They moved from the entrance to the living room, "so what do you want to do? Do you want to swim?"

"I don't have a bathing suit. I was already in the car when the pool came up."

Dominque smiled; the pool was a pretext, the man was glad to know Kaede came for him.

"I can wear my underwear."

"Or you can skinny dip," the man said, following up with a wink.

"Dominque," she whined.

"I'm kidding. Come on."

They walked to the pool, and Dominque was about to tell her to change in his room when Kaede began to undress. Kaede felt confident every inch from her legs to her hips was waxed. Makeup didn't come to mind as Kaede had none. The man watched as she revealed her Fenty x Savage shorty and bra.

Dominque noted Kaede never wore lace, at least all the times he saw her underwear. He wondered if she didn't like it or if it was for practical reasons. Knowing Kaede, the last option seemed the appropriate one.

The woman glared at him, "aren't you going to swim?"

"Eh, yeah," Dominque proceeded to take off his tee and shorts. Kaede was in the water before he finished.

"Oh my, this feels so good."

Dominque found himself overwhelmed by Kaede's reaction.

"Want to race?" Kaede suggested.

"I'll give you a few seconds a head start."

Kaede cocked an eyebrow, "are you looking down on me, Mr. Miguens? Please respect me as a contender."

"Okay, as you wish."

They took positions.

"Kaede, are you sure about this? Promise me you won't sulk."

"Haha, you're a dead man."

"Ready, set, go."

Kaede felt she did an on-spot. Dominque was Ian Thorpe. She wasn't halfway through that the man waited at the other end.

"I want revenge."

"Okay, as you wish."

Once more, Kaede bit the dust or drank the cup.

"I said don't sulk," Dominque reminded as he saw how Kaede's brows became as V as Vendetta.

"Encore."

Dominque set off as usual, but this time he stopped in the middle," timeout, I have a cramp."

The lie was blatant, but the man's expression showed the contrary Kaede stopped and went to his side, "are youㅡ."

Within a few seconds, she was in his arms as the man gave her a back hug, "Dominque, let go."

"I've waited all week for this, please Kaede, just let me hold you for a few seconds."

The seconds became a minute, maybe two, "thank you," he kissed her shoulder and let her go.

They swam for ten more minutes and went inside. Dominque showed her the ground floor shower, "here are the towels. Holler if you need me."

Kaede went on to rinse her underwear and hoped they would be dry for the next day. She then took a shower and went to his room, where her Carhartt tee and Dominque's boxers awaited her.

"Don't worry; they are clean."

Kaede didn't argue; she began to fit the tee. Dominque appeared to have washed too.

"You showered?"

"Yeah, there's a bathroom in my parent's room."

Kaede didn't get a tour of the house; she could just nod at the affirmation.

Dominque patted the spot next to him," come."

Kaede put on the boxer and laid behind him, "so what do we do?"

"Let's talk."

Kaede blinked, she didn't expect the answer, yet she adapted," tell me about you."

"Hey, I suggested. It would be best if you started," Dominque protested.

"I don't know what to say."

"What's your favorite color?"

Kaede laughed, "green, yours?"

"Navy, fav fruit?"

Kaede laid down on the side they were face to face, "grapefruit, and before you ask, I like the acidity, you?"

"Mango, no guava, the two."

"How were you as a kid?" Kaede asked as she tightened her grip around one of the pillows.

"As a kid, huh?" Dominque frowned, "eh, I didn't talk much. My parents took me to a speech therapist; they got this crazy idea that I was mute. I opened up at Dyan's birth. I mean, that kid went on so many suicide commando missions, I spent my time saying Dyan no, and Dyan don't touch. At school, I couldn't focus, my attention had one minute span, I had bad grades, and that's when they discovered I was hyperactive. So my father got me to do all these sports to canalize the energy. Then someone decreed I was a football prodigy. The rest is history. How about you?"

Kaede didn't even have time to register that she began to explain her school days, "eh, I was a good student. I didn't have many friends; it was all good," she gave a sardonic smile to end her explanation.

"I see. Do you have sisters or brothers?"

Kaede shook her head.

"And your parents?"

"They're dead; they died in the Concorde crash in Gonesse in 2000."

"Kaede, I'mㅡ."

"It's okay, don't be sorry, they were my adoptive parents; the others gave me up."

Words failed Dominque, who stammered to say, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, Iㅡ."

"You want to know me, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then, you should be aware of this."

Kaede surprised herself; not once during the year with Marco, she evoked the subject. Then again, the man never asked.

"Em," Kaede's throat became dry, "I tried to be a good student because I didn't want my aunts to get rid of me. Aunt Siska regularly reminded me that she didn't mind giving me child welfare if I acted up. I didn't want any friends. I was like, what's the point? Once we graduate, we'll never see each other again."

The woman's words seemed to stab the air bubble in the room, letting gloom fill the vacant space.

Dominque was no psychologist, but he knew the details were not minor elements. These facts explained certain behaviors and how Kaede perceived people in her life.

Kaede, too, was not duped. Being abandoned remained her greatest fear.

Kaede gave a weak lopsided smile, "wow, how to kill the moment? I'm sorry, Dominque." She laid on her back and hoped the tears would retract themselves without spilling. It was too late she unveiled something about herself. Kaede's so-called control appeared to be in its closing hours.

"You didn't kill anything. Are you hungry?"

They needed a break, an interlude, anything to distract them.

"I ate."

"Do you want dessert? I've got a shop worth of ice cream in the freezer."

Kaede sketched a smile, "okay."

"So, what do you like?"

"Any."

"Okay, any is good."

The man left the room and came back with eight scoops of different flavors of Hägen Daz.

"Aren't you eating?"

"I avoid sugar."

Kaede imagined it was because he trained, and he probably followed a diet like Marco.

"Do you like them?"

"They're all divine."

The ice cream broke the ice as they resumed their conversation, which went through twenty common questions from what's your favorite: movie, author, song, singer, actress, car, dog, food, hobby, vacation location, music, sport, and so on.

They then went on to zapping on Netflix without finding anything they liked.

"There's this guy I follow on youtube. He does these videos about movies and series called Let Me Explain. His vids crack me up. He talked about Velvet Buzzsaw."

Dominque began to type in the search menu, "do you want to watch that?"

Kaede shrugged, "let's try."

They both sat up to watch. After a few minutes, they found themselves switching positions, hugging pillows, rolling from side to side, and knocking into one another before deciding the intellect switch in their mind was on snooze.

"What do you want to do now?" Dominque said as he switched off the Tv.

"What do you have in mind?"

"It's not about me, Kaede. I have a 101 of all the activities we can do. You decide, if you want to sleep, we sleep. If you want to do something else, then let's. I told you, we'll do what we want when we want, but you have to name your desire."

Kaede gave him a sheepish stare, "can I sleep in your arms?"

Here came the breakthrough, a crack, if not to say a peephole that the man would not miss.

Dominque grinned, "I'm not asking for more."

The air con repelled the heat and gave off a refreshing breeze. Kaede took a position in his arms and closed her eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere," was all Kaede heard before she drifted asleep.