A drunken night

At that moment, Jeremy forgot all about the mission, his focus was on the beautiful woman in front of him, as their lips continued to intertwine, his desires worsened, and her body's responses and her moans brought out the beast in him, he picked her up to the bedroom.

"Linda, you don't make it easy...", he whispered as he allowed himself to get lost in Linda's charm. They both gave in to a long drunken night of passion and pleasure, without any reservations or regards for the following morning, they only had that night and they wanted to make it count.

Jeremy woke up before an exhausted Linda to prepare her bath and breakfast, after the night they had, he felt it was the least he could do after taking her innocence,

Jeremy gently shook a lifeless Linda, "Wake up...",

"Hmm...what? Mariam, why are you in my room?", she said in her sleep, but she soon regained her senses and abruptly opened her eyes to the handsome face in front of her, and her face turned red prompting her to pull the sheets over her head, "That wasn't a dream was it?", she murmured under the covers,

Jeremy chuckled, "What? Do you usually have such dreams about me?"

She laughed awkwardly, "What? No, of course not, why would I? Ha ha ha.."

"Okay then, wake up, the bath is ready and I am busy preparing breakfast. Jackson will be here at 5:30 with your office clothes",

She slowly uncovered her blanket, exposing her shy face causing Jeremy to blush, 'There is that face', he said biting his lower lip due to the sudden surge of burning desire, but the voice in his head quickly warned, 'Hey, control yourself. Yesterday can be blamed on alcohol, but if it happens again, that will simply mean you are attracted to her. Remember the mission'.

He cleared his throat in an attempt to erase the dangerously forbidden thoughts that suddenly flooded his mind, he calmly said, "Hurry, breakfast will be ready soon", and then turned to the door leaving Linda with thoughts of her own. 'We really did it? After all the efforts I put into fighting those feelings, I ended up losing my virginity to him. Not only was my first night with a guy who didn't love me, but it was also a drunken mistake.' Ever since the kiss, much like Jeremy, she had been fighting the urge for a second round, not only that, but her desires were starting to boil over. Seeing him and his smile through the wine glasses and knowing that it was just the two of them, she let her emotions get the better of her.

'Why did I have to crush on my enemy?', she said wrapping herself in Jeremy's grey sheets and heading to the bath he prepared, 'And why did he have to be such a gentleman', she sighed seeing the salt bath he prepared for her, to help ease her pain. 

When Linda was done, she found that Jeremy had replaced the blood-stained sheets, and her clothes along with her make-up kit were perfectly laid on the bed for her.

After dressing up, she then joined him in the kitchen, which was elegantly painted white and fitted with brown kitchen cabinets. Her eyes scouted around until they fell on a room that was slightly opened, "That is my studio, where all the art takes place", Jeremy replied seeing her eyes lost in the room.

Her eyes lit up in excitement, "Oh, can I go see?"

"Sure..", he replied, "But is a bit messy right now, maybe you can come by later. I would have cleaned it up nicely by then", he urged,

"Okay, that is actually a good idea, then we can choose the piece you would want to show at the charity Gala"., Linda added

Jeremy smiled in approval. 

The pleasant chatting and smiles continued until time caught up with them and it brought along a reality check forcing the room to fall into complete silence. They found themselves drawn into each other's eyes and were both instantly overwhelmed with melancholy, and a deep sigh followed after that, both wishing for the moment to last a little longer. However, unfortunately, they had responsibilities, Linda finally mastered a smile, "I have to go, thank you for breakfast and the bath, that was nice of you"

Jeremy held her arm, "Linda, wait!"

She looked at him in anticipation, and excitement, "Uhm, so,", Jeremy was not sure why he stopped her, but seeing that she stopped, he had to say something, and so he decided to ask about something he had buried at the back of his mind, "Uhm, that painting...", he gently let her hand go, "That painting from that other day....can you tell me how you came across it?"

Although it was not what she anticipated at that moment, it was still a question she'd been hoping he'd ask, "What painting?" she asked pretending not to know what he was talking about, 

"The one by Jin Ae, it was a painting of a child in a swing surrounded by butterflies", Jeremy explained

"Oh, it was actually for my mom, apparently it was gifted to her by the co-founder of the Paris gallery...", Linda said nonchalantly 

Jeremy's face fell, he didn't know that his aunt owned a Gallery, let alone with the Kings, "Sorry, Paris Gallery?", 

Although Jeremy's voice was getting shaky, Linda remained indifferent, still acting oblivious "Yes, I probably never mentioned it, but my mom had three galleries, I hardly visit the one in Paris because it is managed by Ms. Kim Jin Ae."

Jeremy looked lifeless, 'why is aunt in business with the Kings?'

A now concerned Linda asked, "Jeremy, are you okay?", after noticing his face getting more pale with each passing second, 'Did I go too far?', she thought.

"Yes, you can leave now...", Jeremy replied with a distraught look, 

"You don't look okay, I can stay until-"

Jeremy insisted, "No, I will leave soon also, I have an appointment."

"Alright, see you later then", Linda headed towards the door,

The moment Linda left, Jeremy paced around the house in confusion and frustration, it was like the more he got tangled up with the Kings, the more his reality became distorted. He finally stopped to take a deep breath, 'Enough with this', he got ahold of himself, made a phone call,

"Hey, it's me, we have a small problem, we need to pause the plan....", He said authoritatively.