Bedmates Soulmates

Cut OkGanbul

Out Of Control

After what felt like a century, Kira put on a sweet smile.

Like an obedient maid, she slow squatted down in front of Austyn.

She opened the shoe cabinet, removed a pair of slippers, put them down beside Austyn's feet, and said with the solicitude of a summa cum laude graduate from the Maid Training Academy, 'Are these slippers to your satisfaction?' Before Austyn replied, she reached out to untie his shoelaces.

From his angle, he could see her long lashes hooding her eyes.

Her face had gone white as a sheet.

Her voice was sugary but hoarse.

The way her shoulders were hunched and her head bowed gave him a strange feeling.

He didn't like seeing her like this.

When she stood up to him just now, hands on hips and head held high, her eyes were shining like the brightest stars in the sky.

She looked like the warrior princess Hua Mulan, exceptionally strong and breathtakingly beautiful.

But now her hands were trembling with the effort of reining in her emotions.

The rims of her eyes were red.

Tears were threatening to fall.

And she was still wearing that artificial, saccharine, flawless smile.

She tended him with a servility ill-suited to her vivaciousness.

Austyn tugged on his tie; he found it hard to breathe.

She had waited for him by the door the other night.

Ran up to him with a genuine, welcoming smile.

Asked about his day.

Volunteered to fetch the slippers.

Cooed in a voice so sweet that she could give the honeybees a run for their money.

Where was that smile now?

She did it the other day.

Why couldn't she do it today?

Would it kill her to oblige him once more?

What was with that pitiful look on her colourless face?

She looked like someone had punched her in the gut.

Austyn balled his hand into a fist.

He conducted a SWOT analysis, identified her weakness, and exploited it to get what he wanted.

It was a common business tactic.

Why did it feel like he'd done something wrong?

He shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

She was still squatting beside him, like a well-trained, submissive maid, ready to spring into action at his next command.

The sight of her pale face pricked him.

Why were her damn hands still shaking?

Austyn clenched his teeth and breathed out through his nose.

He spun on his heels and left abruptly.

Kira still had the slippers in her hand.

The man had walked away with his leather shoes untied.

She watched her husband strode away on those long, powerful legs and cursed him silently.

'What the hell is wrong with that bastard?'

She was already bowing and scraping.

What more did he want?

It would have been easier to please Caligula than this capricious, conceited jerk.

Kira massaged her numb legs to get some blood flowing before she stood up.

Holding the slippers in hand, she went into the living room.

Her hubristic husband was sitting primly on the sofa, hands on knees and back straight.

His thick eyebrows were furrowed.

If he kept it up, that man was going to have a frown line as deep as the Mariana Trench before he turned forty, Kira thought unkindly.

His tie had been removed and unceremoniously tossed aside.

"Would you like to change into the slippers now?' Kira shuffled up to him.

Even the fussiest customer couldn't find fault with her impeccable service, could they?

She was exhibiting the patience of Job.

When the man did not speak or move, Kira started to fret.

Was he still mad at her?

For what?

For not snapping to it when he asked her to change his slippers the first time?

Would he be angry enough to make good the threat?

Would he pull the plug on her father's treatment?

That last thought terrified Kira.

She had a grand total of $7,328.20 under her name.

Not enough for a single overnight stay at the hospital. Out Of Commal

If Austyn withdrew his financial support, her father would...

Kira felt a huge lump in her throat.

How she wished she could wind back the clock!

She hadn't drunk a single drop of alcohol tonight.

Why did she act so impulsively then?

She shouldn't have disobeyed him like that.

It was just changing slippers.

She'd done it before.

He could've asked her to do something much worse.

'Okay, Kira Hewitt, she scolded herself silently. You're getting cocky. Just because you seem to have gotten close to him in the past couple of weeks doesn't mean you should forget your place. This is a contract. A business deal. He's your sponsor, your employer, your Party A. Not your husband. Not your lover. Not someone you can throw a wifely tantrum against. He has the power to save your father. You'll change his slippers, kiss ass, crawl to him on your knees and sell your dignity and your soul if that's what it takes. Grow up and stop being such a baby!'

Kira pinched her forearm with enough force to leave a mark.

The pain would make her remember.

Still wearing that Pan Am smile, she bent her knees so her head was lower than his.

"Allow me to help,' she said, fawning. 'You've been out all day. Your feet must be stinking by now."

Austyn shot her a dark look.

Kira tapped her cheek as if to punish herself. 'Sorry, I misspoke. You're wearing Italian hand-made leather shoes. They cost an arm and a leg. Surely, they won't smell. Only second-rate, shoddy knockoffs like mine will stink. Please don't mind me."

In her heart, Kira was beating her breast. "Why did I just say? Shit, why do I keep putting my foot in my mouth? I was trying to suck up to him!'

Austyn looked at his wife with a blank face.

Deep inside, a fire was raging out of control.

It wasn't a fire of anger.

He was annoyed with himself.

When she tried to placate him in her clumsy ways, when she bit her bottom lip and was on the tears, Austyn realised, with a start, he wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her.

He wanted to tell her the threat was empty.

He would never do that to her.

lle couldn't stand the thought of her crying, let alone be the cause of it.

"Count on me," he wanted to say. 'Don't cry, and give me back that smile that melts my heart."

Austyn put a hand to his chest.

His heart was thumping.

verge of

Out CF Control

It was a dangerous sign,

His feelings for her were getting out of control.