Lights Out

part 1

Thyme Akira Paramaanantra was, for all intents and purposes, innocent. He had never thought to touch a woman in that way - the way he saw his friends touch them. His mother had taught him that above all other ways to be propelled into the spotlight, sexual scandal was the most important type of scandal you needed completely within your control. So it remained easiest to go about his youth simply drawing a line between him and the opposite sex. Of course, this was easy until he met Gorya. 

Her maid uniform was certainly not helping the matter. Ever since that moment in the back seat of the car, when she accepted him officially, he couldn’t stop thinking about her lips, her hands, her waist. She walked around his home - his room - without any care for what she was doing to him, and all day he had to give her space and leave her to her work. He couldn’t touch her, and he desperately needed to. 

Thyme watched from afar as Gorya set the dining table, her skirt lifting higher along her backside every time she leaned over. He rubbed his eyes and sighed, feeling himself beginning to get anxious. Without sneaking another peek, he turned away and walked to his kitchen to get some water. He couldn’t shake the image in his mind as he grabbed a glass. He wanted to grasp her waist from behind and pull her into him. He filled his glass. He thought of nuzzling her neck as his hands ran up--

“Thyme?!” Gorya suddenly appeared in the kitchen, making Thyme jump, water glasses tumbling and shattering on the floor.

“Wha- shit! Crazy woman!” he exclaimed as he bent down to pick up the broken pieces. 

“Why are you blaming me? You’re such a scaredy cat,” Gorya complained as she rushed to help him. 

Squatting to clean the mess, Thyme’s fingers were rushed and clumsy and he immediately cut himself on a piece of broken glass, causing him to wince. 

“Leave it, Thyme, I’ll clean it -- is that blood?” Gorya said as she too squatted near the mess.

Thyme held out his finger in response like a child wanting someone to kiss his boo boo.

“Oh no, it’s bleeding pretty bad,” she said, hesitating. She grabbed his hand, almost as if it were her own, and held it up to her lips. Thyme watched wide-eyed as she seemingly contemplated putting his finger in her mouth to stop it from bleeding. 

Before she could do the unthinkable, he pulled it away and stood up.

“I- I’ll just run it under the faucet for a second.”

“Oh, yeah. That… that’s what I was going to suggest,” Gorya responded, also hopping to her feet.

“I was calling you because of the power outage,” Gorya explained as she swept the glass.

“Power outage?” Thyme said, looking around. It was around noon, and the house was filled with outdoor light.

“Yeah, it happened just now, while I was cleaning the table. The A/C cut off and the lights went out at same time. And I noticed the stove clock isn’t on either,” Gorya said, pointing behind Thyme.

Thyme looked around and started putting things together. It was as if his own, repressed sexual needs had manifested this situation. It was absurdly ironic. He let out a chuckle and turned off the faucet. 

“Are you going to bandage that--”

“No,” Thyme smiled, placing his finger in his mouth for a second and then continued, “It’ll heal quickly. I’m fine, really. You should worry about yourself.”

Gorya looked at Thyme, confused. Her phone suddenly vibrated.

“Oh. It looks like everyone is affected by the outage,” she said, “I guess this means no one is coming here today… so I have to do all the chores on my own. Great.” 

Thyme watched as Gorya paced the kitchen for a moment. She was contemplating what to tackle next as the heat creeped into the house which suddenly was without A/C. She fanned herself lightly, and Thyme noticed she was flushing. Without much notice, he stepped towards her, closing the space between them. Gorya backed up to the wall and looked up at him. Thyme didn’t physically trap her, rather he simply held her still with his gaze. 

“You know what this means right?” he asked, seriously, “We’re gonna be alone. As long as that A/C doesn’t kick on, we are here, in my house, alone.”

Gorya smirked and responded, “And what are you, Master Thyme, going to do about it?”

Thyme’s mouth went dry. He didn’t dare respond. They both knew that at that moment, he was under her control. Seeing he couldn’t respond, Gorya ducked out of Thyme’s way and walked out of the kitchen. Sweat trickled down Thyme’s temple as he watched her slip away. It was getting hot fast.