Chapter1: Sarai

The babble of voices rose and filled the whole luxuriously decorated room. Miss Parker was sitting at a dinner table sipping at her La Hai only listening with one ear to the business talk of the party of young men surrounding her. Bragging was actually a better word to describe the kind of talk they were engaging in. What cars, which brands, how fast, how many, amount of studies abroad, number of houses…she inwardly rolled her eyes. She could have told them that the speeds they were bragging about was her norm, no matter with which of the many cars she had already owned in her life; and she could’ve told them in at least eight different languages. But her father had been clear about the fact that these people, or at least the families they belonged to, were important business partners or even ‘friends’ of the Parker-family. So she pulled herself together and played nice. Well as nice as she could. More than one of those Thai wannabe Casanovas had made advances on her, trying to lure her into his bedroom. She had turned all of their flirtatious offers down without breaking anyone’s fingers or dismembering anyone. Like said: as nice as she could.

She impatiently sighed and checked her watch. She looked from the debating group of men to the politely giggling girls who were seated next to them. Each of those brainless Thai versions of a Barbie doll were acting extremely interested in the unsubstantial stories the young spoiled heirs of well established families were telling; no doubt hoping to find a potential boyfriend or even husband in them. She tauntingly raised an eyebrow and inwardly snorted with disdain at their girlish behaviour. She took a long sip of her drink, enjoying the burning sensation the strong liqueur caused in her throat. Her eyes were wandering to the rest of the dinner table party and got locked with a pair of beautifully shaped dark brown ones that stared directly back at her with an amused glint in them. Miss Parker put down her glass and looked at the young Thai woman sitting across from her at the table. The amused smirk on her face indicated that she had witnessed Parker’s not very well hidden facial expression that showed her boredom at the conversation and her condescending examination with which she had regarded the female escorts. Not showing that she felt a bit caught she looked at the girl with the straight poker face that she wore so well and simply raised both of her eyebrows in a what-are-you-looking-at fashion. The beautiful girl only smirked slightly with no sign of being offended nor intimidated by the gesture and indicated with her eyes in the direction of the bragging party which was now bursting with laughter since one of the youngsters had made an immature joke with a titillating content. The girl looked back at Parker and slightly rolled her eyes, showing that she shared her low opinion of the group. Now it was Parker’s time to smirk. The well formed lips of the Thai girl smiled a small smile at her.

Miss Parker knew her. She was the heir of one of the richest and best situated families in the country. She spoke perfect English among many other languages and had participated in some lessons of the calligraphy course Parker was enrolled in at the private university in Bangkok. She had been with the group of people Parker was going out with on a regular basis, to VIP clubs and bars, or on a private yacht-party-cruise.

Her name was Sarai. For a Thai girl she was rather noncompliant and showed when she didn’t like something or someone. She was known to be adventurous with a taste for risky hobbies. She seemed to have a strong personality, came and left as she pleased without a male escort to protect her or chase away unwanted admirers. This wasn’t very common in such high circles in this country, which led Parker to believe that this girl was rather independent and headstrong and did not care too much about what others might be thinking of her.

She was one of the very few people around here that didn’t irritate Parker the minute they walked into her field of vision, or made her simply want to shoot them for opening their mouths’. As opposed to the other Thai girls around here she didn’t giggle nor did she talk too much. And most importantly: she radiated strength and confidence.

Miss Parker usually didn’t get along with women that well. They were way too chitty-chatty and emotionally involved into things. She found it pathetic and extremely irritating. Miss Parker preferred company who inspired adventurousness and who knew that life was about strength, position and superiority. She liked to compete and expected her company to pose a good challenge, no matter the consequences.

So if Miss Parker had been interested in making friends, this woman who was only a few years younger, would’ve made an excellent candidate. But apart from keeping business relationships intact for her family, making acquaintances and having some fun, Miss Parker did not see any use in establishing friendships. She had learned a long time ago that friendships and emotions only made you dependent on someone and as a consequence to that: vulnerable. And that was the last thing Miss Parker ever wanted to be again. She had worked hard to become the strong, confident and independent young woman she was right now. Fearless and with no bonds…besides her family. Growing emotional ties with someone was just like inconvenient luggage to her, that would eventually only lead to slowing her down; holding her back where she should step forward, being aggressive, just like her father wanted her to be.

Although she wasn’t interested in friendships, she was interested in having fun. Fun, however, wasn’t exactly something Miss Parker was having at the moment, so she looked at the girl, intrigued at what she was going to do as she signalled Parker to let her handle the situation. The young Thai woman lightly bowed her head, apologizing to the young men that she was about to leave the dinner party and gracefully gestured with her delicate hands while explaining that she would take the only foreign member of the party with her. Parker followed the girl’s lead and curtly excused herself, not really meaning the words that left her mouth, but put up with the polite façade anyway. Her father’s words still ringing in her head, “Remember: they’re powerful friends of the family, Angel.” Since the intimidating, long-legged foreign woman and the petite, yet confident Thai girl were not falling into the category of potential conquests anyway, the self-indulged young men did not mind their absence and waved their goodbyes.

Miss Parker followed the girl outside. It was a dry, warm night with a clear sky. The subtle scent of sweet flowers hung in the air and she could hear the insects of the night humming. “God I nearly died of boredom in there!” the girl suddenly exhaled and turned around to face her. “Mmh, tell me about it.” The deep and smooth tones flowed out of Miss Parker’s mouth, while she slightly smiled and rolled her eyes. The girl chuckled softly at her comment. “Well it was pretty much written all over your face” her voice filled with humour. Miss Parker’s eyes slightly narrowed. She didn’t like to be easily read, her poker face being something that had taken her a lot of practice and hard work to be accomplished. “But no need to worry.” The girl went on. “Those guys were way too self-involved, so I’m sure they didn’t notice.” “Who said I was worried?” Parker said with a straight face and an even voice. The girl detected the slightly dangerous undertone that had crept into the tall woman’s voice, challenging the girl to say or think that she might fear or was giving account to anyone. Sarai raised her eyebrows in appreciation, not being offended by the other woman’s behaviour at all. She liked people that were confident and spoke their mind without caring if someone might be insulted by that.

Miss Parker kept looking at her. The young Thai woman’s hair was put up in a delicate updo that had a subtly exotic quality to it and accentuated her beautifully carved neck. She wore a black silk dress with flower embroidery in the same colour on it. The dress went just to above her knees and the only other Asian touch besides the embroidery was that it was cut on the sides up until to her lower thighs. Her stilettos were black as well, but not nearly as high-heeled as Parker’s. The whole outfit spoke of elegance and mixed haute-couture with traditional Thai dressing.

“So.” Parker finally broke the silence in a half-fake conversational tone. “What did you tell them?” gesturing with her head in the direction of the 5-Star restaurant they had just left, knowing that the girl had needed a good reason to simply leave the dinner party like that without appearing rude and insulting anyone. Confident or not, she had to play by the rules of her culture…at least to some level. The Thai girl gave a nonchalant shrug and looked into the direction of the parking area. “I told them we needed to study for a calligraphy test tomorrow.” Parker smirked knowingly. Always playing the studious, hard-working card.

 “How’s that going by the way?” the girl suddenly asked, her eyes now fixated on the raven-haired woman. Parker raised her eyebrows a bit taken aback by the straight-forwardness of the question coming from a Thai girl. “Can’t complain.” She stated simply, wondering about the reason behind the sudden question, but not letting her voice give anything away about her thoughts. “Still motivated enough to learn our language and writing?” the girl slightly teased. “It has nothing to do with motivation. I start something I set my mind on the task and I finish it.” Parker’s words sounding hard and determined into the night, without any room for doubting them. “Well, if you ever need any help to polish your writing…” the girl offered, smiling slightly, not wanting to tease or insult the foreign woman this time. “Who says I need any help?” Parker answered with a serious face, but with the slightest hint of her dark humour evident in her voice, showing that she had understood the girl’s intention. Sarai chuckled softly and locked her dark, beautiful eyes with the taller woman. “No one of course.” She said with a smug face. Parker raised a delicate eyebrow. “This better be the truth.” Her voice threatened jokingly.

The two women stood there for a while in silence. Each looking into the eyes of the other, challenging them to look away first. Both  trying to read the thoughts and intentions of the person before them. The cry of a nights animal could be heard far away and the distant laughter of the people sitting on the terrace of the extravagant restaurant.

The girl broke the eye contact first. “God, I’m dying out here! At least inside it was air-conditioned.” Miss Parker didn’t say anything. She didn’t mind the night’s warmth, as long as there was no humidity in the air. She watched the girl fanning air into her own face with her hand. Parker lightly cocked her head and wondered if the young Thai woman had had any plan in mind when she had signalled her to leave the dinner party of bragging wannabe-men. Outside she didn’t have to listen to the nonsense of those boys inside and was in much better company, but it wasn’t that much fun either to just stand here in front of the restaurant doing nothing.

Sarai must’ve read her thoughts, for she suggested with a playful glint in her eye “Let’s drive up to the coast. At least there’s a breeze. Plus my father has a small estate there with access to a private beach. It’ll be more fun to hang out there than standing here until we drop.” Parker shrugged in response. It was better than small-talking out here. Although she didn’t mind the presence of the young Asian woman at all, in fact she seemed to rather enjoy her company, she wasn’t exactly a fan of small-talk. Talking that served no purpose besides exchanging useless bits of information and lead to nothing constructive, was in her eyes a waste of time.

So she followed the girl to the parking area, where one big luxury vehicle was parked next to the other, wondering which car they would use, since she had taken a ride from one of the guys. Which of course was very unusual for her, but her Aston Martin convertible had had the nerve to just break down after school and the pathetic excuse for a mechanic had not been able to fix it within a few hours. She had shoot the worm one of her best drop-dead-glares threatening him to better have it ready until the next morning and had stalked out of the room with angry strides. So she had accepted the offer for a ride to the dinner party with grinding teeth.

Parker walked behind the girl to the dimly lit parking area. The rhythmic sound of their high-heels on the concrete, echoing into the night. Suddenly the girl before her came to a halt. Parker stopped and frowned impatiently, not sure of what had caused the girl to just stop like that. She watched as Sarai slowly turned around, smiling mischievously at her. “How would you like a fast ride of the special kind along the coastline?” she asked seductively while waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Parker’s frown disappeared immediately as her gaze followed the girl’s thumb that pointed into the direction behind her. Her expressionless marble-like face lit up and an appreciative wicked grin formed on her beautiful features at the sight of the two Suzuki Hayabusa’s standing behind Sarai. It had been a long time since she had ridden a motorcycle and she missed the exhilarating feeling she always got while pushing the machine to its limits. The rush of adrenaline and the feeling of absolute freedom she always experienced was something no fast car was able to give her.

“The keys?” she asked with a deep and husky voice, her eyes never leaving the two black Japanese sport bikes. Sarai’s lips formed into a seductive smile. She had been right about this woman with her piercing blue eyes who seemed to have something dangerous about her; she loved fast rides just as much as she did. The predatory being of the foreign woman intrigued and excited her. The hungry gaze with which she was now eyeing the Hayabusa’s made the young Thai woman’s heart beat faster and she wondered if that was just due to the fact that this elegant yet strong woman seemed to share her idea of fun and adventure. They seemed to click. To get how the other one saw the world.

Keeping that thought in mind Sarai turned and walked gracefully over to the two motorbikes; the silky material of her dress rustling against her legs; and produced the keys out of the hidden panels in the two sport machines. With the two keys dangling from her index finger she smiled triumphantly. “They’re my cousin’s.” Parker remembered that some of the boys back at the dinner table had indeed been part of Sarai’s family. She pursed her lips slightly. “Hmm..” she purred while slowly approaching one of the two motorcycles in a cat-like walk. She let her eyes wander over the machine and seductively ran her hand over the black metal, appreciatively raising an eyebrow. “Sounds like fun.” She said in her rich burgundy voice which now had a low and husky quality to it that made Sarai shiver despite the warmth. She had known this long-legged woman with her piercing blue eyes would be up for it. This could turn into a fun night after all.

The foreign woman smiled seductively at her while taking a key from her index finger and turned towards one of the motorbikes. “Let’s just hope the fun will be worth ruining my dress.” Parker stated while eyeing the machine before her. Sarai frowned slightly not quite understanding what the other woman was implying. Parker turned her head and looked at the girl’s dress, her eyes focusing on the cut at its side. The young woman felt her breath quicken slightly at the way the taller woman was eyeing her. “Hmm, so this is where the Asian version of that dress comes in handy.” Dawning on her what the blue eyed woman meant, Sarai chuckled and looked at Miss Parker’s outfit. Her eyes wandering down over the other woman’s well curved hips, and slender thighs, to the hem of her black designer dress. It was shorter than hers and didn’t reach Miss Parker’s knees…it didn’t even come close as a matter of fact, but ended about 15centimeters above her knees. The problem however wasn’t its length, or shortness for that matter, but the fact that it was rather tight and not cut at the outside of her thighs like Sarai’s. The girl could see the difficulty at sitting on a motorbike with one leg on each side in such a tight and short dress without ruining the delicate material.

“Well then,” ,Parker’s deep voice stated dryly , “let’s just hope we don’t get pulled over by some overly-motivated Thai version of a wannabe-Seargant-Murthaugh, who is then in for a treat he doesn’t deserve.” "And with that she put her hands on the handlebar of the Hayabusa 1300 and swung her right leg over it onto the other side and sat down on the seat. She scrutinized her bare left leg on which she was still standing, keeping her balance. Without hesitation she efficiently pulled the hem of her dress up a bit so that the pressure on the fine material was minimized and it wouldn’t tear. She pursed her lips, leaned forward with her slim upper body so that she was in the final driving position and checked the hem of her dress again. “I will be half lying on this thing anyway, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.” She stated matter-of-factly.

Sarai chuckle softly and sat down on her own sport machine. “Otherwise I could give you one of my dresses when we arrive at my father’s place, in case it should tear. Although they might be much shorter on you than on me…but then it seems like you don’t have a problem with that.” She said teasingly with a smile on her face while looking at Miss Parker. The raven-haired woman looked her in the eye and a brief grin graced her features.

“So you’ll lead the way. But don’t even think I’ll stay behind the whole time!” Parker warned jokingly and started her engine.  Sarai laughed “I’d think less of you if you would!” and with that she started her engine as well. “At the end of the parking area you have to turn right.” She shouted over the sound of the Hayabusa engines. “Ok.” Parker nodded and shouted back.

The petite Thai girl watched as Miss Parker lifted her long, bare leg off the ground and put her stiletto-heeled, black designer shoe on the clutch pedal of the motorcycle. With her black outfit matching the dark colour of the Hayabusa, the contrast of her pale skin came out even stronger. And for a few seconds the girl marvelled in awe at the flawless skin that shone like mother of pearl in the moonlight and the well shaped leg that looked like it was growing out of the dark metal, embracing its glistening form and controlling it with mere pressure. With her dark hair and her black outfit Miss Parker looked as if she was melting into the motorbike, becoming one with it, like a mysterious being taking possession of the machine. Sarai was stunned at the predatory sex-appeal this woman had, but was shaken out of her reverie as the dark object that was Miss Parker let its engine roar and drove into the night; her dark hair blowing in the wind as if having a life of its own. The girl accelerated and followed the other woman into the dark. The roaring of the two engines echoed through the night and drowned the constant humming of the insects.