Morning dawns, dull and vapid, when Solbi steps out of the casino.

Her Louboutins click against the pavement as she mulls over last night.

Heel-to-toe, heel-to-toe, walk properly Solbi, sway your hips, wear red lipstick, bat your eyelashes.

She'd made too much of an impression.

She just needed to leave

She's on her way to the airport at the moment, heading out to a plane bound for nowhere.

She recalls the way Kai had looked at her last night. But more than that, she recalls the faint reminiscences he brought up. The hints that she'd seen him in her past.

The fact that she couldn't remember, bothered her. She didn't forget a thing.

She shakes her head, trying to dispel the shadows that chased her like fog, she focuses on the pavement beneath her. Heel-to-toe.

Rio de Janeiro, perhaps?

Brazil was certainly lovely. Beaches, bikinis, and sultry . She could tan there.

They would send her a new assignment of course. But she didn't mind.

She absentmindedly waves her hand to hail a taxi while texting.

To: 1

Meet and greet!

When she looked up, she was unpleasantly surprised. Instead of a taxi, a sleek, black Mercedes had pulled up against the curb.

A chauffeur steps out of the driver's side, and, in clipped, measured steps, walks around to the passenger side to open the door.

Solbi debates her options. Could she run? Away? 

This situation was exactly what she was scared of.

But she mustered courage.

Stepping into the car, she is greeted by the image of Kai surrounded by two lascivious women.

Kai's eyes rise to meet hers. There's a little kick in her ribcage before her heart starts beating faster and faster.

He ungracefully kicks the two girls out of the car and grasps her wrist.

One jerk, and she was in the car and on his lap.

His lips were suddenly everywhere. It would be disgusting, really, if not for how attractive he was.

He found a juncture in her neck that she didn't even know she had, and she mewls, grinding into him.

She could feel something solid forming underneath her crotch, and she grinds further, trying for more friction.

Her fingers pull at his hair, and he hisses, something feline in the sound.

And in the midst of this haze.

Her brain thinks back again.

xxx

First love. Second love. Third love . . .

They'd say the prior is always a little more fearless than the latter.

Some people can't stand the time in between them. The limbos.

The girls at the casino often had a different man every night.

For love, they say.

Too lonely to cope with pauses.

But Solbi.

Solbi's been caught in limbo for a long, long time.

Caught in a limbo from what?

First love? Second love? Third? Fourth?

She can't remember. She tries to think harder.

Flashes of blood, fingers on her lips.

"Do you really think he loves you?"

"I know he does."

Then comes pain. Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.

"Why are you so sure?"

Gunshots.

Then, darkness.

An echo.

"Don't worry. He'll come for you. But by then, you'll be one of us."

xxx

With a gasp, Solbi pulls away from Kai.

What was that? A memory of her elusive past?

The man pauses, astounded by her audacity.

Who was she to push him away?

But the way she was looking at him, he couldn't bring himself to force him on her.

She was trembling, he noted.

And instead of forced kisses, he hesitantly brings his arms around her.

She doesn't remember anything anymore.

"I've fin