80/20 Part 1

Once upon a time there was a man.

He was young and handsome and intelligent. He worked hard and played hard and had dreams and goals and aspirations just like everybody else.

This man, we will call him Julius for now, had everything he needed and a lot of what he wanted. He should have been content. But he suffered from the "more" disease. So he pushed himself and pushed himself in every area to be better, to grow, to work harder, to acquire, to be a man.

Admirable stuff. He was everything a woman could want and everything a mother would want for her daughter.

One afternoon in a gas station convenience store, Julius bumped into Leleti. She was picking up a bottle of soy sauce she had accidentally knocked off a shelf when he turned the corner into the aisle and noticed her ankles. Of all the things. Ankles.

"Sorry" and "excuse me" and a six pack of Castle Lite later, Julius walked out of the store. Shades on, windows up, music loud, face expressionless, he couldn't erase the image of those flawless ankles from his mind. He drove to his appointment absent mindedly and could not explain it to Suwilanji when he forgot what he was supposed to be doing for the rest of the afternoon.

Suwi cleared up the kitchen and packed up the dishes with a question in her head and a frown on her brow. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but for some reason her usually hilarious boyfriend, always the life of the party had been particularly subdued this afternoon. It didn't really help that her friends were going on and on about wedding things either. Making it a point to reassure him of the fact that they were not speaking on her behalf, she turned off the lights and went up to bed and a Skype date.

He rarely ever slept over. And she was okay with that.

Suwi was a really simple girl. The things that mattered to her were quality time and friendships and honesty. She would much rather cuddle on the sofa or play board games than attend all the things she got invited to.

She worked hard too. Made it a habit to save and live within her means. She ran her own little business and had two stores on separate ends of town that were doing really well. She spent alot of time alone. Julius worked long hours and her friends were more raucous than she cared to admit these days.

She was loyal. Breathtakingly beautiful but always understated. Caring, kind, supportive and so soft. She made sense to him because she cushioned his hardness and embraced his aloofness in awe. Suwi was home to Julius. She had a temper and sometimes she put him under pressure to do things but for the most part she was perfect for him.

She balanced out his imbalance and he was her pillar. Her North Star. Her guiding light. And he was so smart and so interesting and so much to be proud of. It helped that he said he thought she was amazing...told her he loved her every day...

Two years and eight months into this thing and everyone expected them to get married. The white picket fence and the three kids. They looked amazing together. And nobody understood the one better than the other. Nobody.

A match made in heaven. But trouble was brewing in hell.

Julius walked into the building at 9am for his presentation. Rosewood suit on point. Arthur George socks that she got him for his birthday. Pale pink tie that she picked out for his pale pink shirt inside the navy blue jacket cut to fit his 6'1" frame like a glove. Perfect gold cuff links, and an initialled tie pin; he looked like a million and fifty bucks.

He walked up to the secretary's desk and waited for her to come and attend to him. Looked at his watch and in that instant he saw the ankles again. Light caramel skin emerging from a pair of cream high heeled red bottoms. Curves leading up to the prettiest dimpled knees that disappeared into a deep purple skirt that hugged her hourglass figure like skin.

The whole world stopped.

"Hello Mr...ummm sorry, can I help you?"

He came back to his senses. Surely this was not a coincidence. Surely.

Introducing himself and stating his business, Julius walked into the meeting bewildered, perplexed and a little hot under the collar. His jaded eyes failed to take in Leleti's overly large nose and too far spread out eyes and the fact that her teeth were somewhat stained and she smelt faintly of sweat even at 9 in the morning.

He couldn't get past the ankles.

Making a mental note to obtain her number on his way out, Julius launched into his presentation. The deal done and paperwork exchanged, he left the building with her business card burning a brazen hole into his breast pocket.

His mind ablaze with curiosity, he failed to remember Suwi's call earlier that morning inviting him to brunch to discuss progress on their joint building project.

Suwi waited. 12 o'clock. 12:30. 1 o'clock. Then she called. And he didn't pick up.

To Be Continued...