The Glory ( Freen❣️Becky)

10🔞( Make love to me)

God, woman," Tee said with a laugh. "In a car parked on the street?"

"Stolen moments wherever we could find them."

"And Nop was none the wiser?" Nam asked.

"Nop was pissed as hell," she said with a smile. She set her empty coffee cup on the side table, wondering why she was traveling down memory lane this evening, sharing intimate details of her life, details she'd not told another living soul.

"Do you really think you'll run into her if you go back to Surat Thaini ?" Tee asked.

Freen shrugged. "It's not so much that I might run into her, it's the fact that she's there. Each time I go there, I vow I won't see her.

Each time, I do. After the last time, I told her I couldn't do it anymore. Each time I left her, I was an emotional wreck."

"So your answer is to stay away?" Nam asked

"That seems to be my only means of resistance to her."

"The fact that she would be with you while supposedly being committed to Nop disturbs me," Nam said. "She was obviously in love with you, yet her commitment was to him, not you."

"Dr. Kang, the commitment she made was to marry him, not to love him."

"And you were in too deep to put an end to the affair?"

"I tried. The summer before college was a whirlwind and we rarely saw each other. Stolen moments here and there, but we never had enough time alone to really be together. She was gone a lot that summer and when she moved away, I barely got to say goodbye to her. We weren't alone and it was awkward for us. I cried that night after she left," she admitted. "That's when I decided I needed a change. I stayed in the dorm that first year. I made friends. I even had a girlfriend," she said with a smile. "And I stayed away. When Becky would be home, for whatever reason, I'd make up an excuse as to why I couldn't go home. Thanksgiving. Christmas. I stayed away if Becky was home."

"You were so young. That must have been hard," Tee said.

"Oh, yeah. It was hard. And I was lonely. But I knew if I was ever going to get on with my life, I had to do it. Becky was obviously getting on with hers."

"So you didn't call or write? Nothing?"

Freen shook her head. "No. Our affair, as you called it, Nam, was simply that. A secret affair."

"So when did you see her again?"

"It was the holidays. I had asked my mother if she knew when Becky was going to be there. I was fully prepared to spend my third Christmas alone. I had a job at Whole Foods that was flexible, but I could always use that as an excuse." She glanced at Nam. "My mother was smarter than I thought and apparently she figured out I was avoiding Becky."

"So she lied to you?"

"Yes. I went home a couple of days before Christmas, thinking I would spend time with her. I was even intending on staying a little longer because Sam was on leave. We only saw him once a year or so as it was. So I had it all planned out." She smiled, remembering seeing Becky standing at the top of the stairs. "I was twenty."

***

"Hey, Mom, I'm home," she called, looking around the large kitchen and seeing no one. She would have thought her mother would have been preparing dinner already. She turned, heading down the familiar short hallway to their rooms when she heard the door open at the top of the stairs. She stopped and glanced up, shocked to see Becky staring back at her. How many times had that happened? Becky standing at the top of the stairs like a goddess, beckoning her?