Karl's Year In Chastity

Chapter One-1

Chapter One

Karl Fancies Asha

Two Months Earlier

Karl liked his job – he was a senior network design engineer for a European mobile phone operator. After his divorce from Freya he decided to relocate from his native Copenhagen to the UK, where his company had their worldwide HQ. Working in the larger office was fun. There was a lot of different stuff going on – both work and leisure related – to help him forget that his love life was going nowhere. The divorce the previous year had been very amicable and civilized. Freya had been his childhood sweetheart and marriage had come far too soon for both of them. After five years together it was obvious that it wasn’t working, and the only people who seemed to be really upset by the divorce decision were their respective parents. Freya had started a successful web design business back in Denmark, and looked like she’d make a hell of a lot more money than Karl this year. Good for her – she was one of the most likeable and honest people Karl knew, and he genuinely hoped she could be happy in her new-found success.

Another perk of the job at the HQ location was the fact that it was the home of the UK call centre for telesales and business service support. Eighty five people worked in that section and sixty two of them were women! Since the turnover was so high – call centres are a soul destroying place to work – many of the women were fresh out of university and were likely targets for a newly divorced, good looking Danish guy in England. He’d already been out with half a dozen of the girls, and to his surprise they’d all been more than happy to sleep with him. The problem was none of them really had much of a personality; the s*x had been fine, but he needed more than that.

Today was pretty typical. It was the middle of lunchtime and the cafeteria was quite crowded. As Karl walked away from the cash register with his chicken sandwich and fruit salad he noticed a two-person table with one chair free by the window. It was a nice day and that side of the cafeteria looked over the lake and the statue garden. It was a very pleasant view.

More importantly he knew the girl sitting at the table – Asha. She was an extremely attractive Asian girl he’d met in the company’s Thursday night Chess Club a few months earlier. They’d played a number of games with each other since then, and she’d beaten the crap out of him every time. She seemed to seek him out as a partner now, something he rather welcomed. At least the previous week he’d given her a decent game before she pummeled him into submission. She was pushing him to play better, but half way through last week’s game he’d just become distracted. Part of his problem was the way Asha looked and dressed. She was fairly tall – maybe five eight or nine. Her waist was incredibly slim – Karl thought he might almost be able to close his hands around it. But her breasts and hips swelled out in a perfect hourglass figure. Her face was beautiful, and exquisitely delicate – an Asian Audrey Hepburn, he thought. She was almost elfin in her features, but instead of the Hepburn retroussé nose, Asha’s nose was straight and slightly pointed. Some might say it dominated her face, but Karl thought it gave her a slightly cruel look that he rather liked – especially when she was kicking his ass at chess.

Her mouth was intriguing. Karl knew the fashion these days was for girls to have plump lips, either by accentuating them with makeup or even with injections. But Asha’s lips were rather normal. Thin, perhaps, but her smile always lit up her face – and it showed off a perfect set of white teeth. Her lower lip was perfectly bow-shaped, and when she was thinking about a chess move she’d tuck it between her teeth and then sometimes lick it suggestively with her tongue. It was quite distracting!

She had elegant hands, with long fingers that looked like they were made to play the piano. Big brown eyes, and skin the colour of milky coffee. As a Dane, Karl was used to pale-skinned women who sometimes looked nice and tanned for a month or so of the year. Asha’s tan was permanent, and she looked fantastic all year round.

Her dark brown hair was cut in a medium length bob with fringe over her eyes. It was a geometric style that was shorter at the back than the front – another fashion that Karl rather liked. It framed her face perfectly, and sometimes a stray lock would find its way into her eyes, and she’d shake her head in such a sexy way.

She also dressed to accentuate her figure. For the past three months or so that Karl had known her, Asha had been very much into fifties’ style fashions, probably inspired by the current craze about Mad Men. Tight pencil skirts, or even tailored dresses; heavy lipstick and makeup. High heeled shoes, and sometimes even seams on her stockings. Karl was an inch over six feet tall, and had the typical brown hair and blue eyes that you’d expect from a Dane, but in her four inch heels Asha was only an inch or so shorter than him. She looked like he could snap her in two with his strong hands, but she was actually quite assertive; with a witty, open personality, and a delicious sense of humour he really enjoyed.

As last week’s chess game had developed Karl had started to fantasize about how Asha got her gorgeous body to fit into those tight dresses. Was she wearing fifties style underwear too? The fanatical attention to detail she showed in what she wore was quite intriguing. That was pretty much when his game went into the crapper. He knew he was becoming increasingly attracted to her but he’d never dated an Asian girl before, and he felt a bit awkward about asking her out – especially as some of his male colleagues had told him about “honour killings”. But at least he could enjoy her company at lunchtime.

“Hi Asha, is it OK if I sit with you?” he asked, smiling.

“Karl!” she said with a beaming smile. “Absolutely! I’d be very glad of the company – I’m not the flavour of the month with Team b***h at the moment.”

She inclined her head to where a cluster of her telesales colleagues were eating together on the other side of the room. She’d told him during one of their chess games how the “group dynamic” seemed to be drifting against her and how a couple of the girls seemed to really have it in for her.

“Oh...well don’t expect me to understand that!” he chuckled, sitting down opposite her. God she looked so sexy today. Crisp, white blouse with long sleeves, but with the cuffs folded back to reveal Asha’s slim arms. A wide, black patent belt over a tight black pencil skirt – and her pale brown skin was flawless. She really did have the most amazing eyes, and her lips were outlined in a rich dark red shade today. He noticed that she’d smeared her lipstick slightly because she’d been eating, but Karl knew she’d fix that on her next visit to the bathroom. Asha was always perfectly turned out.

“That’s one of the things I like about you,” she told him. “You never take sides. I suppose it’s hard enough for you settling into a foreign country.”

They chatted about work for a few minutes while they both ate. It was a lovely September day and having Asha for company was a double bonus. They both finished eating and cleared away their trays.

“Do you have time for a walk outside?” she asked. “The sculpture garden isn’t too crowded. We could walk out to The Elephant and sit on the bench. Look at the lake maybe?”

“Sounds great,” he said, smiling. “I need to be back at two o’clock for a team meeting but we’ve got over half an hour to chill. I could do with some fresh air.”

Five minutes later they were seated, looking over the lake toward the next office building in the business park. The designers had done quite a decent job of it actually. There was plenty of space between buildings, most of the parking was underground, and the landscaping was quite lovely.

Karl pointed to the plaque under the statue in front of them.

“It’s not actually an elephant,” he pointed out. “It’s supposed to represent conflict and resolution.”

“It looks like an elephant to me,” Asha said with a shrug. “See the trunk? And I know it’s only got three legs, but they look pretty fat. Mind if I smoke? You don’t smoke yourself, do you?”

“No,” he answered simply. “But you go ahead.”

She lit up and Karl was briefly mesmerised by the way her lips closed around the cigarette. There was a deep red lipstick mark on the filter afterwards. He thought her lips would be very soft, and he thought she’d be a wonderful kisser.

Asha noticed him staring.

“What?” she asked. “I know, I know, I should give it up. You’re as bad as my mum! I’m down to three a day for f**k’s sake!” she said, laughing.

“Y-yes...I’m sorry,” he stammered, feeling embarrassed at his real fascination. “It’s not my place to judge. When did you start smoking, by the way – was it at school?”

Asha blew a long stream of smoke into the air.

“No,” she said simply. Then she sighed. “It was a bad love affair that kicked me off. I was…twenty one, I suppose.”

“It’s a shame,” he said absent mindedly.

“What? Me smoking or the broken heart?”

He laughed. “Well both, I suppose. But I meant it’s a shame you got through the usual period when people get hooked…”

“Only to stumble when I should have been old enough to know better?” she finished sarcastically. “So when did you give it up, Mr. Perfect?”

“I’m lucky I suppose,” he said. “I never started. I played football at school and I needed all the fitness I could get.”

“Football eh?” she said, smiling. “Why did you give that up?”

“Because I was rubbish!” he chuckled. She burst out laughing.

“You’re honest about it anyway.”

They both stared at the statue for a few seconds. Karl found the silence to be slightly uncomfortable. He’d always felt relaxed around Asha, and enjoyed her company immensely, but he had an odd feeling about this encounter. It almost felt like a date and he thought a change of subject might help.

“You’re really good at chess, Asha; I imagine you’ve been playing for a long time.”

“My grandfather taught me,” she said, smiling at the compliment. “He was a Chess Grand Master back in India. He came over to Britain with my Nanna – my grandmother – about forty years ago. He used to lecture in Maths at Imperial College and he started teaching me chess when I was four.”

“Jesus Christ, no wonder you beat me!” Karl said, laughing. “I’m surprised I lasted as long as I did!”

“I normally go easy on you for the first few moves,” she chuckled. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, sweetie, but it’s actually quite hard for me to find a good opponent so I generally let people develop the game a bit before I kick into high gear. You were doing really well last time, Karl. You must be club standard...I don’t know what the league structure’s like in Denmark. And I’ve seen you improve a lot over the weeks we’ve been playing.”

He smiled at the condescending compliment. She was kicking his ass and apparently she was barely even breaking a sweat! “Well I played a bit at school,” Karl told her. “I enjoyed it, but I spent most of my spare time playing football. Then my studies.”

“And girls?” she teased.

“Just one,” he said, smiling ruefully. “Freya – my first girlfriend…we got married too soon. And then we got divorced last year – no kids, and we’re still friends.”

“Sounds very civilized.”

“Yes, it is. There’s no need for animosity between us. We just grew up in different directions.”

Asha got up from the bench and walked to the nearest litter bin to dispose of her cigarette. She looked back over to Karl.

“I think we should take a slow stroll back if you want to make your meeting,” she said.

“I suppose so,” he answered reluctantly.

There was an awkward silence for the first few seconds as they walked.

“Can I ask you something, Karl?” Asha said.

“Sure.”

“Freya may have been your first girlfriend; but from what I’ve heard you’ve made up for that since you’ve been here in HQ. You’ve been out with quite a few of the girls in telesales and the helpdesk.” She paused. “But I’m a little disappointed that you’ve never asked me out. I just assumed you don’t fancy me. I mean, you know I’m single, right? You’re very good looking, and there’ve been plenty of opportunities in chess club, or even at lunch today. You must know I find you attractive, and I really like being with you. You’re a breath of fresh air compared to the inarticulate morons who normally ask me out.”

Karl was somewhat surprised by her frankness; he wondered if she had some Danish blood in her.

“Well...” he stammered. “Asha...I really like you too. You’re beautiful and smart; although I hate you for beating me at chess!” He smiled to show it was a joke. “I like talking to you too.”

She raised her eyebrows as if to ask “But?”

“Well...to be honest...” Now that she’d asked the question he realised he’d been basing a lot of his dating decisions on a remark that one of his UK colleagues had made a while ago. “It’s just...well I have to admit I was given a warning about dating Asian girls when I first got here. One of the guys showed me a story in the paper about some kind of honour killing thing. It was about ten miles from here I think. It was horrible – a girl was murdered by her father just for dating a white guy. I couldn’t live with myself if I caused that sort of trouble in a family.”

They walked in silence for another twenty yards or so, until they reached a deserted section of the walkway. Asha took Karl by the hand and guided him behind another statue. This one looked like a vertical length of sewer pipe, he thought.

She pushed him back against the cold stone and stared him in the face.

“I know you didn’t mean that to be racist, Karl,” she said quietly. “And you’re perfectly right that there are instances of that sort of thing happening. Not only murders. It’s usually in the Muslim community, and I’m a Hindu in case you’re interested. It’s not unknown for some Hindu families to take a big interest in whom their daughters date. But honour killings? No…very bad for our karma.”

She paused and her eyes glanced up and down his body. Karl was feeling incredibly embarrassed, and rather intimidated.

“I’m a modern woman, Karl. My mum – and a lot of Indian women of her generation – had a f*****g hard time establishing their right to freedom of expression here in the UK. Not because of discrimination by the law here, or even by white people being racist; but because of repression by our own community. By men…our own fathers, and uncles, and brothers.”

She paused again; she had her hand on Karl’s chest. He could feel her warmth through the thin material of his T-shirt. She was actually leaning into him – pinning him to the statue. He knew he was getting hard. Who wouldn’t with a beautiful girl like this so close? He hoped she wouldn’t notice.

If she did, she didn’t make a comment…she just continued with her explanation. “I’m lucky because my family is very westernised. My mum and people like her, fought so I could have a real life; with the freedom to make my own choices – and my own mistakes.” She smiled, looking embarrassed now. She took a pace backwards and released him from the statue.

“I’m sorry if I was a bit sharp with you,” she told him quietly, looking down. He thought he saw a smile flick over her face as she obviously caught sight of the bulge in his trousers.

“For your information I date white guys all the time, Karl,” she continued. “And hardly any of them have been killed, or even maimed.” She smiled to show it was a joke and Karl burst out laughing. It popped the bubble of tension that had formed over the past couple of minutes between them.

“Just the odd one or two?” he asked, laughing.

“Maybe three,” she retorted. “Unless they actually lose body parts I don’t think it should count, do you?”

“Err...I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” he chuckled.

She turned and carried on walking back to the entrance. Karl had now grown as hard as a rock as Asha spoke to him, and the view of her extremely shapely backside in the tight skirt as she walked confidently back to the entrance door was not helping to change that situation. He hurried to catch up with her, hoping the bulge in his trousers wasn’t too obvious. He wished he was carrying something to hold in front of his groin. s**t! The lobby was bustling with people coming back from lunch.

They both scanned their ID badges through the security turnstiles and Asha turned to head back to her department. Karl took her arm gently.

“Look, Asha...” he said hesitantly. “I-I’m really sorry if I said something stupid – and if I chose to take bad advice.” He swallowed hard, looking into her eyes. “Anyway. I...well...there’s a new Italian restaurant I’ve been meaning to try. If you like Italian...I would love to...I mean, would you like to try it with me?”

Asha smiled. “I love Italian food. Do you mean ‘Antonio’s’, near the bridge? I’ve heard really good things about it…I’d love to try it, actually.”

“That’s great...how about Friday night?” he suggested.

Asha paused for three seconds; then she smiled. “I don’t think so, Karl, thank you for finally asking though,” she said, still smiling. Then she turned around and walked away along the corridor.

Karl stood there feeling a bit like he’d been slapped in the face. As a man he was obviously used to misreading the signals from girls; but this was truly baffling. He tried to review what Asha had said to him again to make sure he wasn’t imagining it. She was single; check: she knew he was single; check: she dated white guys; check: she found him attractive; check: she enjoyed his company; check: she liked Italian food; check: she even knew the restaurant he was suggesting and wanted to try it; check. But she’d said no she’d said no even to a first date – just a social thing to try a new place. Maybe she really was offended about his reasons for not asking her out.

Karl’s phone chimed to remind him the team meeting was starting. f**k! Well, all these UK guys seemed to stumble into meetings late. The enigma that was Asha Patel would have to wait for the moment.