The Love Affair(Good Wife Better Mistress)

The Plan

After lunch, Chanel retreats to her bedroom. She rifles through her luggage and retrieves her mobile phone. She turns it on but gets an error message: no signal. With an exasperated sigh, she gets out of the bed and slips her feet into slippers. She hopes she can find a signal in some other part of the house.

Before she can leave the room, a group of women stops her at the door. Their perfume is so strong it makes her sneeze. She takes a hesitant step backward but regards them coldly.

"Can I help you with something?" she asks icily.

"No, but we can wherever we like," Mia says, smiling a falsely sweet smile, "So you're Mr. Conrad's new lover? Well, you're not bad. Your face is maybe a five, and your chest is a solid eight. Your ass is a six, and I suppose your legs are tens."

Mia glances at Chanel's legs and hides her jealousy behind a judgmental glare. Chanel's legs are long, slender, and perfectly proportioned, but Mia's are rather short. Mia looks up at Chanel's face again and wants to scream. The other woman's skin is flawless and smooth, and her facial features are almost perfect.

"So, were you Mr. Conrad's lover before me?" Chanel asks.

She is slightly taller than Mia and looks down at the other woman as condescendingly as possible.

"Your face is a ten, and your chest is a seven," Chanel says, eyeing Mia, "As for your bottom, that's a six. I'd score your legs, but I can't seem to find them."

"You!" Mia hisses, shaking with rage, "You shouldn't be so pleased. Mr. Conrad will tire of you soon, and then you'll learn your place."

Chanel smiles serenely. It seems that the women at Conrads's house enjoy the drama of fighting over him.

"I'm not interested in Mr. Conrad," Chanel says.

"How dare you?" screams one of the women, "You have no idea how lucky you are."

"I think you're full of it," Mia says, "If Mr. Conrad didn't like you, you'd be miserable. This confidence is just an act."

Soon the women begin arguing with each other. Their argument quickly turns to scream. Chanel rubs her temples and gazes at them for a moment. Then she raises her hand and begins to point at them while counting aloud. The women pause and give each other confused looks.

"There are seven of them: one for every day of the week," Chanel thinks, "If Conrad exhausts himself with them, he'll lose interest in me."

"What are you doing?" Mia snaps, "Why are you counting us?"

"I was just noticing that there are seven of you," Chanel says, "Conveniently, there are seven days in a week."

"What do you mean by that?" the women ask.

"I can make an arrangement for you," Chanel offers, feeling like a pimp, "Each of you has a chance to serve Mr. Conrad exclusively for one day. What do you think?"

The women exchange suspicious glances.

"Why do you want to help us?" Mia demands, "What's your purpose?"

"Because I'm pregnant," Chanel answers simply lying.

The smell of their perfume is giving her a throbbing headache, and she has no interest in theatrics. Nonetheless, the women all widen their eyes in shock and gasp dramatically.

"If you have any doubts about whether or not I'm pregnant, you can ask the doctor," Chanel says as soon as they've stopped screaming, "My pregnancy makes it impossible for me to serve Mr. Conrad, but as you know, Mr. Conrad has a strong desire."

Chanel doesn't need to explain more. All of the women know about Conrad's desires. Some of them are beginning to nod their heads in agreement.

"If you are willing to serve him, I will persuade him to promise that you can serve him in turns," Chanel offers.

"Why should we believe you?" Mia asks.

"It's a risk-free arrangement for you," Chanel says, "In the end, Mr. Conrad's happiness is my responsibility."

The women whisper among themselves. Eventually, they agree to Chanel's proposal.

"In order for this to work, you need to change something," Chanel says as if the idea is an afterthought.

"You mean we should change the ways we make love?" asks one of the women.

"No, I mean the decoration and atmosphere," Chanel says.

"Oh, I get it," says one, "You think we should wear s.e.xier clothes."

"I've already tried that," complains another, "But it's usYeah, ever since Mr. Conrad had an obssestion with this Nicole woman, he hasn't touched us," chimes another.

Before they can begin arguing again, Chanel clears her throat loudly.

"I'll solve these problems, but I need to buy some new clothes and cosmetics to do it," she announces.

She's hoping she can use the women to get out of the house.Upon hearing that Chanel wants to leave, the women begin to complain and object.

"We haven't been out for a very long time," one woman says, "Mr. Conrad doesn't allow us to go out. If we need something, we can make a list, and someone will buy items for us."

"You can't leave here on your own," objects another, "You'll get lost immediately."

"Are there any other ways?"chanel asks, trying to hide her disappointment.The only way is to ask Mr. Conrad to allow you to go out with a team of his guards," Mia says.

"You should help me," Chanel says, "I need to go shopping if our plan is going to work."

The women nod and agree, but Mia scowls suspiciously.

In the morning, the women wait at the dining room table to have breakfast with Conrad. Conrad emerges from his room wearing a dark blue robe and looking irresistibly disheveled. He's surprised to see all of the women sitting at the table.

"Why are you up so early?" he asks.

"Since Miss Ambrose just joined the house, we thought we should welcome her," Mia explains.

"Yes, we want to make friends with her," says another, "It's really important to us that we all get along well.""I just joined them," Chanel says demurely, "Although they are so kind to me, I feel rather embarrassed."

She showed smiles as she hands him a bowl of oatmeal.

"Why do you feel embarrassed?" Conrad asks.

"I didn't know there would be so many women here, and I didn't bring anything to thank them for their hospitality," Chanel explains, "I want to buy them some gifts to show my friendship and appreciation."

"You can have whatever you want," Conrad says, "Just make a list, and someone will get the items for you."

"I want to buy them myself," Chanel says charmingly, "I want it to be a sort of good-faith effort."

Conrad stared at her with a puzzled look. She smiles sweetly and gazes into his eyes, but he can't shake the feeling that she's planning something else. She smiles as enchantingly as she can.

"Can't you understand why it's important to me?" Chanel asks.

"Do you think you can escape like that?" Conrad asks.

"I won't," Chanel answers immediately, "I said I would stay here and help you get Nicole for you, and I mean to keep my word. Nicole, so she is precious to me."

Conrad smiles, pleased that Chanel finally believes him that he means business. As he eats, he looks at the many beautiful women at the table. His heart hammers happily in his chest, and he realizes it beats only for Nicole. He finds the presence of the other women annoying, and he wishes he could get rid of them.