// Skin-Deep | Chapter 5 //

There’s an unspoken rule that goes beyond never meet a client after hours, and sometimes those restrictions are broken. This was the cardinal rule, never bring a client to your home. In all his years as a host, this was a first for him.

It was early afternoon, and they were still wide awake.

Victoria is no longer the mess she was that morning, refreshed and almost immune to what has happened. She peels an orange in her hands as she sits on the edge of his bed. Kris is on back with his legs off the corner, still in his dress clothes with a few buttons loose.

“No one superficial you can talk to?”

Victoria eats one slice. “When you have no money, you’d be surprised how many disappear on short notice.”

“You were a horrible friend then.” Kris rationalizes and steals the second half of her fruit. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t hang out with you either.”

Victoria finishes chewing her slice. “What do you call this then?” She asks with a hint of amusement.

Kris says nothing and looks up at her, she continued waiting for an answer when Kris peeled off a slice and held it up to her lips. She leans forward and eats it.

Finished with their snack, she closes her eyes and rests with her back against his headboard, there’s a chaste distance between them as he settles on her left.

There’s no desire to take her, no intense want for it, it holds no such value to him. Yet, this moment, having someone by him is something he preferred to any other.

He wanted to become a part of the illusion. And after so many years involved in a soulless world, he feels a stirring in his heart.

Kris watches as Victoria twists herself until she’s opposite of him and rests her head on his chest. And though there’s no small she could give him, there’s genuine gratitude in her sleepy eyes. And as his hand lifts her bangs, at ease, she soon falls asleep. Strands of her hair between his fingers, they gently glide from his grip.

What is he prepared to lose for a fool’s paradise?

Everything, he feels his heart speak.

Nothing, his mind begs.

What’s worse than an unattainable dream, is one he cannot hold himself to, and still like his customers, he foolishly thinks of it often. Closes his eyes, hands kept by his side, and imagines a simpler life as the soft scent of spices engulf his senses.

Then he opens them, and returns to his true reality.

It’s near morning when Kris reaches for his personal cell. He walks to the edge of his room and opens up the window. With a few automatic dials, the call goes through.

“Hi Dad,” Kris greets.

He stands outside his window on the metal balcony, glancing at the maze streets and the few children who run through.

Kris tilts his cellphone and nods as the sun rises, he breaks off pieces of the buns in his lap and eats it in between. “I’ll be visiting in a few weeks... No, it’s not that cold. Dad I- I’ll be fine.” Kris quietly sighs and finishes the last of his quick breakfast. “I’ll come by when it’s warmer then... Mom probably won’t be as happy with that.” He hears his father laugh on the other end.

Kris then peeks behind through his window and sees the blankets being pulled over with the entering cold. Kris lowers his voice a little.

By that time, a small thought crept into his mind of whether he’d be heading there alone.

He suppressed that thought, that future- their future was too uncertain.

“Mom doesn’t like the city, she won’t like it here.” Kris adds considerately. This was his only guarantee he had, his parents doesn’t ask about his occupation, they don’t force an answer out of them. If Kris ever admitted it, they’d just worry more.

“Yes, I’m working hard. I’m doing just fine.”

He clutches his phone and listens to his father’s endless worrying. It’s a routine for him. Still, it’s calming to him. It’s a chance to regain his sanity, and he thanks them for that.

“Yes Dad, I miss you too.”

One day Kris will have to accept the day he’s too old for the business, and when that day occurs, the thought of returning home felt comforting. With his savings, he’d lead an opulent life.

Would any of that convince her?

When the call ends, Kris looks to the bed and sees her still cooped beneath the blankets. Kris returns and closes the window that refuses to close all the way and stuffs a towel in the thin gap.

Kris, feeling calmer now, feeling relaxed, lays on the bed beside her.

Right now, there was nothing to worry about.

-

Victoria’s puts on her shoes and opens the door. It’s near nightfall.

Kris reaches for her hand and holds it out, rolling a wad of cash into her enclosed palm. “This should be enough to get you home.”

Crestfallen, she nods. “Thank you.”

Kris doesn’t let go and holds her wrist in his hand.

Are we no longer going to see each other?

Kris doesn’t ask and raises her hand and places a soft kiss on the back of her smooth skin.

When they part, he watches as she walks down the flight of stairs and finally to her cab, and as she looks above, her view is obscured on whether Kris was there or not. She then sees a shadow and holds on tightly to that glimmer of hope.

Beneath the flickering lights, Kris stands right by until he no longer sees the the car’s headlights.

-

Victoria brings her clothes in trash bags to a nearby store, and when she walks out, she’s left with a few hundred in cash in exchange. “It’s hardly enough,” she murmurs but takes the profit as she can and stuffs it in her pocket.

And rather than her usual dresses, she’s dressed in plain jeans and a decent jacket over her shirt. Though it’s casual, she unknowingly catches his eyes.

And when she recounts the bills by the shop, she hears a familiar voice.

“Victoria.”

She stopped counting and looked up, lifting her hat to see the man approaching her. It was Ryan Liu.

“May you join me for lunch?” He asks politely. Victoria is studying him all the while, there was no hint of mockery.

“I can’t,” she replies anyhow and counts the rest of the cash before placing it in her pocket once more. “I have to head back home.”

“Are you waiting for a ride? I can take you if you’d like.”

Victoria stares at the sprinkling skies, and gives a short nod. The least she could accept was a ride home.

“I hear your father has pulled out of candidacy.”

“Considering how the people view my father’s take on his own finances, they don’t trust him with helping our economy.” Victoria explains.

Ryan gives a disapproving sound, “That was to no fault of your father. He’s a good man, he would have done good. Like any person, he merely placed his trust in the wrong man.”

“You’re too kind.” Victoria murmurs and Ryan smiles.

“I’m sorry, you must’ve heard the same from everyone.”

Victoria blinks, “Not everyone.” She replies, she hasn’t spoken to many people since.

And as they stop in front of her home, Victoria reaches to open the door.

“Have you considered my proposal?” Ryan brings up.

The door is already open, but Victoria is still in her seat.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

“Why not?” Ryan asks considerately, by no means pressing her for an explanation. Yet Victoria felt an uncomfortable pressure in her chest.

“I must go, my mother is expecting me.” Victoria gives, at this point in her life, she really didn’t feel up to giving a decent explanation.

Yet when she walks up those steps, she feels a hand reach for her wrist and hold on. She turned around.

Ryan then let go. “I may be rash, and I apologize for my behavior. But if I’ve learned anything in life, it is that if I never act on impulse, I let a great chance pass me by.” He gives a modest tilt of the head. “I don’t want to regret not giving this everything I have.”

It truly was their worst trait amongst politicians and their families, there was nothing else in their mind but what they wanted.

“We barely know one another.”

“Then why not start? If your only reason is that I’m a stranger to you, then why don’t we at least try?”

Victoria looked back at the windows and tried her best to obscure the two of them. She looked at Ryan, it wasn’t necessary to give it more thought.

“I’m sor-”

The door opened and Victoria stiffened.

“Victoria, it’s cold outside, you should step in.” Her mother said and casually glances at Ryan with a smile. Ryan extends the same courtesy. “Thank you for giving my daughter a ride home, I wouldn’t want my daughter to fall sick.”

“I hope for the same.” Ryan agrees. He exchanges looks with Victoria. “I’ll leave you two be, I hope we can continue speaking later when you have the time.”

With another polite greeting, Ryan leaves.

Victoria rushes inside as her mother slowly closes the door. Her mother walks around the packed boxes and white cloth covered furniture, she bides her time and remains by the window until the car leaves her sight.

Her mother was the sort to never put much emphasis on the men Victoria was seen with. As long as she kept things under wraps and hid her life from the public eye, the politican’s daughter had free reign on her life. This woman was her mother, but they were strangers to one another. And now this person who knew a small amount about her, was trying to interfere with her life.

Now though, her mother’s ambitions developed with each opportunity. With the little they now had, Victoria had only guessed this, but it appeared she was right.

Victoria’s fears were realized. Her mother had seen them together. And as Victoria knelt down to pick up a few things, her mother sits on a stingy box and proved her point.

“Ryan’s cousin is on his way to becoming a judge, I hear his sister runs a law firm alongside her husband. His father is running for next year, they say he’s their best candidate...”

Victoria lowered her eyes as her mother’s rounded at the prospect. And as Victoria looks behind her, she sees her mother now views her as a chance, an opportunity to return to the graces of the country, to return to their rightful power. She wasn’t a person anymore, she was a means of getting where she wanted to be.

And her mother held no qualms of reaping every benefit.

“If you marry him, you’ll be the president’s daughter-in-law.”

Victoria forced herself to turn away.

This was her final chance. And she had to decide once and for all, whether to rightfully step on that path.