The joys of loving you

 “Beep beep beep, doors closing.” The notification of the train door closing drew a collective groan inside its carriage as more people are forced up against each other. Packed into a peak hour train, like sardines, the people of the city look forward to getting home after a draining day of work. Outside the train, the summer rain began to drizzle cooling down the city somewhat from its sweltering heat. While inside the train the air-conditioning is working at full capacity but unable to cool the body heat of hundreds of people cramped inside. Everyone is tolerating, some more comfortable than others, especially those that were lucky enough to bag a seat only needed to contend with their immediate side neighbor’s body heat. While those unfortunate majority felt themselves pressed up against each other, unable to move, unable to breathe and somewhat awkward as their personal space severely invaded.  Somewhere in the middle of the packed carriage is a little woman, barely five foot three, dressed in black shiny stilettos and a grey suit. Her black shoulder length hair that was stylishly curled this morning have become a damp mess. She has large eyes that is framed by long thick lashes and naturally elegant eyebrows. Her face is exquisitely beautiful with asiatic features. When she smiles her blue grey eyes sparkles and made more dazzling with deep dimples on both side of her cheeks, this smile has the ability to light up any room she enters.   This is Charlie Suki, the heroine of this story. A self-professed ordinary girl of mixed Asian heritage who is always sensible and a role model that mothers would brag about. Charlie is currently at the lowest point in her twenty-two years and she is about to experience something that will change her life forever. Charlie does not know it yet, but she will get pulled into a world of a dangerous man. The one and only man who would change the course of her life and force her to make decisions that would affect the course of the world events. The ordinary office worker who is currently struggling to breathe will one day get the chance to save the world from forces that threatens millions of people’s lives. This is her story, how she is loved by the world’s most dangerous man and together they race to uncover and stop a sinister scheme that threatens them and everything they love. But before she stepped towards greatness, Charlie is contending with the pain in her feet as her very expensive but very uncomfortable shiny leather stilettos squeeze and cut her feet. Charlie seriously regretted that she didn’t change back into her flats before entering the train. Now she must suffer the next hour, standing up in heels! A frown lined her attractive face as beads of sweat rolled down from her forehead, neck and back. Her white-collar shirt is drenched under her black suit jacket. Charlie sighed, she will need to pay for dry cleaning tomorrow, this sweat will stink up her suit. That is another expense she can’t afford this week. Monthly pay cycles are just a painful torture for salary staff like her. She felt someone’s hand brushed against her which made her quickly lower her hands down from the support railing to avoid touching the other passenger’s. Charlie finds it extremely awkward which you accidently touch someone and vice versa. It is especially awkward when that person is a tall big man, that towers over Charlie as if she is a non-existent child. Charlie regretted being stubborn and coming into work today, really, thinking about it she should have called in sick. Once she explained to her manager, he would understand. Today has been a terrible day, it stretched endlessly with boring meetings and legal contracts. She found that she wasted the whole day staring blankly at the screen and tried to review the legal contracts, but the words just danced around her merrily without entering or making sense. This morning she had woken up with an awful hangover after drinking to dull the pain of a breakup.  Over the last few weeks her long-term boyfriend, or rather now, ex-boyfriend has been conveniently absent. Charlie’s woman’s intuition is very keen, she had felt that something was wrong. Last night, after he brushed her off again, she couldn’t hold in her curiosity and frustration, so she went to his apartment unannounced. After she rang the doorbell an attractive man opened the door. He was wearing the navy and white stripped apron that Charlie had given Louis the year he moved into this apartment from home. The man looked sexy in a yellow polo top and shorts that showed off his muscles and tan. Charlie was surprised, she didn’t know Louis had a roommate, but when she looked around there was something quite odd going on. Why would two men have a candle lit dinner set up? Charlie frowned and her heart dropped a few notches, it can’t be, how did she miss this? “Who was it?” asked Louis walked out of the bathroom with just his lower half wrapped in a white towel. His eyes registered Charlie’s shocked face and looked away guilty. “Charlie, wait, let me change and we can go downstairs to talk, I will explain to you,” said Louis before going into his room slamming door, leaving Charlie and the other man in an awkward silence, neither unsure about what to do or say.  Charlie met Louis in her last year of highschool and he had started university. After a few dates to the cinema and parks, he asked her out. She thought it might be a distraction to start dating on her final year, when she must prepare for the major exams, but he was too cute and persistent. Charlie is weak towards good looking people and she always wants to please everyone around her generally. Her normally feisty personality has been buried and replaced by a demure and obedient persona. They had been dating for five years since high school and throughout her bachelor’s degree, they had discussed marriage when he started working. Then last year he finally got an apartment and Charlie started working in a law firm. Last night was supposed to be their fifth anniversary, that was why she was frustrated that he didn’t want to at least hang out together. Charlie was expecting a proposal anytime this year since she have been saving up for a year already and he had previously indicated that they would marry once she finishes university. According to their savings goals they would have saved enough for a house deposit and a small wedding. But Charlie was left speechless standing there with his side piece while waiting for him to get properly changed so they can talk. Charlie didn’t know how she could maintain her calm, as if she was watching this scene from afar. Then she started laughing uncontrollably, bent over, double down laughing, until her eyes were streaming with tears and her stomach physically ached. The man sat down on the dinning chair and looked at her as if she was insane. He didn’t say a word, just took out his phone and started furiously texting. When Louis came out of his room, he was greeted with a pair of hostile eyes and Charlie’s teary face looking up at him from her squatting position on the floor. It was a pitiful look that mad Louis feel even more guilty, but when he saw the hurt in the man’s eyes and the pang he felt in his heart, Louis knew what he needed to do. They went downstairs and sat on the steps outside the apartment entrance, leaving the man inside the apartment. Louis confessed that he found their life together boring. That's right, the long-term boyfriend she invested her time on found her boring, it’s the exact word he used. The normally cute and charming boyfriend who had spent every Saturday with her and texted her non-stop said to her face that she is boring. “Sorry Charlie, I don’t think I can do it. We’re so young, how can we trap ourselves in this boring life? I’m sorry, it’s just when I’m around you, it’s boring. We don’t do anything fun, everything is about saving money for the future, for that house and for your family.” “Shut the f**k up. Louis, you are cheating on me. I would have been okay with your s****l orientation, but why waste my time and lie to me?” said Charlie angrily. Louis looked into her eyes and said seriously, “I am just experimenting, I just met him this week on a dating app. He is not the source of the problem, Charlie, it is us. Maybe, I just need time to find myself, do things that is exciting, then I will be ready.” “No, it’s over with us, you can be ready with someone else. But Louis, know this, you are a cheating and lying bastard, that is all,” said Charlie as she wiped her tears and stood up.