All Chapters of His & Hers: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Cautious and slow, Lola walked up to him. Up close, she acknowledged his intimidating height and noticed the whiskey breath that hung around him had mixed with his cologne, forming a strong scent that could probably intoxicate or even knock someone out. Santiago took her phone and turned it around, smiling at the Apple logo engraved in the back of the device. “What is it?” Lola asked with a frown. “An iPhone,” Santiago replied, still grinning. “I find it amusing that people still use these.” Lola glared up at him like his brain had started leaking from his ears. “iPhones are still as popular as when they were first released almost two decades ago. Why does it amuse you now?” Santiago shrugged. “I mean, you’re not wrong. The Apple brand is still going strong after such a long time in the tech industry. But that’s because there hasn’t been enough fierce competition. Until now, anyway.” Lola rolled her eyes as Santiago extracted a sleek, black phone from his pock

“¡Por Dios, Lola! What were you thinking?!” Back at Lola’s apartment, Gabriele posed like a disappointed mother, with her hands on her hips and a stern, judgmental stare. Lola, on the other hand, being the scolded child, sat on her bed with her hands clasped together and her eyes glued to her feet. It had been two days since her wild encounter with Santiago, and with the way Gabriele had stormed out, Lola thought her best friend would never speak to her again. Then she showed up at her doorstep without warning, as early as nine in the morning, wearing a white Lakers tracksuit and demanding an explanation. Minutes later, after Lola laid everything bare, she sat in silence as her friend played the ultimate version of Judge Judy. “All you had to do was wait until I arrived,” Gabriele said, raking her fingers through her long, shiny black hair. “If you were that bored, you could’ve just watched TV or gone for a swim in the pool. Better still, you could’ve just waited in the

Santiago ran past the shocked cashier, gunning straight to the female restroom at the back end of the store. As he pushed the door open, he silently hoped that no one else would be inside. Otherwise, he could see the outrageous headlines on the news already. “Go away.” Lola’s muffled voice made him relax a bit, though it didn’t make him feel any better about being in a female washroom. “I did it for a reason, Lola,” he explained. “It was sudden and impromptu, but it’s for your own safety.” Lola’s laugh wasn’t a pleasant one. “For my safety, or for your pleasure? Don’t try to justify your decision and make this a noble cause when I wasn’t given the right to decide. I’m not some child you order around whenever you want, Santiago.” Santiago planted himself in front of the closed stall where Lola hid. All he wanted to do was kick the door open and drag her out. But, as effective as that method seemed, it wasn’t going to solve anything. He inhaled deeply instead an

About two hours and many sore muscles later, the trio collapsed on the floorboards of the living room, underneath a rather small but very effective ceiling fan. “Now that that’s over,” Gabriele uttered, barely audible, “we can go over the legal process of this unholy cohabitation.” “Ugh…” Santiago groaned. “Keep your legal practices to the side, Gabriele. I’m famished enough to eat a horse.” “Unfortunately, all I have here are sandwiches,” she mumbled unapologetically. “Without horse meat, of course. Lola? You good?” Lola’s response was a weak thumbs-up. “Alright. Let’s have something to eat before starvation gets the better of us. I’ll get the sandwiches, Santiago’ll handle lemonade, and Lola… just hang in there or something.” Several sandwiches later, the three adults sat cross-legged on the floor, with Santiago and Lola still sipping their lemonade while Gabriele held a black file in her hands. “The documents within this file clarify the na

“Ouch, ¡joder! That’s too tight!” Lola’s high-pitched complaint made Santiago roll his eyes for the hundredth time. “What’s the matter now, munéquita?” Lola’s eyes, wide and feral, slowly shifted from her dress to the man lounging lazily at the balcony’s edge. “What’s the matter?” she repeated with a raised eyebrow. “Even a blind man would see how uncomfortable this entire setup is on me. I can barely breathe in this corset. Why do I even need one? I think I’m quite skinny enough.” The lady standing next to Lola offered a sweet smile. “It is how the dress was designed, señorita. The goal is to give women the confidence they need by bringing out the beauty in their body, no matter their size.” Lola shifted her gaze to the lady—who’d introduced herself as Esmeralda—and smiled back, albeit falsely. “Yeah, I doubt that’s going to work in this case. Can we get it off, please?” “Most certainly,” Esmeralda quickly replied, though Lola could hear a twinge o