A Night of Desire

The designated driver pulled up to Linden Jennings’s home and switched off the engine.

From the shadows nearby, a figure shrank back for a moment before peeking out again.

The figure was wearing a large face mask despite the summer heat, revealing only a pair of large, unmistakably feminine eyes. Her gaze, filled with anticipation and nervousness, was fixed on Linden Jennings’s car.

The designated driver, having turned off the engine, called out to Linden Jennings without getting out of the car. "Sir, we’re here."

When she heard no response, she glanced back at the rear seat. Linden Jennings’s eyes were closed; she couldn’t tell if he was asleep or just dead drunk.

The driver raised her voice slightly and called out again, "Sir, we’re here."

...Still no response.

The driver paused, muttering to herself, ’You’ve got to be kidding me. Is he really passed out cold? He seemed perfectly lucid when I asked for his address after we started driving. It’s only been half an hour. How could he be completely wasted already?’

She sighed and pushed the door open to get out.

In the shadows, the woman watched the driver’s door swing open. A faint light seemed to sparkle in her eyes as her hands nervously tightened their grip on the hem of her shirt.

But when she saw a woman get out, the light in her eyes instantly faded, and her hands clenched the fabric of her shirt.

After getting out, the driver opened the rear passenger door, leaned inside, and shook Linden Jennings. There was no response.

She felt helpless. A designated driver’s job was just to get the car to the destination, but she couldn’t just leave him to spend the night in the car.

’Oh, what the hell,’ she thought. ’Might as well see this through and help him inside.’

With that, she put some muscle into it, pulling Linden Jennings out of the car and draping his arm over her shoulders.

After a struggle, she managed to get him up the few steps to the door. The driver fumbled around in Linden Jennings’s pockets until she found a keychain, figuring she’d have to try each key one by one.

To her surprise, she got lucky. The very first key worked. She helped him inside, and the door closed behind them.

The woman nearby stepped out of the shadows. She reached up and pulled down her mask, revealing a beautiful, youthful face—it was Poppy Vance, who had been missing for so long.

She stared at the closed door for a long, long time, tears welling in her eyes. ’The house that only one woman was ever allowed to enter... now any woman can just walk right in.’

’She opened the door so easily... This probably isn’t the first time she’s gone home with him, is it?’

She remembered how she used to playfully pester Linden Jennings, making him swear that she was the only woman who would ever be allowed in this house. No other woman could even dream of it.

Linden Jennings had sworn it without hesitation. Now, thinking back, his promise was nothing but bullshit. It meant nothing!

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought another woman home the moment she was gone!

’Just how desperate for a woman is he? How much does he hate being alone?’

’Then again, it makes sense. When we were together, he was so wild and passionate, he wanted to be all over me every second of the day. Now that I’m gone, it’s only natural he’d find another woman to satisfy his physical needs.’

Poppy Vance bit her lower lip, wiped away the tears streaming down her face, and turned to run. She hailed a taxi and jumped inside.

’Poppy Vance, you’re such a fool. If your pride and self-respect couldn’t handle it, you should have just stayed gone after you left. Why did you even come back?’

’Ha. You couldn’t fight how much you missed him, so you snuck back to see him. And what was the result? You got to see him bring another woman home with your own two eyes!’

’Are you satisfied now? Ready to finally give up?’

...

Not long after the taxi carrying Poppy Vance had driven off, the villa door opened again. The designated driver emerged, rubbing her sore arm and muttering, "Jeez, that wasn’t ’helping’ him inside, that was practically carrying him. He’s so heavy!"

’Still, the poor guy,’ she thought. ’Passed out cold and mumbling something about his ’baby’ over and over. He must be heartbroken. Probably calling out his ex-girlfriend’s name?’

Mumbling to herself, she glanced back one last time at the closed door before heading out to hail a cab.