Chapter 5: A bottle of Perfume

3 YEARS AGO

Her Christian Louboutin pumps embellished with sparkling hand-placed crystals on neutral-coloured mesh gives a clacking sound on her every step. With a chin-up, the woman illustrates an immense expression of confidence while she elegantly struts down at the shopping district on Bond Street. The woman's long black shiny hair bounces onto her shoulder and sways with the wind as the autumn breeze comes quicker. Sensing the cold weather, she pulls her white coat closer onto her shoulders covering her white floral dress and begins to stride faster. She notices a blonde woman glancing her way and can't help but arch her perfectly trimmed thick eyebrows that compliment her brown eyes and heart shape face. Her sharp jawline conveys a distinct charm to her beauty, exotic and seductive. Passers-by gaze at her with admiration but she's a snob who does not care for their affection. For her, she is above everyone else.

Every one of them is cattle.

The woman reaches her apartment and plops the paper bags onto the couch. The exhaustion from strolling around London to shop make her legs spasm. She strips herself naked in the bedroom and put on her black Japanese robe to relieve her body from the constraints of her clothes.

Unknown to her, a lady appears behind the door with a scheme to pull a prank. The young woman prowls behind her like a cat. As the creeping gal comes closer to her spot, she turns around to apprehend the unwanted guest and scoff.

"No fun," Oksana says, pouting her lips and feeling the frustration that she never gets to make fun of the woman who catches her naughty nature.

"I can smell your stinking arse." The woman remarks and laughs. Insulting Oksana is her way of expressing her endearment. She treats the girl like a little sister she can tease every day.

"You bought a lot of new clothes," Oksana says peeking inside one of the paper bags and slightly opening them with her fingers.

"I got a bonus from my last job." The woman replies loudly from the kitchen. She is getting them crystal glasses from the cupboard and wine to drink.

"Dasha gave me my first solo job today," Oksana announces proudly, fanning the postcard on her hand and playing around with it.

"That's great news. Finally, she's letting you go on your own." The woman yells, she put the wine back and takes a bottle of champagne from the freezer.

"Konstantin persuaded her. He thinks I'm ready." Oksana brags her closeness to their handler. Lifting her right shoulder as a gesture of confidence to show off to her sister.

"He really has a soft heart for you." The woman smirks to acknowledge Konstantin's apparent fondness for Oksana. She might be a little jealous of the new recruit as they give her their full attention, but it does not threaten her in the slightest manner. She has vast experience and exceptional skills in the ways of carnage. She can easily kill them all.

"Do you think I'm ready?" Oksana consults for assurance glaring straight into the woman's eyes. She looks up to the woman like an older sister she never had.

"Never doubt what you are capable of, Oksana. We are the ones who evolve past the normal. Your instinct and skill will be your weapon and you will survive any danger." The woman affirms her advice to the young lady. She wants Oksana to believe in herself and build up the confidence to kill.

The woman pops the bottle open and pours the champagne on the glass before passing it over to Oksana.

"À ta santé!" The woman announces, hoisting her crystal up.

"À la tienne!" Oksana counters staring at the woman's eyes as they toast.

Before the woman can take a sip, a loud ring from a mobile phone draws her away from the moment. Unceremoniously, she put her glass down and goes to her room to receive the call from someone unknown.

"That's seven years of bad sex for you," Oksana mumbles mocking the woman for her impolite gesture then sips the champagne on her crystal.

The woman comes back with a wide smile on her face. "Since you are going to your first job, I'm going to take you to my favourite place."

PERFUME

The woman drives around London to a perfume store. They make special kinds of scents for their customers. Oksana knows the woman has a penchant for extravagance and one of them is fragrance. She even has one customized under her name, and only she can buy them for an expensive rate.

"You should get one. A smell that can make you feel powerful and make your enemies fear you. A centurion that can overthrow his adversaries in the mere sight of his magnificence and splendour." The woman explains glaring at the thorough details of the bottles displayed at the store.

"The smell of victory," Oksana replies with a fierce look on her eyes and a wide grin on her lips.

VILLANELLE

Villanelle put the bottle of perfume back to its box and returns it to Eve's drawer beside the bed. She smiles at the thought that the woman keeps her gifts regardless of what happens between them. They have been chasing each other for a year and it has been amusing since. Wanting to get a glimpse of one another for a few winks. It is addictive to know someone is pursuing you. The attention is drowning, it can keep you alive or kill you. And they both almost died. Eve stabs her. She shoots Eve. They are both lucky to be standing alive and she does not want to keep it happening.

So this is love?

She knows the difference now between love and obsession. The selfish urge to keep Eve for herself and hold the woman by her side shifts to needing to set the woman aside to protect her. The path she is going to take will put both their lives in peril. She is willing to whisk away all the lingering feelings for the woman than to allow Eve to be in danger.

This is farewell.

Tears fall down Villanelle's cheeks, feeling the heartbreaking parting she has to process again. It is easier to leave a woman who does not love you than abandon the feelings you both admit to sharing and not continue. Villanelle bit her lips. Eve is sleeping soundly by her side and she cannot afford to have the woman see her breaking down like a kid. It is upsetting. She cries in silence until the pain of leaving the woman she loves becomes tolerable again.

Villanelle wipes her tears away with a hand and kisses Eve's forehead. She brushes the woman's soft curly hair and whispers the words she will never undo until her final moment.

"I love you, Eve."

Villanelle stands up from the mattress and fixes herself up to leave. She promises to herself. No more letters. No more gifts. No more following the woman she loves more than her life that she is willing to surrender everything. The sole aspect she cannot pledge to tell is the toughest words she requires time to distil.

Villanelle walks out the door and leaves Eve.