A tall, slender woman with her long silky brownish hair tied back into a neat, singular bun walked steadily up the spacious corridor. Her black expensive leather handbag that matches her black long belted jacket with nipped waist and matching wide-legged velvet trousers exclusively swayed back and fore in a regular rhythm, coordinating perfectly with the pace of her moving heels. Her pace slowed slightly, indicating that she had reached her destination. Before stepping through the wooden door, her eyes falls briefly on a nervous looking girl, in a pair of dark blue jeans with matching dark blue cotton turtleneck. With the delightful thoughts that the outfit fitted the girl rather nicely, she strides into the pub towards the bar. She decided to order something to drink…something strong and spiky after a hard day at work before joining her friends at the corner table who had as usual arrived much, much earlier than her.

Jolene stood with both her hands tucked tightly into her jeans. She tiled her head back and stared at the blinking headboard screaming the word 'STUDIO' for the tenth time or so since her arrival forty-five minutes ago. She glance at her watch wistfully, telling her that she was very late, before shaking her head helplessly. Taking a deep breath, she hesitantly took a step towards the beautifully crafted wooden door, the entrance to the pub. Then hearing the distant sound of heels on concrete floor, she loses her nerve and stepped back to her original spot on the sidewalk.

As she stared at a particular spot on the ground, she stole a quick look at the approaching figure… and froze. A gorgeous, stunning woman, dressed in a well-tailored dark blue suit was walking gracefully towards her direction. Her eyes had the most wonderfully shade of marvelous blue she had ever seen. Only years of teaching, that taught her staring was rude made her pull her graze reluctantly away and resume her uninteresting study of the incredibly uninspiring floor before her. From the corner of her eyes, she spied the tall beauty stopping in front of her, pushed the wooden door effortlessly away and entered the pub with an eased that gave away the unwritten fact that she was a regular. 'So, she is one of those woman.' She looked at the door thoughtfully.

The attractive woman was forgotten as she took another look at her watch and was reminded of her present dilemma. She shouldn't be here at all. Her time should be spent in her expensive decorated room studying for the coming examinations. Her grades had always been impressive, making her parents proud of their daughter, wishing that her elder brother, Gary could attain the same grades as well. But, those grades had come only after hours of hard work and the sacrifices of numerous dates over the years. Not that she minded about the lack of guys in her life. The limited dates she went out with in her teenage years had bored her to the blink of screaming in frustration. The guys she knew simply were unable to prick her interest. Eventually she grew tired of waiting for the right guy to appear and decided to focus at her studies totally.

Her parents were not really concern about Jolene lacks of a love life. As the matter in fact, they approved of her actions and were please to find their daughter concentrating wholly on her work. Her father was secretly proud of her daughter's depth of self-control and self-discipline. Chuckled in delight when she turns the never-ending suitors away without as much as a glance at them. He was convinced that Jolene was meant for the best, someone with the lethal combination of power and wealth. Never had he suspected the incredulous truth that her daughter was not at all interested in man in any way. How could he when even the subject herself never suspected her sexual preferences until late into her teens, the beginning of her youth life?

Being confused and somewhat sacred of the possibility that she may be one of those women quoting the term from her homophobic father, she made a mistake and judging from the situation she was in at the moment, a very huge mistake indeed, of confiding in her best friend Clara. Who also happened to be her brother's girlfriend. Being the daring and adventurous one, she decided and somehow convinced Jolene that the only path to the glorious truth was only to be found in a pub that those women frequent. And being also the resourceful one, she found one in record time, making a Thursday date in exploring the place and in digging out the truth.

Which bring us back to her current predicament outside the pub, where her sensibility and emotions were waging a fierce battle within her. She was having a tedious time in deciding which side to support, weighing the odds and cons when she was rescued by the appearance of an angry best friend. To be precise, it was more like being saved from a fire but only to be thrown into the cooking pot. She smiled feebly when a very furious friend shots out poison darts aiming at her. If looks can kill…

"JOLENE! What the hell are you standing there for! Waiting for Christmas? You are very…oh…very late…and…I HATE PEOPLE WHO ARE LATE! COME ON!" Clara glowed, waving her arms around, pointing at her watch making her point.

"Sorr…woo!" Her attempt to apologize was cut short when Clara grabbed her by the arms and pulls her towards the entrance.

Jolene promptly decided that she would just agreed with whatever her friend wants. Her intelligent brain informing her that she was already pushing her friend to her limit. Clare's temper was legendary. Jolene had no desire to be in the receiving end of it. Not that she had any choice, when she was being dragged forcefully into the 'STUDIO' before she even had time to say sorry.

 "Relax…I've been here for awhile…this place is nice." Clara assured her friend, patting her shoulder encouragingly.

Taking a deep and nervous breath, Jolene could not believe that she was really here. This was exactly the type of place she had been warned against for her whole life. Now against good sense, she was here. Clara could really be too outrageous sometimes.

Looking around, she found that the place was pleasantly lighted and tables and chairs were spaciously arranged so that patron need not zigzag through tables disturbing other customers. Cushions can be found at the four corners of the pub where instead of the normal settings of tables and chairs, two sets of very comfortable sofas with a round glass table placed in between was seen. These unique corners were separated from the main room with pieces of exquisitely crafted flowered plywood making them a world of their own. She was slightly taken back as this place was not what she expected at all. She was neither prepared for this pleasant and relaxing atmosphere or the friendliness flowing around. She had counted on the possibility that the place would be dark and smoky giving her an excuse to leave but now…She actually felt saved and comfortable here. This was definitely not what she expected at all.

"Hey, let's get something to drink…the bartender is really nice." Clara winked slyly at her. An eyebrow arched involuntary up as both women walked steadily towards the bar. Following Clara example, Jolene pushed herself up the tall stool beside her friend. Clara drummed her fingers on the smooth surface of the bar impatiently, stretching her neck, waiting for the very nice bartender to come over. Jolene looked at her friend curiously, thinking that the bartender must be quite a hunk. Noticing the widening of a smile, Jolene guessed that the bartender in question must have been heading right for them.

"Hi, can I get you anything?" A deep, attractive voice asked politely. Jolene turned around to respond stop short when she realized that the speaker was a woman. She hit herself on the head mentally, 'Of course it is a woman! Do you expect to see a man here?'

Smiling, the woman bartender turned slightly to her right and spotted Clara. The smile widens as a glint of recognition flashed through her eyes. "Clara! You're back!" Tilting her head towards Jolene she asked mischievously, "So you finally found your friend." The bartender winked at her and mouthed a silent hello.

"Hi Camilla." Clara smiled happily up at her. Poking her friend on the arm she sighed, "Yup, found her loitering outside the door. Have to drag her in." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Hey," Jolene slapped the poking finger away. " I do not loiter! I'm just checking the place out." She narrowed her eyes at her smirking friend. "Yeah…yeah…" Clara waved her hand absently at her.

Camilla observes the exchange with interest, an amused smile stamped on her handsome face. Her gaze lingered slightly longer on Clara, enjoying the vivid expression changes on the beautiful face. "Okay girls. What can I get for you?" She interrupted the playful bickering between the two friends tactfully.

"A Jim-Bean Cola please." Jolene ordered the only pub drink she knew other than beer, which she dislikes. "Make that two!" Clara ordered after her. "Okay. Just give me a minute." Camilla replied, moving to the working area of the bar, preparing the drinks. Jolene noticed with a hint of uneasiness that Clara eyes were following the bartender around faithfully. Within minutes, Camilla was back with two drinks and placed them carefully in front of them on the corset. "Here's your drinks." She addressed both of them at the same time. Then turning to faced Jolene directly, she held out her right hand, flashing her a friendly smile and began formally introducing herself. "Nice to meet you. I'm Camilla, and if you haven't guessed, I'm the bartender for the night."

"Please to meet you too. I'm Jolene and if you haven't guessed yet, it's my first time here tonight." Jolene answered good-naturally. Camilla chuckled lightly. "I love women with a sense of humor…hey that drink is on me…take it as a welcome gift for the brave soul with an adventurous mind." Her eyes twinkled with laughter. Jolene decided that she like this woman and won't mind to befriend her after all.

Feeling the presence of another on her right, her head turns in reflex to the newcomer. To her surprised and absolute delight, she found herself looking straight at the woman that had swept her off her feet outside the pub minutes ago. Having a better view with the improved lighting and the closer range, she could see that the woman was several years older than she was. Twenty-five…Or at the most twenty-eight. The slightly blood threaded eyes indicating a lack of recent sleep…may be work…or something else… Then to her embarrassment, she became conscious of the fact that she was staring and more horrifying had been caught doing so when the lady stared back at her, question in the depth of her eyes. She lowered her head briskly in an attempt to hide her embarrassment, missing the amused and knowing smile that formed on the lips of the woman.

"Hi Ethel honey…can I get you anything?" Camilla purred as her eyebrows moved swiftly up and down playing the role of a seducer in a comical way. Ethel shifted her attention from Jolene to the bartender who grinned lechery at her. Ethel blinked her eyelashes rapidly played along, " Sure Cami darling! How about fixing me that special blend of yours?" she smiled sexily at her, answering in the usual matter. Camilla placed both her hands over her chest; a solemn expression came over her faced. "Your wish is my command." She jerked her head to a little bow before moving away at a ridiculously slow pace. Two pairs of eyebrows arched up at the causal display of flirting between the two women.

Jolene took a slip of her drink trying not to appear too interested at the interactions. Well…given time, she could get used to this. She played the glass around, rolling it from side to side. Startled when she felt a soft tap on her shoulder making her jumped a little, interrupting the smooth journey of the light liquor travelling down her throat that splat over to her trachea instead. The windpipe reacted instantly to the foreign invasion, started to constrict, tightening and loosening the muscle. Externally, Jolene was totally oblivious to the effort of her breathing tube as she began coughing violently.

"Okay…calm down…breath, it's a normal reactions…" She heard a soft soothing voice whispering into her ear as a hand patted firmly on her back. Her body reacted to the lulling voice and began to relax the constricting muscle as her coughing subsided.

"What happened?" Camilla questioned, as she came back with Ethel special blend. "Are you all right?" she asked in concern as she noticed Jolene face redden from the coughing fits. Jolene nodded her head as she takes in gaps of breath. She could felt her face radiating heat as energy burned off from the exhausting actions. The heavy patting had stopped and a series of comforting backrub replaced it.

"The drink when down the wrong tube." Clara answered Camilla, pointing to the abandon drink at the side of the bar, pushed away by Ethel. Slowly, Jolene calmed down, her awareness of the surrounding come into focus. As she looked up, she found three pair of eyes peeping down at her, concern written all over the faces. Her face changed into a deeper shade of red if possible, when she realized the amount of attention she gained with the unexpected exhibition. Concern faces became more concern when Jolene just sat still staring back at them. Abruptly, Jolene realized that her friends were waiting for some reactions designating of her well being. "Ahem…" She clears her throat forcefully. "I'm fine." Three heads pulled back slightly…three faces relaxed into a smile. She was very aware of a warm presence on her back and sighed in disappointment when the warm was removed as the hand responsible for it dropped back to the owner side.

"Well…you always had trouble with your milk since you're a baby…" Clara said, desperately pushing down the impending laugh. Jolene growls like a wolf and slapped her hard on the arm. "Umm…hey?" A soft, low alto called. Instinctively, Jolene turned backwards at the direction of the voice…and fell into the deep pool of mesmerizing blue eyes. Ethel smiles sheepishly at her, pulling a lock of stray hair off her face. "I’m sorry…I shouldn't have startled you like that…" She grew concern when the expected response never came as Jolene just stared blankly at her. "Are you all right…need water…trouble breathing?" She rambled. Unaware of the actual reason for Jolene silence or the effect she had on the young woman.

With an effort, Jolene pulled herself away from the enchanting blues reluctantly and tries to focus on the conversation. She hoped that nothing silly or stupid happen again. For some unknown reason, the elder woman opinions of her were very important. "Sorry…drifted a bit…I'm fine really." She smiled, flexing her arms proving her point.

Ethel let out a breath in relief. Well…it was a good sign that Jolene was still smiling at her. That would mean that she had not completely ruined the chance of befriending her. Her sense had peaked up the minute Jolene walked into the pub. She felt a great attraction pulling her to the younger woman. She was completely taken with the air of youth and energy surrounding the girl. The pure look of innocent enhanced more deeply by her frequent looks of nervousness as she scans the room. She was breathtaking beautiful even when she was doing nothing but standing there waiting. God…it was years ago when she felt something so strongly for another. She then noticed another woman standing beside her and immediately felt a sting of disappointment. But as the night went on, she was certain that they were nothing more than friends. However hard she looked, she could find no sign that indicated them to be lovers. They touches they shared were simple and innocent, nothing intimates. But still, she needed more concrete evidences that they were merely friends. Guessing and observing was simply not enough. Before she knew it, she was walking towards the bar for the second time in the night. Woo…this was definitely strong…something that she did not need after the separation. But…it was like two different ends of a magnet…she had no control over it. She was slacking.

Must be the lack of sleep from rushing through the advertisement project, given to her at the last minutes, already completely messed up by one of the incompetent project manager. Nowadays, if you want to have a job done, you'll have to depend totally on yourself. Stupid Company polices…stupid relatives. If they employed people based on the working abilities instead of the blood and DNA, than maybe, she would still be alive when she reached the retire age. After three days for nearly non-stopped work, she should be at home, snuggled into bed…but. But although sleep was important, she needed to relax, loosen up after the tension and stressed. After all she had the next three days off. She can sleep through all of them later on.

"You want to join my friends over there?" she pointed at one of the cozy corners where another three women were sitting, drinking and laughing. She held her breath and panicked a little when Jolene hesitated. She saw her turning to her friend asking for advised. "Hey, both of you are invited. Please join us." She pushed gently, not wanting to sound forcing. "Go! They are a nice bunch. No hanky panky. Cross my heart." Camilla swears as her finger draws an imaginary cross, across her chest. Clara shrugged her shoulder, meaning that she would follow Jolene decision. She turns back to Ethel and saw a pair of expectant eyes. Hell…why not? She's nice, I'm interested and I'm new here. Can't hurt to know some friends. "Sure, why not?"

"She's a workaholic. "

"Yeah. The company work her to death."

"Good thing the pay is good."

Three voices take turns commenting, three heads nodding simultaneously. Two pair of eyes blinked rapidly. Jolene turned and looked in awed at Ethel. "You the General Manager of EJP? The EJP?!" EJP is a well-known major advertisement company in the country. They are famous for their outstanding quality work. Every respectable produce and company employed them to do the advertisement. Other than firming good quality advertisements, that won numerous awards, they are also in charge of the whole promotions until the target sales were met. Jolene had friends in the design courses who dreams was to one day be able to attain a good position in EJP. And here she was, chatting and extremely attracted to the person at the highest level of enterprise other than the Chairman and board of Directors.

"Yap." Ethel waved her hand vaguely.

"But…but…you're young!" Clara joined the questioning.

"No that young." An amused smile. "I'm going 32 in a few months."

Blinking eyes blinked harder. The stylish woman sitting in front did not looked a day after Twenty-eight! Eleven years…well, the gap could be greater. Well…as the saying goes, 'Never judged a book by its cover.' Half an hour ago, they had joined Ethel and her group of friends that were incredibility easy to get along. Jolene found them easy to talk to, not at all anything near the image her father or some other friends told to her. They were charming and cheery not sex crazed manic or weird spiritual worshippers.

Janice, the one with her red hair cut extremely short, combed back neatly with jar was the more quiet one among the three. She would add in a few comments now and then but mostly, she just listened to the conversation and smile. She had an athletics appearance and was nicely tanned. Coy, the wavy shoulder length blond beside Janice was the talkative one. She had already contributed several jokes to the conversation and seems to know everything from gardening to politics. It's not a surprised to know that she was a DJ working for one of the popular radio channel. Since their arrival, both women noticed that Janice had an arm protectively around Coy all the time. Coy from time to time would leans comfortably against Janice shoulder. It did not take a psyche to see that they were lovers. The last on the coach was Joan, the Singaporean. She had emigrated from Singapore eight years ago and was pretty much a local now. She was very attractive with her big round eyes and long raven hair fanned over her shoulder. According to her, she was not pure Chinese, a Baba, as they were called in Singapore. Her father was a Malay and her mother a Chinese.

"Enough about me. Tell us more about you Jolene." She urged.

"There's really nothing much to say…" she said shyly. Clara sticks her tongue out and made a weird face that bring out a round of laughter. Jolene turns a shade of crimson and considers stopping right then. Ethel noticed her uneasiness and decided to step in. "All right…that must means that Jolene here has some real stuff to tell us." She shot them a look that tuned down the roar considerably. Placing one hand on the younger woman thigh in assurance, she implored, "Please continue…we're interested." Jolene took one look at the sincere and warming smile and decided that it was almost impossible to deny this woman anything. A warm spread through her as she realized that this beautiful Goddess had just stood up for her, regardless the harmless environment.

"Well…" she began. Five heads nodded in encouragement. "I'm not working or anything…Hmm…am still studying…university, major in Medicine." She paused, thinking thoughtfully, warming up to the introducing stuff. "My Dad really wants me to take over his business, but I'm not keen on it. What I really want is to be a doctor. A surgeon in fact. That's because, Dad thinks that Gary, that's my brother, doesn't fit in the bill…sorry." She smiles apologizing to Clara. Clara shrugged her shoulder in response. "Gary wants to work with machines…cars…engines…and he is terrific in that. But…that's not expected and…I'm next in the line." She sighed helplessly.

"What does the Company deal in?" Joan asked.

"Health produces…vitamins…Oh…it's 'Conrex' by the way…the trade label." She explained.

"Are you kidding!" Coy exclaimed. "I eat stuff produced from that Company. It's all over the pharmacy! Wow, it's big business here."

"Well… it's the rich and powerful night…" Janice chuckled.

"Can I asked the both of you something?" Ethel asked, looking at both Clara and Jolene.

"Sure." They answered in unison.

"Just now, when you were talking about your brother, you apologized to Clara. Why?"

Simultaneously, Clara and Jolene turned to face each other. Both realized the tiny fact that they had conveniently forgotten. That, Jolene acknowledged needed an explanation starting from her sexual confusion. But did she want to discuss her personal details with her newly acquired friends? Anyway, it was really up to Clara whether she want to disclosed her attachment to her brother. Mouthing a silent 'how', she made it clear that the decision lay with her friend.

Clara brain cells were rushing about in the sudden turn of things. She was aware of the decision she had to make. After spending time with these people, she was sure that they would not alienate or act hostile towards her even if she tell them about Gary. Even if they did, at the most she would just leave. But…to her own confusion and shocked, the first concern that popped up into her mind was not their reactions…but… unconsciously, she glanced at the bar and spotted her worry mopping the bar counter with a rag, chatting with a customer. Her eyebrows furrowed when she noticed the woman touching the bartender arms intimately. Just then, Camilla looked up and for a second, their eyes met and Clara felt a jolt of electric wave went through her body. Upon noticing Clara looking at her way, Camilla pull her arms away from the invading touch and smiled a helpless smile at her. Charmed by the smile, the furrowed eyebrows straightened and a bright grin spread across her face.

Ethel began to have second thoughts about her question as she observed that uneasiness flowing between the two friends. She better think of something fast before she ruins things again. Gone was her usually alertness and intuition. She was painfully aware of the fact that she was the caused of both the young woman earlier embarrassment and now the evidence uneasiness written all over her face. She slapped herself mentally as she thinks of ways to take the unpleasant emotion away from Jolene.

She sways her glass in a circular motion absently as she looked forlornly down to her favorite Armani suit. Sighing inwardly, she let her hand took over as it twisted the glass to an acute angle causing the content to spill gracefully onto the suit. A darken patch appears and continue to spread over her trousers as the quality material absorbed the strong booze efficiently. "Oh shit!" She shouted and calmly placed the glass back onto the table before she jumped steadily up sweeping her skirt with a series of blur movements.

"How careless of me!" She cried as she took an offered tissue in reflex, making a show of rubbing it against the tainted part. She stared at her ruined trousers in dismay as bits of the wet tissue clings onto it. She looked up and saw five pairs of looking intently at her. Well. At least it worked. "I'm going to the Ladies' she announced, moving away.

"I'm coming too!" Coy joined in as Janice followed closely behind.

Joan drains her drink in one large gape, stood up, smiled at the girls muttering that she needed something stronger and moved towards the bar. Now completely alone, both girls looked at each other, amazement in their eyes and burst into laughter at the ridiculous way they got out of the situation.

"Ha…well forget about the silly question. Curiosity kills the cat…" she laughed heartily, knowing how stupid and inadequate she sounds. Draining her drink in one large gape, she announced somewhat forcefully, "Time for another one. Anyone coming with me?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at her friends. Taking in her cue, Janice and Coy stood up muttering that they need something stronger and all three adults rushed towards the bar counter. Joan smiled kindly at them before she also raised and left for the restroom. Now completely alone, both girls looked at each other, amazement in the eyes and burst into laughter at the ridiculous way they got out of the situation.

Dinner was a solemn affair in the Dales' household. It was the only time in the day where everyone was presence. Dinner was not simply a time to eat. It was the time where everyone was expected to exchange individual information; a time for announcements; a time for questions and answers. Mr. Dale sat the front of the table, aristocratic in his well-pressed suit with his short neat hair combed backed. Waiting for dinner to be served, he observes his family with pride. His wife on the other end of the table was a highly regarded figure in the social circle. She plays the wife of a successful businessman to perfection. Bringing pride to his name, making him the envious of his friends. His smile flattered slightly when his glance dropped on to his son on his left.