TEST DRIVE: A Night of Forbidden Desire

“Good morning, Sister of Kitty.”

A greeting reached Vonda’s ears this morning. Just as she had taken a few steps away from her parked car in the office parking lot. Rolling her eyes for a moment, Vonda was sure that the person greeting her was Max. Even without looking, and yes! It was indeed Max.

Who else would know about Sister of Kitty?

“Good morning to you too, Brother of Kitty.”

“It doesn’t quite fit, I think. It suits you better to be called Sister of Kitty,” Max said as he shifted his bag from one hand to the other. At first, he held the bag in his left hand, but since the bag took up some space between them, he switched hands.

Vonda, who had her work bag slung over her left shoulder, turned to look at him. She gave a slight mocking twitch of her lower lip.

“But you’re Kitty’s brother. I am not.”

“I’m Kitty’s brother?” Max snorted, pushed the door open and gestured for Vonda to enter before him. “Just like that?”

“Well, when I had a video call with Mom that one time, she called for Kitty. Mom said that,” Vonda said, smiling as she imitated her mother. “Kitty! Come here, sweetie. Let Mommy introduce you to Mommy’s future daughter-in-law.”

Vonda burst out laughing. Max didn’t want to imagine it, but Vonda’s words became a vivid image in his mind. The image of Riley waving and calling for Kitty as they chattered like mother and child instantly came to mind and made him shake his head.

“Tsk! Looks like you have regular video calls with Mom.”

Their footsteps stopped in front of the elevator, and perhaps because it was early, there were no other employees around.

“It’s not like it’s a regular thing, but yes, Mom does contact me often. So, I have to answer, whether I like it or not.”

The elevator doors opened and they stepped in side by side. Max pushed the elevator button, and the doors closed a moment later.

“If it bothers you, just don’t answer it. I’ll tell Mom not to bother you.”

Vonda huffed. “I don’t feel disturbed, really. Besides, talking to Mom is fun. Instead of hearing Sarah’s gossip and all that, I’d rather listen to Mom’s chatter.”

Max grinned. “Why aren’t any of the comparisons accurate?”

“Hehehe. Don’t take offense, Mom is just fun to talk to. I don’t mind at all. In fact, I consider it a way to refresh my mind.”

“Huh?”

Max was taken aback. Just then, the elevator doors opened and they stepped out together.

“Did you know? Yesterday afternoon, Mom gave me spicy fried chicken.”

“Oh, really?”

Vonda narrowed her eyes and nodded briefly. “Guess what? Mom gave me three boxes of seasoned and battered chicken thighs. She said I could fry them whenever I wanted to eat them.”

Max, who had reached out to turn the doorknob of their room, suddenly stopped. His hand clenched and he turned to Vonda, who was standing next to him, seemingly waiting for the door to open.

“Wait. Who gave you the chicken, your mom or my mom?”

Vonda burst out laughing. Not because of Max’s question or his expression as he asked it. Rather, it was the combination of the two.

“Your mom, of course.”

The door opened and Vonda stepped in first before Max followed. He made sure to close it behind him.

“Listening to you earlier, I started to have doubts. Are you or I the real biological child of Mom?”

“Hahaha!”

Vonda went straight to her desk. But her eyes did not leave Max, who was heading for the door of his office.

“You don’t know, do you? It seems that in my entire life, Mom has never sent me her seasoned and battered fried chicken in three boxes.”

Vonda playfully flashed a teasing grin. “Jealous, huh? Jealous, huh? Jealous? Hahaha!”

Ignoring Vonda’s teasing, Max pouted briefly before entering his office. He let out all his frustration, imagining how his biological mother seemed to pay more attention to Vonda.

“She didn’t even ask if her biological child had eaten or not. Instead, she sends food to someone else’s child, you know?”

Oddly enough, Max’s phone rang just as he was grumbling. Riley was calling him.

“Mom.” Max addressed Riley as soon as he answered the call. “Are you going to interrogate me again this morning?”

“Oh,” Riley’s voice came from the other side. “Seriously! I call and get accused of wanting to interrogate.”

“Ah,” Max sighed, long and melodramatic. Abandoning his original intention to sit down, he now decided to stand near his desk. “What if I’m the one to interrogate you this morning? Just for a change, you know? You can’t interrogate me all the time.”

“Huh? You want to question me? Like, did I do something wrong or what? Why do you want to interrogate me?”

“Typical of a criminal to act like that. They don’t even know when they’ve made a mistake.”

“Tsk tsk tsk. You, seriously. Fine. Tell me what mistake I made that you want to interrogate her about.”

The corner of Max’s lip curled up in a knowing grin that Riley unfortunately did not see at that moment.

“Mom.”

On the other end, the different tone in Max’s voice made Riley furrow his brow. A little confused, but he let Max continue.

Max took a breath before continuing. “Actually, who is your biological child?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well… who is your biological child?” Max repeated. “Me, Kitty, or Vonda?” Max blinked.

Wait, why bring up Kitty?

Max shook his head once.

No need to clarify the question. Mom loves Kitty very much too.

Riley’s chuckle sounded through the phone line.

“Tsk tsk tsk. What does this question mean? Are you stressed out or something, Max? If you think you’re going crazy, I’ll go with you to a counseling session. It’s a shame that Vonda has to have an insane husband.””

“Hohoho!”

Max’s eyes widened.

“You want to accompany me to counseling not because you’re worried about my mental health, but because you’re actually worried about Vonda.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

A short silence before Riley’s voice came through again. This time, however, Riley’s voice was softer.

“Um, Max.”

Frowning, Max asked, “What?”

“That… are you really considering counseling for your mental health?”

*