That Beauty Salon

Tanya had always been rather bold and reckless. I could make out the sound of a guy panting heavily in the background.

Frowning, I confronted her, "Tanya, did you know that you brought me to a sex shop today?"

"And what's wrong with that? Daph, you're getting married soon. You should take the chance to have some fun!"

So, Tanya knew. I angrily barked, "Tanya, I'm different from you. You knew I was getting married to a conservative guy, but you still lied to me and brought me to a salon. Did you know I almost—"

My words piqued her interest. "Go on! I heard the new guy in room 208 was a virgin…"

"Nothing happened between us! Don't ever bring me to that kind of place. Forget about this visit. If you do this to me again, I'll drop you as a friend!"

Tanya was flustered by my furious response. She immediately promised, "I'm sorry, Daph. I wanted you to relax because you were stressed out by work."

She added, "Anyway, you didn't cheat on Liam, so you shouldn't worry about it. Who knows? Maybe Liam is having fun elsewhere too. I promise never to bring you to that place."

"That's impossible! Liam will never cheat on me. You should stop frequenting those places too. You never know how many women those guys had slept with; they might have STDs!"

With that, I hung up on Tanya.

…

The next morning, I went to work at my dad's company as usual. He founded a tech company, where Liam and I worked after we graduated college.

Three years after graduation, I had worked my way up to the role of a project manager, while Liam was made sales manager. We were dubbed the perfect couple in the company.

The thought of our wedding next month made me dizzy with happiness.

Just as I settled down and was about to start my laptop, I received a follow request on Instagram. The person even sent me a private message, "Daphne, accept my request. This is Caleb. You left something behind yesterday."

The message spooked me out. How did Caleb get my Instagram handle?

Suppressing my fears, I accepted his request. I wanted him to throw away whatever it was that I left behind, but he had already called me in the app.

I took his call. He began, "Daphne, you left your lipstick behind."

"I don't want it anymore. Throw it out."

"I wouldn't want to throw out anything that belongs to you, Daphne. I'm at the entrance of your workplace to drop off the lipstick."

"W-What did you say? You're at the entrance of my office? How do you know which company I work for?"

"I ran into you at your company's project launch event. Hurry up, or I'll go up to meet with you."

Caleb might come across as a gentleman, yet he was a slick man. I should have known better when he forced me into getting intimate yesterday.

He cornered me. I was helpless. The last thing I wanted was for Caleb to come for me. What if he bumped into Liam or one of my colleagues? I would have a hard time explaining myself.

When I hesitated, I heard him speaking to the security. "Hello, I'm here for Daphne—"

"Hey, do not come up. I'll get down right now. Wait for me at the café next to the office building. I'll be there in a minute."

After that, I begrudgingly rushed to the café next to the office.

Dressed in a white hoodie and a pair of denim jeans, Caleb exuded a casual, almost boyish charm. If I hadn't witnessed his sexual prowess in that room, I would have mistaken him for just another fresh graduate.

He arched an eyebrow in amusement when I approached him. Smirking, he said in a hoarse voice, "Daph, you're here."

Many of my colleagues frequented the café. They shot us curious looks when Caleb called me by my nickname.

"Daphne, your brother is really handsome," one of them commented.

"He's got to be a fresh graduate—he looks so young," another chimed in.

Brushing off their comments as best I could, I grabbed Caleb's hand and dragged him toward a private booth. Once inside, I spoke through gritted teeth, "I don't want the lipstick. Do not look for me again. Got it?"

"Daph, you're such a heartless woman. Aren't you afraid your boyfriend might find out about what happened yesterday?"