That strange pill she’d consumed seemed to have made all her inhibitions fly away as she willingly submitted to his touches and kisses. All logic had gone, leaving her with plain hunger for intense pleasure and bliss she would never, ever forget.
*****
Seven Years Later
As Cathleen remembered that fateful evening more than seven years ago, she couldn’t help the sudden roller-coaster of emotions that crashed upon her.
One night of fun and celebration, of being reckless for once, had changed her life in an instant.
She had never seen him again after that unexpected tryst. Trisha said he’d been sent to outer space to help protect the earth from potential alien attacks.
It would have been okay. She could have dismissed it as a one-night stand and chalked it up to experience. But it was way more complicated than that.
The doorbell sounded, making her jump. She shook her head, literally trying to banish the memory from her mind.
She walked over to the front door of her traditional, two-bedroom apartment and opened it without bothering to check the monitor above the door to see who it was. She was still fairly new in town, so she wasn’t expecting anybody.
“Cath! I missed you!” a familiar perky, high-pitched female voice greeted.
Cathleen’s mouth dropped open as she gawked at her friend Trisha. She looked a bit more mature, but had died her hair pink, and was wearing her usual punk outfit. “Oh, my gosh.” Cathleen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It had been a very long time.
Trisha hugged her, still her same old energetic self. Then she stepped back and gave Cathleen a once-over. “Hhhmmm… You look the same. Your hair’s longer, your skin’s more tanned, but still the same. Still so pretty. But there’s something different about you.”
Cathleen laughed, ushering her friend inside and apologizing for the clutter. “You didn’t warn me you’d be coming,” she said good-naturedly. “I heard you’re Vice President of Reilly Robotics now. Your daddy must be proud.”
Trisha smiled proudly, giving a little bow. “Yes, he is. And you’d be proud of me too for getting the position without seducing or sleeping with the top guns!”
“Wow, really? That’s great, Trish,” Cathleen said genuinely. “I always said you could do it if you only took things seriously. What made you change?”
Suddenly, Trisha’s expression darkened. She slumped on the nearby couch and gave Cathleen a shameful, apologetic look. “I felt so guilty, Cath. If I hadn’t given you that pill…”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Cathleen insisted, shaking her head. “Besides, two wonderful things came out of it. First, you got your act together. Second, I got the biggest blessing of my life.”
“Aww…” Trisha said, her pouty lips turning up into a smile. “Where is the little rascal?”
As if on cue, the front door burst open and in rushed a handsome little boy with wavy jet-black hair and bright brown eyes. “Mom! I’m back from school!”
“Oh, my God,” Trisha whispered. “He looks so much like his—”
“Shut up,” Cathleen hissed.
She stood up with a big smile and gave the boy a hug. She motioned to Trisha, saying, “Hey, Keith. Do you remember your Aunt Trisha? She visited us a few years ago.”
He went closer to study her appearance. Then he shook his head. “Nope,” he said. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Trisha said, ruffling his hair. “You were too young then.”
“Why is your hair pink?” he suddenly wondered aloud, a puzzled expression on his innocent face.
“Honey, that’s not polite,” Cathleen said, although she was stifling her laughter.
Meanwhile, Trisha was actually laughing. “You know, Keith, this is the latest fashion in the city. But Tree Valley is such an old, boring, backward town! I don’t know why your mom wanted to live here. You guys should go back to the city with me.”
Keith looked excited. “That would be so cool! Can we, Mom? Please? Please?”
With his cute, pleading voice and those sweet brown eyes looking at her expectantly like a little puppy, Cathleen could not refuse. “Maybe we can visit Aunt Trisha during summer vacation…”
“Yay!” Keith shouted, throwing a fist in the air. He turned to his mom and gave her a big, tight hug. “Thanks, Mom! You’re the best!”
Cathleen hugged him back, smiling. She would never trade her boy for the world.
“Oh, by the way…” Trisha said, rummaging through her big tote bag. “I’ve got a present for you, Keith. Something I’m sure you’ll love!”
To Cathleen’s astonishment, she handed him a toy robot. It looked like a very expensive, advanced one straight from the Reilly Robotics lab.
Keith was ecstatic, especially when Trisha demonstrated the tiny robot’s ability to converse, follow commands, and even clean up little messes. He took the toy, thanked Trisha, and disappeared into his room to play.
“A robot?! Really?!” Cathleen said with a mixture of disgust and disbelief.
“Nope, it’s a cyborg!” Trisha joked. Then seeing Cathleen’s face, she frowned and said, “Sorry, bad joke.”
Cathleen sighed. “You know what? It’s fine. I shouldn’t detest cyborgs just because of that one incident. Keith’s father doesn’t even know he got me pregnant. And yes, cyborgs do a lot of good things for our planet and for human beings.”
“I keep telling you, I can track him down,” Trisha said. “That’s easy! We know his name – Shawn Armstead. He’s probably still in the Space Department of the military.”
“Never mind, Trisha…” Cathleen said firmly.
“But he has the right to know. And your son has the right to get to know his father…”
“Keith’s not ready,” Cathleen interrupted.
“Keith or you?” Trisha asked blatantly.
Cathleen shrugged. “Either way, we’re better off without him. I don’t want anything to do with Shawn Armstead.”
*****
Trisha’s weekend visit went by in a blur. Cathleen felt refreshed, having had the chance to relax and have fun with her best friend. Although she had made a few other friends back in Tree Valley, she never spent much time with them. She was always busy with work.
On Monday, she was back in the private lab where she served as an assistant to Dr. Eric Brown, an award-winning scientist in the field of robotics.
“Hi, Cathleen,” he greeted with a friendly smile when she strolled into the lab in her usual button-down shirt and slacks.
Her blue eyes brightened at the sight of her boss-slash-friend. From the time she’d met Eric and begun working for him, they had hit it off instantly, chatting like old friends. He was like the older brother she never had.
“Hi, Dr. Brown,” Cathleen said cheerfully. “How was your weekend?”
“Same old,” he said, looking at her inquisitively. “Yours must have been better.” He raised his eyebrows at her, making her laugh.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Cathleen said, chuckling. “No, I did not meet anybody special. I didn’t go out on a date, either. My best friend from long ago stayed over the weekend, so we were able to catch up and have some girl bonding time.”
“Aahhh… Girl bonding seems to have some sort of medicinal effect on a woman,” he said jokingly. “Maybe that should be my next research.”
Cathleen laughed. “Sounds like fun! How about coming up with a BFF robot for women? It will surely sell!”
“Yeah, yeah, great idea!” Dr. Brown agreed, smiling.
Then turning serious, he handed over an envelope and a card key. “I have an emergency meeting right now, so just go over these documents while I’m away. And that card key is for my top drawer, where you can find the special headgear I’ve invented for the cyborg space warriors. Their platoon head will be coming over in a while to check it out.”
Cyborg space warriors?! Cathleen suddenly felt her heartbeat quicken. Cold sweat broke out from her forehead as a vivid image of Sha
wn, Keith’s father, came to her mind.
Before she could ask any questions, Dr. Brown was gone. She forced herself to calm down and focus on her work, dismissing the possibility that the expected visitor could actually be Shawn or perhaps one of his close buddies.
Over an hour had passed when the entrance buzzer sounded, signaling someone at the door. Cathleen looked up abruptly, smoothed her long blonde hair and her clothes, and then checked the video monitor to see who it was. There was a tall, brawny man standing outside in a familiar blue uniform. His back was on her, but she could see that he had the same cropped, jet-black hair.
“It could be any of them,” she muttered to herself, irritated that she was even affected. So what if it was really Shawn?
She took a deep breath and opened the door. “Hello,” she said, trying to sound calm and composed. “Are you the space warriors’ platoon head? I need to see your ID, please.”
The man turned around then. He had a surprised look on his newly shaven face, his mesmerizing brown eyes seemingly piercing into hers. “Cathleen, is that you?” he asked, stunned.
Cathleen could not believe it. Standing in front of her was the man who had gotten her pregnant many years ago. He had aged a bit but was still very much good-looking, towering over her in a powerful way.
“Do you remember me? I used to work at Reilly Robotics with you,” he said in a friendly manner. He treated her like any ordinary colleague that one might accidentally run into.
Cathleen didn’t know whether to be disappointed, outraged, or just plain appalled. Trying to appear nonchalant, she said, “Oh yes. But I don’t recall your name, sorry.”
“Shawn Armstead,” he said, extending a hand toward her. His smile seemed genuine, reaching his eyes and making him seem younger.
Cathleen shook his hand quickly. As soon as they touched, she felt an electric current shoot up her arm. Her entire body felt warm and cold at the same time. Gosh! He still had that effect on her after all these years.
“Hi, Shawn,” Cathleen said politely. “Come in please.”
“Fancy running into you here… You work for Mr. Brown?” he said, striking a conversation as he strolled inside and followed her to the main lab area.
“Yes, since I moved here,” Cathleen said quietly.
She watched him slowly walk around, studying the various robot models displayed on the shelves. He still had that commanding stance and looked even more confident and handsome than ever. On the surface, he didn’t even appear to be a cyborg since his mechanical parts were inside his body and his steel shoulders and arms were hidden under his long-sleeved military suit.
She noticed several pins on the front of his uniform. “Congratulations on becoming head of your department,” she said. “And on your awards.”
He paused and turned around to face her. “Thank you.”
He was gazing at her then so intently that she felt her knees turning into jelly. She scrambled away in a hurry, mumbling about getting the headgear he was supposed to test.
When she gave it to him, their fingers brushed and she immediately felt a shiver run down her spine. Quickly she retracted her hand and stepped backward.
He looked at her questioningly but did not say anything. Instead, he turned the gear around in his hands before placing it on his head. All of a sudden, his brown eyes began to flash with strange blinking lights. When they turned normal again, he stared at her hard.
“Uhm… What exactly does that invention do?” Cathleen asked with great curiosity.
“It allows me to detect your body conditions,” he said. “You seem to be healthy enough.”
Cathleen suddenly remembered that even without such gear, he could determine people’s temperatures and heart rates. So from the moment he had laid eyes on her earlier, he must have perceived her nervousness and possibly even sensed the physical attraction.
“Can we turn off the lights, please?” he asked.
“Why?” Cathleen said, her heart racing. She wanted to control it, so as not to give him misleading clues. But she just couldn’t stop it from beating at top speed.
“I have to check if the night vision works,” he explained.
“Oh.” She switched off the lights. To her shock, she could not see him any longer, even after her eyes adjusted to the darkness.
Several seconds passed. Then she felt warm breath on her neck from behind her. “It works,” she heard him whisper in her ear. She gasped, turning around but seeing only darkness.
She heard his footsteps walking away slowly. “This is amazing,” he whispered.
Bemused, she switched the lights on again. The lab was empty. “Where are you?” she asked.
“Right here…” he said. His voice seemed to come from a distance somewhere in front of her. Then after a few seconds, she heard him whisper in her ear. “Or here…”
His sudden closeness and the fact that she could not see him were making her even tenser. Not only was her heart still pounding away, but she could feel the small, thin hairs on her skin standing up as goosebumps appeared all over. Worse, she knew very well that he could read all of those changes in her body. He knew she was affected by him.
“Stop playing with me, Shawn,” she said in an annoyed voice.
He chuckled from her right. And when she turned to face that direction, she could finally see him. “Cool, huh?” he said in amazement. “There’s a switch for invisibility. That’s going to be helpful in many ways.” There was a slightly suggestive tone in his voice that made her irritated yet magnetized to him at the same time.
He took off the headgear and asked if he could take it with him.
“Sure, no problem,” she said, moving toward the door and seemingly ushering him to exit. “I’ll just inform Dr. Brown.”
He followed her, suddenly growing very quiet. Before he stepped out, though, he gazed into her eyes with a serious expression on his face. “It was really good to see you again, Cathleen. I’m sorry we never got the chance to know each other better and to talk after…”
“It’s fine,” Cathleen said at once. “Goodbye, Shawn.”
“Wait,” Shawn interjected, moving closer to her. “I… Can we… see each other again? Maybe coffee tonight?”
Although Cathleen was flattered that he actually wanted to get to know her and spend some time with her again, she knew it would just complicate things. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she told him honestly.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll respect that.”
He smiled and thanked her again before leaving and closing the door behind him. She let out a sigh of relief which she’d been actually been holding. Leaning on the door, she closed her eyes, trying to calm her hammering heart and convincing herself that it was best for them to never see each other again.
*****
“If that’s not fate, I don’t know what is!” Trisha was saying excitedly over the phone.
“Trish, it’s been what? Two weeks already since that day,” Cathleen said. “He’s never attempted to get in touch with me again.”
“Well, you should have agreed to have coffee with him!” her best friend argued. “You should have given it a chance. Who knows? Maybe it’s not yet too late for you guys to build your happy family. Wouldn’t that be a great love story?”
Cathleen laughed. Deep inside, she really was disappointed that he hadn’t tried to reach out to her after that day. She was well aware that he’d been in constant communication with Dr. Brown during the past two weeks. He and his team had set up camp in Tree Valley for some military exercises in the mountains.
That afternoon, Dr. Brown had a special assignment for her. “It’s about time you stepped up, Cathleen,” he told her. “I want you to handle this project with the cyborgs.”
“What?!” Cathleen couldn’t believe her ears.
“I’m flying to Washington tomorrow to meet some government officials regarding a new project,” he explained. “I need you to work closely with Mr. Shawn Armstead on
the headgear revisions and that weapon we have been developing for some time now.”
“But—”
“I’m sure you can do it,” Dr. Brown interrupted her. “I believe in your abilities. And besides, you’re a scientist too! A great one. You just need a little push.”
Cathleen could not think of any objection at that moment. He left afterward, saying that he needed to get home early to spend time with his wife and kids before flying off the next day.
Before going home, she dropped by the local bookstore to browse through the new books on robotics. She chose one and pulled it out of the shelf.
“Good choice,” someone quipped from behind her.
Even before she turned, she already knew who it was. Her heart was at it again, beating furiously. She wanted to scream and command it to stop panicking and going off in a frenzy whenever he was near.
“Hi again,” Shawn greeted with a wide smile. He was in casual clothes this time and looked extraordinarily gorgeous in a polo shirt and jeans. Portions of his metallic arms were peeking from under his shirt, glinting under the light.
“Oh, hi,” Cathleen said, returning the smile. Inside, she was melting.
He walked with her to the counter, chatting about the wonderful contents of the book. He had apparently just read it.
As Cathleen listened, she was both amazed and amused by his easy yet intelligent chatter. She found herself loosening up and responding to him more, until both of them were engaged in a discussion on the field of robotics. She became so engrossed in their exchange that did not even realize they were already walking down the street, heading to the nearby coffee shop.
“So, my coffee offer still stands…” he suddenly jibed as he opened the glass doors for her.
“Well, we’re here now, aren’t we?” Cathleen said, feeling more relaxed with him now. It was as if she was getting to know him from scratch. Well, she never really knew him before so it was fascinating now to find out more about his career, family life, and hobbies.
Shawn took a sip of his coffee, his eyes never leaving her face. Cathleen was beginning to feel self-conscious again. It was a good thing she’d actually retouched her makeup before leaving the lab.
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