BTW, I have not made any kind of profit in the making, publishing or posting of this story. This is purely for creative purposes.
PLOT: Playwright John Peter's vacation plans went sideways when the country went on Covid-19 lockdown. The girl he literally met by accident is on lockdown with him. How does he avoid cabin fever for 14 days and control the strong attraction he feels for her? (Slow burn, romance, friendship, angst. Might develop into a relationship)
Warning: I use a lot of profanity for this story.
Note: 1. Pedro Pascal is the inspiration for this story. (Of course) 2. I named her Aize /ayz/ or /eyes/
Chapter Song: BINIBINI (MISS/LADY)-Zack Tabudlo
HIDING PLACE FROM HELL
CHAPTER 21
You told me before, you're not ready yet
Sabi mo noon sa 'kin, ayaw mo pa
But your embrace is now different
Pero ang yakap ngayo'y kakaiba
Aren't you confused?
Hindi ka ba nalilito?
Is it true that you want me too?
Totoo na bang gusto ako?
- Zack Tabudlo
My mouth is so fucking dry. My heart is thudding hard. Thudding, not beating, behind my ribs. My face is cold and sweaty like my hands when I passed over it. I have this weight in my chest as if there's someone's foot bearing down on it. In my hand I clutch the white blouse as I bring it back to my nose. I still have trouble believing that…
"Shit," I whisper. Yes, that's my aftershave cologne. It's faint but…"My God…" I rake my cold fingers in my hair. "Shit."
How?
Why?
It's the fucking scotch. I downed it like a fish. On a fucking empty stomach. The bottle was almost empty. Then it's Aize and her vodka cocktails. She added more and more vodka to her glass. A disastrous combination.
Yes, let's blame the alcohol. Blame it on anything but myself. That ever since I saw her at that airport I have desired and wanted her.
I remember the moment I swept the hair away from her face; I was besotted. Who would have thought she would be like a lost mermaid who got in trouble and a prince happened upon her and saved her. Only that this prince has less than pure thoughts running through his mind. This prince has an ulterior motive and he moved fast and swift in claiming this windfall that fell out of the blue.
I frantically searched for any information about her. When I found her phone I got all excited that there's no access code for it. The plan my mind devised even surprised me at how flawless it could be. I know how I could charm a snake off of its scales. All I could do is flash my smile and things happen. It's ridiculous how easy it all was. That taxi driver even went over and beyond to help the poor 'husband' get his wife home. Aize took one look at me and she was doomed.
So now things went out of hand and a line has been crossed; the line that I told myself that only Aize would cross.
I'm not afraid of the consequences. If she presses charges I will go and accept it. I should've paid for my transgression over her many times over but she has always set it aside.
The face that looked back at me in the mirror is pale and kinda green. The eyes looking back at me are strained and troubled. I straightened and drop Aize's blouse on the counter with the rest of her clothes; the black pants, boy leg undies and the bra.
The bra.
The boy leg and the bra were a set; almost the rosy color of Aize's skin, the upper part of the bra has sheer netting. I could see Aize wearing this in my mind and its hella sexy. On a hunch, I took and sniffed the brassiere.
There it is…Fucking hell! I closed my eyes. Confirmed. The scent is much stronger than the blouse. So…it did happen. It was not a dream. I had sex….we had sex…while we were drunk. Goddamn it!
What have I done?
=0=0=
"Aize?" I call as I close the bathroom door. The bed is empty. The bag of pills isn't on the bedside table. I finish tucking my shirt in my pants as I swung open the door to her pink bathroom room. It's quiet. Nothing has changed since I came here. No Aize inside the room or the bathroom.
I next check the main house. The kitchen and the living room have been cleared of our mess. Ben called one of the maintenance guys and he cleaned and tidied up like a whirlwind; the pizza's in the fridge and the alcohol's back in the wet bar.
Stomach grumbling, I nuked some pizza and continued my search.
All of the weapons were gone as well. Ben took them out for cleaning. That afternoon Ben radioed for people and in a few minutes four security guards came over and hauled them off. He promised to bring them all back as soon as possible.
I slid open the door to the patio and looked around the garden but all I got were the sound of the evening critters. I turned back empty-handed. As I stop by the patio door, the soft light from the living room floods the patio tiles.
Hands on hips my eyes were drawn on the carpet by the couch; the spot where Aize and I sat. I feel like it was a long time ago. But something has changed.
Major.
Irrevocably.
There goes the microwave. I got my simple dinner with some coffee. All of a sudden I feel tired and there are still a million things I need to take care of. I need to call my production team and get some update on the renovation among other things. A couple of indie production companies also wanted to have a conference with me about a new play they want to set up at the theater….
"Hi."
I turn and see Aize standing by the dining table. She looks sleepy, hair mussed up and barefoot, as always. "Hi, yourself. I was looking for you."
"Oh." she sounded surprised. "Why?"
"You left the room while…"
"I'm in my closet room…" she shuffled to the fridge.
Fuck! Oh yes. How could I have forgotten to check the closet room? Why didn't I think of that before? My brain is deep in guilt and fear. "Whoa!" I grabbed the pitcher from her. "Don't drink that…"
"Hey! What?" she looks on while I sniff the contents of the pineapple juice. "I'm thirsty."
I tasted the juice first. "Okay, you can drink it."
"What's that about?" she grabbed the glass from me and filled it up.
"It might be spiked."
"Spiked? Why?"
"Uh…you had an accident, remember that?" I took a bite of my food. "You can't have spiked drinks. It's bad combo for your medicine."
Aize frowns. "Accident?" she burps as she wipes her lips with the hoodie sleeve. "What accident?" she puts down the pitcher and glass and turned around. "Hungry." She rummages in the fridge, "What are you eating?"
"Pizza." I leaned at the counter. "Did you forget your fall this afternoon?"
She pouts as she shakes her head. "Ice cream…." She opens the top door and grabs a golden tub. "Oh, I love you…" she kisses the frozen container. I couldn't help but smirk. "Want some?" Aize held a spoonful of ice cream to my lips. "It's good." I accept her offer then she wipes my lips off excess ice cream. She licked the same thumb off. Lord….Please get some distance! But….she follows me to the table, puts one foot up the seat.
"What are you doing?" she peers at my laptop.
"Work." I sent an email to the group who's planning to set up a play at the theater. One down.
"Do you like what you do?"
"Yes. I do. How about you?"
"I didn't at first but now I kinda do."
"Why?"
"I want to do something I like."
"What's that?"
"Anything but this." She swallowed then, "Did you know I was a part-time DJ in college?"
"DJ?" I look away as Aize began to lick the spoon.
"Yep. I was good." She glances at my laptop. "Look me up." Aize placed the spoon in her mouth, reaches over, opened a new tab on my browser and typed the name of a video on YouTube.
I was shocked as I watch a short clip of her at a noisy event. It looks like a wedding party. "So how did your parents take it?"
"Well, Mom hated it. Dad didn't talk to me for a month. I wouldn't win the Daughter of the Year Award, that's for sure."
"And you didn't like taking over the agency. So why don't you like it?" She shrugs. She looks at that spoonful of ice cream like it's a beautiful thing in the world. She closes her eyes as she spoons it in her mouth. Mine got dry again. I got a fucking hard-on-generating flashback of those lips parted as she comes.
Get distracted!
I went back to composing another email to hit two birds with one proverbial stone: it distracts me from Aize and it's to clear some of my email backlogs. At the immediate back of my mind I am still trying to deal with the shock of an extreme possibility that something happened between us that afternoon.
And I don't know how to find out about that without being fucking indelicate about it.
"John?"
I turn and got a shock of Aize's face so near to mine. I almost fucking kissed her on the mouth. "Jesus, Aize!" Getting jumpy isn't a good thing but she just giggled. "What is it?"
"Tell me instead how you got started."
I take a deep breath. Well, you were looking for her, right? There she is. I wipe off a smear of pistachio ice cream on her lips. She grabbed my hand and fucking licked my thumb! I'm using 'fucking' a lot, right?
"John?"
"Yeah? I heard you. Uh, but it was just an accident really."
"Why?"
"It was a little complicated."
"Try me." Just like that afternoon she scooted near me and swung her legs up and across my lap.
I look at her, she seemed to be lucid and awake now. I really need to find out. It's killing me inside. I take a deep breath. Here goes… "Aize…I have a question. Do you remember the accident this afternoon?"
"Yeah, it came back to me. I bruised a rib from the fall out there…"
"How about…" I gulp. Here we go, "before the accident?"
"What do you mean?" Aize returned the cover on the ice cream tub.
"Aize, what happened between your breakdown and the time you woke me up?"
The drumming in my chest came back when Aize looks serious and guarded all of a sudden. "No…." she crosses her arms around her; "I don't know what you're talking about…."
"Aize…" I took her hand; it's cold and trembling. Her breathing is a little fast too. Shit! This is not good. "Did I…"
Aize's eyes fills up. "I'm sorry, John…." She gasps as she shakes her head. "I'm sorry…"
"What?" My brows met in wonder. "Why are you sorry? Hey…hey, come here." I put my arms around her. "Whatever it is, it's okay."
"No…" she whimpers and covers her face. "It's not okay. I'm so ashamed of what I did….to you." She whispers the last two words.
"Hey, "I kiss her head. "I'm a big boy…"
"Oh, my God!" she closed her eyes tight. "Don't say that…that word!"
"What shouldn't I say?" I ask. Aize shakes her head. I couldn't see her face under all her hair and hands but I could tell she's as red as a tomato. What is she embarrassed about? "What's the word? Boy?" she shook her head. "Uh…big?" I see her cringe. "Bi…." I began to smile then an amused snort turned into a belly shake and I was laughing so hard my stomach hurts.
"Why are you laughing?"
I'm still having a laugh as I look down at a pair of tear-filled light brown eyes. Poor girl. Aize thought it was her fault. "Can you tell me what happened?" I ask quietly.
Aize reddened again and looks away. Okay. That's a no. "Aize, it's not your fault. I was drunk. I am the one who should apologize. I shouldn't have done that to you."
Her hiccup stopped halfway, "What?"
"I will take responsibility for what I did." Aize continues to look at me, she looks shocked.
She frowns, and then she shook her head. "Why?"
"Yes, why did I do that to you…" Fine. There's no other way to skin this proverbial cat. " I was drunk and at that time...I think...This is effing difficult." I clear my throat. "We had...sex."
"No."
"Yes." I nod. "Yes. I'm sorry."
"No. That's not true."
"Aize, I also couldn't believe it but you were also drunk. You didn't..."
"I wasn't drunk." Her eyes were not lying; it's that same steady gaze.
"What…." I breathed. That hit me like a giant slap. "Shit." It's worse. It's not consensual. "I forced you...my God. I forced you…" I clench my hands as my stomach roils. I think I want to barf …
"John, what the hell are you talking about?"
"My God...I…I raped you." I couldn't breathe enough. "How could I do this...how?"
"Huh?! What? No!"
"It's true. I was drunk and I forced myself to you. My God…Aize...please forgive me."
She looks at me in abject disbelief. She would be feeling so betrayed after all she had helped me. "The hell?!"
My God, she couldn't even forgive me. "I know. I should rot in hell. I should..." I stand up.
She looks up and twists around. "Where the hell are you going?"
"I will tell Ben what I did..." I went around the table and to the landline phone to call the guard house. "They should also call the police."
"What?! The hell you are!" Aize stepped in my way, yanked the phone from my hand and slammed it back down on the machine. "Listen to me! Nothing happened! John, nothing happened! Will you fucking calm down?" she grabbed handfuls of my shirt and began shaking me. "Hey!"
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm fucking sure!" she puts her hands on her hips. "I'm not about to let something like that happen. Come back to the table. Anyway, you're my husband so it's technically consensual."
"Aize!" I jerked to a halt. "This is not a joke!"
"John, I'm the one who made...Oh my God," she took a deep breath, hands on mouth. "I...I'm sorry."
I held up a hand. "Aize..."
"I…I almost raped you."
That froze my brain. "Huh?"
"You were dreaming...you touched me. Then...you took my hand and you placed it on your chest. You were calling my name...wanting me to do...then you made me sit on your lap...I couldn't help myself…"
"Aize. I think you need to stop. I think I get the picture." And I'm getting the beginning of a hard on.
"I'm sorry..."
"Stop saying that. I'm pissed."
"See?" she backs away, looking distressed. "You find it disgusting as well!"
"No! Are you mad?" I shake my head and breathed deeply in relief. "I'm pissed because I missed most of it." Fifty Shades of Gray couldn't hold a candle at Aize's fifty shades of red. I'm strongly tempted to make a play out of it. "Aize, it's supposed to be a compliment to you."
"Really?" Aize pouted and glared at me when I laughed again. I've suddenly noticed that I've been laughing a lot since I came here.
"So uh...you remember…some of it?" she timidly asks.
I held her eyes in mine, a slight smile on my lips and she involuntarily gulped. I slowly walk toward her. "I remember this beautiful dark haired girl having a good time." She whimpered when my eyes fell on her breasts. They're unbound and her nipples are taut under the soft fleece. "I remember her voice asking me... to do more...give her more...kiss her….here….and there…." I lightly trace my finger on those places.
"Stop." She gasps when I held both her arms, eyes down. "Shit…"
"I remember her saying she wants me." My thumb caresses her arm. "I wonder if that's true."
She slightly shakes her head, her breathing a little shallow. "I…it's…"
"Kiss me, Aize."
=0=0=
Binibini/Lady
Zack Tabudlo
Miss…
Binbini…..
Do you know how I fell for you?
Alam mo ba kung pa'no nahulog sa 'yo?
My heart suddenly felt it
Naramdaman lang bigla ng puso
My darling, you're the only who made me feel this
Aking sinta, ikaw lang nagparamdam nito
So please tell me what runs through your mind
Kaya sabihin mo sa akin ang tumatakbo sa isip mo
If you do love me too
Kung mahal mo na rin ba ako
Dance with me/ in the middle of the rain, my love
Isayaw mo ako sa gitna ng ulan, mahal ko
In return, I would even give my life,/ I will do everything for you
Kapalit man nito'y buhay ko, gagawin ang lahat para sa 'yo
I know that you love me too,/ miss.
Alam kong mahal mo na rin ako, binibini
You told me before, you're not ready yet
Sabi mo noon sa 'kin, ayaw mo pa
But your embrace has changed
Pero ang yakap ngayo'y kakaiba
Aren't you confused?/ Is it true that you want me too?
Hindi ka ba nalilito? Totoo na bang gusto ako?
Don't fight your heart anymore./ I know you do love me
'Wag nang lalabanan ang puso. Alam kong mahal mo na 'ko
If so, come and don't go away
Kung gano'n, halika na't huwag lumayo
Dance with me /in the middle of the rain, my love
Isayaw mo ako sa gitna ng ulan, mahal ko
In return, I would even give my life,/ I will do everything for you
Kapalit man nito'y buhay ko, gagawin ang lahat para sa 'yo
I know you do love me too, whoa
Alam kong mahal mo na rin ako, whoa
-Translation edited by Acer Wolfe