Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 18000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 90(@200wpm)___ 72(@250wpm)___ 60(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 90(@200wpm)___ 72(@250wpm)___ 60(@300wpm)
None of these scenarios had been worth looking forward to, but he had also ended up drawing a frustrating blank when trying to think of a way to change the direction of his future.
He had always felt that loneliness was the path set in stone for him.
Until Eden.
Every second he spent with her had meaning, and everything she said or did fascinated him---even her troubling ability to see evil in "normal" people.
"You know it's not real," his wife persisted in pointing out, "and you can't fool yourself otherwise."
"That's where you're wrong. You just have to want it badly enough, and you'd be surprised with what you can convince yourself is true."
"I...see."
Calixte took his shades off to take a better look at his wife, and the frown creasing her forehead had him sitting up as well. "Why do you think they do it?"
"To make money?"
Ah.
"It's all my father and his men thought of," Eden confessed. "All of their lives revolved around money, and I thought..." His wife shook her head. "But I guess normal people are different."
And there it was, Calixte thought in amusement. Her inexplicable bias towards "normal" people, which one day he would really need to take the time to correct.
But for now, he would simply focus on the issue at hand.
"I'm sorry to say you are wrong about that as well, mon ange. Most people are exactly the same as your father. The only difference is that they want to look good while finding ways to make money." "That's not really...bad? Or is it?"
Calixte's lip curled slightly as her question reminded him of the many crimes he had witnessed in the past---and of the lives that had been wasted and pointlessly lost in people's quest to maintain the status quo.
"Normal people can be a lot worse than your father, unfortunately. Many of them work harder at looking good than finding the means to make an honest living. Many of them wouldn't hesitate to sell their soul to the devil if they could. And the only reason they're unable to is because they're either too lazy or spineless to do it."
"You're too much of a cynic."
"While you're too much of an optimist...and that's why you don't see me coming like this."
By the time he finished speaking, he already had his wife on top of him and Calixte was busy untying her bikini top.
"Calixte!"
Her tone was shocked and breathless at the same time, but he didn't bother responding, intent as he was on getting rid of her bikini bottom.
"Noooo---"
His wife's protest melted into a moan as he surged inside of her with an upward thrust, and her body automatically adjusted even as her cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink.
"Is it your first time to make love on a yacht?"
"You know it is," she whimpered.
"What about out in the open like this?"
"You know e-everything's a f-first....aaaah!"
Getting his wife to scream outside the bedroom was also a first, and that was how it would always be...even if there came a time that she decided to leave him.
Choices
Calixte took his wife out the next evening, starting with dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant and a surprise afterward with VIP box tickets to a much-raved-about musical.
It was another night of many firsts for Eden, and she was unable to contain her excitement and delight when he took her backstage and introduced her to his cousin, Jacques, and his young wife Riri, who also happened to be the lead star.
"Thank you," Eden said shyly when it was just the two of them again, and they were on their way home. "Everything about this night is unforgettable."
"How unforgettable?" Calixte drawled.
"Um..."
"Would you think it's as unforgettable as the day I made you an omelet for breakfast?"
A sheepish smile touched his wife's lips. "I can't say it is---" Her voice broke off, and her eyes widened. "H-How..."
"How do you think?"
She choked, laughed, and sputtered at the same time. "Did you read my prayer journal?"
He looked at her thoughtfully. "Is that what they call diaries these days?"
"Don't change the subject," his wife protested even as she failed to keep herself from smiling.
"I'm not. You just don't sound angry enough for me to feel guilty."
Eden was now looking at him like she was torn between doubling over in laughter and divorcing him. "I don't think it's that big a sin, by the way."
His wife stared at him like he had lost his mind at this point.
"I think it was part of His plan, since I ended up believing in your God because of what you wrote."
Her mouth opened and closed, and a smirk curved over his lips. "You think I'm lying?"
"No."
It was his turn to feel disconcerted, with how swiftly she answered him, and in so fierce a tone, too.
"Talk to me, mon ange." His admission had made her happy. That part, he didn't doubt. But at the same time, there was obviously something else that troubled her now---