Hidden Love Ch. 01

"Do you want some noodles before I go on my business trip?"

I looked up at my mother who was fussing over some things in the kitchen. I set my tablet down on my lap and shook my head. "Mom, I can take care of myself. I don't need you making food for me like I can't survive on my own. I mean, I'm twenty-five, I can handle it."

My mother's head popped up from behind some cupboards and made a face. Even at her age, she was still a lovely woman. There was some gray in her once jet black hair. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes had started to move inwards, but even still, she was stunning. "Ay-yah, I know, I know! You're a man now! Can't you let your mother fuss over you a little more before you leave my nest?"

I smiled, "Ok. I will try."

She stepped away from the kitchen and dashed off to her room before returning with luggage in tow behind her. "Ok, I wrote all my information on the pad next to the telephone. I have to meet some of the broker team before we go to the airport."

I nodded. "Ok."

"No parties." My mother said as she started out of the house.

"Please...I'm too old for that kind of thing."

"Be nice to your cousin!" she called out as she shut the door.

My mother finally left for her business trip. I was blessed with the silence of a quiet home. I looked down at my tablet and scrolled through some work that I had lined up a freelance photographer. It wasn't what I had hoped for. As a college student, I dreamed about working in a firm and producing large media pieces while being a part of a huge team, but graduating and coming into the real world grounded those dreams harshly. I made a good living doing what I did and I enjoyed it. Like my mother said, my time to leave the nest was nearing as my savings reached the mark I had set to be able to live on my own.

I grew up in a semi-traditional Chinese family. My father ran off with his mistress when I was very young. It devastated my family, but my mother was quite indifferent. As a child, I never understood why she never pined for his attention like I did before he left. Yet, with adulthood, I realized that even though he was around physically, he was never there for us emotionally. My mother never remarried. She was determined to show her family and my father's family that she could survive without the bastard. She made it a personal mission to not just survive, but to thrive. I was proud of her for all that she had achieved.

I smiled to myself as I read through a few temporary contract jobs for a digital photographer before I was thrown out of my peace and calm. A loud crashing could be heard at the front door of the modest two bedroom house my mother had purchased. I set my tablet down and looked over at the door from where I sat in the living room. There were several more thuds and another crash before the door was flung opened revealing a young woman standing there with her hands filled with shopping bags.

"Jeez, Matt, you could have helped me!"

The young woman with the brightly colored cheeks from her laboring at the door was my cousin. She stepped into the house and set her bags down in as flourish of exaggerated movements. She shut the front door and took a deep breath. I grinned ear to ear, "It sounded like you had it all handled."

"Well, I didn't."

"Sorry, Carey." I said with as much sincerity as I could muster. I looked through a few more jobs and glanced up to see my cousin stripping off her autumn jacket. She had on a tight pink blouse that was accented nicely with the black tights that she wore. Her hair that came just past her shoulders was a tangle of a mess from her struggle. She was cute, breathtaking when one took the time to look. Carey tossed her jacket onto the vacant cushion on the far corner of the couch that was I was sitting on. "Rough day?"

She shrugged and looked around, "Did I miss Aunt Lily leaving?"

I nodded.

"Shoot."

"What?"

"I wanted to wish her a safe trip." She said as she walked into the kitchen to rummage for something to eat.

Carey became a semi-permanent visitor when her parents had contacted my mother in aiding her in moving to NYC for school. She missed the registration period for getting a dorm room and asked if there was room for her. Even though the house my mother and I lived in barely contained us comfortably, my mother had insisted that she was family and we would make things work. So, the calm that I had always enjoyed in my home had been disturbed by the dust-devil that was my cousin.

"Did your mom make any noodles before she left?" she asked with her head deep inside the refrigerator.

"Nope."

"What? For reals?" she asked as she stood up and looked out towards me.

"Yup." I said as I accepted a few local contracts and powered off my tablet. "She was going to a business meeting; I wasn't going to have her rush to make cold noodles for us to eat."

Carey pouted and nodded, "You're right."

I smiled at her disappointment, "But, they are pretty damned good."

"Right?!" Carey exclaimed as she playfully stamped her foot in the kitchen. With a sudden change in emotion, Carey stuck her head back into the refrigerator. "Do you want anything while I am in here?"

"Beer." I answered as I turned on the television and slowly surfed through the numerous channels we had.

"Say please." She said with her voice slightly muffled with whatever morsel of food she found stuffed into her mouth.

"Please?"

Carey popped out from the refrigerator and walked to the living room with her hands full of food and drink. She handed me a beer and settled down next to me on the couch with her snacks.

I felt slightly uncomfortable at the closeness of her; I cleared my throat and looked over. "Why are you sitting so close?"

"I didn't want to crush my jacket." She said as she pointed to her jacket with a celery stick and smiled mischievously.

"You can move it."

Carey rolled her eyes, "No, it is settled just like I am."

"Oook..." I said as I tried to move past some of my cousin's eccentric behavior.

"Are you uncomfortable with me sitting next to you?"

"No." I lied.

"Is my big manly cousin bothered by the closeness of a woman?"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, "Shut up and graze in your feeding bowl."

Carey, knowing that she bothered me in some way and won a little battle that she constantly fought with me in her head, smiled and continued to munch from the bowl of raw vegetables that my mother had sliced and diced for her. "How long is your mom gone?"

I shrugged as I surfed through channel after channel and settled on a cooking one. "It depends really. If things go well, it could be two or three days, if it doesn't go well, she can be there an entire week or so. It all really depends on how the deals go."

"Wow."

"Yeah." I said agreed as I twisted the cap off my beer and took a deep swig from the frosty beverage. I looked over to Carey. She was staring at the television seemingly amused by the host that was being showed how to make traditional candies. I remembered the times where she was young frail child who always had her face buried in a book. It never occurred to me that she would have turned out to be a lovely young woman. She must have felt my eyes on her; Carey turned and gave me a puzzled look.

"Something on my face?"

I shook my head.

She pulled a carrot stick out of the bowl that was on her lap and offered it to me, "Want one?" she asked while pushing up her thick brimmed hipster glasses. "It is good for you."

I lifted my beer, "This is good for me at the moment."

"Suit yourself." She said simply and continued to munch on her assorted raw vegetables.

"You know, since my mom is gone for a few days, you can take her bed in the meantime. You wouldn't have to share a room with me. I am sure that futon in there is getting uncomfortable."

Carey stopped munching on her vegetables and looked over to me. "Really?"

"Sure."

"But, I am all settled in."

"It is some privacy for you."

"Is the privacy for me or is it really for you?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"For you." I said as I sucked down more beer. "I don't have anything to hide. I just figured you would want your own space while my mom is gone."

She shrugged, "You can take her room. I'm settled. All my stuff is where I want it to be and moving it around for a few nights seems to be like a huge hassle."

Dumbfounded by her answer, I cocked my head as I looked into her eyes, "I'm not sleeping in my mom's bed."

"Why?" she asked as she ate another carrot stick.

"Because...it would be weird."

"So, if it is weird for you, what makes you think it won't be weird for me?"

"Uh..."

"Do you want me out of your room?" she asked while turning her attention back to the television. "I can sleep on this couch. It won't be too comfortable, but I know I am inconveniencing you guys, I should be the one that accommodates."

"Uh..."

"You can tell me, Matt. I'm a big girl. My feelings won't hurt as easily as when I was a kid."

"It would hurt your feelings?"

She looked over to me with an expression that I couldn't make out. "Well, of course it would hurt my feelings. Come on, having someone tell you to 'gtfo' out of their room for a few days just so that he could jerk off in privacy is kind of insulting. It is bad enough that I transferred out here too late for a dorm spot and I have to invade the world that you and your mom have; now you want to kick me out of your room."

"I'm not kicking you..."

Carey cocked her head with an arched eyebrow to confront me. "Oh? Then what are you doing?"

I rolled my eyes and huffed soundly, "Ughh, never mind."

She leaned closer to me and placed her head on my shoulder. "Thanks, Matt."

We sat in silence as we watched the host of the show display a poor attempt at making more candy. I took a deep breath and was washed away by the smell of Carey. She always smelled amazing. One of the bad things of having a nineteen year old girl in your room is that they would always bring an amazing smell of what a nineteen year old would smell like; sweet, flowery and a girl that verged on being a full grown woman. I could recall the dreams I would have when her scent perforated everything in my room as she slept on the futon I used as a sofa whenever my friends came over.

"You know..." I said as I got her attention, "I didn't want to kick you out of my room because I needed to jerk off."

"Oh?"

"Just figured you felt uncomfortable sharing my room with me. You know...with me being a guy and all." I said hoping that the words that left my mouth made sense.

Carey pushed against me a little more as she continued to munch on her vegetables, "Well, as you can clearly see, I am not bothered by you. In fact, I've never felt this comfortable around a guy."

"I guess...thanks?"

"You're welcome."

"Oh...Matt?"

"Yeah?"

Carey looked up to me with an evil little smile, "Just let me know when you do want to jerk off, I will leave the room."

I scoffed at her and lunged to playfully strangle her.

*

I finished drying myself coming out of the shower. I looked into the mirror and rubbed my thin and very patchy beard that I was growing out. I remembered the last girl that I had went out with remarked at how she really liked guys with facial hair. I didn't have any at that time. Needless to say, the girl didn't stick around for a second date. So, with the request of some kind of facial hair, I decided to try growing some out. What was on my face gave my normally boyish face a little edge, a little age. At twenty-five, I didn't show it whatsoever, I looked like I had just turned eighteen. I guess that was the curse and blessing about being Chinese. We never look our age until we are seventy and then we look a thousand. I dressed and found that my clothes were fitting loser on my slightly less chunky five foot seven frame. I nodded and was glad that the constant diet of vegetables that my mother had put me on was actually paying dividends.

I stepped out of the bathroom and made my way to the kitchen to prepare dinner. The living room was empty. I heard sounds from my bedroom and figured that Carey had gotten bored with television and decided to keep herself occupied in my room. Well, our room. I pulled out a few things that my mother had left for us to eat. I tossed one of the containers into the microwave and tapped in a time before setting some rice into the rice cooker. Not knowing how much to really make, I decided that it might have been better to ask how much Carey wanted before having to waste any food.

I walked down the hallway of the ranch-style house that my mother worked really hard for. It wasn't the biggest, but it was what she could afford. It was in a nice neighborhood and I met a lot of good friends because of where we were. As I closed in on my room, I noticed that the door wasn't completely shut. It was ajar. I wanted to play a cruel joke on Carey, perhaps jumping into the room and yelling to scare her, but we were both too old for that. I walked up quietly to the door and was about to knock but stopped when I heard a dainty and muffled moan.

My heart stopped for a second when I tried my hardest to contemplate what Carey could have been doing. I reached a shaking hand to my bedroom door and pushed slightly. The door opened a little more, just slightly, but enough for me to see. Carey was laying on the futon with her back facing the bedroom door. My heart resumed beating and was now racing when I found her laying there with her tights that she wore earlier pushed down to her knees. I watched as her body wriggled and writhed on my futon. The noises that escaped her weren't the loudest. She made sure she kept them as quiet as possible, but they were lewd and they were beyond anything I had ever heard from a girl. I wanted to leave. I wanted to leave her to her private moment that I had stumbled upon. I willed myself to leave, but my feet stood firm and planted.

I stood there; watching and listening to my cousin touch herself. I watched her free hand reached underneath the button-down shirt that she wore and cupped a breast. She moaned a little louder as if she was seemingly more confident that she was alone. The pace of her other hand began to quicken. I stared at her. Her petite little body moved about sexually. I never saw her as a sexual being. I merely always viewed her as a nerdy little girl. But, here she was, with her almost naked ass on my futon pleasuring herself. My breathing got heavier. I felt myself getting aroused. I looked down at my basketball shorts and found my erection tenting the fabric. I cursed myself internally and told myself to turn away. But, I couldn't. I tore my sight from myself and back to the dark pink thong that she wore and watched as her hand rubbed at herself furiously. Carey's breathing became erratic. Her body stiffened as her climax rolled through her. She stiffened and loosened her body as it crashed into her like a tsunami. I smelled her sex fill my room as she slowly came down from her orgasm.

The food in the microwave 'dinged' loudly. Reality slammed back into my head as I turned around and quickly walked back to the kitchen being careful not to make a single sound as I crept back behind the counter. I took the food out of the microwave and stirred it trying to collect my thoughts.

"Smells good."

Carey's voice startled me. I looked up and found her standing on the other side of the breakfast counter of the kitchen. She had her usual pink towel slung on her shoulder and some undergarments tucked under her arm.

"What's for dinner?" she asked innocently and completely unaware of what I had quietly witnessed.

"My mom made some curry chicken and potatoes for us tonight. I was about to ask you how much rice you wanted." I said as my voice shook.

"A cup for me is fine."

I looked up at her and nodded. I noticed that her face was still flushed from her climax. I decided to be bold and poke back in a little vengeance from when she had accused me of masturbation. "Are you ok? Your cheeks are bright pink."

"They are?" She asked playing dumb. She patted them with the same hand that was in the delicate dark pink panties that she wore from moments ago. "I was doing some yoga when you were in the shower. I guess I went a little too hard?"

I nodded. "Dinner will be ready when you're done with your shower."

Carey winked at me and walked off to the bathroom. I watched her quietly as she walked off to the bathroom. My eyes were glued to her body. I never noticed her before, but I did now. I watched as her perfect little rear end moved about seductively as she walked. The tights she wore left nothing to the imagination. I subconsciously licked my lips as a sexual thought about Carey popped into my head. I immediately shook it out and was disgusted at myself. I turned my attention back to making dinner and only hoped that I could slip the tight bonds of taboo.

*

"Are you ok?" Carey asked as she took a bite of curry chicken from her bowl. She stretched her legs out and placed them on the coffee table. I never ate in the kitchen, especially when my mother wasn't home. I hoped that Carey would have, but she decided to join me in the living room for dinner. When she had come out of the bathroom, she was wearing a tight t-shirt and tiny shorts. Those tiny shorts revealed two silky legs that were now on display. She looked over to me while chewing and cocked her head in confusion.

"Uh...I got a lot on my mind." I said as I took a spoonful of food and shoved it in my mouth.

"Work?"

"Uh...yeah." I said not convincingly.

Carey looked up to me and looked into my eyes. I felt uncomfortable under her gaze. It seemed like she was searching for something in me. She scooted over from her side of the couch and sat against me. She never broke her gaze. She leaned closer to me. My heart began to race as her face got closer and closer.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't move."

I sat still as Carey got closer and closer. She reached out slowly and pulled something out of my thin beard. She smiled and showed me a piece of rice that had lodged itself in the pathetic attempt at facial hair. "Thanks."

Carey turned and went back to eating while watching television. Relieved that what she did was only something innocent, I continued to eat as well and tried my best to ignore what might go through my mind when it was time to go to bed. I glanced over every other bite of food. Carey would smile and laugh at the shows I watched. Through the absurd adventures of Rick and Morty we finished our meals. I set my bowl on the coffee table and let out a loud and thunderous burp.

"Ewwah!" Carey exclaimed as she punched me playfully on the arm.

"What?"

"What do you mean what?" she asked as she stood from the couch. She pinched her nose and made a face, "I could smell that!"

"You were meant to."

She shook her head, "Boys..."

Carey gathered the empty bowls and walked them to the kitchen, but before she got there, she let out a loud burp of her own. I laughed loudly and mocked her reaction to my burp. "Ewwah!"

She turned to look at me and smirked. She walked the bowls into the kitchen and cleaned up. I leaned back into the couch and took a deep breath. I decided to let the incident that happened early go. We after all were human and being in the confined space that was my room, we both needed some release. I picked up the remote and started surfing through the channels again.

"Anything good on?" She asked as she cleaned.

"Nope."

"Want to watch some Netflix and chill?" She asked.