“Proposition? What kind of proposition are we talking about here?”
“Well, you know, something about…” Brandon cleared his throat, he then look around, panicking. “Where’s Callum? He is good explaining something like this?”
Asher’s rolled his eyes, he look into Diane’s eyes, and says directly at her. “We want it to invite you into our rented villa in Bali, for the remaining three days of this vacation, going away for s****l pleasure freedom with the three of us.”
Diane’s mouth is gaping wide, the juice in her hand falls, she is in shock at how blatantly Asher is talking. She look around, just to make sure that no one heard Asher’s vulgarity earlier.
“I… oh my God! What are you talking about?” Said Diane, blushing uncontrollably.
“What? s****l pleasure freedom? Well, maybe a bit exaggerated, how about if I say have a foursome with us?”
“Shush… People would hear you!”
Spontaneously, Brandon and Asher are looking around, trying to see if there is someone who heard their conversation. Callum sitting down on his chair, looking radiant from the chlorine water of the pool, a beautiful smile adorn his face once more.
“Oh, you told her already?” He turns at Diane, with a glint of excitement on his face. “So, what do you think? You will accept it, right?”
“I… are you crazy?! Really? You think I will accept something outlandish like…”
“Why not? You have told me that you like the three of us?”
Brandon and Callum’s eyes are glinting with excitement.
“Really? You like, the three of us?” Ask Brandon, a smirk adorning his handsome face.
“I…”
“No need to shy about it, we know that we are irresistible.” Wink Callum.
“Ugh, fine, yes, I said it! But it doesn’t mean.”
“Yes?”
“Doesn’t it occur to you that all of this… arrangement seems a bit odd? I mean I try it at the past, but I am passing beyond that anymore.”
“Do you like it though?” Ask Asher.
“Like it?”
“Yes, you told us, you have tried anything in your past, but did you enjoy anything?”
“No! I have already told you, that…”
“That’s why we want to change it.” Said Asher, his eyes are dead-set on Diane. “I see something in you, we, see something in you, a desire, a flame.”
Diane then burst out laughing. “Oh yeah, like I am going to believe that, did you see what happened to the man that I was adored? He f*ckin ditch me to have a threesome with my now former best friends!”
“The man is a clown, you deserve better, Diane,” Callum said while asking for a refill from one of the waiters.
“I guess, that’s what the woman of my age could get, a bunch of clowns.”
“Who told you that? The society?” Ask Asher again, he takes Diane’s hand and holds it. “Look, we will never force you to do anything that you don’t want to do, we offer you this, because we like you and we adore you, you can even ask for some kind of consign letter from us if you want.”
“You do that?”
“Well, of course, if it makes you comfortable?”
She looks at the three young men in front of her, three young men who desired her. Just like a dream, but, is she brave enough to do this? She try anything before, but at the expense of humiliation, she always felt it, afraid of the judgment by society, hence why she never felt comfortable being intimate.
She likes to play it safe, Matt, for her was a safe bet, even though It turned out she was wrong about him. She is afraid, she doesn’t want to feel wrong again, to feel that she have to go out from the path of what society dictates her.
“I am sorry guys, I don’t know about this.” She tells them truthfully.
Asher sense it, she wants it, she just needs a bit of a push, and he knows how to do that.
“Alright, just think about it, Diane.” He stands up, Callum follows suit. “Just tell us, your decision when we reach Bali.”
She nodded at him, Asher and Callum goes away, leaving Brandon to accompany her to the cabana.
“Aren’t you going to follow them?”
“When I have to choose between Two b*stards or a beautiful girl, of course, beauty is always the winner.”
She blushes, she knows that it’s getting cliché to blush and smile when a handsome young man admires you, but in her case, Diane rarely gets the opportunity to be adored like this. For her, the man in her past was all about physical and never about intimate talk or foreplay.
“Diane?”
“Huh?”
“Are you? Are you alright?”
“Oh, sorry, just remembering my past.”
Brandon stares at Diane, he is curious about how a gorgeous woman like herself is having low self-esteem, Asher seems to know about this, Callum, he always relies on his charm, and waits for her to open up. Not me, I want it to know, what is it about her that makes her like this, past trauma? seems that way.
“Diane, do you always lived like this?”
“Like what?”
“Live in fear.”
Diane is in shock, never that she heard someone asking her about her problem. Brandon saw how panicked Diane become, he touch her shoulder and smile at her trying to calm her down.
“It’s okay, no need to panic, and I am so sorry, that was rude of me, you don’t have to answer it.”
“Oh, no, no, it’s just… I never heard that kind of question from everyone.”
Brandon calls the waiter and asks for refreshment, they hand it a non-alcoholic drink to Diane, she gratefully takes it from Brandon.
“It was my fault, I never thought that you will be in this shock because of my question.”
“No… I… actually I am grateful, you see right through me, and boldly asking me like an adult we are.”
She gave out a long sigh, living in fear, she is, and in need to change it. Diane looking at Brandon, out of the three, Brandon is the most considerate and polite, but, can they be trusted?
“Brandon, I need some time to think about it.”
“Of course, you don’t need to be stressed about it.”
“Thank you, I mean, I am flattered, but this is a lot to ask from me.”
“Hey, I already told you, no need to be stressing about it.” Said Brandon while holding Diane's hands.
Both of them then continued to go for a swim, they had a good time in the pool, it is almost three in the afternoon when they are going back to their room. Brandon accompanies her halfway when his smartphone rings.
“Oh sh*t I have to answer this, so sorry Diane.”
“No, it’s okay, I could go back on my own.”
Suddenly, he kisses Diane on her cheek and then says goodbye to her. Diane standing there like an i***t looking at the closed elevator, She is afraid that she will be getting used to this.
“Well, well, Diane? What are you doing here?”
Diane turn around to see Jessica, folding her arms while looking at Diane with a despised face. She walks away from Jessica, already having enough of their drama.
“Oh, get lost Jessica, we are done already!”
“Sure, how long ago that you’re still clamoring for Matt? Forgetting him that easily because you are now having three young men, isn’t it?”
“It wasn’t like that, and you know it!”
Jessica sneers at Diane, looking at Diane from top to bottom. “Oh, I know exactly what happened, a desperate soon-to-be 30 something-year-old woman, meeting with three hot young guys who might just want it to have fun with a much older woman!”
Diane slaps her, she feels fury coming out from her, she already had enough with these “friends” of her. Jessica is wailing, she even tried to run, reaching the elevator. Diane just stared at her, she always knows, Jessica is a loudmouth, but when danger is coming, she will cower away.
“B*tch! I will report to you! Just you wait!”
When the elevator door closed in again, Diane take a deep breath and went away, back to her room. Knowing Jessica’s behavior, she will never report her, she might be telling Matt and Nana but never reported it.
Diane sets the alarm and goes to take a nap. In the afternoon when all of them gather to go to the airport, she is sitting down in the lobby, alone, reading a book. Jessica constantly glared at her. Asher, Brandon, and Callum don’t want to disturb her, they will respect her, and wait for her answer once they reach Bali.
Diane closed her book when their airport bus came to pick them up, she already has her answer inside, this time, hopefully, it is the right answer for her.