Stronger (18+)

14. Hometown

© VeGirl 2014

"Maya, why are you sitting here alone?"

I snapped out of my deep contemplation about the past, and look up at Maria and Paris who walked into my little private garden. "Hi girls." I glued on the best feign smile I could muster while getting on my feet. This was a month or so since I started to tell Zoe about my past. "I'm fine."

Maria's stern eyes were nailing me and I sighed internally. "Arnaud was right, you're a lousy liar," she said while kissing my cheeks.

Paris' eyes were instead filled with affection. "Is it a bad day?"

A jolt shot through me. "I was just reminiscing when he and I went back to Japan." Another feign smile graced my lips.

"I've never been to Japan; can't you tell me about it." Paris had a slight pout and I saw the warning glare from Maria.

I ignored her and focused completely on Paris. "Sure. It felt great to be home again. Everything was familiar, but still everything was changed; I was changed. On the outside I might look the same, but inside everything was different."

Paris snickered. "I know what you mean. It was the same for me when I met Maria."

I smiled at her. There was a naivity that sparkled around Paris and I love her for it. She could lift my mind like nobody. "We went to Matsuyama; the town where Arnaud's hotel was. It was close enough to my family but a place to be together." My family would never had accepted that. "Arnaud was on the phone as usual. It is not easy to run such a large business." I smile at Paris who was sitting next to me in the shade. Maria had poured herself some wine from my barcabinette and slumped down on the sunbed.

"What did your parents think of him?"

"They loved him. They didn't know him, but they loved him." I sighed through a smile. "But no matter how jetlaged I was, there was some business meeting already the next night. Arnaud had decided that I wore a red figure-hugging dress for the meeting."

"Of course he knew how to dress you." Maria smirked at me. "Like a boy with a new shiny toy."

I smiled back at her. "When we got to the restaurant for the businessdinner, there was a sign on the door; Nyotaimori."

"What's that?"

I pursed my lips at the memory. "On the table lay a naked girl and the food was served on her body."

Paris formed her mouth like an O while blinking a few times.

"It's tradition in Japan, but since I had just met Arnaud and experienced a whole lot of things for the first time, he had awokened the beast within me." I mimicked a feign smirk. "I had no idea what he had in mind and started to conjure scenarios in my mind," I revealed. "I stressed out completely."

"He had a way of making you want to do things you never thought was possible." Maria said in a collected tone. "And you really wanted to please him."

"I loved him."

"You did."

I took the glass on the table before me and sipped the iced water while noticing the worried glances my friends shared. I knew it just looked like vodka. I didn't want to talk, but lose myself in the past. I remembered how Arnaud had to calm me down by reassuring that we were only there to eat.

Maya's breathing was shallow and she nearly went into panic attack when they were assigned seats. The head hurt, her feet felt like they weighed a ton each and her stomach churned. Her both worlds that differed so incredibly much had somehow been mixed into a wicked blend. She was nauseous and disturbingly aroused.