July 8^th. 12:30 pm. Abel was straightening up around his house, because he invited Marlene to come over to his house three days prior. Due to him not seeing her and being gone on business for three weeks, this day was well deserved for the two of them. Seeing everything was in order, he hears his phone ring in his office. As he enters his office, he picks up his phone and answers it.

“Speak.” He responds.

“How nice to hear your voice again, my boy.” An elderly man over the phone greets.

“Harvey. Nice to hear your voice. And what do I owe this dubious pleasure?”

“Well, I’m pleased to personally inform you that your grant has been approved. Seeing the new and improved data we received back on June 17^th, you and Ms. Gabisa are worthy of it. It will be in your account later today. I am very proud of you.”

“Thank you, sir.” Abel comments with sarcasm. “That’s a first for you to say to me after all these years.”

“Think not much about it.”

“Hm. I never have.”

Harvey chuckles over the phone.

“Always that dark streak within you. Always rivaled my own. Since there is nothing else, I bid you good day, my boy. I’ll tell Natalina you said hello.”

The call disconnects and Abel continues to straighten up.

.   .   .

1:30 pm. As he got done straightening up, he hears his phone ring. With his earpiece, he answered the phone.

“Yes?” He responds.

“Why have you been avoiding me for three weeks?!”

Abel notices it is Erika’s voice, making his blood rise.

“You didn’t want to answer my calls so I could see what was going on with you?!” She exclaims. “I told you I apologize for what I did, and you still won’t forgive me?! Are you seeing that bitch?! Because if you are, I will fucking come over there and I will take her out to dry!”

Abel was silent with irritation from what came out of Erika’s mouth.

“Are you done?” Abel asks sternly.

“AM I DONE?! I am far from done—”

“Woman, I don’t care! You are wasting my time with your little girl antics! I don’t have time for your bullshit Erika! Half of your money will be coming in later today to your account. Once it does, like I told you, the many times you called me and texted me, our partnership is over. That’s what this has always been. A partnership. It’s been a long time coming for this to end, and it’s finally here. So, I will tell you this one time and one time only. Don’t. Call. Me. Again.”

Abel hangs up on Erika and blocks her number. He then hears his doorbell ring and walks toward the door and sees Autumn and Vance via security camera. He opens the door.

“Hey, Abe!” Vance greets.

“Hello, Vance. Autumn.” Abel greets them back and opens the door for them to come in.

“So, how was your business venture?” Autumn asks.

“Yeah.” Vance adds. “It’s a shock you didn’t need us for that. Where’d you go?”

“It went well.” Abel replies. “I was out of the country handling some business for the serum. I didn’t need the security for that.”

“Oh. And how did that go?” Autumn asks.

“Pretty well. Also, I bought some land over there as well.”

“What?!” Vance exclaims with surprise. “Are you serious?! In that same area?!”

“Yes.” Abel replies.

“What does the place look like?” Autumn asks.

Abel thinks about how spacious his house was as he smirks.

“It’s a lake house.” He answers. “It’s a bit smaller than here, but beautiful. Right next to a waterfall. I’ll show you both a picture of it tomorrow. Also, I need to pay you two for your services when we went out of town.”

“You can do that when we leave.” Vance suggests.

Autumn notices Abel’s calm and content demeaner, and seemed he was waiting on something, or someone.

“Are you expecting someone today, Abel?” She asks with a smile. “A certain… lady?”

Abel sighs and chuckles.

“Your premonitions. Always accurate.” He replies.

“She’s really coming by today? When?” Vance asks with surprise.

“Why are you so adamant on knowing, Vance?” Autumn asks, looking at him.

“Autumn, when was there a time he had a woman that he was interested in and was coming over? Never. It’s surprising to me. Also, wait ‘til you see her, Autumn.”

Abel looks at him with an embarrassed look.

“That’s a bit much for you, Vance.” He commented.

.   .   .   .   .

2:00 pm. Marlene was playing her cello in the portion of the basement made into a studio, collaborating with Nikita on her piano, K.C. on bass guitar, Lukani on the electric guitar, Asa on the drums, Rika on the mixers, Ilena on the violin and Dina on the microphone. They stop abruptly due to an error.

“Okay. Something disconnected.” Rika speaks as she goes to see what disconnected.

“What did?” K.C. asks.

Rika finds a cord disconnected from one of her mixer boards.

“It’s the cord to Dina’s mic.” She replies. “At least she didn’t sing yet.”

Marlene looks at the time on her phone and gets up out of her seat and sets her cello on its stand.

“Hey, Mar. You’re leaving now?” Rika asks.

“Yeah.” She replies. “I must leave now. I’ll see you later, sisters.”

“See you. And remember: We’ll continue this next week, and we’ll tell you what’s going on tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Marlene waves goodbye as she goes upstairs from the basement to the first floor, and going upstairs to her room. She grabs a small suitcase of clothes and her keys, goes downstairs to the front door, going out to her car. She unlocks her car, puts her suitcase in the back seat and gets in the driver seat, starts it, and drives onto the road.

.   .   .   .   .

2:08 pm. Vance and Autumn were about to leave on Vance’s motorcycle. Vance was on the bike waiting for Autumn who was still in the house talking to Abel about Erika.

“She called you like that?” Autumn asks with bewilderment.

“Yes.” Abel replies. “I should’ve known better when she first came in. She is trouble.”

“I was telling you that…” She comments singsongingly.

Abel holds his head with shame and frustration.

“I know you were.” He agrees. “But I knew when this project reached its climax, I would be done with her. But the bullshit I had to deal with…”

“Don’t stress about it anymore, Abel.” She advises. “Think about the woman that’s going to be coming soon.”

Autumn then looks in Abel’s eyes and senses something within him.

“Amazing…” She starts. “There’s a fire within you that burns and shines in the dark for her. She must have a beautiful soul; she has unlocked something within that Erika could never do. I… I feel happiness for you and the woman that you’re in love with.”

Abel’s heartbeat started to fill his ears when Autumn commented about Marlene. His eyes begin to glow, he starts to feel hot. He looks to Autumn who had a surprised look on her face as she was looking down. He looks to where she was looking and sees that he had an erection. He quickly covers himself and turns away from Autumn; Autumn turns her head to the side with a stunned look still on her face.

“Well, I see your… desire is very strong…” She comments.

Abel sighs with unease.

“Yes…” He responds. “Tell no one of this.”

“Don’t worry about that. I wouldn’t.”

.   .

Outside, Vance sees a car pull up and park in Abel’s driveway. He sees a woman get out of the car, seeing it was Marlene. From her feet all the way up to her long raven hair, mesmerized him. Marlene walks up to Vance as he stares at how beautiful she looked.

“Um, hello, Vance.” She greets. “Is Abel home?”

Vance snaps out of it when Marlene waved her hand in front of his face.

“Oh! Uh, yeah. He’s home, Marlene.” He replies. “He’s talking to my partner. Go on in. The door’s unlocked.”

“Thank you.”

As she walks away from Vance to the front door, knocking on it, Vance thinks to himself.

‘Damn! She is… perfect and humble looking for Abel. He picked wisely. I can’t believe it!’ 

.   .

Abel and Autumn hear a knock at the door. Abel goes into his office as Autumn opens the door, it was Marlene at the door, surprising Autumn.

“Hello.” Marlene greets. “Is… Abel here?”

“Why yes. You must be the woman he was talking about. I’m a friend of his. I’m Autumn Wade.” She greets as she shakes Marlene’s hand.

“Marlene Rosa. Nice to meet you.”

“And I’m sure you’ve met the man on the bike, another friend of his.”

Autumn points, Marlene turns to see her pointing at Vance waving. Marlene smiles.

“Yes, back at the hospital.” She replies.

“Ah. Well, Abel’s in his office and we’re about to leave.” She speaks and looks behind her to Abel’s closed office door. “Abel! I’m leaving! Vance and I will see you later!”

Autumn turns to Marlene and winks at her as she walks out the door and hops on Vance’s motorcycle. Vance starts the bike and rides out of the driveway onto the road. Marlene sees them ride away. When she turns around, she sees Abel in front of her.

“Hi, Abel.” Marlene greets.

“Hello, Marlene.” He greets back. “Would you like for me to take your bag?”

“Sure.”

Marlene gives Abel her suitcase and signals her to walk in the house as he follows her in, closing his door. Marlene looks around the house; surprised at how spacious it was. Abel starts going upstairs with her suitcase but stops to look at her.

“I’ll put this upstairs, and I’ll show you around. Okay?” He speaks.

“Okay.” Marlene replies.

As Abel went upstairs, Marlene goes into the living room and sits down on the couch waiting for Abel to come back. She sees how the living room was set. All matching gray furniture; sofa, loveseat, and two single couches with a glass coffee table. The color of the walls was gray with a white trim. A 65-inch TV was mounted on the wall 7 inches above a fireplace and two tall lamps on either side of the room. The living room connects to the dining room, while the latter connects to the kitchen.

‘My goodness.’ She thinks to herself. ‘This is such a beautiful setup. I wonder what the other parts of the house look like.’

Abel comes downstairs and walks toward a smiling Marlene and he wondered why she was.

“What’s with the smile?” He asks.

“You have beautiful and spacious home, Abel.” Marlene compliments. “It feels like I might get lost in here.”

“Thank you, but I can assure you it’s easy to navigate this house. Are you ready for the tour?”

“Sure.”

.   .   .

Abel began with the first floor; starting with the room she was currently in, the living room. Then, they walk from the living room to the dining room; fully furnished with mahogany chairs, table, and a cabinet. Next, they go to the kitchen which was spacious with a medium sized island counter in the middle of the kitchen, an L shaped counter with a kitchen sink and a dishwasher next to each other, the stove adjacent to the dishwasher, the microwave above the stove, the refrigerator/freezer on the other side of the island counter. Afterwards, they walk out of the kitchen and come back to the hallway with Abel showing Marlene his office, and next to it, a half bathroom. Marlene sees from Abel’s office window, his back yard, seeing a swimming pool and a hot tub. Abel sees where Marlene’s attention was on and smirks.

“I hope you brought a swimsuit.” He comments.

Marlene blushes and smiles.

“Yes, I did, actually.” She replies. “Niki helped me pick it out.”

Abel chuckles knowing this fact.

“I’m not surprised she did. Knowing her, I think she wants to get you in trouble.”

Abel’s joke made Marlene smile and chuckles. “Maybe so.”

.   .

They walk upstairs where Marlene sees a full bathroom. On both sides of the bathroom, was two guestrooms; one was the theme color of purple, the other was blue. Marlene then sees a door at the end of the hallway that was closed.

“What room is that?” She asks Abel.

“That door… leads to my bedroom.” He replies in a smooth low tone.

Marlene blushes when she heard the sound of his voice.

.   .

They go downstairs into the basement which was finished. Another bathroom with a shower. His laundry room was on the other side. Marlene sees an opened door, seeing a piano from afar. Abel leads her to his music room. Marlene’s eyes glow with glee with the instruments he had. She sees his piano, guitar, violin, and other music equipment.

“You and I could make a nice piece in here.” Marlene comments.

Abel smiles at her comment.

“We could if you want to.” He implies.

Marlene looks at him as she blushes. Abel walks over to his piano and plays a couple of notes. Marlene decides to take the violin and begins to play the same tune Abel was playing. They sit across from each other making eye contact as they play their instruments. An intensity between them rose as they play a soulful, beautiful piece, their eyes glowing in sync. Abel felt the gentleness and serenity emanating from Marlene, while Marlene felt the passion and elegance from Abel. After playing a piece together, Marlene looks at Abel surprised, while Abel smirks due to his interest being piqued as he faced Marlene.

.   .   .

3:00 pm. They were sitting next to each other living room with Abel’s left arm over Marlene’s shoulder.

“You’re a good pianist, Abel.” Marlene compliments. “You didn’t mess up a single note.”

“Thank you, Marlene.” He replies. “You are a well-versed musician that I’d wish to try another piece with.”

“Oh, well thank you, Abel.”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything else you would like to do?”

“Can we go to your backyard?”

“To my pool?”

Marlene nods.

“Where did you put my bag?” She asks.

“The purple guestroom.” He replies. “I’ll see you outside.”

Marlene gets up from the couch and goes upstairs to the guestroom and closing the door to change. Abel goes upstairs after her to his room to change into his black tank top and black swim trunks. He quickly goes downstairs going into the kitchen and grabbing two glasses and a bottle of wine. He goes out to the backyard and puts the wine and glasses on a nearby table.

.   .

Moments later, Marlene comes outside wearing a strapless one-piece black swimsuit with her sides showing all the way down to her hips. Abel looks at the sight of Marlene, seeing her figure in the swimsuit. His eyes glow behind the shades he wore. Marlene looks to him as he turns away from her, taking off his shades. He takes off his tank top, showing his well chiseled body. Marlene sees the sight, making her eyes glow. Abel walks to the diving board, getting to its edge. After a few jumps, he does a front flip and dives in the pool. He comes up from the water, slicking back his hair. Marlene stands still, stunned by the sight of him and blushing. Abel looks at how she was standing; timid, hesitant, but curious. Seeing this made him smile with amusement.

“Marlene.” He calls her, catching her attention. “No need to be timid. Come on in.”

Marlene, hearing his words, felt the confidence to run and cannonball into the pool. She resurfaces and swims near Abel, making him chuckle.

“I was wondering when you were going to jump in.” He comments jokingly.

“Hush, Abel.” Marlene retorts with a pout.