Naked Attraction

1

A few months earlier...

Cassy stopped mopping the floor when she heard her cellphone ring from her room. She was in the living room of the bungalow owned by her older brother Bert and his fiancée, Eleanor, who were currently in Taiwan working for an electronics company. She was living in the newly purchased house of the couple while working as a junior account executive at an investment company.

The call was from Sarah, her friend from the province. She was inviting her to an outing with their batch from the high school journal staff. Cassy wouldn't exactly call them close, but she'd become friends with almost everyone from the group—except for one.

“We’re going to the beach at Pristine! So fab, right?” Sarah added excitedly.

They rarely got to see each other as a group—twice a year would already be considered lucky—and even then, it was rare for everyone to be complete. Sarah was the one she usually hung out with whenever she was in the province since they lived in the same neighborhood.

"Is Michael coming home?" Cassy asked.

“Ooh! Michael’s the first one you asked about!” her friend teased.

It wasn’t a secret to their group that Cassy used to have a crush on the editor-in-chief of Merger. Everyone knew she had written his initials in a slum book someone asked her to sign before graduation.

“I was just asking,” Cassy replied, trying to suppress a laugh.

Michael was now in Singapore, working as an IT security consultant for a large company. Last she heard, he was still single—and very much available.

“He said he’ll be coming home in December. But he’s sending money to help with our outing budget. So you better join us! Even if we stay in Pristine for a whole week, we’re totally covered!”

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since she last had a real vacation. She was probably the most boring person in their group now. A total homebody. She didn’t enjoy nights out or going places anymore. She just liked staying home after work. Or maybe she’d already had her fair share of fun when she was younger. Back when she was still studying, she used to go out a lot—perhaps she simply grew out of it.

"Is Nataniel coming too?" she asked with a frown.

"Of course Nate’s coming. When has he ever missed one of our meetups? And he’s the one paying for the cottage rentals, you know?"

Cassy rolled her eyes. “Ugh!”

Sarah just laughed. "Until now, you still haven't gotten used to his teasing."

"It's because I think I’m his favorite person to tease."

"It’s because you’re so easily annoyed; that’s why he always picks on you."

"Because he really is annoying," she blurted out, and instantly, memories of all the things that guy had done to her since high school came flashing back.

Nate is a sports writer, and Cassy is an associate editor at Merger. One day, during a staff meeting for the school journal, she suddenly smelled something unpleasant. Well, Nate suddenly covered his nose and pointed at her and said, "You must have a bad stomach, Cassy? There's the CR, okay? Just let it out; don't be shy."

Yes! That brute accused her of farting! And until now, she believes that Nate was the one who actually farted at that moment, and she was the one pointed out as the culprit for their colleagues in the meeting to laugh at. She was almost in tears from embarrassment back then. And out of anger towards Nate, she hit the man in the chest with her backpack after the meeting. The students in the school quadrangle saw that and showered them with taunts and teasing. But the sixteen-year-old Nataniel still managed to tease her even more.

"I told you I don't like you, Cassida! What can I do?" He exaggeratedly held his chest. "I really don't like you; the heart can't be forced. So stop chasing after me. Better find someone elseㅡ"

He didn’t get to finish what he was saying because Cassy’s backpack landed right on his face. She barely spoke to him after that until he graduated.

"You're still not over the fact that he was the one who revealed that you had a crush on Michael back then?" Sarah suddenly asked her.

Cassie wanted to sink into the ground from embarrassment just remembering that incident. After she signed Sarah’s slum book, Nate was the next one to get it. That jerk read everything she wrote and immediately guessed the “D.M.L.” she scribbled—even though she had jumbled the initials of her secret crush, Michael De Leon. It was too late by the time she tried to erase it, because Nate kept teasing her until the whole Merger staff found out about it.

Maybe it sounds childish and even stupid, but to this day, she still hasn’t forgiven Nate. Because ever since Michael found out she had a crush on him, he started avoiding her. Her little crush turned out to be an epic fail!

“As if that’s the only thing that jerk has done to me. Remember last year when we were at Sitty’s baby’s baptism? While I was eating, he told me to breathe a little. Then he kept piling food onto my plate and said he had a plastic bag ready if I wanted to take home the leftovers. That shameless jerk hasn’t changed at all!”

Sarah burst out laughing. “Come on, Cassy, it was just a joke. The problem with you is you’re too sensitive.”

“A joke? Sure. I was humiliated—people at the table laughed at me!”

“Oh, please, you were only embarrassed because Michael was there,” her friend teased.

“Exactly. Good thing there were other people around, because if there hadn’t been, I might’ve smacked that Nataniel with a plate—or worse, stabbed him with a fork!”

“Savage!” Sarah cackled. “Seriously, Nate’s the only one who brings out your hidden wild side. You’re so sweet, you barely even curse—but when it comes to him, it’s like seven evil spirits possess you. Totally triggered, girl?”

“That guy’s from hell. Even an angel would be triggered by his nonsense.”

Her friend laughed even harder. And that was another thing Cassy hated—rather than defending her from Nate, her friends actually seemed entertained whenever that jerk teased her.

She sighed. “I don’t know, Sarah. I’ll just call you once I decide.” She did want to go on vacation. But a trip that included the one person she absolutely despised in the entire universe? No, thanks. She wasn’t a violent person, but when it came to Nate, something in her snapped—and she started thinking of unspeakable things.

Three days passed before Sarah called again. Cassy was ready to turn her down when her friend said something that immediately made her blood boil. It felt like every cell in her body was in revolt. She wanted to rage on the spot!

“Say that again!” she snapped.

“I said… according to Nate, the reason you don’t want to join the beach outing is because you don’t want to wear a swimsuit. He said your body doesn’t look good in one.”

“That son of a b***h! He says stuff like that as if he’s some kind of model with a perfect body!” Cassy exclaimed through gritted teeth, nostrils practically flaring with rage, one hand clenched into a fist. “Sarah, I’m going to that outing. That Nataniel better be ready for me!”