Suddenly Unexpected Groom

Let's imagine today she's trying to reward herself for almost nine-no, make that ten years!-of dedication as a career woman and the sole breadwinner of her family. So, this morning, this woman wrapped in a warm blanket wants to laze around. It's the last day of her vacation. Oh, if you're curious, she's never taken a vacation before. This is her first time. After... the failure of her engagement with that jerk. Let's just say her vacation is a way to cheer herself up.

She went to Bali, gorging herself on ayam betutu until she was satisfied. Sweetening her day with pie susu. Cooling her aching heart, betrayed as it was, by feeling the chill of Kintamani's air. Enjoying drinks until she was half-drunk in the bars of Seminyak, Bali. Then...

Wait, wait.

Marisa groaned softly, feeling a throbbing pain in her head. Damn! She'd gotten too drunk with that handsome guy last night.

Handsome guy?!

Her long-lashed eyelids flew open. She sat up abruptly, her dark brown eyes scanning the room. A super-soft and comfortable bed. A luxurious, milk-chocolate brown sofa that matched the brown carpet. A glass wall overlooking the beach. Oh, how beautiful... but this wasn't the inn Marisa had booked for a week in Bali!

Oh, God! Marisa wrapped the blanket tightly around her naked body. She panicked, frantically gathering her clothes scattered on the floor. As quickly as lightning, she put on her black jeans, then...

Wait! Where is my oversize shirt?

The woman scrambled around in a panic. She looked under the sofa. Where did they take off that button-up shirt last night until it disappeared like this?

Ah, screw the shirt!

Marisa grabbed a crumpled men's shirt from the edge of the bed. Putting it on as fast as she could, she tiptoed towards the door, clutching her sling bag. Even though there was no one else in the room, who knows if the handsome guy from last night was in the bathroom!

The woman's heart pounded as she roughly brushed her hair with her fingers. It raced as fast as her steps as she managed to get out. She didn't care about the soreness all over her body from last night's lovemaking.

Marisa let out a rough breath, feeling a little relieved when she managed to hail a taxi in front of the hotel lobby and sat calmly in the passenger seat. The fair-skinned woman stared at her reflection in the mirror above the car's dashboard. She wiped her face.

Hopefully, the taxi driver behind the wheel wouldn't notice how disheveled her passenger looked. The faded lipstick from who knows how many kisses. The tangled hair from the warm, strong fingers of that handsome guy. And... a little hickey on the right side of her neck.

Marisa quickly covered the mark with her long, loose hair.

Oh, that handsome guy is so...

Marisa! You're calling a man who just slept with you randomly "handsome"?!

"Oh, shit!"

***

The small house with two rooms was still quiet at six in the morning. A woman, who was enjoying a cup of coffee, was supposed to be alone with her younger sister. Since her parents passed away in an accident, she had to fight to survive in order to take care of her younger sister.

Marisa really wanted a little sister. A sweet little sister whose long hair she could braid every morning and evening, decorating it with various colorful clips and ribbons. She was only seven years old when her mother happily announced there was a baby in her womb. She was eight when Mariana, her sister, was born.