MY SECRET BOYFRIEND

"Why can't you just accept the fact that he might have been drunk?" Krystal asked this same question for the thousandth time today.

I grit my teeth,

"You met him. Did you perceive even the slightest whiff of alcohol in his breath?"

She looks mildly annoyed, might be because she remembered the fact that the 'he' in question looked at her in irritation just last week.

"Whatever. Do what you want. You always have anyways." She says as she jogs away from me.

I don't bother going after her. She had no reason to be annoyed to angry. She knows nothing. I plug my earbuds back in my ear and continue my slow paced jog.

My mind wanders back to the 'he' Krystal and i just had an argument about.

"You would do." Was all he told me. But I could feel the tingles I felt that day, all over me again. What did he do to me anyway? And what did he mean by that statement?

He had pulled away from our little electrical bubble before I could process what he meant by that. I just stood there as Mya handled everything else. He was out of shop in a jiffy and stood mouth wide open, and a pulsating core. No guy ever had this effect on me before.

It whole exchange lasted less than five minutes but it somehow felt longer and shorter at the same time. I was almost convinced it was all a dream, it did not happen. But the gold knuckle ring I had slipped off his finger, begged to differ.

I turn back and head to our apartment, the jog was doing nothing for me this morning. Usually, Krystal and i jog around the block every Sunday morning to clear our heads and it was our attempt at staying healthy. A feeble attempt anyway. But the only thing that kept playing in my head was him. The him that I had no name for. The visitor that paid with cash. Nobody ever paid with cash these days, so there was no way to know his name. Mya said he didn't even wait for her to write him a receipt, he walked out.

Sighing I collapse on the sofa. He said I would do, and that was it. Now I keep thinking about what I was supposed to do, or how I would do. When I told Krystal what he had told Me, she kept saying he must have been drunk and i should not think too much about it. She was not the one who felt pleasured from hearing his voice. She was also not the one who he told they would do.

I enter my room. The gold ring listened from my bedside table. It must be pure good, what else reflected like that? I lock the door so Krystal doesn't badge into the room and make me return the ring. She has no idea about and i want it to stay that way.

I try to fit it on my fingers but it was too big, it didn't fit on any of my fingers. It was most certainly his. I take a whiff of it, it still smelt faintly like him. Of course it would be faintly, I have rubbed it on myself numerous times since I saw him. Just to have the feeling of his body plastered against mine.

"Who is your owner?" I ask the ring like it was going to start talking to me.

I chuckle to myself. If it does answer me, I would be flinging it away.

The next day after he came to the shop and disappeared like that, I took the ring back. Just in case he was going to show up. But he did not. He never showed up for the rest of the week.

My phone rang, startling me. When I go to pick it up, i see the caller ID is Levi. I smile despite myself.

"Hey." I greeted too excited.

"Hey you too." He chuckled.

His rich voice was what attracted me to him. The first day he called our shop to place an order for jackets, I took his number down and begged Tommy to let me deliver it in person. When I saw him my jaw touched the floor. He was hot. Very very hot. Especially for his age. He is turning forty nine today. The best part was the fact that he is a millionaire. My favorite flavor.

"Happy birthday." I say quickly.

"I thought you forgot."

I did forget actually, with the mystery man business and everything else, I forgot it was his birthday, even if he had dropped not so subtle hints throughout last week.

"How could I? It is my boyfriend's birthday."

The gold ring felt heavy in my hand so i drop it. I won't imagine it was guilt that made it heavy all of a sudden.

Levi chuckled. He was my secret boyfriend, he has a wife and quit frankly I like that it is secret because, I did not have the strength to listen to Krystal's teaching on marriage and how sacred it was.

"Do you want to come around? Let's celebrate together?"

I scrunch up my nose. I was in this relationship for the financial gain. And then some. But I was not going to his house and let his wife catch me. God, it will be so embarrassing.

"And your wife?"

"She is in Bali, believe it or not her girl's trip is more important than her husband's birthday."

I nod even if he could not see me. Her loss was my gain after all. I have been to her marital home more times than she has been month alone. She was always on some kind of trip. And whenever I went there I always come back with a fatter bank balance. I only wish the debts will stop. But somehow it does not.

"Are you down?"

"Are your friends coming as Well?"

The last time his friends came over, I snatched something from each of them. A wristwatch, a few dollar bills, chains, never something they were going to notice it's absence immediately.

"If you don't want them to, they won't.."

"It's fine. Let them come. It's more fun that way. The more the merrier."

"Good, I'll send the driver to come pick you up?"

"In an hour."

"See you then."

I disconnect the call. My eyes land on the gold ring. I don't want to think about the nameless owner longer than I should, he was consuming my every thought.

"Time for a distraction."