We reached the apartment, and everything spun. The cauim's warmth still glowed inside my body, turning every step into an uncertain adventure. Finally at ease at home, I felt the drunkenness hit me fully. As I crossed the threshold, my legs nearly gave way, but Maia caught me.
"Got you." The assurance in her voice soothed something inside me. She carried me to the bedroom.
I flopped onto the soft mattress and sank as though the stars had pulled me down. I rolled over, surrendering to the comfort while the world spun around me and everything felt far too light.
Maia took off her hat, vest, and sandals before sitting on the bed. I watched her silhouette, blurred by alcohol and the night's stupor.
"You're sho incredible…" My tongue tangled, words stumbling over one another. "I wouldn't have known what to shay to those kidsh… I'm terrible with them."
Maia frowned and leaned closer to hear me. My words came out slurred, but I continued.
"Once, in the emergency room… there wash a car accident. I wash the doctor in charge… Did everything I could to shave them… But… vital organsh were punctured. It wash inevitable… Their shon… shurvived… Don't know where he wash… But he heard me talking to the other doctorsh. That boy shcreamed that I'd killed his parentsh."
Silence filled the room.
"Afterward, my colleaguesh told me… to be gentler." I let out an awkward laugh, heavy with exhaustion. "Gentler? That washn't even my job. But now… I wonder… How would I tell a shix-cycle-old child that hish parentsh had died?" I sat up, coming face-to-face with Maia. I searched for something in the depths of her eyes. An answer, comfort, anything.
She held my gaze. Her honey-colored eyes seemed to absorb everything as a silent storm formed within them: a mixture of sadness, understanding, and subtle anger, concealed beneath layers of mystery.
And then I felt it. That dull ache, that immeasurable urge to cry, that nameless thing tightening my chest. I caressed her face, and the silence stretched between us, heavy. The pain still burned, embedded among my words.
Maia stayed there, breathing deeply. I thought she would say something, but she remained quiet. Yet her gaze… ah, her gaze offered every key to the answers locked inside her heart. I only needed to find the locks.
"Aki…" Her sweet voice drew me back. "I'll get you some water."
I shook my head as though waking from a trance. I took off my hat and sandals, relieved to step onto the soft carpet, and began getting out of my costume.
"Y-you…" Maia handed me the glass. "Why…?" Her face was flushed, a rare glow on her skin.
Why? I drew my brows together, drank the water in one go, and set the glass on the dresser. "Thaaank you. Can you help me? This thing keep-sh getting… shtuck."
"Akiko…" Maia shook her head.
Something changed in the air. The vulnerability I had glimpsed in her seemed to evaporate. In its place emerged… ah… that predatory aura. She looked at me as though devouring me. She approached slowly and cornered me against the wall, teasing, disarming my defenses.
My breath caught. I was completely intoxicated and surrendered.
Maia leaned in, her eyes fixed on my face as her fingers slid over the fastener.
Click
The fabric slipped to the floor.
My hands trembled. I should have said something, but I was trapped in her gaze. She took me in from head to toe, at her own pace, with a look that burned.
Maia cradled my face in her hands, her fingers caressing my mouth. "Why do you do this? How am I supposed to sleep with you like this?"
My body ignited. My heart raced in frantic beats, and every warm touch traveled across my skin like hungry flames. Maia's touch was fire. A gentle, ravenous fire. Every inch of skin she touched bore an invisible trail of heat. And I wanted more.
I brought my hands to her wrists and slid them up until our fingers intertwined. I smiled wickedly, swept up in the alcoholic euphoria that ruled every cell of my being. I licked my lips seductively. "You can't do anything, can you?" I whispered in her ear. I stroked her back, moving upward until my arms encircled her neck.
Maia looked affronted by the challenge and tightened her grip on my waist. Her eyes narrowed, glinting with amusement. "Yeah, I can't do anything. Not with you like this. But if you think I'm gonna let you do whatever you want with me…" She scooped me up. "You're very mistaken."
I laughed in surprise, wrapping my legs around her.
Maia laid me on the bed, her breath brushing my neck and sending a shiver through me from head to toe. "Time to sleep."
"You don't know how to… play…" I pouted.
Maia nibbled my chin. "No, I don't."
I turned my face away, cheeks burning. "Gonna shleep with me?"
The distance between us shrank to millimeters. I felt her warm breath against my mouth. Her gaze slid to my lips. Then… she smiled. A smile of desire. Of a predator who had already cornered her prey, who knew I had surrendered, who had already won the game. And she kissed me. "Oh, I certainly am."