The Day I Kissed An Older Man by Cher the Cherished

Annie looked left and right to try and find Aaron, but he was nowhere to be seen. All she saw was her phone charging on the bedside table. She took it and saw that the topmost unread message was from Aaron.

[I slept in the living room last night. I carried you into the room and didn’t do anything else. Don’t make any assumptions!]

Annie’s heart began beating faster. Her cheeks turned red, and she wondered to herself, ‘What is he trying to do? Gosh, I’m getting all flustered by his message!’

When she scrolled down, she saw more than 99 unread messages that her boyfriend Marcus had sent to her. Annie was a little embarrassed. Her feelings were all over the place the day before that she forgot to reply to Marcus’s messages!

When she clicked on Marcus’s chat, she noticed he had sent a flurry of messages asking her location, what she was doing, and if she was asleep.

The most recent message had been sent in the morning. [Why are you ignoring me, Annie? Please reply if you see my messages!]

Annie replied apologetically. [Sorry, I was so busy thinking about my aunt and uncle that I forgot to check my message!]

Marcus replied within seconds. [It’s fine! I was just worried about you. I’m glad you’re alright, though! Where are you now?]

truthfully, [I’m still with my aunt! I’m

at noon? Let’s have lunch together, just the two

Okay! You don’t

for you,

the conversation with Marcus, Annie got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. When she walked out of Aaron’s bedroom, she saw Corinne sitting alone at the dining room bar. She had her laptop open

walked over and said, “Au—I mean, Corinne! What are

pointed to the computer and raised a finger to cover her lips, indicating for Annie to keep

at the computer

as though they were having a video conference. She did not know what was happening, but she did not dare to disturb Corinne anymore. She gently took her coat and bag

a fresh set of

that Annie had left, but rather than turn around to look, she continued with the video

call her just after she closed her laptop. She drank a sip of