BEAUTY MARKS

SM

Kaede wanted to celebrate. She cleaned her apartment and popped open a bottle of Rose d'Anjou. For the occasion, she made herself a seafood meal with mussels, fries, Coquilles st Jacques salade.

She switched on her console, BoyScoutMakeveli, did not connect for a week. Kaede wondered where the player was as she felt up to challenge him. She played offline, won a few trophies, and logged off.

Kaede made a mental note to go to the chapel to thank God for her promotion. He didn't answer her prayer the way she expected, but Kaede felt she needed to thank him.

The lord did a lot of work in her life. Who would have thought the child given up for adoption who found herself an orphan once more as her adoptive parents died would end up succeeding this way. Kaede had no backup, yet the child everyone abandoned one way or another made it somewhere.

Everyone needs somebody, but Kaede proved it was possible to advance alone. The woman acknowledged she had issues, and she saw the correlation of her obsessive behavior with Marco. If she hated the man so, it was partially because he shattered her dream of having a family of her own.

All that was in the past now, what mattered was work, simply because it was all she ever had. Work was where Kaede got recognition and respect. Both were noble, and the woman's pride and confidence shot up.

Kaede felt ready to face the new stage in her life.

++

The week after Dominque scanned every inch of the Da Stuff, he started over three times before accepting Kaede wasn't there. He sat on the couch, posed his bike helmet on the table, and hoped she would come down the winding stairs. He got up and paced.

After roaming a good five minutes, he went to the nail bar, "hey, Loren."

Lorenzo smiled; the name even unofficial sounded good, "babes, where were you?"

"I had things to do."

"What happened? Your tan seems to have seeped off."

"Nothing, I had an urgent matter to attend to. I'm good now."

Lorenzo tapped on the seat in front of him, "take a seat. I've got news for you".

Dominque doubted whether he wished to listen.

"You came for the boss lady, right? She isn't here anymore."

"What why?"

Lorenzo smiled, "She's SM now."

"Say what?"

Lorenzo chuckled, "I mean Store Manager. She at St Honore."

"Oh," Dominque replied, relieved.

"Everyone says it's a promotion, but we all know it's to let Marco breathe. The two were like oil and fire. Andㅡ"

"Dom."

Lorenzo stopped, and Dominque got up to greet Marco, who beamed, "what's with the jackass smile."

"She's gone, man," Marco said while patting Dominque, who did not know what to think of the situation. Coming to the store to taunt Kaede was a routine he liked.

"Man, I swear, I thought it could work out, but she is unbearable. When Joseph unleashed the news, I was freed."

"So she won't be coming back?"

"Nope, Kaede has her store, and now I have mine," Marco was proud. Working in the store was the most significant achievement career-wise.

"I see."

An odd feeling came to claim Dominque. The man quickly understood it was a small portion of relief. Knowing Marco was in the store bothered him. His friend appeared to fancy Kaede. Though nothing happened between Marco and her, to the man's knowledge, Dominque felt as though he was disloyal. He didn't like the idea, but the man could not repress the emotions he had for the woman.

The episode in the Uber taxi scared the life out of him. He spent four days in the hospital, and he was rinsed and weak when he came out. Dominque wished he came to Da Stuff before Kaede's departure, but it didn't matter; St Honoré wasn't the end of the world. He tapped on his bike helmet. Yeah, he could render her visits. That's all he had left to do.

That night Dominque desired to decompress in the simplest of ways. He took his shot and sat down in front of his console. None of his crew connected, Dominque scrolled on his contacts KuroQueen was online:

BoyScoutMakaveli: Hi, how are you?

KuroQueen: Hey, I thought you retired?

BoyScoutMakeveli: 😅 I was busy.

KuroQueen: Work?

BoyScoutMakeveli: Sort of, do you want to play?

KuroQueen: Sure, what?

BoyScoutMakeveli: Mortal Kombat.

KuroQueen: Okay.

They both charged Mortal Kombat.

Kuroqueen only picked female players. She slew when she used Jade. Dominque liked to switch the characters.

BoyScoutMakeveli: Mario cart? I'll have my revenge.

KuroQueen: Don't bet on it.😜

Kaede won and wrote: Dans ta face! [in your face]

BoyScoutMakeveli: Are you French?

Kaede hesitated; she never gave information about herself online, but they were sixty-three million French people in the Metropole. Kaede didn't think she took risks replying.

KuroQueen: Yes

BoyScoutMakeveili: Please tell me you were born after Mario Cart but before Google and AIR MAX 95. Let's keep our connection legal.

KuroQueen: I appeared somewhere in between. You're not hitting on me, are you? Perhaps I'm a guy.

BoyScoutMakeveli: I could be a girl.

Dominque didn't need to ask if she was a girl since she answered on her own. Gender didn't matter; he enjoyed playing with KuroQueen and talking about games, gaming books, and more games. In these moments, the man forgot his condition. Behind the screen, he had nothing to prove, and he could be himself without feeling judged.

KuroQueen wasn't curious. The player didn't bother him; on the contrary, she made him laugh a lot. Dominque was the type of guy who loved a good laughing fit. Women who had the comic touch appealed to him because of their ability to rebound on anything and making one feel good with their slice humor.

Kaede had that effect on him; he could not help but smile in her presence from day one. Laughing was something Dominque missed and needed in his life now, not to say he missed seeing Kaede.

They played until dawn.

Kaede closed her eyes and woke up in front of a new message:

If you live close to Paris, we could meet sometime. I don't have many friends. It's good to encounter someone with the same passion.

"Pff, whatever."