Such a Rude and Noisy Woman

walked over to her asking, "What's that? Can I have a look?"

Hiram was standing in the door obstructing Rachel's path, she tried to push past but to no avail. Having run out of ideas, she ducked under his arm and squeezed herself into the room. Flora stood inside holding a photo album in her hands. Rachel noted the album and Without warning, a hiccup escaped her throat as she took the album. Rachel had poured herself another glass of wine and drained it when Hiram was walking to Flora just now.

Afraid that he would stop her when he noticed her thirsting for wine, she took a big gulp and almost choked.

She gazed at the photo Flora mentioned, for a while, and pointed at the prettiest girl asking, "Let me guess... This is definitely you, Flora! Am I right?"

Flora nodded her head lightly as she stole a glance at Hiram.

"Wow! You looked so pretty in college, perhaps even the prettiest one amongst all the girls," Rachel blurted out. The very next second, she realized her faux pas and hurriedly clarified,"I mean, you always look pretty! You were pretty then, and you look prettier now!" But, the person who caught her eye, in the photo, was not Flora, but the man standing in the middle- her husband, Hiram.

Perhaps

it was due to the wine that Rachel's eyes now fixed on the girl standing on the other side of her husband in the picture. She peered at the album in her hands and walked toward Hiram asking, "Honey, who is the other girl standing beside you?"

Hiram, who had been observing Rachel with a smile, averted his eyes from her and bowed his head to take a closer look at the photo. He stared at the person but couldn't remember who she was, and replied with uncertainty."Maybe a junior schoolmate, but I can't seem to recall her name."

Rachel stood on tiptoe and flung her arms around his neck, she gazed at him with her glittering black eyes and grumbled in disbelief, "Just a junior schoolmate, you say? I don't believe you! I bet you went out with her?"

"As far as I can remember- no, I didn't," he replied honestly. Even though he had a frown on his face, he was secretly pleased that Rachel appeared jealous. "If you don't believe me, just ask Flora, she was my college classmate after all. As I said earlier, I didn't date anyone in college."

Rachel looked over her shoulder at Flora and queried, "Really? Flora? Can I trust him?"

Caught in the middle of the couple's intimacy, Flora tried to organize her senses enough to fake a smile and replied, "Yes, Hiram was the scholar-tyrant at college. He always turned up his nose at us all. Perhaps we were too ordinary to draw his attention." "Oh," Rachel said before turning back to grin at Hiram. With her arms still wrapped around his neck, she kissed him on the cheek and purred, "It's nice to know that you were mine even before we got married."

"Mmm... I'm all yours," Hiram whispered, his breath rustling against her hair. He could feel her face burning and figured that they needed to leave as soon as possible.

A wave of dizziness hit Rachel, followed by a blast of, what seemed like, hot air that coursed through her insides making her feel nauseous. "Honey, can we go home?" she asked weakly. I don't feel very well, I'm too weak to stand on my own feet ... Will you, please, carry me home?" she asked, rubbing her head against his shoulder.

Hiram didn't need to be told twice, he immediately lifted her up in his arms and replied softly,"Of course, my love! Hold tight!"

"It was a lovely evening, Flora. Thank you for the nice dinner," he said

as he headed to the door carrying Rachel in his arms.

As if stirred from a dream; Flora trotted to the sofa, grabbed Rachel's purse, passed it to Hiram and opened the door for them.

Hiram strode out of the door with sturdy steps.

"See you later!" were the only three words he left for Flora.

Cradled in his arms, Rachel could feel the cold skin of his neck, like a chilly morning breeze. She ran her fingers over his collar bone, along his neck and all the way down to his back.

Her fingers moved over Hiram, of their own accord, without any regard for poor Flora who was standing close by.

Flora stood there long after they had disappeared, in a nostalgic daze.

Her thoughts wandered back to her youth when she and Hiram were in college.

She recalled a particular camping trip from many years ago. A female classmate, who had harboured a huge crush on Hiram, had devised an elaborate plan to capture his attention. She pretended to fall into the river in his presence hoping to incite a reaction. Her plan worked- almost instantly, Hiram jumped into the river to rescue her.

Presuming that her plan had been successful, she immediately threw herself at him in gratitude, after recovering.

Later that night, after the campfire party, she crawled into his tent in anticipation. Everyone felt that Hiram would accept her, and date her afterwards.

Just a simple fall in the river had been enough to make the most eligible boy, in their college, her boyfriend. It was worth the shot!

Flora, herself, feared that Hiram had actually been tricked by the wicked designs of the girl. She too was convinced that he would make her his girlfriend.

But to everyone's astonishment, Hiram threw her out of his tent the second she got in. Furthermore, the Camp Committee expelled her from the camp that same night.

But, what shocked Flora the most was what she had just witnessed.

Rachel was more audacious than anyone she had known before. She was a force to reckon with and difficult to control, but Hiram

responded only with endearing net

patience. He indulged her every move and her every mood. Rachel was unlike all the other women who had tried to cast their spells on him.

It was easy to see why Hiram couldn't take his eyes off Rachel, even though there were women who were willing to give up anything to just get him to glance in their direction.

On their way home, Rachel kept pestering Hiram. She needed his cold skin to soothe her inflamed body.

Leaning close to his chest, she flung her arms around his neck, again and again, trying to draw him closer, but Hiram pulled her hands off him each time saying, "Honey, please easy!" Chad, who was driving the car, had been red-faced from the moment they got in.

He wondered what Hiram had fed Rachel to make her behave this way.

Gazing at the woman in his arms, Hiram's eyes gleamed and he urged Chad in a low voice, "Speed up!"

Hiram had been warned to add the

powder only to red wine and nothing else. The one glass that Rachel drank every evening would suffice for the purpose. He had made sure

to pick up a bottle of red for the net

evening at Flora's. Ever since they had gotten back together, Rachel had remained sexually reserved. She had made him promise that he would restrain himself until the day she made the first move. He tried to keep his promise, but his desire for

her was insatiable.

Unexpectedly, though, Rachel had consumed more than one glass that evening. Harim suspected that the increased dosage may have intensified the reaction. He hoped that they would make it home soon. Unfortunately, they kept encountering one red light after another. The journey seemed endless and they had no idea how much longer it would take.

"Chad, find a place to pull over," Hiram asked and heaved in resignation.

He could feel the heat from Rachel's body burn into his skin. His mind was close to exploding when he realized that they had only managed to travel halfway home. He couldn't take it any longer.

"Right, Hiram, let me see," Chad responded at once. He scanned the roadside in search of a secluded place to pull over, and

found a deserted little alley, lined with trees on either side.

Chad stopped the car, got off, and walked to a distance to secure the location.

Inside the car, Rachel was swirling in

chaos without understanding what was happening. Hiram began kissing her hungrily. She tried to push him away shrieking, "Leave me alone, please! It's so hot, I just want to feel something cold! Your neck is so cool I just want... Wait! What are you doing? Why are you taking off my clothes?"

"Quiet! Dare you say another word," hissed Hiram.

"I ..." Rachel objected but Hiram's lips pressed against hers.

Outside, in the dead of the night, not a sound could be heard except for the rustling of leaves. Chad stood outside on-duty, he checked his watch and found that it was a little past midnight. 'They still aren't done? Hiram must have a lot of stamina!' he wondered.

Finally, he heard the car door click open and turned immediately.

"Chad, I've called Carl to come here and pick you up. I'll drive the car myself. Good night,"

said Hiram as he got off the car. He popped opened the driver's door and got in, and drove away from the unknown alley that they had occupied for the past two hours.

The light from the street lamps shone onto the back seat, in repeated intervals, where Rachel lay covered under Hiram's coat. She raised her head to look at the man driving the car, and then her eyes moved to the roof of the car.

"Pull over at a round-the-clock pharmacy. I'll go inside and grab some morning-after pills," she said in a low voice.

Glancing at her in the rearview mirror, Hiram replied reassuringly,"I believe it's your 'safe period' now. So relax, I don't think that you need to take any pills."

Rachel blinked her eyes at him and calculated her cycle days in her mind. It seemed that he knew her better than she knew herself, but she wondered why.

"Ah! But where are we heading? This is not the way home.." she exclaimed suddenly and sat up. She noticed that they were driving on an unfamiliar road. It wasn't the way to Tulip Palace.

The next second, she heard Hiram say breezily, "You're right! I haven't had enough of you just yet."