“That looks good on you.”

Dominque’s gaze left the mirror in front of him to stare at Marco, who stood at the fitting room’s door.

“Yeah, the price looks good too, Mars.”

Marco smiled, “don’t sweat it; you’ll use my staff discount.”

Dominque lifted the collar of the jean jacket. He tried, “sure?”

“Sure, man, but we better hurry. I can’t cash you in with my discount; Kaede has to do it. The same goes for her; she can’t cash herself in with her advantage.”

“Gotcha, I’ve finished anyway,” Dominque began to put the stuff he was not taking back on their hangers.

“Leave that, Dom. Someone else will do that.”

“Nah, I can’t have your colleague thinking your friend is a slob.”

Marco shook his head, “I told you to forget her; Kae’s just a control freak. I’m here to help, and she prefers to brew all the tasks on her own, then she complains about having to do everything around here.”

Dominque laughed, “she sounds like your Ex. Remember the one you told me about when I was in Cambodia. How did that end?”

Marco slid his hand on the back of his head, not knowing if he should let his friend know that Kaede was the infamous girl, “well, I took your advice. I ended it. Like you said, why to endure the hassle?”

Dominque lifted an eyebrow at the low pitched tone that ended the sentence. Friends since youth, for Dominque, Marco’s voice had that note of regret called if only.

The vision of Kaede’s elbow on his neck was still vivid, “you talk, and you are a dead man, Marco.”

Marco knew he hurt Kaede, and also he was the one who barged in on her world at Da Stuff. Dominque did not need to be aware of the love record played during his absence and would remain.

Dominque picked up his hemp of clothes that he piled on his elbow, and the men walked back to the till, “so what have you been doing for the last three years?”

As Dominque asked the question, he realized he had been away for far too long. The man fled everything, friends, family, and he did not glance back. Now he wondered why he took such a drastic decision. Then again, at the time, Dominque’s mindset was in an obscure place.

The deception and betrayal were far too high for the man to sit idly, waiting for the suffering to sponge itself out. What Dominque saw abroad made him understand he chased many waterfalls and he now sought for something genuine.

Marco pondered a few seconds and answered, “well, after you left, I modeled here and there, I did a lot of odd jobs and trained.”

Marco did not do much during the time Dominque was gone, but the man did not need to. If he wished, Marco could contempt himself with just being a social media face since he was from a wealthy family, but like many, the man searched for a purpose.

Though culturally linked, the men were from opposite social backgrounds. The two men’s path was not supposed to cross, but destiny drafted the boys into the national youth football team. From then on, the boys became inseparable. Marco saw a mentor in Dominque who was two years his senior.

Dominque initiated Marco to other sports such as boxing, taekwondo, and climbing. When an injury forced Dominque to abandon his footballer dream of holding the junior World Cup, Marco dropped out without regret. The men remained as tight as Calzedonia hosiery until the day Dominque left.

Marco made his way through life, and it was in the gym that he met miss Missoni Laurence. Kaede sweatpants set look contrasted with the tight leggings butty flexing girls around her. Marco desired to see the results of her workout. Kaede spoke to no one. She did her thing and left.

The man found himself nourishing the dream of seeing her figure. The day Kaede wore a black Nike combi close to Serena Williams French opening Black Panther suit banned from the event, Marco had another fetishist dream of rubbing his hands on Kaede’s bubble as if he were a DJ scratching vinyl.

After months of hard work of seduction, the man reached his goal and found himself confronted with his insecurities. Kaede was not ethically his preference nor the type of girl who would be welcomed in open arms by his family, who voted for political parties extolling the stop immigration.

The men arrived at the counter, “Kaede, meet my friend Dominque; whenever you see him, please top him up with my discount; he’s royalty.”

Dominque’s long lashes fluttered. He lowered his gaze in embarrassment and nudged Marco, “man, stop it.”

Kaede shook her head, baffled in front of what she heard, ” Hi,ㅡeh Marco, there’s no royalty here. The only Royalty I’ve ever heard of is Chris Brown’s daughter. And believe me when I say even if she stood here, her dad would have to cash up also if he sang an acapella medley of his greatest hits.”

Marco threw a dark stare at Kaede that he switched back to his friend, who attempted to stifle his giggle. Dominque’s habit of laughing at the lamest pun’s and comebacks had not changed. At this instant, it embarrassed Marco, who found himself missioned to prepare Dominque’s parcel.

Dominque watched, regretting being the cause of what appeared to be a quarrel, “man, you don’t have to wrap it. Just toss everything in a bag.”

“Marco said, you’re Royalty. It’s the least he can do,” Kaede said without lifting her gaze from the computer screen as she entered the code for the manager’s discount.

Dominque folded an arm on his stomach and brought his other hand’s palm to his mouth to cover another giggle as Marco mimicked Kaede behind her back.

Kaede finished, and the price appeared on the flat screen lying on the counter. Dominque’s and Kaede were the only ones to see the amount that made the man whistle in stupefaction as he saw his basket’s total sliced in half.

Dominque grinned, “well, well, that’s a nice surprise.”

“ㅡeh, for the record, if your friend is on his day off or out of the store’s facilities, I will not apply anything else except ongoing promotions.”

Dominque nodded in front of Kaede’s stone face that resembled his squad’s leaders, but he managed to sketch a smile as he tapped his debit cards code on the touchpad, “thank you,” the man said with his fluttering long black lashes. The gesture forced the woman to turn away from his gaze.

“Marco, I’m done,” Kaede yanked off her lanyard under Dominque’s stare, which followed her. He watched Kaede climb the stairs and disappear. Compared to the other women working in the store, Kaede stood out with her camel Carhartt dungarees, her antique pink hoody, and pinkish clay Yeezy boost. Dominque met and slept with plenty of women, and he placed one in a specific basket in his mind.

With her feisty tongue and boss lady attitude, Kaede was the tofu jelly type when one rubbed of the coarse layers of animosity she put up. Not many men of 2020 liked this type of woman who required them to prove their worth by conquering their heart's dungeons in a relationship daily. Only fools attempted the doomed quest to seduce women like Kaede. It was like a 30 days challenge where the results were an orgasmic sensation of euphoria.

At this instant, as Kaede came back down with her camel and pink polka dot backpack and went to see each staff member leaving instructions, Dominque signed up to become a fool while Marco had the wish of pressing his earpiece to say: “Ding, Dong, the wicked witch is gone.”