This stand-alone story starts the morning after "Dara Is Instructed By Her Husband" which in turn follows "Dara Fishes For A Husband." Reading those stories is suggested but not required, most of the same characters are in all three. For the convenience of those who read the other stories, the chapters are numbered sequentially.
Dara has caught Sung Ro, with a temporary marriage. Sung paid Dara's father with a large check which will feed her family. However, after years 'off the grid' her father can't deposit the check. Fortunately, Sung taught a seminar on US banking to top executives of the largest banks in Thailand, so he had powerful friends. After the banking is taken care of, Dara and her husband go to Bangkok, where she will transition from a starving 18-year old dropout to a faculty wife in Hong Kong.
All sex is between people who are 18 or older. Chapter 6 occurs in a small town in eastern Thailand. Chapter 7 is mainly in Bangkok. It is the Summer of 2006.
Chapter 6. Deposit The Check. Husband makes a powerful self-important man his bitch and is rewarded. (Erotic Couplings.)
Chapter 7. Bangkok. Life as a wife. Her first time alone with him in the shower and the bed. (Loving couple at home.)
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Chapter 6.
Deposit The Check
The first morning of my married life, less that 20 hours after I first saw my husband, we all ate breakfast in the hotel room before we went shopping. Sung ordered a bunch of things and we all ate off all the plates while we shuffled about getting ready.
Bop dragged me into my room for a private talk. She was upset.
"I heard noises last night."
"On a wedding night there are some noises one expects. But good manners suggests these are not talked about."
"Your room is pretty well soundproofed. I wasn't talking about those noises, although what I could not hear sounded pretty good. I sort of listened for awhile when I did the sheet... while you were in the shower. Also once you got ready for bed." I blushed and she smiled, then she moved on.
"But there were other noises, not from your room. After you guys went to your bedroom, Cara said she wanted to 'take the steam' but did not want to go alone. Dad said he would go with her, unless she preferred my company. Cara said the steam room was coed and such an attractive young girl as me might not be comfortable, plus I would make others uncomfortable, so she and Dad went together. They were gone for an hour so I am sure they didn't hear noises from your room - unless you made noises later? After supper?" She was fishing, but I declined to bite. "Anyways, when they came back from the sauna I figured that was my cue to go to bed. Dad did the same, I know because I tucked him in - he said it was my job now.
Father and I always spent a few minutes at the end of the day talking about plans for the next day. I tucked him in because when my mother died, I said I should take over for her in household tasks. As I got older, it also insured that his teenage girl was home when he went to bed. In the hotel Bop's bed was in the room with the twins.
"About an hour after I tucked Dad in I heard hushed noises... from his room. It sounded like a female voice trying to keep some happy sounds quiet so as not to wake anybody. It was from his room, not yours or Cara's, and the voice... it was female. I do know that this morning Cara and Dad were in their own rooms when I saw them."
Dad was 46 and had not been with a woman in years.
It used to be that when Father killed a big monkey he took part of it to a neighbor's house and shared the meat. That always took two to four hours. The lady of the house loved monkey meat from when she was little, and she was grateful. She had a husband who was much older and always looked run down. Eventually the husband figured out what monkey meat on the table meant monkey business in the bedroom. He decided he did not like monkey meat that much. He was not going to complain to Father, as he figured it might be bad for his health. So he took his wife and moved suddenly. More monkey meat for us.
"Do these things bother you?" I asked Bop.
"No... yes, I don't know. If Father is happy that is good... But she is wearing a ring. So my thoughts are a jumble."
"You could ask him yourself. This afternoon you will be the woman of the house."
"I guess I am having second thoughts about that. The previous woman of the house was tough about chores and homework and such, but I was sure she was always thinking of us. I know we would not have gotten this far if she was not clever, hard working, and sacrificed herself so much for us." Now Bop had tears in her eyes. Maybe someone else did too. "I am not sure I have that toughness..."
"I love you too, and am still thinking of you. We will have emails, and maybe a phone. We will keep in touch. Get yourself and everybody a passport, so you can visit."
"You mean visit Honk Kong?"
I looked at her in a meaningful way and whispered. "Maybe the US. He says that, as his wife, I can become a citizen... which means I might be able to bring you and the twins over for schooling some day. Perhaps Father can see Wisconsin."
Wisconsin! Deer and geese and turkeys! No rainy season! That really started the waterworks. She got me going. It was some time before we went to join the others.
But nobody complained.
After breakfast Sung explained that we could not dress to impress the bank people, there was not enough time for fitted clothing. So we would go casual, with new outfits all around. Father in a golf shirt and slacks while Bop and I got casual blouse-and-skirt outfits. The twins also got outfits. There were new sensible shoes all around. It did not take long.
When we got to the bank we left Cara in the SUV with the twins. There were TVs in the headrests so the twins were very happy. Cara had a book about "Sleeping Beauty." I wondered about that.
Sung said we were to relax, stay close to him, and act bored. Banks like this one were designed to impress people, it made them easy to lead. We were not to be impressed, it was all boring. We were to pay no attention to anyone except the bank manager, and we were only to nod when addressed. He was very serious about this, we had to follow the script.
I should say something here about Father. You know how they say some people "look like trouble?" The picture next to that phrase looks like Father. When he was younger he was in the military, and was quite handsome - in a wicked way. He has always been very muscular for a Thai, like a young Rambo, plus unlike Rambo he was taller than average. Since Mother died he has added some weight. Have you seen the latest Rambo movie? His looks are best described as "rangy," or maybe "hulking." Now Father is like that. In the woods he is at home. In the bank he will attract attention no matter how he is dressed. The clothing Sung bought us did not really change things, except maybe they suggested a degree of success, possibly in something disreputable.
When we walked in Sung was the best-dressed person in the bank, wearing what I later learned was a $5,000 suit. (Yes, that is an obscene amount of money for a suit. Even for an American. Sung has several custom made in Italy. "Cost of doing business," he said with a sigh.) Sung acted like everybody worked for him, and he was a mean boss. The guards took one look at Father and they started to close in, but we followed Sung and paid them no attention. When one guard tried to step in front of us Sung did not even meet his eye, he just kept going and the guy gave way. We walked to the back of the lobby, past this little fence thing into the area with desks, where the floor is carpet. We kept walking directly to the last desk. There Sung addressed the occupant like he owned the place, he did not even look at her.
He glanced at his watch as he spoke. "Miss, would you please dial your central office, extension 475, on a secure line and ask for George? Give the person who answers my name..." he handed her a card, "... and then give me the phone. Then connect in your boss and tell him what you have done."
The secretary did not do as my husband asked. "Why would I do that?" she asked like she owned the place. Very snooty.
Sung glanced again at his watch like he was checking the time, waited a tick, then he spoke to her. "You are being timed. I need to talk to George on a secure line. If I have to call him on my phone it will not be secure and he will have to call your boss on his private extension and instruct him to fire you or fire himself... George will say he does not care which. So I suggest..."