Anthologies {MIKHAIAH AU}

maroon

# Maroon

She's not really sure how they ended up here in her apartment. Her living room lit by vanilla scented candles she picked up at the store today. The store where she bumped into Mikha.

Mikha who was introduced to her by Colet, her close friend from work. Mikha who always seemed to have an invisible guard up whenever they were in the same social gatherings. Mikha whose brown eyes, seemed to follow her but never intentionally. Mikha who she had a secret crush on for a year now but never had the guts to ask her out. Mikha who she heard went through a rough break up last year.

The same person who's now sitting across from her in the sofa that she and Maloi recently bought on to replace their tatty second hand one. And the same Mikha who's actually laughing at Aiah's jokes. Aiah thinks maybe it's the wine but nonetheless she likes Mikha's presence here.

The red head pours her another glass at her request. She feels relaxed knowing that she has a day off  tomorrow. At least , she'll be able to nurse her future hangover with the thought of making her crush laugh.

//

They somehow keeping bumping into each other after that first wine night. At the grocery store, in a cafe, at the gym. If she didn't know any better she'd think Mikha's following her but the look of surprise on the younger woman's face always convinced Aiah that these were coincidences.

They never text after the wine nights and Colet doesn't ever seem to know about their meetings. They keep it that way anyway.

//

"Oh shit, Aiah, I'm so sorry!" Mikha's face looks horrified at her wine stained tshirt. Aiah laughs on as the other woman runs to the kitchen with panicked urgency and remerges soon after with a handful of kitchen towels.

She kneels beside Aiah on the floor and starts frantically patting the area where the stain was - Aiah continues to laugh at the gesture but unconvinced it will do anything - her shirt is white and they were drinking a Merlot.

It's not really until Mikha's patting slows followed by her laughter dying, that Aiah realises their proximity to each other. She looks up to meet Mikha's eyes, her face tinted with a pink blush — probably from the wine. She can see so clearly her long eyelashes , and her cheeks and the way that her lips are slightly parted. She looks up to meet brown eyes, staring at her with intensity and a question, an ask.

Aiah, not usually brave enough to make the first move, finds herself closing the gap, closing her eyes as her lips met Mikha's. She's not sure why she's all that surprised when she feels Mikha's reciprocation instantaneously, kissing her back with a gently and slowly, like she had all the time in the world.

She could taste a mix of wine, cherries and a hint of tobacco — she didn't know Mikha smoked cigarettes —- nonetheless, the mix further intoxicates Aiah as she deepens their kiss. She wraps her left hand around Mikha's neck and her right pulling on to her shirt. Naturally they end up sensually making out on the floor — until they both jump off each other when the door swings open with Maloi declaring her presence by very loudly shouting  "This is your five - second warning, lovebirds!"

They scramble away as fast as possible and Maloi joins  the rest of their wine night.

Aiah sees Mikha out of the door with a stupid smile on her face.

//

After that evening, Aiah felt like she was walking on cloud nine. Like she was the main character in a rom-com walking down the street complete with her own soundtrack.

At work, she finds out from Colet that her best friend Mikha has started to smile a lot more since last week. She was telling Aiah an anecdote about how she found the red head just smiling into her cup of coffee when they met up at a cafe. Colet relayed that she asked Mikha the reason for looking like a love sick fool and the latter just shrugged and kept mum.