I was 15 minutes late.
The cat had greeted me with an affectionate rub against my legs when I passed the playground on the way to the bus stop. So I stopped by the provision shop to buy it a snack.
“You feed cats and actually take the time to play with them?” laughed Elise, when I met her at the bus stop.
“Yeah, I know. I’m the male version of the crazy cat lady, right? Lonely old guy with only kitties for company…” I sighed. I’ve heard it all before.
I’d rather have me lots of pussies though, I chuckled to myself.
“No no, I think its… Kinda sweet. Big guy, taking care of a cute fluffy animal…” she smiled as her sentence trailed off.
Elise was standing at the exact same spot where I met her the last time. A red college jersey style T-shirt with Mickey Mouse prints clad her top, paired with faded blue cutoff shorts and Havianas slippers embellished with small crystals. Hair swept in a loose bun, Elise was totally rocking the cute but immensely dick-stiffening look.
There was some awkwardness when we said hello. I had apologised to her yesterday, but that was in a professional capacity and in the work environment.
But as a - yeah, as a ‘what’? A friend, an interested party? - I supposed I needed to deliver a more personal apology. But I sensed that the time was not right to broach the subject.
“Like your whole get-up today. A very different you compared to work,” I said, trying to overcome the awkwardness.
“I was helping my sis and brother-in-law do their last bit of moving,” she explained. “Don’t worry, I’ve quickly showered and I borrowed fresh clothes from my sis. She’s into the whole Mickey Mouse thing.”
I’d love to catch her in the shower, I thought.
“So no funky smells coming from the lady. Very considerate.”
Elise made an exaggerated motion of taking a sniff of me. She then pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes.
“Har har,” I replied flatly.
This girl will prove to be my downfall, I smiled to myself.
And I’d be so willing…
We caught a cab to East Coast Park, and and took a stroll along the waterfront.
The weather was as delightful as the company I had with me, an azure breeze tempering the heat of the late morning sun.
We sat a bench facing the sea, and nearby, someone’s radio was playing
The Girl from Ipanema
.
Tall and tan and young and lovely,
The girl from Ipanema goes walking.
And when she passes, each one she passes
Goes “A-a-a-h”.
When she walks she’s like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle.
That when she passes, each one she passes
Goes “A-a-a-h”.
Oh, but I watch her so sadly.
How can I tell her I love her?
Yes, I would give my heart gladly!
But each day as she walks to the sea,
She looks straight ahead, not at me.
Tall and tan and young and lovely,
The girl from Ipanema goes walking.
And when she passes, I smile, but she
Doesn’t see. She just doesn’t see…
No, she just doesn’t see…
Kids frolicking in the sand, a few kite flyers, couples in the sand… The whole atmosphere was so idyllic.
“We should come back here to enjoy the sun and sand. Properly attired of course,” Elise commented.
“Mmmm…” I acknowledged, feeling the breeze in my hair.
I also got hard, imagining how smoking hot Elise would look like in a tiny, tiny bikini. She’d draw tons of attention, but she’d be by my side.
I heard a rumble come from Elise.
“I’m hungry. Had an early breakfast before moving my sister’s stuff.”
Char kway teow, orh luak, two poh piah, barbecue chicken wings and two large Milo dinosaurs. I could not believe that we were going to eat so much.
I was worried. I never believed in wasting food. And if Elise couldn’t eat that much, I’d end up having to finish it all. And get fat again. My years of jogging and weight loss during NS would have been in vain.
But this fear, amazingly again, turned out to be unfounded. Elise had her half of all the dishes, except for the chicken wings - which she polished off most of it.
Declaring that she needed to walk off all the calories, we decided to walk from East Coast Park all the way to Parkway Parade.
Along the way, I talked about my early days acquiring companies for Manticore - how I had tagged along with Darren and learnt the basics from him while we bought over smaller companies. As we grew and hired more Consultants, I would shadow the more experienced ones and see how they took over SME’s.
Allison & Omari was assigned to Archna, as the company’s value placed it in a tier I was not yet ready for. I had reminded myself that being Consultant 1 really meant nothing until I gathered enough chops to swim with the higher-level sharks.
“So… Like in an online RPG game, Darren and team were trying to power-level you, then?” she observed.
I thought for a while, and the metaphor seemed quite appropriate.
Elise is really one with surprises.
I’m very grateful for the support by readers, both silent and the ones who took the time to drop a note of encouragement!
The pace of this story is admittedly slow, as I’m weaving details of the tale as we go along.
Unlike the other more established and excellent writers in this forum, I don’t have the end planned out yet. Hell, I still am working out the plot with each post. So I apologise if some parts feel disjointed.
One thing that stands out (haha) from the last few pages is the lack of a sex scene. May go back to my tired and old trick of a flashback to Adeline…
Let’s wrap up the main character’s outing with Elise first.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
8:12pm
Mi Casa e Su Casa cafe, Boat Quay
Our gallivanting brought us to Boat Quay, where we chanced upon a quaint cafe that was done up like a Mediterranean home. Instead of conventional tables and chairs, the place was haphazardly littered with clusters of low tables surrounded by lush, oversized throw cushions. The sandstone coloured walls, ornate middle-eastern ceiling lamps and the low mood lighting came together very nicely despite the eclectic mix of styles.
“Spanish name for a Mediterranean cafe,” Elise commented. “Cute.”
We headed to the upper floor of the cafe, and plonked ourselves down at a place facing the full-length windows. A lovely night view of the river greeted us.
Elise and I sat next to each other on a large couple’s throw cushion. Because of how cosy the seating was, we were shoulder to shoulder with each other. She threw me a shy look, and was rescued by the waitress who came to take our orders.
We chatted, talking about how we used to go to Parkway Parade with our families, and how it was the first shopping centre of its kind in the eastern side of Singapore.
The drinks came, and the conversation slowed to a comfortable pause as we gazed out of the windows.
Now’s the time, I thought. Placing a hand on her arm to catch her attention, I apologised to Elise.
“Elise, I regret having lied to you. I’m sorry.” Simple, heartfelt, straightforward.
She looked at me, into my eyes as if trying to read me, and then sighed.
“It’s sweet of you. But I had a thought about it. There’s no need to apologise. You were… Just trying to do your job. And you pointed out before: we hardly know each other.”
She paused, locking eyes with me before looking away.
OK, here comes the part where she says we’re better off as friends.
“But I really do enjoy our talks and hanging out with you,” she finally continued.
Emboldened, I said, “Then we should hang out a whole lot more often, then.”
Elise smiled sweetly. “How… About tomorrow? You doing anything?”
Darren and I had a gaming session arranged at his place tomorrow, and I mentioned that to Elise.
She looked slightly disappointed.
“But you’re most welcome to hang out with us. His girlfriend usually hangs around as well, so there’ll be company. She nice, quite easy going. Hope you’ll say yes,” I said.
Elise mulled over it for a while.
“OK. Hope… I won’t be in the way.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. Oh, one more thing…”
“What?'
“Bring swimwear. Darren’s house has a pool!”
Sunday, 30 2009
9:45am
Ang Family Residence, Everitt Road
Elise and I arranged to meet at the last carriage of the westbound MRT train and head to Darren’s place together. We got off at Eunos, and began a moderately long walk to the Ang Family residence.
I had hung out there regularly as a kid, and back then the place was a non-descript, run of the mill semi-detatched house. In recent years, the family had purchased the parcel of land next door and tore down both houses, rebuilding an impressive, modern structure in its wake. Darren’s relatives thought that doing so was disrespectful of his departed father, but Darren’s mum felt that it brought closure to a sad chapter in the family’s history. Auntie, whom I’ve always addressed Darren’s mum, loved her husband dearly.
We traipsed up the long driveway, making our way past Darren’s sports cars.
Darren opened the main door with a flourish, before I could knock on it.
“A pleasure to finally meet Ms Elise Tan, the very persuasive Allison & Omari HR partner who helped stem the exodus of editors! This dude here has said good things about you.”
Elise cast a sideways glance at me, and I shrugged. I honestly didn’t go beyond the facts.
Stepping aside and inviting us into the threshold, Darren said, “Mi casa e su casa!” - meaning my home is your home in Spanish. Coincidentally, the name of the cafe Elise and I were at last night.
Elise snorted in amusement at the sheer coincidence, and Darren looked puzzled.
“Started this morning off with a great blowjob or what?” I said with a grin.
Then I realised what I blurted out.
Elise was staring bug-eyed at me for my crude comment.
“Uh, guy talk, you know…” I said, trying to recover from my slip of the tongue.
“Right, right… It’s OK, I understand. God only know what you’ve been saying about me, hmmmm…?” Elise said with a sly smile.
“Don’t mind him. He’s been sick in the mind since forever. He just needs a good doctor… Or a strong woman to fix him up,” sighed Darren with exaggerated remorse.
I rolled my eyes.
Then I saw Amanda step into the living room.
Both ladies smiled and exclaimed in unison, “Hey, it’s you!”
No introductions were needed. That’s a good start.
Elise and Amanda mentioned that they’d been classmates in the same junior college, but had lost touch over the years.
Darren suggested that the ladies make themselves at home and use the pool, while he and I boot up the computers and start our gaming session.
“How long will you guys be?” Elise asked.
“When they’re done being little boys,” laughed Amanda. “Hope you brought your swimsuit.”
“Yup, can’t wait to work on my tan!” enthused Elise.
“Darren,” I whispered with urgency, “Can we wait until I… Get to see Elise in whatever she’s brought?”
He emitted a loud burst of laughter.
“No.”
I sighed.
“Horny fucker lah. Can see until your eyes bleed later. We’ve scheduled the other players already, and need to close recruitment ASAP. Other teams would be eyeing them, not only us.”
I sighed again. “OK.”
The day’s plan was to recruit gamers and form an e-sports team. With competitions springing up in the region, there was a wealth of sponsorship opportunities and publicity if you could cultivate a winning team. This little pet project of Darren’s wasn’t meant to generate immense profit for Manticore, it was more a peripheral mindshare and outreach thing to help Manticore shed a stuffy, business oriented image. But I didn’t think we were too boring at any rate.
Any delay in seeing Elise in her swimwear had better be worth it, I sulked.
I pulled the gaming headset off from my head, rubbing the sweat from my ears. We were done surprisingly quickly, having identified several players who were very skilled at the game CounterInsurgency. Amidst good-natured name-calling and insinuations about whose mother slept with who; offers were made and email addresses exchanged for real-world follow up.
Finally! I thought, I wanna see Elise!
Hopping off the expensive, imported ergonomic office chair, I headed to the window of the gaming room, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girls at the pool.
They were lazing in the water, so I couldn’t make out much details, save for the fact that Elise was, indeed, in a 2-piece bikini.
Amanda looked up and waved, so Darren and I headed off to change into our swim gear.
Me in board shorts and Darren in his Speedos, we stopped dead in our tracks in front of the sliding glass doors that led to the pool.
The girls had dried themselves off and reapplying suntan lotion.
Amanda had been a model for teen magazines in her junior college days, and had flesh with just the right amount of curves in the right places. Her tiny cyan string bikini top was held up by her C-cup boobs, her curvy ass on display thanks to the briefest of a matching g-string bottom. Amanda’s slender limbs and tight figure made anything she wore look good. No one would doubt that Amanda had been, or would still be a magazine model.
Elise, on the other hand, was made for banging hard and fast 24/7.
I was rendered speechless.
The curves of Elise’s nubile body could have inspired the contours of high-end Italian sports cars. She stood with her profile facing me, and I traced with my eyes how the back of her shoulders tapered down to the small of her back; I noticed the sexy little dip at the base of her spine and how her curves flared out to her firm round butt.
Elise’s brown hibiscus-print bikini wasn’t the stringy type that Amanda had on, but was no less sexy due to her voluptuous figure. Her ample breasts gently undulated with each stroke of her arms as she applied suntan lotion to her shoulders and hips. As she bent down low to apply the cream over her legs, Elise’s boobs hung low, a jaw-dropping show of how generous nature had been to her.
I felt a drop of saliva escape my lips as her fingers travelled from her slim ankles, up along her elegant calves and firm thighs. I had to hold myself steady as Elise squeezed more lotion into her hands and applied them on the exposed skin of her cleavage and the sides of her glorious tits. The flesh - so soft - sprung back into place with each pass of Elise’s fingertips over the radiant skin of her treasured chest…
Darren and I sported huge boners.
“Eh!” He said in mock offence, “You steam at my girlfriend issit?”
I shot back as well.
“You also steam at my-”
Hmph. I caught myself and cocked my head in thought.
Elise wasn’t my girlfriend. What’s our status, then? What do you call that transitional stage where you’re both interested in each other, but nothing’s official or exclusive yet?
Darren gave me a slap on the back, “Let’s not keep the ladies, or ourselves for that matter, waiting.”
Amanda had a good laugh as we stepped into the pool area. “Looks like you guys are… Thrilled to see us, yeah?” She nodded approvingly to the massive tents we sported.
Elise bit her lower lip and blushed quite furiously. Darren headed over to Amanda and they embraced tightly. Struggling not to look down and ogle at Elise’s D-cup cannons, I fixed my gaze in her eyes and asked her how the water was.
“Good. Great for a sunny day like today…” For a moment, I thought I saw her eyes flick down a few times at my salute to her in my board shorts.
“I’m heading to the pool,” I said. As much as I wanted to grab Elise and ravish her on the spot, a slow approach would be prudent for now. “Wanna join me and give the two love birds some space?”
Elise turned to look and Darren and Amanda, who were kissing like crazy already. She smiled and followed me into the pool.
That was a good move.
We took the cool chest-high water as a form of covering for the both of us, my boner out of sight and the visual spectacle of Elise’s well-endowed figure tempered by the water’s refraction. It reduced the awkwardness, and we talked easily about a whole range of random topics for almost an hour.
The water made the thin material of Elise’s bikini stick to her like a second skin. And I often stole glances at the shapely outline of her erect nipples.
I felt my self control being sorely tested.
A cool breeze blew in, providing some respite from the early afternoon sun.
I saw goosebumps appear on Elise’s arms, and she gave a little shiver and ran her hands upand down her upper arms.
“Cold?” I enquired.
She nodded with a smile.
Making a quick calculation of risk and returns, my hand sought hers under the water. Her slim fingers curled around mine, and I pulled Elise closer to me.
Her eyes looked questioningly at me, as I turned her around and pulled her back close to my body to give her warmth. I encircled her in an embrace, making sure that my arms were against hers to provide warmth. I was acutely aware that my erection had not subsided, and despite my best efforts to make it feel less conspicuous for Elise, I found myself wedged in the lovely space between her butt cheeks.
I waited for a reprimand or right slap for my boldness.
Then… I felt Elise’s fingers entwine with mine, and heard her sigh in contentment.
My heart soared!
It was pure heaven, holding the lovely Elise in my arms and inhaling the scent of her shampoo. She’d kept her hair dry by bunning it up.
A few minutes later, I felt her let go of my hands and a sense of disappointment welled up within me. But she made a graceful turn and stood face to face with me!
She put her arms at the small of my back, and pressed herself close, seriously squeezing her large breasts against my chest.
Yes, the boner was still there, but the exhilaration of finding potential love, especially with one so beautiful, overwhelmed any naughty thoughts.
Idly tracing a finger up and down her back, I heard Elise sigh softly.
Needless to say, I was a very happy man!
Dear readers,
Thank you very sincerely for your encouragement.
I will be taking a break from writing as I’ve entered a very intense period at work, and am also re-prioritising matters at home and my life.
I know this will leave many of you disappointed, but I seek your understanding that offline - in the real world - your spouse, your family and your career come first.
I must thank you all once again.
I write for a living: CEO messages, annual reports, web and social media content, etc. Boring corporate bullshit that people throw into their junk mail or recycle bins.
But never have I imagined that I would ever produce something that would get over 150,000 views.
So to the silent readers, those who upped my points and those who left feedback, all I can do in return is to type a very sincere “thank you”.
The major plot elements are in my head already.
When things are settled, perhaps I may get a chance to pick up where I left off.