Kinga entered the room, unbuttoned her coat and hung it in the wardrobe. She kicked off her shoes and placed them tidily on the carpet against the wall. She set her bag down on the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. Yes she was nervous of course she was, but she had made her decision and was adamant that she would see it through. She undressed, folded her clothes neatly and walked naked into the bathroom to turn on the shower. As she stepped into the cubicle and let the steaming water engulf her, she closed her eyes and thought back over the sequence of events that had led her here.
The first parcel arrived by post last Thursday, exactly a week ago to the day. She had collected it from the postman as she was rushing out of the door, late for work again as usual. She opened the door of her BMW and slid in. She tossed the package onto the passenger seat, turned the key in the ignition and backed out of the parking space.
Traffic was a nightmare, mothers taking kids to school, blocking the roads as they dropped their precious cargo off. That was all she needed. She arrived at work stressed, frustrated and late. She picked up the package and clicked the button to lock the car doors. En route to her desk she grabbed a coffee from the machine before flopping into her chair.
She sipped at her coffee and picked up the little packet and turned it over in her hands. It was wrapped in plain brown paper and addressed in fine felt tip pen. K. Jones. The postmark was London and she did not recognise the handwriting. The wrapping paper was neatly folded and closed with sellotape, cut she noticed not torn. Kinga tugged at the paper causing a small tear at the corner. Exploiting this, she peeled off the wrapping to find a small white box. She lifted the lid, removed a layer of tissue paper and pulled out a blood red, satin G-string.
A small smile cracked across her face. She rummaged through the box looking for a note, but found nothing. Bemused she began to run through all of the possibilities as to who could have sent her this gift. Michael, M as she called him, a throwback to a 1990's Bond movie. Maybe, but the box was a bit formal. Then she discounted him as he was away for 2 weeks in the States and this was sent locally. The new guy in the office? Hmmm maybe, she even hoped so, but so far he had shown little interest despite her thinly disguised, flirtatious comments. Who then?
She sat spinning the garment on her index finger when her colleague Lauren walked in. "What's that?" she enquired. "Nothing" Kinga mumbled as she whipped her hands under the desk and felt herself blush.
Kinga was blushing again as she remembered. She was out of the bathroom and had fixed her make up using the full length mirror. She dried her hair then sat on the bed, opened her bag and took out all of the items she needed for the evening. As she sat there she thought back to the second parcel.
This arrived the following day, the Friday, again as she was leaving the house to go to work. The wrapping and handwriting were the same but the parcel a little bigger and flatter. She was far too curious to wait until she got to work, so she took it from the postman and went back inside the house to open it.
Sitting at the kitchen table she slid a knife under the wrapping and cut. The knife sliced through the paper to reveal a pair of black, nylon, hold-up stockings. The branding was French, La Perla, and the nylon looked sheer and dark. Once again she searched but found no note.