1. The Satisfactory Smoke

A white ceiling grasped the vision of the brown orbs crowned with thick, long and black eyelashes. The heaviness was worth the weight of thousands of pounds and the vintage lighting of the room seemed to be the most classic thing ever. The vividly memorable and unfamiliar architecture of the roof awakened the brain cells of a 26-year-old woman lying on the most spongy and comfortable bed, but in the grandeur of the expensive surroundings, it was more freezing than her usual settings. Amid the time of summer, it was odd to be experiencing the touch of winter, but there was something warm near her to console from the chills of coldness. Blinking her eyes a few times to bid goodbye to the drowsiness of her mind, the petite girl could finally acknowledge the indifferent surroundings. So foreign from her usual mornings!

Aria Miller gripped the white sheets covering her delicately and turned her head to the right. A wave of shock travelled through her body upon the vision that filled her eyes. There was a man beside her. Covered in the same blanket, sleeping and *****! Her eyes stretched beyond the limit of sockets and she dipped her vision under the sheets, only to find a fully ***** view of herself.

‘Shit!’ She cursed, fearing the worst possibility.

Aria turned her brown orbs at the male again. In contrast to the tornado inside her heart, he was sleeping very peacefully like an angel descended directly from heaven. His fine features were hard not to be noticed, especially his lower lip which had a lip ring pierced. She was stuck staring at him unconsciously, forgetting the mess inside her brain for a couple of while. With his remarkable features, she paid attention to every minute detail on his face including the small pinpoint mole under his lower lip. His pitch-black hair was long enough to cover his fair skin of forehead and his sharp jawline which was sharper than a knife enhanced his beauty like the Greek god, Eros. It was not a lie that he looked seductive enough to trap a drunk woman in his fishnet.

‘Oh wait!’ Aria’s mind grasped the seriousness of the situation. Her memory cells forced their activity but all she could remember was having drinks with her friend from work, Hazel Grey. She burned more calories but her brain couldn’t go beyond the point of her neverending babbling about their fatty boss.

The girl looked at her surroundings, feeling struck by the gigantic and expensive power it held. This space of one room was far more than enough to accommodate half of her house but skimming through the useless materials of decoration had warned her that the man beside her was not a common one at all. She expanded her vision and behind the silky clothes of the curtains, the ***** female could see the lights of early morning.

‘What time is it?’ She started being anxious. The whole night had gone like a puzzle and she was sure that her father must be waiting and boiling in anger at home. She dreaded the problematic scene waiting for her, knowing that she would have to face it no matter what.

Aria decided to leave this place immediately without any delay as she pushed the cover off her ***** body while taking care that it still warmed the stranger beside her. She pushed herself to sit but halted after seeing a red drop on the white bedsheet. Her eyes darted at her private part, some dried red spots covering her inner thigh panged the reality inside her brain again.

‘Fuck!’ The petite woman cursed as she realized the status of her virginity, but with the terrible family circumstances, she didn’t have much time to sit and think over this. She needed to hurry home, not wanting to mess up the situation than it already had.

Aria Miller picked up her scattered clothes off the floor, wearing them in a haphazard and untidy manner as she walked to the table near the couch to pick up the familiar electronic device. She picked up her old mobile screen which displayed the time six in the early morning and trust me, she was regretting her decision more than anything else in her life. She shouldn't have gone out for so-called 'only one drink' which mystically turned into a total gamble.

In the hazy brain of alcohol, the vivid flashes of a dominant body pressed over her thin figure illuminated her vision. That stranger who had taken away her virginity in a mysterious way felt adducting in that short unclear piece of memory. The loud moans, sweaty bodies and steamy breaths had clouded her brain in an unfaithful way. The girl who had seemed to be enjoying the erotic moment was none other than herself and it was hard to believe that it was not a dream but an undeniable reality. What a disaster!

The girl looked back at the bed. Seeing that eye-catching male human, she wondered what filter his eyes held. With his everything-so-perfect features and pumped-up toned body, were his eyes as captivating as she imagined? Eyes are often the perfect portrait of a person, she wanted to discover it unconsciously.

Shaking off her thoughts, Aria grabbed her phone but her movements stopped on seeing a fascinating black leather box on the same table where her mobile was. In the devil of curiosity, she picked it up and unlocked it, only to find a few expensive and high-quality cigars arranged in it with a small lighter. She ran her fingers over it, feeling the rolled bundles of dried tobacco across her epidermis.

This woman was never a person to be drinking high and binging up with some weeds or cigarettes but in this hopeless condition, she felt it more like a need to inhale the drug to alleviate her frustration for a bit. With the throbbing head from the effect of alcohol from the previous night, Aria grabbed one of the cigars and held it in between her lips. She took the black metallic lighter in her hand, clicking the golden dragon-shaped cap to light up the flame. Throwing the leather box of cigars back to its original position, she walked towards the main door while burning the other end of the tobacco. The sizzling sound of the rolled bundle of the addicting drug rang in her ears and the smoke filled her lungs with a satisfactory smile plastering her face. Aria looked at the man on the bed for one last time and puffed out the smoke through her mouth. Sighing her head at this unexpected one-night stand, she unlocked the door and walked out of the place.

Walking out of the front gate of Mayfair Hotel, Aria appreciated the taxi that stood in front of her. She held the cigar between her index and middle finger and looked at the big building of one of the most expensive hotels in the city. She puffed out a wholesome smoke from her mouth and crushed the cigar under the heel of her sandal.

‘I hope we never face each other,’ she whispered to herself, understanding the power of the stranger man with the reasoning of his expensive stuff, this gigantic hotel and the mysterious way of her ending up in this hotel from the Euphoria nightclub. He was a red flag for sure.

Aria sat inside the taxi and informed the driver about the location. She could already see three missed calls from her father and ten from Hazel. Leaning back in the seat, the girl dialled out the number of her friend and closed her eyes as she waited for the call to be picked up.

“JESUS! You finally called after ages.”

“Hazel…” Aria whispered out at the expected response from the other side.

“God Aria, do you even know how worried I was? You just vanished in thin air out of nowhere!” Hazel Grey complained giving the girl with one night stand the idea that she didn't have any clue of what happened.

“Sorry, I don’t remember much. Do you have my purse by the way?” Aria Miller licked her lips as she asked.

“Yeah, it's with me but Aria, are you okay? I couldn’t reach you despite calling a lot of times last night.”

“I am fine. Sorry to leave you like that and can you please bring my purse to the office directly?” The lady in the taxi retorted, being straight and cold despite a warm gesture from her drink buddy, as usual as always.

With so many negative impacts and experiences in her life, Aria Miller had become aloof and unapproachable to others. No matter the number of people passed in her life, she always decorated the boundaries where nobody could step in.

“Okay, I will and Aria… I am sorry to hear about your father. I didn't know that you were going through so-”

“I must have misspoke something gibberish under the influence last night, please don’t take it seriously Hazel.” Aria stiffened, realizing that she had uttered some unhealthy words about her life to her colleague which wasn't supposed to.

Alcohol is dangerous. It can make you do the things you would never ever commit with your conscious brain.

“But-”

“Hazel, I will see you there in the office directly. Bye.” She cut off the other girl and ended the conversation on short notice without dipping further into the topic.

Aria let out a loud sigh and looked out of the window. With every passing building, she could see her fear getting closer. Her eyes were imaging a figure of a shabby person sitting on the couch in the scattered mess and an empty bottle of alcohol in his hand waiting to be broken. Her skin had started crawling under the thick material, her heart being anxious for the fear of life. The blood pumped furiously across her body and that's when Aria acknowledged the cold metal against her palm.

She opened her brown eyes and looked at the comforting thing, noticing the beautiful lighter of that man in her hand. She brought it closer to her eyes and studied its rich features, especially the dragon's golden cap which gave a magnificent aura. She turned that black piece around, finding an elegant carving on the bottom. There were some words written, probably the name of that stranger.

“Dante!” Her lips spoke out, without realizing a hurricane waiting for her.

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