What do you look for in a lover?
Someone who is funny? Smart? Good-looking? Exceptional at sex and providing heavenly orgasms? A ripped-body with washboard abs or muscular arms that look like they can snap you into two?
Or perhaps the perfect lover was a little bit of everything...
Lucy started every morning by getting up at four in the morning, tossing on her joggers and sneakers. She wasn't exactly a runner, but her schedule that kept her body in shape was running-jogging for twenty minutes before switching over to a ten minute walk, and after her walk, she'd start running again. After running, jogging, and walking for an hour and twenty minutes, Lucy would stretch first and then hop into the shower.
Her favorite part of the morning was the rush of warm, hard water droplets pounding onto her skin and the velvet, satin feel of soap lathering up as her sponge and fingers worked on kneading out those hard knots. After her shower, her other daily rituals were figuring out which bags, shoes, clothes, and what kind of make-up did she want to put on today? Was she feeling young, flirty, and pink? Or was it going to be a neutral, beige, sexy librarian look today?
Was her hair going to be curled, tied up, pinned up?
Eh, Lucy determined. Her eyes were going to be light, sparkly, lined with cat-eye liner and she was going to go bold with a deep red matte lipstick. Her cheeks were lightly padded with an orange blush, and while her foundation was a light layer - she really wanted her lashes to look good so she gave her short lashes three coats of mascara and then put on natural-looking fake lashes.
A sky blue blouse was pulled from the closet along with straight legged work pants and wedged heels. Lucy was looking for an accompanying bag and accessories and decided to trust old faithful - her first purchase with her first sale - a black Chanel bag that was discounted for 20% off.
Lucy was a romantic. Lucy was also a virgin at thirty-one years old. While she had had boyfriends before - her relationships never lasted. Lucy didn't believe in preserving her chastity for marriage, but she didn't feel that losing her V-Card was truly important either. And if her last two relationships had taught her anything, it was that she knew what she was looking for in her next romance.
After eating her avocado toast for breakfast, Lucy was ready to face the day. Today she wasn't meeting with clients, but she still needed to be at the office to finish the legal documents that she needed to push through in order to finalize the purchase of the Two Bedrooms, Two Bathroom, 750 square feet condo on San Pedro Street in San Jose. And after getting the purchase finalized, Lucy also needed to finish brokering the commission split between all of the agents involved.
There was never a dull day in the office.
Diamond Real Estate Brokerage was located just outside Chinatown, San Francisco near the Ritz - and while her job was never stable because the economy was like fashion. One day, you're in - the next, you're out. Lucy loved selling homes to all the brilliant geniuses of Silicon Valley, and one day, she was going to snag herself an engineer and become a homemaker and just blog about her life.
Until then, Lucy was going to continue toiling and sowing good karma.
Bzzt! Bzzt!
Her phone vibrated twice before Lucy turned her attention to her personal phone - she rarely received calls on her own line. Seeing who it was, her fingers loosened its hold on her favorite blue ink pen and she looked up at her office door.
Good. It was closed shut tightly.
Sliding a manicured finger over the Samsung Android phone, Lucy placed the call on speaker and then tentatively said, "Hello?"
The voice on the other side was light, cheeky, and very feminine. Angie - Angela Rayes - was probably the closest thing Lucy had to a best friend. Angie was a Registered Nurse in the Pediatrics Unit at St. Lucas Hospital in Daly City - and only three years older than Lucy. Angie, like Lucy, was single and not ready to commit to any one person after experiencing a terrible relationship that lasted over a decade long.
"Lucy!" shouted Angie.
Lucy couldn't help, but smile and she finally put down her pen as she leaned back into her comfy swivel chair. "Yes?" she answered, giggling as she uttered the word. "What is it?"
There was a moment of silence before Angie finally spat out what was on her mind.
"Can you take me home?"
"Sure? At St. Lucas?"
"No..."
She wasn't a mind reader, and Angie wasn't a shy girl. "Where are you right now?" questioned Lucy, her tone a bit worried.
Angie giggled softly, and then said, "At the Ritz..."
A second passed and then it dawned on Lucy what had happened.
"I'll be there in 10 minutes."
After they exchanged goodbyes, Lucy went to the receptionist to let her know that she was going to be out of the office for the rest of the day. Her car was at the body shop right now, but the walk to the hotel was going to be ten minutes tops even in heels. It didn't take long for Lucy to reach the glitzy hotel, and outside the hotel lobby was a smiley Angie.
Angie was someone who had a great smile. If people thought Lucy had a great smile, well, Angie had a billion-volt charged smile that was perfectly straight, white, and infectious. Lucy and Angie couldn't have looked more like polar opposites.
While Lucy was petite and very cute, Angie was a five foot ten inches Amazonian Goddess. Lucy's dark eyes met Angie's bright brown eyes, and they were happy, and perhaps, a little shy. The smaller woman waved over the nurse, and gave her a once over look - taking in her now slightly fuzzy hair that was caused by the moisture in the air, the pointy, strappy stilettos, and the modest looking dress.
"No shift today?" asked Lucy as Angie walked on the other side by her. The tall woman struggled in her shoes as her feet took tiny, careful steps and she wobbled like a brand new baby lamb. Lucy offered her arm to the tall woman, and Angie gladly took the offer as her arm looped under Lucy's armpit.
Angie shook her head, and then quickly asked, "Where's your car?"
"Oh, we're going to it right now. It's at Ryan's," Lucy answered smoothly. She then turned her attention once more to the nurse, peeking at her from the corner of her eye. "So," she began inquisitively. "Who was it?"
"Who was who?" a smooth, deep voice interrupted.
Both women turned over, and there it was. The smell of used car oil, lubrication, tires, and the whirling buzzes of a billion tools at work. Ryan stood in front of Bobby - a 2008 Honda Civic - dressed in his dark navy, flame resistant overalls, taking off his gloves one by one as he approached his two friends. His signature K-pop songs were blasting in the background, and Lucy couldn't help, but tap her foot along with the addictive beat of the music.
"Hey Lucy and Angie!" shouted Miguel - one of Ryan's staff members. "Lookin' pretty like always!"
"Hey," Lucy and Angie said in unison, waving over to the others. Sneaking a look over to the dazed Angie, Lucy quickly broke away from the other woman and proceeded to spill everything she knew to Ryan. Her eyes were sparkling bright as she said, "I don't know who, but I want to find out."
"Nosy girl," Ryan said, shaking his head as he lightly laughed. Ryan was taller than the average man at six feet and two inches, and very lean. He wasn't overly bulky nor was he thin as a stick. His hair was short and fashionable. In short, Ryan was very well groomed and always aware of the latest trend. "Almost done with Bobby - he'll be done tomorrow afternoon. Let me wash my hands, and then we go to K-BBQ."
Lucy beamed, and then said, "Thank you."
Her fair hands reached into her Kate Spade bag and fingered around for a thick, white envelope filled with cash. Lucy was determined to make it not seem so obvious so she kept smiling while her hand played Twister inside of her bag as she blindly searched for the darn thing.
Angie couldn't help, but raise her brow as she watched her dear friend, waiting to see what exactly was going to happen next.
When her thin fingers finally made contact with the thick envelope, Lucy slowly pulled it out.
"Don't," warned Ryan. He got rid of his mechanic's outfit and was dressed in fitted blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and a nice jacket as he grabbed his keys. Lucy's hand slowly retreated back into her purse, but her grip never loosened. "Time for food, girls. C'mon."
They followed him to his slick, dark metallic blue, two-door Mercedes-Benz coupe. It was expensive - Lucy didn't know the exact price at the time, but Angie had made a big hoopla about it the first time they had ridden in Ryan's car. It was only after the ride that Angie had told her exactly how expensive the damn car was.
Two. Hundred. And. Fifty. Thousand. Dollars.
Lucy's heart was ready to jump out and lie flat on the road so someone could run it over. That was how much she had left on her mortgage. Lucy's plan was simple:
1. She was going to finish paying off her mortgage within the next two years;
2. She was going to find someone to spend the rest of her life with;
3. Lucy was going to finish paying off her mortgage.
At the time, she hadn't imagined how much money a mechanic could make, but then again, his real estate portfolio was big for someone who wasn't in the tech industry, or super rich in general unless Ryan was super rich. This was what Lucy had found out the last time they had lunch together. He had three body shops. His main one where he worked at was in Chinatown. His other two were in South San Francisco and Daly City.
"What's wrong?" asked Ryan - his eyes full of concern.
Snapping out it, Lucy hadn't realize that Angie had already gotten into the back seat and her smile was wide and somewhat dangerous as if she was ready to watch a good show. Shrugging it off, Lucy then said, "Angie, you don't want to sit in the front?"
"Nope," her smile was wide and very devious. "Please go ahead."
"Alright..."
The woman ducked her head and slightly folded her head as she entered the posh car - extremely aware of everything because she didn't want to break anything. It was going to take them about 35 minutes to get to the Korean barbecue place, and while Ryan was a very good driver - he was a fast driver. Placing her seat belt in place, Ryan turned on his mix of k-pop, anime, and American pop and began to drive.
"So I asked Miguel," began Lucy, testing the waters. "how much you guys would charge a regular customer for replacing the bearings, seals, engine..."
Lucy took out the white envelope, and opened the glove compartment and placed the money stack in before closing it gently. "There's five thousand three hundred dollars in the envelope. I don't know if you tax for labor - so I just did the normal six percent."
The battle was about to start - the battle of wills was going to begin, and Angie sat up a little bit straighter. The Asian Polite Fight was going to begin and she enjoyed watching every second.
"Lucy," he began a bit sternly. His eyes never left the road, and his right hand was always on the stick-shift. "You are my friend. Remember what I told you? I always treat my friends very well. Don't I, Angie?"
"Yup," Angie agreed, nodding her head.
"Exactly. That's why you don't need to do this. Please take back your money. Spend on shoes, or whatever you enjoy," he said with finality.
"Or," countered Lucy diplomatically. "You can take the money and pay your employees who worked on the car. As kind and charitable as you are Ryan, I don't want to take advantage of being your friend. The money is the glove compartment. Deposit it. Or spend it on whatever you enjoy. Don't you agree, Angie, that friends don't take advantage of one and another?"
Angie nodded her head once more.
Ryan laughed, but there was a smirk on his face. They were at a red light spot, and he briefly turned to Lucy. "You're making me uncomfortable, Lucy. Take back your money. None of my employees worked on the car. Only I did so I don't need to pay anyone."
Green-light, and the car revved to life as they made it to the next red stoplight.
Lucy turned to Ryan and said, "Good. Spend it on tickets and merch to BP, RV, and Twice. World Tours, y'know."
"Or you can pay for dinner and we call it even. Does that sound good?" offered Ryan as he pulled into the tight parking lot.
"Sure."
"Lucy," he groaned, backing up into the parking space. "Remove the money from my car please."
Narrowing her eyes, Lucy refused to budge her stare from the storefront. After a second and two, Angie knew who won the battle.
"Fine," huffed Lucy. She carefully removed the thick envelope, and tucked it carefully into her bag. "Dinner's on me."
Ryan then smiled at Lucy brilliantly, and said, "Thank you."
The trio exited the car, and proceeded into the All You Can Eat restaurant. After waiting for five minutes, the trio was shown to a corner booth and seated as the hostess took their drinks order before leaving them once more so they could have more time with the menu in order to determine which cuts of meat they wanted served.
"So," Lucy was the one who broke the silence. "Who was it? Were they hot?"
Ryan almost choked on his water, but he was hardly surprised because Lucy was brazen and nosy. Angie smiled shyly, and simply nodded. She didn't dare acknowledge Lucy's questions with words.
"Was his penis big?"
"Lucy!" giggled Angie. Ryan could only shake his head. "Yeah..." admitted Angie.
"Who is it?" Lucy asked excitedly. She thanked the waiter for the drinks. She was going to have a Soju Martini Slushie, and Angie was just having water while Ryan ordered iced green tea. Ryan proceeded to order for all three and the waiter left. "Oh, I got to use the ladies' restroom. Don't say anything unless I'm back!"
Lucy winked at Angie before practically skipping in the direction of the restroom.
"Oh, MiniOilDriller is in town," Ryan said, looking at his Discord phone notification. The clanking of metal chopsticks made Ryan's head cock up from his phone, and Angie began to pale.
"I-"
Ryan shook his head, and said, "No need to explain. What you do is up to you. As long as he didn't hurt you, I'm not particularly worried."
"Lucy can be kind of..."
"Nosy?" finished Ryan. He began grilling the meat and the sizzling was welcoming sound to his stomach. His eyes flickered in the direction of the restroom, and he grew slightly worried about Lucy. Was she not feeling well? He used the metal tongs to flip the meat, and Angie grabbed the other pair to help grill the vegetables.
The click-clacking of Lucy's heels resounded and she appeared around the corner, beaming with joy. She then sat next to Angie on the cushioned bench and smiled brightly.
"You're always happy," Angie said, looking at her friend up and down. "But you're like super happy."
"What did you do?" Ryan asked, slightly skeptical of the girl in front of him.
"So," Lucy changed the subject. "About that your mysterious beau-"
"Lucy," Ryan cut in somewhat deadpanned. "I got floor seats to the Twice World Tour in LA."
"No. Freaking. Way."
Lucy uttered the words slowly in disbelief and her eyes were wide. "D-did y-you get one for me too?" she stammered.
"Of course," Ryan said simply, placing grilled meat onto Lucy's plate and then some onto Angie's place.
"Ryan Wong," Lucy said, looking at him with glassy eyes. "you are a God. God-sent."
"Just eat now, nosy girl," Ryan said, smiling with his eyes while he laughed. "Eat too, Angie."
When the check came, Ryan automatically gave his card over to the waiter, but Lucy was prepared this time.
"Oh, sir," the waiter said somewhat awkwardly. "The bill has been paid for. This is just the receipt."
"Thank you," Lucy said, taking her receipt. "C'mon let's go."
"God, I am such a third wheel," Angie whispered to herself.
"Hmm?" Lucy turned to Angie. "What was that?"
"Nothing," Angie said.
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