"Try and focus Rey and tell me where you live."

"At my house..."

"Yes, I know, but where? What is the exact location and building number?" Ari asked impatiently, unable to endure dealing with a drunk Rey. 'He is annoying just as he is when sober.'

"You keep asking me the same thing over and over... Can you say specifically?"

"Your house! Your address!" Ari exclaimed, seeming frustrated. She had already been in a bad mood before she'd arrived at the bar, Jin being the cause of it. Yet, another person was fanning her fire with a newfound addiction to her hair. "Where is it? Whichever place you're staying or your house, as you've put it? And stop touching my hair!"

"So many questions... One at a time, please."

"Yet another test of my patience,"  Ari grunted under her breath. "Start with directions."

"Specific directions?"

"Yes. Be very specific."

"Okay." Rey sulked, then shut his eyes momentarily as if trying to remember. His facial expression kept shifting from drowsiness to instant excitement, as if something humoured him. Judging by his slurry speech, there was no doubt he had had one too many with Jin before Ari's arrival. "First, I normally take the last train, then get off to the left path and follow a veranda to a lower basement level two. Don't go to the left; you'll come face-to-face with a wall. The neighbours say there used to be a house there that was sealed off. Weirdly enough, I never met anyone at all in this block despite the thin walls. I think that's why no one took my apartment. You should see it. It's enormous, and once I clear my debt, I plan on buying a big bed. My feet tend to stick out of the one I have now..."

"Rey," Ari interrupted. "I never asked you to tell me all that."

"But I'm getting to the specifics."

"Are you normally like this when you are drunk?"

"No... Maybe..."

Ari rested her forehead on the steering wheel. "I feel like I'm becoming dumber by the minute.."

"Certainly not. I find you extremely intelligent." Burying his head into Ari's neck, Rey leaned closer, clinging onto Ari and added, "You equally smell nice like my ex-girlfriend."

"You bloody..."

Rey chuckled and began stroking Ari's hair once more. "She was as pretty and quirky as you are."

"Don't compare me to some random girl...! Wait a minute..." Ari instantly raised her head to look at Rey. "Did you just call me pretty?"

"Manager Mun said the same about you as well."

"You two often talk about me, huh?"

"Of course. You are an interesting subject to manager Mun."

"Tell me more."

"What do you want to know?"

"What you two say about me, what else?"

"Well, you'll have to be specific. It's a lot of stuff, you know."

"You know what?" Ari sighed in surrender. "Some things, it's better just to keep them a secret. For now, we need to get you some water to drink."

"You and who?"

"Pardon?" Ari asked, unable to comprehend what Rey meant.

"You said we need to get water for me when only the two of us are in the car."

Ari let out a heavy sigh. "Rey, don't ever go drinking alone."

"I couldn't say no. I wanted to close the deal with that client. Turns out he is a big pervert."

"You think?"

"Think what?"

"Oh my word, I'm about to lose my mind...' "What the heck did Jin give you? You're oddly nice to me but annoyingly silly! Honestly, I'd rather have you as you are when sober."

"Which one is it? Be specific."

"If you say specific one more time, Rey..."

"But you're confusing me."

"For crying out loud, Rey, what do you want?"

"Hmm... Now that you are asking, I'm feeling horny."

Ari was so immediately dumbstruck that she immediately sat up straight. Her hands dropped from the steering wheel, and she pushed Rey from her. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard, and as much as she wanted to confirm with Rey what he'd just said, she feared fumbling with words as she often did while conversing with him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Why are you looking at me like that? You dislike women!"

"Hey! I'm only loath dominants!"

"I just said that, you dumbass!"

"Stop shouting." Rey moved closer, placing his palms to cover Ari's mouth. "You're giving me a migraine." As if studying Ari closely, he whispered. "You really do smell nice now that I think about it."

"Y-You're treading on dangerous grounds," Ari stuttered, pulling Rey's hand away. She could feel her body heating up, and with Rey inches away from her, there was no doubt she was smitten and ready. "This place is too confined for the two of us, so you need to keep your distance."

"Why are you always nervous around me?" Rey asked, his eyes fixated on Ari's. "Even now, I can feel you shaking like a leaf."

Ari tried to move back from a drunken and persistent Rey, but there wasn't much space between them to escape. She felt trapped. "Rey, I'm warning you."

"Thank you for not firing me after I resigned. Not many employers can do what you did."

"You are drunk to be talking about this now." 'Darn it! He is so close to me I could kiss him.' 

"That client called you a twatwaffle."

"That bloody...!" 'There goes his charm.' 

"Stop shouting!"

"Then just kiss me!"

"Kiss you?"

"What's wrong with that?" 'Darn it, I said it!' "Is it so bad that I can't stop liking you? Huh? Tell me to my face and stop stalling! Be deliberate with your words and say it!"

"Why?"

"Damn it... I hate you so much..." Ari looked away, hiding her shame. "Reject me so I can finally move on with my life." 'Mun was right. I'm a fool asking for confirmation when I know the answer. Why do I need his permission to move on anyway? As if that will work. And why is he just staring at me? He hasn't backed away an inch...'

"Is that all? Is a kiss all you want?" Rey spoke in a heavy whisper, tilting his head to rest the tip of his nose on Ari's neck. He sniffed into his hair and gently circled his hand around Ari's waist, pulling her closer.

"No, no, no, no...!" Ari panicked, calling out Rey's name repetitively as a warning. "Listen to me!" She tried pushing Rey, who'd by now pinned her towards the car window and reached for the seat recliner, then pulled it up, sending the two of them falling back. 

'Dang it, he's heavy!' The seat fell further with Ari's body pressed by Rey's on top of her. In a desperate attempt to get Rey off of her, Ari reminded Rey that she had a boyfriend. 

"You don't even like him," Rey responded, rubbing his nose through Ari's hair until a low involuntary moan escaped her. Then, she became aware of a familiar pulling on her lower abdomen. 

Raising his head, Rey stared down at a flustered Ari and wondered how squeezing her body so tight would feel, making it tremble violently. Or if she knew the lustful look she was wearing as she stared up at him, and at that moment, he acted reflexively, quenching his hunger with the touch of their soft lips in response.

He'd missed her, his loneliness lifting away, prompting him to burrow his tongue deeper to lengthen their kiss. Warmth, a feeling he'd long forgotten, he remembered his movements and passion as he rubbed his waist around his girlfriend's centre. 

To his surprise, her gentle moans only made him quench for more, his greed growing to tear his shirt apart. "It's too hot in here..."

"Stay with me... Don't go...." Ari whispered, the feeling of fear and rejection washing over her. For a brief moment, she felt cold when Rey rose, but it was only when he'd begun unbuttoning his trousers that it dawned on him exactly what Rey was thinking.

"I need more..." Rey spoke, then stopped at the sight of Ari, exposed. "This feels strangely peculiar, yet I still want to hold you..."

Pulling Ari into an embrace, a part of him tore him into pieces, for he'd never seen Ari this vulnerable, though he could have sworn he was just about to make love to her...to his girlfriend... Was it? The lingering former feminine image continued to stall. 

Squinting his eyes, he tried to control his spiralling head while silently enduring the throbbing growing pain at the tip of his member. It felt as if the situation was continuously turning him on. He may have been tipsy, but he knew exactly what he saw between Ari's legs and his raw desire screaming at him to go for it.  

"I want to do it..." His heart thudded louder and louder when he admitted aloud. Then, he realized he'd begun feeling sober and could comprehend his current predicament.

"Let's do it, Manager Ari."