Chapter 3 - Maria

I stopped zoning out and asked, "What?" Like a total fucking loser. Maria repeated herself patiently and asked, "Are you OK? Aren't you distressed at having to get naked and being called a loser?"

I balked and once again felt incredulity for how angelic this lady specimen was. I should just treat that as appropriate behavior from her and protect her from those who try to take advantage of her. There's no shortage of those who would taint this beautiful angel, myself included.

This time I replied well within acceptable conversational limits, "I wasn't bothered. Things like this don't phase me much. My emotional spectrum has always been a bit stunted." Maria, who was already showing some distress as she asked the question, started to tear up. She cupped one hand on my face, and drew a cross on her chest with her other hand. Her eyes were closed so I got a good look at how her dress dented, allowing me to estimate her bust at a high C cup. Praise be to God, I guess.

Due to my happiness at finding her bust size, she opened her eyes to see a thin smile on my face. Maria also became delighted to see my smile and a wide smile spread on her gentle face. In a burst of incomprehensible courage, I asked, "Will you help me be a better Fixer? I can help you too."

Maria put her hand over my hand. It didn't give off any feeling of intimacy, rather it was full of understanding. "You have a lot of inner courage, Tom. I'm sure you can do anything you set your mind on. I will help you. Please take care of me too."

The other pairings, Jill x Sagar and Monica x Keith, also seemed to make similar decisions to buddy off. Although I was slightly annoyed that I summoned all this courage for something that would have happened by elimination anyway, I at least got Maria's praise and felt her soft touch upon my hand. I put my other hand on top of hers and said, "I will, thank you Maria."

Soon after, we looked at our hands and both blushed. Maria slaps my hand lightly and says coquettishly, "You're quite bold to be taking advantage of a lady in such a natural manner."

I didn't know what to make of this. If I were to think like an anime protagonist, I would expect all girls would throw themselves at me without me doing anything other than "doing my best". If I were to think like a cultivator, I would simply steal her away or develop some rapport, and then "accidentally" ingest a poisonous aphrodisiac in private with Maria with the poison's label and cure written clearly in eyeshot.

Clearly, both situations do not apply to real life. Maria laughs at my silence and says, "That's when you're supposed to say something cool about how our hands fit so well together. We've got some work to do, Tom." If there's one thing that gets to me, it's losing. Understanding that I lost a chance to smooth talk Maria due to my lack of social experience, I felt briefly frustrated. I asked with a strained face, "Can you teach me that too?"

Maria laughed like a bell and asked rhetorically, "Teach you how to be smooth with women? And I suppose you'd be practicing on me.. Wouldn't I fall for your advances once the student surpasses the master?" I quickly replied, "Err, we would stick to learning Fixing, at first." Maria also teases back, "Very nice, not a bad excuse. You're a quick learner. A little too blunt at the end, but some people prefer honesty." Maria puts on her a million dollar again as a reward for my honesty, and then frowns as she points at me like lecturing a baby as she continues, "Oh yeah! Tom, no 'Err' next time."

I bobbleheaded, perfectly fine with acting like a baby if it means Maria will be more comfortable, until I figured that I shouldn't be pandering to my 'opponent' so much if I was going to be a Fixer. Correcting myself, I omitted any verbal tick by simply saying, "..Okay."

Maria gave me a side glance and looked over to notice Monica and Keith trading french kisses. She blushed profusely and whispered, "Are they practicing as Fixers and Clogs?" Keith groped one of Monica's very pliable breasts and she gave a high pitched moan that rang through the room. Keith shouted victoriously and Monica pouted.

She then resumed kissing Keith and rubbed his crotch over his pants while her boobs were squished against him. Jill also blushed profusely and scoffed at them, but gave a few looks over at Sagar. Unfortunately, he seemed to be unfazed by anything going on and was only taking notes. He was undoubtedly the most mature out of the group.

I got caught up in the momentum of Monica and Keith and hesitantly asked Maria, "Should we also practice?" Maria facepalmed and said, "Humph. Maybe that would work for girls like Monica, but not me. You'll have to try harder than that."

I furrowed my brows in thought and said my honest thoughts, "Please make me the luckiest guy in the world!" Maria opened her mouth speechlessly a few times as a blush crept onto her face slowly until it covered it all the way down her neck. She mumbles, "That's not fair.." Then leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek, before running towards the exit.

I felt like I was floating on cloud nine the moment her shiny pink lips fell on my cheek. My heart beat furiously and I could think of nothing else other than her gentle smile, tingling laugh, and following her figure as she left. Is this love? My brain was definitely impaired, but I didn't care. My heart skipped a beat when Maria looked back right into my eyes to see my silly smile, pushed her tongue out, and fled.

I am definitely in love. Although, at the back of my mind, my worst case scenario thinking made me wonder if she was stringing me along as a means of Fixing me, I had a distinct feeling that the angel-like Maria could never be so cruel to someone who didn't deserve it. She seemed to prefer honesty, so taking advantage of my feelings that she could easily read from my face didn't fit her personality. Maybe I have a chance!

Sagar stood up and sat next to me on the opposite side of Maria's seat. He gave me a polite smile and said, "Tom, I can tell you like Maria." I panicked momentarily at what he was getting at by saying this. Thoughts went through my mind about whether Sagar also wanted to date or fuck her. In fact, it would seem their personalities have the most in common. Interjecting as I began a depressive spiral, Sagar said, as if he could read my mind, "No worries man. I will only begin a relationship with the one my parents select for me. I was just wondering if you would like some advice."

I saw Jill's eyes light up from back at her seat. No doubt she would contact Sagar's parents via her own parents by the end of tonight. I was greatly relieved. It would be a tragedy to men everywhere if this Adonis was released upon the female population. He gave off such a casual and calming aura that he could cuck anyone and the man might even be convinced it was for their own good with a few words from him. Sagar just barely avoided being a true enemy of the male gender. Despite how dangerous he was, I would be silly to pass up on some advice from him, so I shrugged and said, "Sure."

Sagar gave me a disarming smile and said, "First of all, look at the top left corner of Maria's desk."

I looked at the corner of her desk nearest to me and saw a series of numbers written in a distinctively girly style. Initially I was confused, until I realized that it was her phone number! I had entirely forgotten to ask, but she had left it for me. Neither did I have any clue when she had the chance to write it down or how I had missed it. I read it over and over again. The feeling of love supercharged my memory to be able to memorize it until I couldn't imagine forgetting those 10 digits by the 10th read through. Then, I realized that I had already moved my smartphone to my new pants and I didn't need to memorize it if I could save it. I quickly added her number in my contacts.

Sagar noted my surprise and said to me, "You should always pay attention to your partner. All of our body language is part of the conversation. She left her number for you. That means she's interested in further contact with you in a romantic sense when combined with that kiss on the cheek. They are also signs that she wants to go slow and get to know you more. Now tell me, what's your next step?"

I was very stunned by Sagar's ability to cut straight to the source of the matter and also once again on cloud nine at the confirmation that Maria was giving me a chance. I myself had reasoned it out subconsciously as well, but I was stuck in a limbo of disbelief that a perfect angel like Maria would be OK with a freak like me until Sagar had laid it out for me.

I said, "Next step? I don't know. Should I ask her for a date?" In fact, I already knew the answer, but my newfound feeling of love muddled my mind.

Sagar shook his head and said, "Not quite. It's still too soon for a date. Think about it from her perspective. Her good first impression of you is mainly based on the fact that you are also one of the chosen Fixers, but she doesn't know who you really are. She needs a bit of assurance that she isn't going on a private date with a psychopath. Your next step is to chat and get to know each other better. Throughout your conversation, make sure you honestly volunteer information regarding what defines you. She will reciprocate similarly personal information. Things like what you like to do in your free time, what your family is like, some of your personal goals and aspirations, etc."

I agreed with Sagar's suggestions. Looks like I got ahead of myself. I'm not used to thinking from the perspective of other people outside of a fictional context where people don't give a fuck about this stuff. Maybe I would have had a girlfriend in high school if I knew more about this, since I'm not that bad looking.

I nodded and Sagar nodded back offering me a handshake. I shook his hand and he said, "Good luck." I was briefly stunned before realizing he was done and saying, "Thank you so much for all the great advice. Why did you come and tell me in the first place though?"

Sagar chuckled and said, "Well, you and Maria looked good together, and I wanted to try my hand at helping. Isn't Fixing just a glorified way of helping people?"

I thought about it for a moment and guessed that Sagar had a very optimistic take on Fixing. In contrast, my mom's take on Fixing, I can imagine being far more aggressive and far less consensual than Sagar's. She didn't even spare me, her own son, from a humiliating experience. That might be the tip of the iceberg for her Fixing methods.

I said sincerely to Sagar, "Thank you again for your efforts for my sake! I almost missed Maria's number today. I will try to help you in return when I can." Sagar nodded again, humbly accepting my offer of repayment before also exiting the building. Jill left soon after he did with a curt, "Goodbye."

At this point, Monica and Keith seemed about ready to throw their clothes off, but neither wanted to be the first to remove clothes from the other. Therefore their silent kissing and staring war was ongoing. Monica seemed to have the upper hand at the moment because she had a naughty, mischievous smile on her face. I took this in with a few short glances and noticed I was the only one left other than them. Not wanting to be a third wheel, I also made to leave the room shortly after Jill, but not before dropping a short phrase, "Have fun!"

Monica and Keith both replied respectively, "Oh we will" "Not going to join us?"

I stopped in front of the exit and felt the devil's temptation in Keith's words to take up his offer, imagining Monica's naughty and cheerful face full of my cum, but resisted due to the influence of my angel, Maria. I awkwardly said, "Haha, no. But thanks." Monica's eyes narrowed and I felt like I had somehow been marked by a virgin-killer. Just to be a bit clearer, I said hesitantly, "..I like Maria." The pressure of being prey eased as she returned to her cheerful smile and gave me a big thumbs up.

I also left the room and heard Monica say, "Look at Tom, he knows how to romance a lady properly." To which Keith replied, "I doubt you have that sort of patience, my lady." The last thing I heard before I closed the door was another high pitched moan of happiness from Monica, which I could guess was the start of them undressing and getting busy.

I looked around and followed the signs for the exit with a red face. I would be commuting from my home to the building, but I guessed the others might stay at a hotel or purchase a nice place nearby since they are from all over the country. I drove home, jumped in my bed, and pulled out my phone without delay.

I wasn't sure how soon my mom would be home. The orientation was quite short today to allow the Fixers time to move in and I don't know if she has other work. I wasn't quite sure how to face her after this incident without popping a massive boner. I don't expect special treatment when being a Fixer, but I still want to be her son when at home. In fact, the thing I wanted to hear the most was Maria's soothing voice.

(A/N: Maria is wholesome :D)