. "And you also need food."
"I'm not hungry."
"But I am," she replied.
The next thing I knew, Allecra brought me to a traditional Japanese restaurant. It wasn't a normal family-friendly one, though. The customers there wore a grim expression. Most of them were in their black suits. Some had casual Hawaiian shirts with a few buttons undone to show their colorful tattoos. They were either eating or drinking tea, but hardly talking. It looked like they would draw out samurai swords at any moment and start slaying each other into sushi.
I might have head-butted a man twice my size, but I still found it scary. It wasn't like I could head-butt every freaking idiot that wished to harm me, was it? The horrified look on my face made Allecra smile and pat my hand. I didn't even realize my hands had looped around her arm to seek her protection. I pulled away quickly.
The waitresses in their lovely pink Kimonos ushered us to a secluded part of the restaurant. They opened a Shoji door to a private room. There we sat on the flat cushions with a polished wooden table in the middle. I felt relieved to be out of sight at last.
Allecra was now looking at the menu and started ordering Tempura, Sashimi, miso soup, and some expensive-looking sushi and other dishes I didn't know.
The waitress took the orders then she bowed at us again and left, sliding the shoji door shut behind her.
I looked around the room. There were Japanese paintings hanging on the walls. Some were rather sexual with naked women and men going at it in a more artistic kind of position.
There was an image painted in light modest shades the way the Japanese art was, depicting a woman enveloped in the tentacles of two octopuses. The larger of the two performed some sort of sexual act on her. The smaller octopus assisted it to the left by fondling her mouth and left breast. The woman and the creatures seemed to express their mutual pleasure together.
I had to avert my eyes away from it after I understood what the picture really was. I realized Allecra was also looking at me. Her lips arched with a trace of a smile and her eyes twinkled in amusement.
"You like that painting?" she said.
"It's an interesting work, but I wouldn't say I do," I said. She smirked and came over to my side. My body froze with the delicious charge from her brilliant eyes.
"That painting is a copy of the original painting called, The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife. It is the most famous work during the Edo period."
"You know Japanese art?"
"I spent a year in Japan," she said casually. "The country is a world of bizarre creativity and abnormality hidden underneath the sophisticated surface."
I wanted to know why she was there, but it would be too snoopy to ask.
"The Japanese never cease to amaze me, just like that painting," I simply said.
"It's the reflection of human's sexual desires," Allecra said, still staring at me. "Deep within that timid unassuming exterior is a dark sexual perversion waiting to be unleashed."
I blushed scarlet. I knew she was talking about the painting, but her penetrating stare never left mine. I felt self-conscious. The dreams I had of Allecra were still vivid in my mind. Then we heard a soft call and the door slid open again.
The waitress and two other helpers brought the food in. They started arranging our meal on the table. There were myriad plates and side dishes everywhere. It was like looking at a colorful garden of seafood. The decoration was insane.
The waitresses left us but not without stealing a glance at the dreamy blonde girl beside me. I figured that Allecra Knight was just universally attractive.
She turned her attention back to me.
"We should start," she said and began to mix a small portion of Wasabi into my soy source. Then she watched me pick up my chopstick clumsily.
"You must say 'Itadakimasu' before you eat," Allecra said, her eyes were alight with humor. She actually looked her age like this. I was always used to her brashness and her stern expression that seeing this side of her mesmerized me.
"What does that mean?"
"'Bon appetite' in Japanese."
Then she smiled. Did she just smile? Her smile took my breath away.
I nodded back in a daze. Allecra turned to the food again before saying the word.
"Itadakimasu!"
"Itada—Priyatnava appetita!"
"What was that?" She frowned at me.
"'Bon appetite' in Russian," I said and stuck my tongue out at her then began to eat. Allecra muttered something about uncultured table manners. But she started to eat as well. The salmon was fresh and chewy like it had just jumped out of the ocean. There were some bites I was too afraid to put in my mouth, like the Nãtto stuff that looked like sticky gooey slime.
Allecra picked up an oyster. I went stiff as I stared at her sideways. I was sure she was aware of me watching her. She took her time and seductively ran her tongue around the slimy oyster. Her tongue was bright pink and long. It caught my attention.
"Your tongue," I blurted out.
"Yeah?"
"Well, it just seems longer than average."
She tilted her head and looked at me. "So you've measured it with yours?"
I blinked hard. How could she ask such a thing?
"I—we—" I stammered. My face felt hot again. Allecra laughed at my reaction.
"It's not that long, trust me," she said. "But I believe it could do many wonders aside from tasting good oysters."
Every part of my body went tingling with heat. My face must look like a ripe cherry, but I tried to give her a look. Allecra merely smirked back. I turned my attention to the food again.
"So will you tell me about why you ended up on the hill alone?" Allecra asked.
I let out a sigh and put my chopsticks down.
"It's a long story," I said.
"We've got time."
"Well, there's a misunderstanding between me and my cousin at the party, and then I knocked the light out of a man."
Allecra raised her perfect eyebrows in genuine surprise.
"You don't come off as a fighter to me," she said, sounding rather amused and impressed at the same time.
"I wouldn't be if he hadn't thought I was a hooker," I said.
Her face changed and her eyes hardened. I noticed her hands began to ball into fists on the table. I quickly regretted what I just said.
"What's his name?" Her voice came out like a death sentence. It gave me a chill of fear.
"I—I don't know."
"What does he look like?" she asked again, turning her hard stare at me.
"Allecra, it's alright. It's over."
"No, it's not! I'm going to skin him alive and have his head on this table!"
"Allecra!"
I stared at her with wide eyes. She looked away. The way she said those words held no false promise. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I'm sorry, Nina. To think of how they have treated you, I just—" she said and trailed off. The anger in her voice was still flaring, but it had softened somewhat.
"You scared me sometimes," I admitted.
"You should be," she said and turned to me again. Her jaw tightened. "Why couldn't you go home like any sane girl?"
"How did you find me?" I asked instead. Allecra scowled at my question. She picked up her rice wine and downed it before looking at me again.
"Just know that I'm now affected by you in more ways than you can imagine, Nina," she said.
I frowned at her enigmatic words. Her genuine tone left my head spinning. I looked at her with my hands twitching over the table.
Allecra slowly moved towards me like a graceful panther.
"I'm glad you thought of me," she whispered. "I hate to imagine you being all by yourself at night. If anything happened to you, I would never forgive myself."
"It's not your fault, Allecra, and I'm always thinking of you," I said, but that was an understatement. I was always fantasizing about her and dreaming about her even in my waking hours.
"I know," she said. "But I'm still sorry."
We held each other's gaze. The sexual tension pulsed through every nerve in my body. Allecra seemed to feel it, too. Her eyes darkened and I knew what was coming next. With a low hiss, she lunged at me.
My back landed on the Tatami floor with Allecra pinning me down with her weight. This time, I didn't squirm. I didn't move. And just like that, her lips were hot on my own. She kept my hands in her death-like grip above my head. Her lower half wedged between my thighs, and it was overwhelming me.
I opened my mouth for her slithering delicious tongue. It filled me with her taste and passion. Our ragged breaths and kissing lips brought a fiery heat to our bodies. I had never been so satisfied by a kiss like this. It was like an out-of-the-body experience. Her mouth devoured mine time after time, transporting me to another world.
I realized then that I was the unassuming fisherman's wife and she was the octopus.