**One year later** Arielle pushed Thomas away when they were making out and dashed to the bathroom. It was a peculiar sight in the bathroom. Arielle was crouching down naked on the toilet and throwing her guts out. Thomas, also naked, was still sporting a boner as he rubbed her back and held her hair back. “Oh, God! I feel like I am dying,” Arielle cried after a while. Thomas pulled her to his chest, his boner gone by then. He lifted her and made his way to the shower as he rubbed her head and back soothingly under the warm shower. They brushed their teeth and went back to bed. Thomas spooned her and kept caressing her until her breathing evened out. Arielle had started throwing up in the morning. It was probably due to the cold pizza that she could not resist. The entire day she had felt funny in the stomach due to acidity and had been in a bad mood. Thomas had forced her to have some bland porridge to settle her stomach at dinner. Thomas wondered if she was pregnant. He
Thomas decided not to overthink things and enjoy his wife’s enthusiasm. He told others they were taking an impromptu vacation for a week. Their friends did not even have to think to know that they were going on a honeymoon. Everyone knew that they had started to plan for their last baby, and what better way to make another human than to do it like bunnies. When Adrian came from school, Thomas told him that he and his mother would be going away for a week to make him another sibling. Adrian was ecstatic and ran off to Joe and Rick’s place without looking for his mother. Moreover, he shouted it at the top of his lungs for everyone else to hear. Thomas fed Arielle some food in her sleep, and she obediently ate after he alternated every bite with a kiss. He drove her to a port from where they would take a boat to an island where he had booked a small villa with a private beach. Arielle woke up when they were boarding. It had a private cabin and a person who was ferrying them to th
**6 months later** John dropped Brenda off at the police station and returned to Thomas and Arielle’s. Everyone was waiting for him except Brenda, Rick, and the kids. “Ideas, guys, ideas! How should I propose to her?” John paced back and forth. “I have no clue, buddy. I told Rick that my parents said getting married on Friday brings good luck. We registered two days later, on Friday.” Joe shrugged. “Most lame-ass proposal ever!” John looked at him in disdain. “Mat did not even ask me. He asked Belle to pick the wedding theme for us and plan for the winter wedding. We were at the dinner table, she squealed, and that was that. Damn! I got tricked.” Arabella said. John was at a loss, “Yes, you got cheated. And you are not helpful!” He looked at Thomas; the latter just shrugged. Arielle had a thoughtful look on her face. She caressed her pregnant belly and said, “Baby, your father has never proposed to me.” And she started crying. Thomas caressed and coaxed her while shooting a gl
Arielle Ward was 5”3’, a green-eyed, 29-year-old woman who had not enjoyed a single day of her life - at least as far as she can remember. For the 20 or so years that she could recall, she was always busy - barely sleeping for 5 hours a day, always studying, always working, always doing chores, always hustling. Finally, at 29, she became financially secure enough to take the first vacation of her life. She decided to go big as her first-ever vacation had happened so incredibly late. She was idling in the open-rooftop bar of a seven-star hotel where she was staying. She sipped her cocktail, leaning against the counter as she watched the happening crowd. The groups and the pairs were quite eye-catching, and barely a few people were alone like her. But that did not bother her at all. As someone who had been hustling her entire life, she never had time to make friends or party. Being alone was her comfort place. However, her quiet musings got interrupted when a 6’’4’ extremely eye-ca
Arielle was, once again, interrupted by the blue-eyed hunk beside her who kept asking her this and that. Despite her irritation, she was relieved to find that he was asking vague questions. He had not asked anything specific like her name. Or the hotel she was staying in, where she was from, or anything of the sort. “Tom, right? I think you said that we would mind our own business.” “Well, we should at least keep the appearances of being together.” He answered with a shrug which made her frown. She looked around, and, sure enough, some flies had started buzzing around them already. Exasperated, she leaned closer to him and smiled at him. Thomas was distracted by her fake smile as he compared it with the real one she had flashed to the bartender. “How about this? Let’s chat a bit, but no personal questions,” Thomas proposed with a hint of anticipation. She grunted her agreement. “This must be your first vacation in a long time,” Thomas remarked. “Well, this is my first vacati
The next day, Arielle and Thomas’s alarms rang together. After a lot of bickering and shouting, they had fallen asleep exhausted and in a bad mood. They both grunted at once before reaching for their phones. Both jerked awake as they felt a human beside them instead of an empty bed. “Oh, dear God!” She exclaimed. “Damn!” He sighed. Arielle turned off her alarm and yawned, “It’s too early to wake up while on vacation. Let’s get some more sleep.” She fell asleep again without realizing that she had said it like they were a couple on vacation together. Thomas, having realized it, curled his lips in a smile and pulled her in his arms before going back to sleep. The next time he woke up when he heard a door close. His arms were empty, and he could hear movements in the bathroom. He wrote a quick note and left, hoping she would still be there upon his return. Arielle came out of the bathroom to an empty room. She spied a note that read, “I have ordered breakfast. Let’s eat togethe
Thomas followed behind Arielle and proposed, “Let’s go together. Since we have already run into each other, let’s have some fun.” Arielle nodded as she laughed, “Why not? I would have suspected you to be some sophisticated kidnapper luring an innocent victim, but you have already spent more than I am worth. Besides, you look too much like old money to be a kidnapper.” Thomas was surprised at her words, “Hey, I should be the cautious one here. What if you are here to steal my genes and my property?” Arielle chuckled at his joke, “Well, I almost succeeded at the first one.” She added, after some consideration, “Let me cancel my hotel reservations.” “It would be a waste if I don’t enjoy a Presidential suite for free.” She added cheekily. Thomas was amused at her self-invitation, “Be my guest! I would love to have you on board, and you have my permission to try and steal my genes throughout the vacation.” He winked at her, which made her roll her eyes. Arielle only said, “You alre
Arielle and Thomas had parted ways for the last time - saying goodbyes and thanking each other for making their vacation special. During the time they had spent together, they had felt extremely comfortable with each other. Whether it was doing things they liked or talking about their past, dreams, fears, or taboos; while eating and drinking; or in bed - they seemed to be intensely compatible. At the same time, they were very much like each other in that neither wanted to intrude upon another’s private space or was fantastical enough to assume something could be permanent between them. They both felt they would be their most memorable dream, but just a dream and not reality, nonetheless. After returning to their own life, neither had thought about the other. **Two months later** Arielle headed to the headquarters of Payne Group of Industries, PGI. She was poached by PGI rather handsomely. Mr. Douglas, the HR manager, helped her complete the formalities and introduced her to eve