Chapter 12-Force
Alita had a pep in her step on Monday morning as she arrived in the lab where Micah was assessing the effectiveness of the booster of additives to the lemon oil against the coffee borer beetle.
He counted the dead carcasses in the case, preparing to collect the bugs to give to Herve the gardener to place in the garden for the chickens to eat.
When he looked up, he noticed the smile on Alita's face.
“You seem rather cheerful,” he said, moving to the next container. This one, he boosted with a mango puree and rice water, and the bugs seemed to be hyperactive but also, ruefully, still alive.
“Do you remember Lucía from our World Lit class? Well, she called and said they are having a get-together this Saturday,” Alita said. “She wanted to know if we'd be home and if we wanted to come.”
“She wants you to come,” Micah said going back to watching the bugs. “It is a setup.”
Alita hated when he was like this. He had a bee in his bonnet and was going to stir up the nest, getting everybody stung in the process. However, knowing him as she did, he needed to get this off his chest first, then they would move on to what was really bothering him.
“Why is it a setup, Boss?” She added the last part with a bit of attitude.
“Has she ever invited you anywhere before? See, and now suddenly you are asked to attend,” he said, looking at the beetles almost dancing. “Did Lucía specifically say I was invited or just you?”
“Mainly me,” Alita said, feeling deflated.
“Then it is a setup,” he said. “More than likely, that lopsided, big-headed brother of hers, Joaquín, plans to fuck you.”
“Boss! How did we get there!” Alita said, nearly shouting.
“Alita, they get you to the party, hand you a drink, and suddenly Lucía and the girls wander off, leaving you alone with Joaquín and his friends.
You wake up bruised, torn and used up, and no one knows what happened.
Joaquín will suddenly attend Uni in another country, and no one is sure where, especially after he tears your hymen, realizing you were not my lover.
He will hide, but it won't matter, because I will find him and end his life.”
“Why are you like this?” Alita said, picking up a clipboard to record the results.
“Because this is the life we live, Alita,” he said.
“They will ruin you because they are envious. As much as those girls have, the one thing they want is freedom. You are not caste-born and can live as you please. Anytime you no longer wish to be in my employ, you can terminate the agreement, take your money, and go live as you see fit. They cannot and are jealous. Those girls would rather see their brother take you down a peg than be your friend.”
“Right, because I don't deserve friends,” Alita said.
“No, you don't deserve to be drugged and fucked by a brute who is doing it for sport,” Micah said.
“Might be the only way I get fucked at this point in my life,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Baby, if you're in need, my door is open,” he said, trying not to laugh.
“How very generous of you,” she said softly. Then she turned to face him. “I am 18 years old and I have never been kissed. I don't even know how to kiss.”
Micah moved to the next container, counting the number of dead bugs; he used the palm oil as a binder to the lemon and chrysanthemum oils.
It produced the desired result, but it took days for the bugs to die.
He jotted the notes on the sheet on his clipboard, collecting the bugs in the small basket to take to the gardener.
“If it is any consolation, I don't know how to either,” Micah said.
“What? After all the paramours you've had, not one taught you how to kiss?” Alita said, walking over to him.
“I did not put my mouth on any of those women,” he said, looking her in the eye, arching one brow. He needed her to understand that kissing on the lips, either set, was not something he did.
Alita stood still. She knew this tactic. Experience had taught her to follow his lead in private situations, speak when spoken to, and leave the door open for him to make the decision as to what could or would happen next.
“Again, my door is open if you wish to experiment and learn, within reason of course,” Micah said.
“Within reason? What the hell does that even mean, Micah?”
He set the clipboard down. When she called him by his name, it somehow turned on a different part of his brain. He loved it when she spoke with him and used his given name, creating an intimacy between them where he felt...safe.
“‘Within reason’ means I can show you, guide you, teach you a few things, but we can only go so far,” he said.
“Your purity is a gift for your wedding night. I have no rights to it, and really no rights to your body in any form; however, if you make a request of me, and I am able to give it to you, within reason, I shall.”
“Fine. I want a Vespa for when we go to Uni,” she said.
“There are times when you vex me, Alita,” he said, laughing.
He picked up the clipboard and went back to counting dead bugs.
They ran twelve experiments with twelve different protocols, leaving only three to be effectively working.
This meant the afternoon would be spent picking more bugs to run an overnight test before their departure to Argentina on Wednesday where they would be staying through until Monday.
“Boss,” she said, pulling him back to the official relationship between them. “You seem to be tight this morning. Is there anything on your mind?”
He shrugged. “I got a call from Abuelo about the weekend.”
“Anything out of the ordinary we need to prepare for?”
“Raj van Dijk of Suriname will be present with his daughter Zoe,” Micah said. “She has just turned 18 and is unmatched, so I have to contend with that.”
“Okay, what else?”
“Juan Benitez, the cousin of Irena Villareal, is bringing his daughter, Rosa, who lost weight, a lot of weight, to be presented to my grandfather as a possible match and pairing for me,” Micah said.
“Did she lose the weight so she could be paired with you?”
“No, she lost the weight so she could get paired with whoever will take her,” Micah said. “I truly hate the entire process. It is demeaning for the young women and misogynistic for the men, but to preserve our way of life and to strengthen partnerships, it is how it is done.”
Alita sighed. “You didn't mention Uruguay.”
“Oh, trust and believe that Martín Rossi and his daughter Sofia will be there,” he said.
“Yunior told me that the Rossi's had her specifically as a pairing for me. When they found out my mother had a third son, Sofia’s parents actually conceived another child for me to marry.
I'm certain she has been educated in all things Micah Luciano Delgado Fernandez. The sadness in my chest is tightening around my heart.”
Alita moved quickly to stand in front of him. “Look at me. Count. 2, 3, 5, 8, 13.”
“Those numbers aren't sequential,” he said.
“Twenty-one, thirty-four, fifty-five, eighty-nine, 144, 233,” Alita continued.
“Ah, the Fibonacci sequence,” he said, looking at her. “You are very smart. I like that. Will you be open to us learning how to kiss? We can try it on each other.”
“Micah,” she said, lowering her gaze from his face, her cheeks warming, “are you saying you're willing to put your mouth on me?”
“Lady, the levels in which you vex me should be studied,” Micah said, giving a wry smile and stepping away. “We need more bugs.”
****
IT WAS A QUARTER AFTER eleven when Alita entered the back hall of the home.
She knew Micah was awake. Their phones were synchronized as well as his smartwatch.
Around nine, he'd fallen over in a comatose like sleep, and most evenings he'd sleep through the night.
The past few days, his sleeping habits were erratic, which at some point in the very near future meant his behavior would become that way as well.
He was headed for a meltdown she could feel in her bones.
Couple the stress of women auditioning to be his wife and bear his children, along with not having the regular physical release of a paramour, the man was wound pretty tight.
She tapped at the door, waiting for him to bid her entrance. He sat on the couch in the bedroom, playing a game on his phone. Her presence in his sleeping quarters didn't seem to interest him very much.
“I'm here for our first kissing lesson,” she said.
“Okay,” he replied, still toying with his phone.
She stood waiting for him to grant her access to sit next him or to finish the level he was playing.
The way his mind worked, he couldn't go from one matter to the other without finishing what he was currently working on.
Therefore, she waited for him to close out the phone and look up. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she replied walking towards him. She took a seat on the couch and removed two hard candies from her pocket. Alita gave one to him.
“Is my breath tart?”
“I don't know; I haven't gotten that close yet,” she told him.
“Then why the candies?”
Alita unwrapped a lemon-flavored one, putting it in her mouth. “Bria told me the best way to learn French kissing is to do it with a piece of candy.”
Micah looked at the candy in his hand. He looked at Alita, moving the candy back and forth in her mouth. Again, he looked at the piece of candy. “Are you seriously asking me to...wait, what are we doing with the candies?”
“You use your tongue to work it in my mouth, then we swap candies and I use my tongue to play with it in yours,” Alita said, watching the emotions scream across his face.
“That is purely unsanitary and disconcerting.”
“Well, how do you plan to up your tongue game, Micah?” she asked and blushed.
“My what game...as in using my tongue to....” he said, nearly blushing.
“I mean really, if you need to practice using it in other areas, I volunteer as tribute,” Alita said, laughing.