Her Favourite Flavour

That was incredible.

Jennifer lay curled against Roy, still wrapped in the warmth of the moment, and tried to remember whether she'd ever felt that completely satisfied before.

She didn't think so.

The past month had been an exhilarating experiment in discovering what it meant to be a sexually liberated woman. For the first time, Jennifer had stopped worrying about what her parents thought she should be, how she should behave, or what sort of life a good Chinese daughter was supposed to want. She'd gone out. She'd danced. She'd flirted. She'd slept with men simply because she wanted to.

Men were amazing.

There were so many of them, too. So many different personalities, different bodies, different ways of making her laugh or making her feel wanted. Dating had been like walking into one of those ridiculous ice cream parlours with a hundred flavours lined up behind the counter.

Pick one.

Try another.

Come back tomorrow and see what else looked good.

Jennifer had loved every minute of it.

But after today?

There was only one flavour she wanted anymore.

Roy.

He wasn't merely an amazing boyfriend. Apparently, Roy was spectacularly good at making her forget the rest of the world existed. Jennifer had enough recent sexual experiences to know that Roy was something special. The young, handsome guys she'd met in bars and cafés had been exciting, and some of them had been very good-looking, but Roy had made all of them seem like boys fumbling around in the dark for a light switch.

Something about him simply worked. When Roy touched her, Jennifer felt alive. More than alive, really. The feeling went deeper than physical excitement. Being with him made the rest of her life seem to click into place.

This was who she was supposed to be. Not the perfectly behaved daughter her parents had imagined. Not the university student who made sensible choices and eventually settled into a sensible relationship with a sensible man.

Roy's girlfriend.

Whatever that meant. Whatever came next. Whatever he wanted.

Jennifer rested her cheek against Roy's chest. His heartbeat was still quick from their exertion, each thump steady beneath her ear. The sound made her smile. He was here. With her. That was enough.

"That was incredible," she murmured, her words echoing her thoughts.

Roy didn't answer immediately. He didn't have to. Jennifer was certain he felt the same connection she did. There was no reason to question it. Whatever complicated things might exist in his life, whatever other relationships he had, what happened between them was special.

A few minutes passed before Jennifer finally lifted her head.

"You busy tonight?"

Her fingers wandered idly across his chest.

"I could make dinner. Assuming the others don't mind."

Roy let out a long sigh.

"Dinner would be nice," he said. "But I guess I should finish my workday first."

Right. A little stab of guilt caught Jennifer by surprise. She'd interrupted his workday.

Granted, she'd interrupted it with what she was reasonably certain had been the best afternoon of his life, but that wasn't the point. Roy loved his job. She'd seen that much from the way he'd talked about it earlier. Work mattered to him, and Jennifer didn't want to become the kind of girlfriend who expected every other part of his life to revolve around her. His life wasn't just about her. As much as she liked the idea, she knew better.

"Okay," Jennifer said.

She slipped away and began gathering her clothes. Before standing, she glanced back over her shoulder with a playful grin, just enough to make Roy smile.

"Work, then dinner. I'll make your favourite."

Getting dressed took longer than it should have, mostly because neither of them seemed particularly eager to leave. The cramped room had been transformed from a dusty storage space into something that felt strangely private, almost like their own little secret.

Eventually, Jennifer pulled her hoodie back on and adjusted her clothes. Roy finished dressing beside her. For a moment, Jennifer simply looked at him. Then she stepped closer and kissed him.

It wasn't playful this time. There was no teasing, no attempt to get his attention or make him laugh. It was simply a kiss of gratitude.

"Thank you for being my boyfriend," she whispered, her lips brushing his as she spoke. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Roy looked away, and Jennifer caught a hint of colour in his face.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "Seriously. Thank you. That was wonderful."

Jennifer smiled.

"I know."

His laugh was soft.

Taking his hand, she let him lead her towards the door. The old server room, the Dust Closet, their ridiculous little honeymoon suite, was already becoming a memory. They walked together down the corridor, hand in hand. For Jennifer, everything felt perfect. She had found the man she wanted. Somehow, after spending an entire month insisting she didn't need anyone, she'd stumbled into the one person she couldn't imagine living without.

The irony made her smile. Maybe her parents had been right about one thing. She did want a relationship. She just hadn't known what the right one looked like.

The stairway came into view. Roy pushed open the door, and the two of them stepped back into the main office. Jennifer barely noticed the transition at first. Then Roy stopped. His hand tightened around hers.

"Shit."

Jennifer looked at him.

Then, for a brief moment, the hairs on her arm stood on end. The room, the whole universe, seemed to hiccup, a momentary sense of disorientation.

Letting go of the man's hand, Jennifer walked toward the elevator, past the woman staring at the man, to head downstairs. Her longboard was stashed on the main floor, and she wanted to get home quickly. She'd swiped right on a guy who she was pretty sure she recognized from her poly-sci class, and couldn't wait to find out what he looked like with his clothes off.

The last thing she noticed as the elevator doors began to slide closed was the overweight, middle-aged man looking at her. Not really her type, although looking at him for those brief moments, she began to reconsider. What if she'd been thinking about the wrong kind of guys all this time? What if what she needed was something older? A guy like that might be fun to get to know.

Maybe one day.

Maybe.