A happy future birthday

After getting back home, I told Klara about my plans. But I needed to inform more people. We had an old office group chat that I wrote in.

'Hey everyone. James's bday is coming up and I want to surprise him. Please don't congratulate him until at least 7PM that day. I think he's too busy and had forgotten about it, so I want it to be a nice surprise.'

Several thumbs up were the replies. Then Christine wrote: 'Should we get him a gift? We're all in the office on the 2nd, right?' 'I'm not, I'll be back on the 5th', Beth interjected. Honestly, Christine's idea would have been good if it wasn't for Helen and Floria. Helen wouldn't want to participate if we were present at least, and Floria would want to join at all.

'I think the best gift he'd want would be a stable job at our office, but that's for Beth to decide. And maybe some great time with his friends. I have him booked for the evening, if any of you want to meet him, maybe you can meet up with him in the morning or around midday.' I hope the setup I made was obvious enough. 'Morning will be an issue, it's New Years', Donna wrote. Fuck, she was right. 'And I'm just going to return on New Years, so I can't really meet up with him before next Friday', Gloria added. 'So we're just gonna skip out on a gift? Seems a bit rude, everyone else always gets something. Amber also got some when she started', Helen pointed out. 'Looks like it. Not that I'm complaining,' Floria wrote, receiving a flurry of messages from everyone (except Beth), scolding her for being rude to master. Master had been at work and quite effectively.

Beth wrote something else, however. 'Floria, you could be a lot nicer to what will likely be a future coworker.' Not exactly a swimming endorsement, but it got Floria to walk back her earlier rudeness. 'I'll try to get some gift ideas, if I find anything, I'll tell you all. Just in case, can you DM me your budgets?' Immediately, I got messages in the 20 to 25 bucks range. Two messages stood out to me. For one, Beth was willing to give 50. I guess she did earn more than us, it was only fair. And then Floria promised a 100.

'Can I ask why so much? You didn't seem too fond of him before.'

'It's not a lot of my income.'

'Huh??'

'I believe it's important to be generous when you can be, even to those you don't get along with. Very important in my faith. I can afford it right now.'

'Yeah but I doubt you earn that much more than the rest of us.' No response. Maybe she inherited something. Well, nothing I can do about that. Next up was another phase of my plan, this one was simple. I messaged Laura.

'Hey slut, it's your daddy's bday on January 1st. I have a surprise for him, since he seems to have forgotten all about his own bday. So please only wish him well in the late evening, okay?'

'Will do. Should I call you anything, by the way? I'm not much into women, but making daddy's sluts wetter is always a good idea.'

'I don't think he'll like you calling some of them that, but as long as you know your place you'll be fine.'

'Oh a slap or two will do me some good, Amber. Or do you prefer mommy? Or mistress?'

'Let's stick to Amber for now, slut. If he lets me use you more I'll tell you what to call me.'

God Laura was such a wild girl. Just the kind of person that got through to master, when he was being hesitant. The last person I needed to contact was Isabella.

'Hey, because my birthday surprise is meant to be a surprise, can you not congratulate him before 8PM or so? And tell that to all relatives who might ruin the surprise.'

'Has he forgotten about his own birthday?'

'Uhm, yeah. I suggested him an interview on that date from a journalist friend of mine and he didn't seem to care.'

'Ohhh... He really is overworked. Maybe I should have massaged him more.'

'I think he's busy with that Emily girl.'

'Did he make good progress with her?'

'Master's not interested in her it seems like. She's warming up to him regardless.'

'I pity her. But I'll do my part. I'll give his brother a call.'

'Oh Isabella, I should mention... master plans to have some home renovations soon. Nothing major, but it seems like he wants the living room area to be normal, and once you get to the hallway with the rooms, we're supposed to undress and call him master.'

'I see. Why did he do that?'

'I can only speculate, I assume because of Emily. It also allows him to bring home a date if he ever wants to. It's a bit awkward at the moment, especially when things get serious. He always has to tell us to stay dressed. So when you come home, only undress when you go to the hallway.'

'Got it, Amber. Thanks for everything you're doing for him.'

'Gladly. Do you know anything we could gift him as his coworkers? A gift or set of gifts in the ballpark of 250 bucks or a bit more?'

'Hm, there could be some interesting ideas, but he'd likely want to have sex toys for you all. Not very office appropriate. Is there anything he bought or wanted to buy recently?'

'Just groceries and Emily's services for letting people move in with him. Nothing all too material.' Wait, I had an idea! I texted Donna and Christine.

'You two, I might have a gift idea, but it depends on Sunday.' 'Sunday?' 'The gym!'

'Yes Christine, the gym. 250 bucks should be half a year worth of membership, right?' I asked. 'Yeah', Christine answered. 'We could try another threesome like on Wednesday. Should motivate him to come back :)', Donna suggested.

'You guys had a threesome already? I thought Klara and I were his first...' 'Well, probably the first that got him off. I fucked up last time. Was trying to get Christine in the mood but she just started crying bc I hurt her', Donna confessed.

'That's sad... I hope you two can get a happier ending next time. maybe I'll be there too, idk yet.' 'Hope you're coming, Amber, it's been a while since we three hung out. You've been missing in the office a lot.' Christine wrote.

'Sorry, I had my fun with James and now I'm on holidays...' 'It's okay. We'll live with him soon and then we'll have easier access ;)' Donna chimed in.

Well, that about settles my plan, everyone was in the loop. Soon it was time to execute it.

James

Em had returned, and with quite a lot of stuff. I helped her carry in the door frame. She put it in the hallway, it was an exact fit. A couple nails later, the door was installed.

"Can't believe you just had a door lying around that fit in perfectly."

"Well most doors have a roughly similar shape. For some reason they built the corridor just as wide. I'm not done, by the way. Sorry for the noise, but you might not sleep much until I'm heading to bed."

"That's fine. I'll just play some games in the meanwhile."

Em worked hard on a ladder and installed wooden poles on the door frame. I didn't quite get what they were for, but still. I decided to play an old RPG I started but never finished. Chapter four of seventeen, huh? Well maybe a chapter today will get me back into the game and me to play more. Relatively quickly, two hours passed, confirmed by the gameplay time on the save file. It's been ages since I could play that long in one sitting, without worry. I looked back at Em. She had added wooden plates above the poles she installed earlier and applied some glue on them.

"What are you doing, if I may ask?"

"I have basically created a part of a wall above the frame, all the way to the ceiling. That way the hallway is fully closed off. I added some insulation and structure, now comes the wallpaper."

"Wait, you pretty much finished the door in one evening, wow Em. I'm genuinely impressed. And apart from the door looking a bit too modern, you can't tell that it was just added to the building."

"Thanks, James. The living room walls have a rather generic wallpaper, so we had some of that stuff still lying around. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get loud."

"Huh, why?"

"I'll check the wall here for cables or pipes, then I'm cutting a hole in it."

"Can I help somewhat?"

"Sure. There should be some dust covers in the truck, put these on the couch, the TV, everything. You should probably go to your bedroom, unless you want to be covered in sawdust. It should also be quieter, that's why I have these for later." She points at the ear mufflers that hung around her neck. I want to keep playing but I decide to follow her advice while she was sounding out the walls, after that I'll take a shower and head to bed. In the shower, I could hear a sudden roar and growling, probably from the saw that was cutting a second entrance into the future guest room. Em stopped and a few seconds later, she entered the bathroom unannounced. I quickly covered myself up.

"James, we need to get Laura's stuff out of her room quickly. I can't work like this. It'll be the guest room anyway."

"Can you give me a couple minutes to finish showering?"

"Sure, and you don't need to hide. Since we're pretending to be a couple, I shouldn't be surprised if we go to a swimming pool in summer."

"I uhm... like to shower alone. I promise I'll be there in a sec."

"Not leaving."

"Ugh fine." I turned away from her and kept on showering.

"Come on, hurry up. I'll help you dry off." And indeed she did, quickly rubbing the towel across my entire body and getting me dry in the process. It felt weird to have Em grab my dick through the towel, though. Hope she's glad my dick is limp. In Laura's room, we quickly grabbed all her small stuff and carried it over to one of the empty rooms. For the closets, they luckily consisted of small parts that you could line up next to each other, and Em had brought rolling boards that helped make the transport easier. The same applied to the bed frame, although we had to shift that one sideways through the corridor.

"Phew, I'm sweating a lot already... maybe I should shower again."

"I'll keep working here. But I should know what's beneath your clothes as your 'girlfriend'." She mimicked quotes with her fingers.

"Why though? The plan is to buy time before your father asks us of more serious commitments. The more intimate we get, the more likely he might be to demand we - or rather you - go the next step."

"Y-You're right." She wanted to start working again when she asked: "Did I make you uncomfortable?" Emily +1SP (+83SP)

"A bit, but I know you mean well, so don't worry."

"Can I ask why that made you uncomfortable?"

"Because you just stormed into the bathroom while I was naked?"

"If someone like Amber walked in, would you still be uncomfortable?"

"A bit less, I guess. She's seen me naked before and knowing her, she'd probably interrupt me only to have sex. I don't see you the same way I see the other women in my life and I don't think you want to be seen that way, right?"

"Not really, just... I don't know. It feels selfish, but do you like me? I don't feel like you like me a lot as a friend."

"Em, I'm letting you live here away from your father... Is that not a show of how I feel about you?"

"I understand and appreciate that, but what I mean is more so... I don't know, I feel like we could be friends. You know, people who talk to each other and enjoy it, people who do things together. Maybe we could go on an actual date. You support me so much but... I think it makes the fact that we're not even normal friends stand out more to me. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Hm... I think so. Sadly well... There's a week left and I have about 50 bucks only. If you want to do something together I don't think we can really do a lot. What would you even like to do?"

"I'm not quite sure, I don't have a lot of free time off of work either. Maybe it would be good for us to just try out some things we never did before, as long as we have some time to actually spend together."

"Well tomorrow Donna moves in, later in the day I'm meeting up with Megan, she wanted to talk to me. If... if you really want this then I can maybe skip having sex with Donna once she's moved in. Maybe... I'll burn the fifty on a lunch with you, okay? I'm getting tired of the leftovers from Christmas. It's a good recipe, but it's been over 2 days of goose, I need something else."

"A lunch date? Thanks James. And while you go out with Megan, I'll finish installing the door and repairing the wall. If you two return home together, I should be ready."

"Wow you're working fast. I'm sleeping now. You rest once you're done."

"Will do."

Hm... What do I think and feel about Em? I can see how it's confusing for her. I have a lot of pity for her and want to help where I can. But at the same time... I guess one can't even call us friends, just acquaintances that happen to meet a lot. Do I want to deepen that connection? I am unsure. Em entered the room and undressed in front of me, facing away from me. I could barely see her ass from how I laid on my bed, but I wasn't looking all too much. I was still lost in my thoughts. Em had already laid down in bed right next to me and started cuddling with a smile. I'm glad she was happy but... beyond that, it did nothing for me. She is a sweet woman but Em is just... I'm not at all attracted to her. Her body wasn't all too different from Klara, but Em just... not my vibe. I hope I can break the news gentle enough. And maybe we can stay friends.

I had no real reason to keep her around, especially because her +100SP quest would likely be related to her family anyway, right? Her father would die soon anyway and then that reason would be gone. But wait... I had always assumed Klara's quest would relate to her trying to find a good partner. Maybe me telling her about what kind of men she tried to chase changed the quest, so that right now it might be about the emotional support she needs instead? That leads me to a strange question... What about Em? If her quest would change after her father's ****, what then? And what if she has no issues to fix with a quest by then? Ngrimah told me these women were mine now, but not necessarily by what criterium.

Wait, mine? I always thought of it in sexual, possessive terms, but she is a goddess. Does she mean I'm responsible now? Did she get mad because I'm inefficient at gathering SP and taking care of these women? I never try to aim for them to get +100SP and thus never solve their issues. But that in itself the core of the issue of why I'm slow, no? The fact that I'm forcing a woman to give up her independence for the problem. When it comes to lesbians like Klara, it feels more wrong than with a woman who likes me sexually already anyway. And with people like Em, it seems worse because I've always known and seen her as an independent woman. Not as the negative stereotype of a feminist, mind you, just independent like any other human. For Em, it felt wrong making this choice for her. But if we continue to spend time together, it might happen eventually. I just have to make sure it doesn't happen, I guess.