Chapter Text
Day 1
Maevika entered the bar. Dimly lit room with warm lights at the bar; purple and blue lights in the rest of the room. The music was jazzy. The women’s voices were the real entertainment. Gossip in the middle table while they laugh with spilled drinks. At the corners, there were women kissing. Whispers of a divorce because she cheated on her man with a woman.
Maevika turned to the bar instead. She wasn’t here for entertainment. She was here for her job.
“Good evening,” the bartender greeted. She gave a polite smile. She wasn’t much of a drinker. Elves weren’t supposed to drink too much anyway. There wasn’t enough time to mess around when they had to spy on every living person on the planet.
She crossed her leg and looked around. Red drinks, pink drinks, blue drinks and straight up liquor in amber or clear liquids. She wasn’t trying to get drunk tonight. Or any of the nights she was planning to stay in Boston.
“I’ll have a margarita. Less tequila and more ice, please.”
A woman in a white suit entered the room. Her steps weren’t slow. Each step was confident like this was her home. Long black hair slicked back to contrast against the flashing lights against her white clothes. A smile written on her face as she looked around the room like a house that has been designed differently.
“She was in my list last year,” another elf told her. “She likes to go to a lesbian bar in Boston. Anthea Bar. Careful.” The elf pointed at Mae. “She’s a womanizer.”
Aiwarin
Mae turned around to drink her margarita already slid against the marble counter. She took a slow sip. Her eyes glanced back and forth between the drink and the woman.
Three seconds of time stopped. Aiwarin’s eyes met hers. Brown. Shiny. A plan being built inside of her head. Maevika drank more of the watered down alcohol. A sweetness followed with sour.
Maevika may be able to see through walls, but she couldn’t read minds. No elf can.
Something warm next to her. The scent of the stranger’s perfume: musky, floral and light. Maevika secretly breathed it in—purposely—though she believed it was on accident. She just needed a breath, she told herself.
“New here?” Aiwarin asked in English. Maevika glanced at her. Aiwarin was already grinning while ordering something red.
“Yes. You?” Maevika conversed back. Aiwarin shook her head and took a sip. The red drops left on her plump lips. Maevika tried not to stare. Her eyes fell back anyway, especially with how Aiwarin licked it away.
Maevika swallowed. The sourness of margarita slowly wrapped around her throat. She should have asked for it to be sweeter.
“I haven’t seen you here yet. Did you just move?” Aiwarin continued in English. Maevika tilted her head.
“Staying for the winter,” Maevika spoke in Thai. Aiwarin raised an eyebrow. Her smile clear against the glass as the red liquid slipped into her mouth. Smooth. Maevika wondered if it was sweet—would the taste of Aiwarin remove the sourness inside of her chest.
“How did you know I can speak Thai?” Aiwarin smirked. She leaned in closer. Her seat moved and twirled.
Maevika sat still even if she wanted to fall into gravity that is Aiwarin. “Intuition.”
“Does your intuition say you should come with me back to my condo tonight?”
Maevika finished her margarita. She stood up and smiled. “No, thank you. Goodnight, Miss—“
“Aiwarin. You can call me Ai.”
Maevika almost bit down her tongue. Ai was too informal. It was too short and sweet. She nodded. “Goodnight, Khun Aiwarin.”
She turned around. “I didn’t get your name,” Aiwarin said. She doesn’t reply and left the bar.
The next place she had to look: Aiwarin’s living space. She had gotten a condo next to Aiwarin’s. Expensive. Stupidly expensive.
Inside of her temporary home, she scoped through the walls for find Aiwarin’s place minimal and empty. One or two paintings hung in the living room. A shelf of empty meanings that were supposed to be “art”, but it wasn’t appreciated.
She walked closer. The deeper her sight went. Aiwarin’s bedroom had a big bed. Black walls and desks. Black and white seemed to be the theme with the woman.
Of course it was.
Aiwarin entered her place. Another woman shoved against a wall. Short black dress and bare shoulders. Aiwarin’s lips already marked the skin exposed.
Maevika blinked the sight away. The walls came back into her vision. She wasn’t supposed to see that. She shouldn’t see that.
She grabbed her list. The last name on it: Aiwarin. First day of spying on her, Maevika wanted to put her on the naughty list already.
Day 2
Maevika entered the bar once again. A familiar sense already hit her like hot chocolate breaks in the North Pole. She went to the bar once again.
“Something red,” Maevika asked.
High heels clacked against the floorboards. Maevika doesn’t have to turn around to see who it was. The scent of her perfume the same as yesterday.
“Nice to see you again,” Aiwarin said and sat down next to her. Maevika’s smile was small. Her hands interlaced together, waiting for her drink. “Only one drink per night? Why?”
Maevika thanked the bartender and tasted the red drink. It could be anything. It could be wine. She twirled it then sipped a bit. A little bitter. A little sweet. It wasn’t sour.
“I have to get back home somehow.”
“I can take you.”
Maevika smiled and shook her head. “I don’t ride with strangers, Khun Aiwarin.”
“Mmm.” Aiwarin sipped her amber cup. Must be whiskey with the big chunk of ice in a shape of a sphere. A short cup. Straight liquor. “You remember my name. I’m flattered.”
Maevika rolled her eyes and continued to drink. The droplets against Aiwarin’s lips flashed in her head. She licked her own lips almost imaging the taste. She cleared her throat. What was she thinking?
“Don’t be.” Maevika looked at her, tilting her head. “You’re not easy to remember.”
Aiwarin laughed and nodded. “Perhaps. But I can be hard to forget.”
Maevika swallowed hard. The alcohol burned her chest this time. It lingered slowly descending into her stomach. Her heart feeling the burn of Aiwarin’s words. She didn’t like Ai. She didn’t like how she could talk back so easily.
“What’s your name? Don’t I at least deserve that?”
“Why do you think you do?”
“You know mine.”
“Do you think knowing my name would make me want to get in bed with you?”
Aiwarin grinned. She finished the last bit of her drink. She shook her head when the bartender offered more. “You know quite a lot about me, Miss Stranger.”
Maevika stood up. The red liquid sat at the bottom of the cup. Aiwarin grabbed it and turned the cup inside her fingers. Turn and turn. She looked up at her with something in her eyes. Maevika stared, wondering what the hell she was thinking of.
Aiwarin placed the lipstick mark on the glass against her own lips. She drank the last bit and licked her lips. “Next time then?” Aiwarin asked.
Maevika grabbed her purse and left.
The walk to her condo wasn’t far. It was across the street. Aiwarin’s grabbing her prey so easily to bring back to her homestay made perfect sense. Too much sense. Maevika jumped onto her bed and crossed her arms on her chest.
She knew she didn’t need to look through Aiwarin’s walls to know what she will be doing in thirty minutes. She knew there was going to be a whole different woman in Aiwarin’s bed.
But it was Maevika’s job. She had to spy on her. She got up and sighed. The walls disappeared and the other room clear.
Aiwarin was in between a woman’s legs, kissing her bare thigh. Maevika closed her tightly. Her heart stopped beating. Her legs turned jelly as she fell back onto her bed. An unfamiliar heat in between her legs.
She had just imagined herself in bed with Aiwarin.
Day 3
Maevika stay outside of the bar for a while. It was the first time it snowed while she stayed in the city. People walked by in their coats and scarf while others wore their casual clothes as if the weather wasn’t cold at all. The streets blocked by cars with white piled up on top of roof of the vehicle.
The streets lights a little warmer during this time.
She was used to the snow. She wasn’t used to the business of civilization in between the piles of snow.
“Miss Stranger,” Aiwarin greeted. She wore a black suit this time. This weather didn’t seem to have an affect on her. “Were you waiting for me?”
“Watching the snow.”
“Thailand doesn’t snow. I understand.”
“Who said I’m from Thailand?”
“Well…you know Thai. You’re Thai.”
“Half.”
“I know your ethnicity but not your name?”
Maevika turned to look at her. Aiwarin was already in her space. Her heels stepped on top of Aiwarin’s heels. Their hands brushed in the midst of the cold. Snowflakes dropped on their shoulders and hair. Maevika wasn’t so cold looking at Aiwarin’s brown eyes staring at her with a little fire that has just kindled.
She almost stepped back, but Aiwarin held her arms. She stood still, holding in her breath. The vapors refused to let out. Aiwarin’s smile smoky and bright. The breath she let out through such a warm smile blew against Maevika’s face.
“Careful. You’re going to fall,” Aiwarin let her go. Her foot no longer on top of Aiwarin’s.
Maevika cleared her throat. “I was trying to step back.”
“Who said falling back?” Aiwarin smirked. Maevika glared at her. The other woman opened the door to the building, and Maevika took the invitation. Just one drink. That was the routine.
Aiwarin took one long stride to walk beside her. The back of their hands brushed once again. A finger reached over, and Maevika pulled away. “If I tell you my name, would you stop bothering me?”
“Hm? Who said I’m purposely bothering you? We just happen to cross paths, khun.”
Maevika stepped a side away. Aiwarin doesn’t follow. “See. Not purposely following you.”
“You’re not getting it.” Maevika stepped down the stairs first. Aiwarin’s chuckle could be heard behind her. Fingers wrapped inside of her palm. She walked to the bar once again. A glass of red wine.
The bartender was different. She grabbed her ID and showed. Aiwarin stood behind her and peeked. “Maevika,” she said. Maevika shoved it into her wallet and turned to her.
“Personal space.”
Aiwarin shrugged and ordered a glass of wine too. “Khun Maevika. Doesn’t it sound nice from my lips?”
Maevika doesn’t stay long enough to drink her wine. She got up and left. She didn’t want to lie and say no. She didn’t want to say the truth and say yes. The easier thing to do: run away.
Back at her condo, she went straight to take a bath. She was not going to be tempted to see what was going to happen in Aiwarin’s room. Whatever happened last night should not be repeated.
Maevika doesn’t listen to herself a lot.
She looked through the walls again. Aiwarin on top of another woman—a different woman. Their legs spread open with bareness rubbing against each other. She closed her eyes to shut it off. Her own hands in between her thighs.
She was done with this job.
“Aiwarin is on the naughty list,” Maevika said to Santa over the video call. Santa laughed—whole heartedly and loud. He leaned into his red, cushioned chair. His hand rested on his round belly. “What’s so funny? She is naughty.”
“You need reasons, Maple. Tell me so I can agree or disagree.”
“She sleeps with a different woman every night!” Maevika raised a finger up to count up the reasons. “She didn’t respect my privacy and found out my name.” A second finger raised up. “She…”
“Mhmm?”
“She has sex with too many people! That’s enough to be on the naughty list.”
Santa laughed again. “You still have work to do then, Maple.”
Maevika sighed and fell back onto her bed. Santa told her was going to hang up. She waved her hand. The small beep. She groaned and sat up straight. A hand ran through her hair.
Aiwarin. She stared at the wall in between their rooms. Stupid. This was all stupid.