KELVINS PLACE

Kelvin Beil was seated in the farthest corner of the room. He did not care for what was happening around him. Maybe if Kevin Marshall were around, they would have had a blast. Kevin Mashall, or Mash as everybody was accustomed to calling him, was the life of the party. He loved his Whisky as much as he did the ladies. The ladies loved him too. It was just a boring night for him, and he had come to support his friend, Leo. Kev had been engaged to Daniela for six years. It was a teenage love story, and everybody around them loved that they were still together all these years. Before their engagement, they had dated for five years. At 19, Kev had proposed to Dee to marry her when they both turned 25. After high school, Dee had taken some gap years to tour the world and grow her YouTube channel. She later went to London School to study communications as her first degree.

Dee's best friend was Kev's younger sister Arya. Dee, Arya, and Marsh were all in London and doing their final semester.  Marsh and Arya were doing their last semesters as grad students. As teenagers, they all hoped to study in the same country, but Kev changed his mind when called to the New York campus. A part of him wanted to have personal experiences without the clique he had been around all his life.

Kev was thinking about marriage. In 6 months, he would be Dee's husband. There was a time the thought of marrying Dee would excite him, but the more they spent time apart, the more Kev realised this was not what he wanted. Almost every evening, he visited the New York Times Square and could see how in-love couples behaved, and this was not the kind of affection he shared with Dee. A part of him wanted to honour the family obligations, the other part knew this would be a mistake. The more he thought about it, the more he got depressed. The party was not good enough to destruct his thoughts, so he decided to leave.

Immediately he rose from his couch; he saw the most beautiful girl walk in. She was tall, between 5ft 7 and 5ft9, with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and curves like an African queen. He had never been attracted to Caucasian ladies before, but this one was different. She was sultry without even trying. The way she moved left everybody in the room staring. Her demeanour was intimidating. Her beauty was captivating. Her mannerisms were taunting. Kev had never felt anyone's essence the way he felt hers. She walked towards him as if she knew him, but you could tell from the shock on his face something was amiss.

Do you mind buying me a drink, sir? She said in a coy smile as if she knew he wouldn't say no. He was so puzzled by her that instead of getting her drink, he mumbled, you can drink me, something he regretted almost immediately. She could not help but laugh, and she found it quite cute, not the comment but the embarrassment written all over his face. Flirting was not his strongest suit, although he was a successful, extremely good-looking, tall, and well-mannered gentleman. He had never had to work for a lady's attention. The fact that he had dated the same person all his life meant that he was almost as naïve in these matters as she was.

Kev may have had doubts about marrying Dee, but he had never cheated before or wanted to but tonight was not the night he kept his morals. After the embarrassing response, he went to get her a drink without asking what she was taking. When he got to the open bar, he was confused and just decided to get her a Mimosa.

"So, do you have a girlfriend or something?" Katrina asked confidently. There was no way he was going to admit he was someone's fiancé, especially now that he had all the doubts, plus she was just a passing flame no one would ever know about.

Where Kev was raised, women were supposed to be less aggressive, especially in romantic matters, and in as much as he admired her boldness, she was not the kind of woman you keep in your house. She is what his father had warned, an alluring new yorker.

No am single, he responded. I am kelvin Biel by the way.

She had no intention of knowing his name, leave alone give hers. She did not intend to lie about it either.

Let's keep it anonymous. It's fun that way.

But I already told you, my name?

It doesn't matter; I am like a bird; I will be flying away within no time. So, my place or your place?

She may have sounded confident, but a million thoughts were going through her mind. Who did she think she was? All the one-night stand stories she had read seemed so easy, but the more he stared at her, the scarier she felt. He was not some douchebag she would probably not care for the next day. His demeanour was attractive. He made her nervous. Nobody had ever made her nervous. It was not scary nervous, something like I want to kiss you, I want to hug you at the same time my stomach is feeling the butterfly's kind of nervous.

There was no way Kev was going to spend the night at some beautiful stranger's bed; he liked the odds better at his place.

My place, he responded. It is a five-minute drive from here.

Okay, let's go. She put her arm around him, and they left....