Chapter 4

Two years slipped by quickly, filled with the couple’s vanilla dates, motel visits, trips to Paul’s family, Paul’s long hours at work, and Nikki’s occasional voluntary teaching of neighborhood kids.

Nikki was 25 now, and Paul was 27. The couple had been dating for five years--three while Nikki was at university and two after graduation. Both were now well within the range for marriage and stability.

But Paul still didn’t have the confidence to meet her father just yet. He’d saved up a decent amount of money and could cover for the dowry, some wedding expenses and a year’s rent, but a year’s rent now seemed too small a gesture for the kind of security Nikki’s father would expect for his daughter.

He would make promises to Nikki and choose dates only to back out at the last moments, and arguments around that subject had become the point of tension between the two. Each broken promise left Nikki more doubtful and Paul more ashamed, widening the crack between them with every postponement.

One random Thursday, while the couple was at a motel, Nikki dropped some news on Paul. There had been developments at Nikki’s home. Her father had decided that it was time she got married and wanted her to go on dates with a man of his own choosing, and Nikki, wanting to please her father, had agreed to them.

In the dark motel room, Paul took a bite of Nikki’s breast as she knelt on the mattress before he let go of it slowly. ‘Do you really have to go on those dates?’ he asked, his voice low and uneasy.

Nikki pushed his head back toward her breast, and he lunged at it hungrily. “You know I’m only doing this to please my father,” she murmured. “Don’t worry. I’ll convince the guy to back out. There won’t be many dates.” She combed her fingers through Paul’s hair, as if she was reassuring him. “I love only you, babe.”

It was hard to argue back at that. She was right afterall. She was his, and the soft flesh he had in his mouth was a testament to that. He flicked her nipple with his tongue, eliciting moans from her before saying anything back.

“What is his name again?” He said finally.

In the dark, Paul couldn’t make out Nikki’s face clearly, but he could see her head thrown back as he continued to toy with her nipples. “Han,” she whispered. “His name is Han.”