TEST DRIVE: A Night of Forbidden Desire

Vonda was in such a hurry and fear as she pulled Sarah’s hand. Ignoring Sarah’s repeated ‘ah eh ih oh uh,’ she continued to walk fast. They almost stumbled a few times due to their hurried steps, but luckily, their high-heeled shoes had trained their feet to avoid falling.

“What’s wrong, Von?” Sarah asked, her forehead creased with concern.

Vonda did not pay attention to Sarah’s question. Even if she wanted to answer, it was not the right time. There were too many ears around to hear her words. Besides, she preferred to run away as far as possible first. She was not even sure if she had been breathing properly since they started running.

Around fifteen minutes later, when they were finally inside the elevator, Vonda could take a relieved breath. Ignoring the other employees in the lift, she leaned her back against the cold elevator wall, trying to catch her breath.

“Thank God. Finally, I can escape again,” Vonda said, still gasping for air.

Sarah looked at Vonda with a furrowed brow. “Escape?”

Ignoring Sarah’s question again, Vonda continued to swallow her saliva multiple times. Her throat felt parched, and she kept shaking her head in disbelief, which only irritated Sarah.

Unfortunately, Sarah was not a patient woman, so it was not surprising when she eventually dragged Vonda towards the parking lot as soon as the elevator opened on the ground floor.

“Sarah?” Vonda blinked in confusion. “Where are you taking me?”

Sarah did not answer. Instead, she tightened her grip on Vonda’s wrist, leaving her puzzled.

“What’s wrong, Sar?” Vonda asked.

Sarah huffed. “That’s exactly what I asked when you dragged me while panting from your room.”

Vonda’s eyes widened, remembering that incident. “Ah.”

She swallowed her saliva, and her shoe got caught.

“Eh.”

Thankfully, Vonda did not fall. The thought of tumbling in the parking lot sent shivers down her spine.

“Ih!”

Searching for the issue with her shoe, Vonda noticed that one of the heels had worn down. No wonder it felt uncomfortable.

“Oh.”

Realizing that her shoe’s heel was damaged, Vonda got irritated. It was a clear sign that she needed to buy new shoes next month. She grumbled.

“Uh!”

In front of her, Sarah exhaled, abruptly stopping near a car, almost causing Vonda to bump into her.

Sarah turned her body, pointed at Vonda, and said, “We need to talk before we go back, Von.”

Vonda’s lips pouted, muttering softly, “Why does everyone want to talk to me privately?”

Sarah’s eyes widened.

“I-I mean… sure,” Vonda said quickly, then smiled. “Where do you want to talk?”

Without answering, Sarah took out the car keys from her bag, pressed the smart key, and the nearby car beeped.

“Get in.”

Vonda chuckled playfully upon hearing Sarah’s command and wasted no time following her into the car.

Throughout the journey, Sarah remained silent, probably afraid that conversation might distract her from driving and lead to an accident. Thus, silence filled the air during the trip.

After a while, Sarah turned the steering wheel, and the car entered a cafe area. Ten minutes later, they were seated at a table, waiting for their orders.

While Vonda was busy scanning the surroundings of the cafe, Sarah did the opposite. She folded her hands on the table and squinted her eyes at Vonda.

“Enough. Don’t try to divert the focus this afternoon. You know your judgment day is coming soon.”

Sarah’s voice sounded threatening, making Vonda slowly meet her gaze. She appeared embarrassed, and Sarah took a deep breath.

“Don’t you feel like explaining something to me?” Sarah asked, with a furrowed brow. “Honestly, I need an explanation. Everything feels so tangled up in my head.”

Vonda pouted.

“Because… because… oh my gosh. I clearly saw you holding hands with the new boss. It was tight, too. But he’s only been working for a few days. Um… three days, Von. And you’re already at the stage of holding hands in your relationship?”

Vonda’s pout deepened.

“And earlier… I couldn’t have misheard when he called me ‘Sarah Robbers,” Sarah grimaced. “That embarrassing nickname… where did he get it from to call me that?”

Vonda swallowed and absentmindedly scratched her neck, which was not itchy.

“Von?”

Vonda surrendered, taking a quick breath.

“Before I tell you,” Vonda finally said, “I just want to make sure of something. You don’t have a history of heart disease, do you?”

Fear reflected on Sarah’s face. “What do you mean?”

Hesitatingly, Vonda bit her lower lip, taking a few seconds before continuing her question.

“You didn’t forget about the incident when I test drove by the roadside, right?”

Sarah could only nod. “Yes, I didn’t forget. I could never forget such a crazy and warm incident. I won’t forget it my whole life.”

“Okay,” Vonda let out a long breath. “The point is… you don’t know who the guy was, right? The guy who might be a victim or a suspect in that roadside test drive tragedy… you don’t know, do you?”

Vonda’s question made Sarah’s eyes widen, and a word escaped her mouth as if she was choking.

“Shit!”

Vonda’s eyes rolled once. She was not surprised at Sarah’s response.

“Is it him, Von? The guy who tests drove you that day? Maxwell Hernandez?” Sarah teased. “The handsome guy?”

Exhausted, Vonda forced her head to nod.

“Wow! Great! Unbelievable!” Sarah exclaimed.

Vonda blinked. “Great?”

“Once the hymen is broken, huh? And it’s a hot guy like him who did it.”

Vonda’s hand reached for the menu. Without any warning, she immediately rose and hit Sarah’s head with the object. She then sat back down in sync with Sarah’s exclamation of “Ouch!”

“You’re crazy, Sar,” Vonda said, squinting. “How could you say that when I’m already feeling so confused?”

Sarah rubbed her head. “Why confused? Both of you are adults, right? Um… did he use a condom that night?”

“Oh my God!”

Vonda regretted hitting Sarah’s head with the menu. She thought she should have hit her with a chair instead.

Sarah laughed, then teasingly asked, “I’m sure he used a condom, haha. So, what’s going on now? Is he addicted to you? Falling in love?”

Vonda’s shoulders slumped instantly. “No, but the scariest thing in the world is happening.”

“What is it?”

“He’s asking me to take responsibility, Sarah. He wants me to meet his parents.”

“Huh?” Sarah widened her eyes, her mouth agape. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Not the other way around?”

“No.”

“How is that even possible?”

“How should I know,” Vonda replied with a wry grin. “And that’s why lately I’ve been trying to avoid him. As if I would go and meet his parents.”

Sarah fell silent, her brow furrowed. “It’s weird. Besides, how could you end up being test driven by him?”

“Oh my God, Sar. That night I was drunk. I got into the wrong car. I thought he was my taxi. Turned out he wasn’t.”

Sarah nodded repeatedly. “And then?”

“Then I thought we could forget about all the accidents. I mean, it was unintentional, right? If anyone suffered a loss, it was actually me. But why is he asking for responsibility from me?”

“Hehehe.”

Vonda glared as Sarah spontaneously burst into giggles.

“Sorry, sorry, but… what else can I say? This is so rare. Where do you find a guy asking for responsibility like this?”

Vonda took a moment to catch her breath, deliberately delaying her response because a waiter came with their orders. After the waiter left, she spoke.

“That’s the problem. He said he would report me to the police if I refuse to meet his parents.”

“Well, it’s quite a serious issue, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean, Sarah?”

“It’s because, well… Maxwell Hernandez is still related to the CEO, right? Mr. Lucas Hernandez. He’s his cousin. You can’t cause trouble with the CEO’s family.”

The straw slipped from Vonda’s lips, smudging her pink lipstick. Only then did she curse, and this time, she said, “Shit!”

Sarah put on a sympathetic expression. “I don’t know which is worse, going to jail or getting fired dishonorably without severance pay.”

Vonda felt like half of her life had already gone.

“Oh, God.”

*

On the brink of the weekend, that morning, Max woke up feeling annoyed. Even taking a shower and shampooing couldn’t ease the headache. His mind was a mess. Especially when he looked at his bedside table. There lay his phone, and he let out a long sigh.

“Mom hasn’t contacted me for days. If I can’t bring Vonda home tomorrow, oh my God. I can’t imagine how mad Mom would be.”

“Argh!”

Max grumbled, opened the wardrobe door in frustration, and pulled out a neatly folded shirt to put on.

“Oh, my goodness. Vonda is really something else, huh? These past two days, she purposely had Sarah fetch her from my office. As if she wanted to parade me in front of her.”

Max snorted, trying to figure out a way to introduce Vonda to his parents. Just then, a soft ding caught his ears.

Ding!

Max glanced at the bedside table. His furrowed forehead wrinkled even more when he heard the unfamiliar notification tone. As he approached, he realized the sound was not coming from his own phone. It was from another phone nearby.

Max reached for that phone. It was none other than Vonda’s phone. Oddly enough, for the past few days, Max had spontaneously been regularly charging her slim device. He kept it alive.

Max’s eyes narrowed slightly as he saw a notification message appear on Vonda’s phone. Ignoring and not caring about the notifications that had come in so far, Max felt a different sensation that morning. Curiously, he swiped down the phone screen and saw several notification messages. But one caught his interest.

“Andrew?”

Max murmured softly. His mind wandered back in time.

“Where do you want to go, Miss?”

“Can we go to the police station? I want to report Andrew and Livy for their indecent actions in the office! They were playing ‘horsey’ in the office.”

Max remembered the scene from that night. He did not need to ask anyone to know who Andrew really was.

“So, this is Andrew who the one playing horsey,” Max chuckled.

Somehow, Max’s curiosity led him to focus on a small message visible in the notification. This time, he deliberately pulled down the phone screen to read the message.

Andrew:Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Vonda! You haven’t paid this month’s car installment yet, have you?

The amusement on Max’s face disappeared. It was replaced by a stunned expression of disbelief. He recalled their other conversation from that night, about the car, down payment, and this month’s installment.

Max placed Vonda’s phone back on the bedside table. He turned to the wardrobe to get dressed. But when Max looked at his reflection in the mirror, a soft sigh escaped his lips.

“Does this guy have no shame at all? How can he talk about car installments with an ex whom he’s hurt like that?”

Max turned around, picking up Vonda’s phone again to reply through the notification.

Vonda:

Have you no brain or shame?

You cheat on me, and yet, you still talk about car installments?

Just sell your manhood to pay for it.

Max smiled contentedly as he placed the phone back on the bedside table, then turned back to the mirror, muttering to himself.

“Such a shame for us guys. How could he contact his ex through chat just because of car installments, and he even sold the car.”

Adjusting his tie around his neck, Max suddenly couldn’t comprehend.

“Vonda, despite her crazy personality, is quite beautiful. Her position proves that she’s intelligent and competent. How could she end up with a guy like that?”

Max pulled the tie’s end, tidying it up before reaching for his jacket.

“With her looks alone, she could easily get a wealthy guy, not to mention with her intelligence. But why did she end up with a shameless guy?”

His hands, which were smoothing the lapels of the jacket, stopped abruptly. His forehead furrowed as something crossed his mind.

“Phone. Looks.”

Max’s eyes widened, and a mischievous grin formed in his mind.

“I think I know how to coax Vonda into talking to me or even more than that.”

Max laughed triumphantly.

“I can make sure she willingly agrees to meet my parents.”

Max, who was initially in a sulky mood, suddenly became enthusiastic as he drove to the office. When he arrived at Vonda’s workspace, he placed the keychain on her desk. Vonda looked at him puzzled.

“I won’t force you to talk to me again. I’m tired. Forcing a girl is not my style.”

Confusion immediately registered on Vonda’s face, surprised by Max’s sudden change of attitude. However, a moment later, Max managed to freeze her. It was when Max leaned towards Vonda and asked.

“I just want to ask. Have you ever heard of an employee who chose to resign because their nude photos were spread around the office?”

*