Megan was one of the youngest directors in the firm, through the company gender equality drive, she was recognised and promoted faster than her colleagues; in fact, at 35 she was one of the youngest employees at director level in her firm.
Megan met her husband Richard when she attended the same university; she was studying business law and Richard was studying computing science. They started talking due to their similar ethnic background, both Megan and Richard were born in Hong Kong but emigrated to England at an early age. Richard was your typical nerdy Asian who liked to stay at home and play video games whereas Megan was outgoing and tend to go out socialising. Despite their differences in personality they enjoyed one another's company After graduation Richard worked his way up in an IT company from being one of the junior application engineers to a senior IT architect. They both felt comfortable in getting married once their careers had been established.
Megan firmly believed in the motto work hard play hard, to relieve some of the stress and pressure from work, she would usually go to the gym three days a week, each morning before work. Every time after her workout she felt energized and empowered for the day ahead.
Megan got to know Emerald through the gym, they joined the same circuit classes and over a period of months they became close friends. Emerald was Caucasian and, in her thirties, she was very attractive, standing at about 5ft 6in with long blonde hair and 36C breast size. Emerald, like Megan was also married, her husband Steve worked as a taxi driver. The first and only time Richard met Steve was when Megan invited him and Emerald to dinner at a local restaurant. Richard was a little surprised when he met him; Steve was a big heavy man with broad shoulders and greying hair and beard. Richard guessed Steve must be in his mid-fifties; he looked more like Emeralds father than her husband. Steve looked uncomfortable and didn't talk very much but Richard could tell how much he adored Emerald. He would smile every time Emerald made a joke and when we left the restaurant, he wrapped his jacket around her in case she felt cold. That dinner was maybe around 10 months ago.
On Friday nights, every fortnight after work, Megan liked to destress by going out to bars and clubs, Richard on very rare occasions would accompany her. When Richard and Megan started dating, he was surprised how many other men were hitting on her at the bars, throughout the night many men bought her drinks and tried to talk and make her laugh. Megan liked to tease the men but ultimately, she would politely reject any of their advances if it goes any further than innocent flirting. Richard knew he hit the jackpot when he met Megan, she was after-all a stunning specimen; Megan was 5 ft 8in in height, long dark hair, slim figure and long legs with nice firm 34C breasts. She looked a lot like a certain Korean star called Park Jung Ah.
For Richard though, clubbing was really not his thing; although the first few times he went out with Megan, he enjoyed seeing other men make moves on his wife. However, over time it got a bit boring for him as it always ended so predictably. Marriage has given Richard a false sense of security that Megan will not cheat on him; so now, Richard would rather be in front of his PC playing FPS games instead of accompanying her out. For Megan, she subconsciously felt a lot freer when Richard was not with her. Although Megan enjoyed the company of her colleagues, they were all males and so she invited Emerald to join her. Soon every fortnight this became their ritual; on those Friday evenings after work she and her friends from work would meet with Emerald to go drinking. At the end of each night, Emerald called Steve to take her and Megan home.
One Friday night Megan noticed Emerald was getting quite close to Zen who was one of the junior lawyers in her firm. Zen joined the firm 2 years ago; he was from Malaysia but has been residing in London since he graduated from University. Zen was tall, young and handsome; he has been actively working out at the gym since his university days to keep his body lean and fit. At 28 years old he was never short of offers from admiring singletons and even sometimes married women. At the end of the night he always left the club with a different woman in his arms. Zen had several times tried to hit on Megan; it was extra exciting for him to flirt with Megan as she was his senior manager, but he knew he wasn't getting anywhere and soon gave up. Over a number of weeks Emerald became infatuated with Zen, she became more and more jealous every time she saw him leave with a new woman every Friday night. Her obligations as a devoted wife was soon forgotten, this was something she cannot control, Zen had lit a fire within her. Zen had been working slowly on Emerald, he didn't want to treat Emerald like one of the other women, as Emerald was one of Megan's best friends. He sensed though that tonight, his slow and subtle seduction of Emerald will bear fruit.
At 01:54am Megan looked around for Emerald, it was time to go home. She took out her phone and rang Emerald but there was no answer. A couple of minutes later a text comes through; it was from Emerald.
"Hey Megan, I'm sorry I have an emergency with a friend, please make your way home tonight, talk to you tomorrow".
She looked around for Zen, unsurprisingly he left early too. The rest of her colleagues ordered taxis and escorted Megan home as Steve was not outside.
Once Megan got home, she was mixed with emotions, one part of her was annoyed and angry if Emerald was indeed with Zen and another part of her was worried if it was the alcohol that contributed to her cheating on Steve (if that was indeed the case). Her head was already ringing from the alcohol and thinking about this made her dizzy. She decided to just get a quick shower and sleep on it.
The next day she woke up at 10am, Richard had already got up and was walking the dog outside. Her head still felt a little sore from last night's drinking but it was nothing unusual. She grabbed her phone from the bedside table to see if Emerald had sent her any further messages; nothing. The ray of sunshine through the window brought her some positive energy and she had renewed hopes that Emerald was indeed attending to an emergency rather than having an affair with Zen.
Megan done some stretching on the yoga mat, got washed and headed downstairs for some breakfast. She loved the smell of coffee in the morning from the coffee machine. Richard came back from walking the dog and Mollie the golden Labrador puppy excitedly ran to Megan as soon as she saw her.
"Oooh I missed you, how are you?" she hugged the puppy.
"Well hello and I missed you too thanks," Richard responded sarcastically.
"Oh, honey I missed you as well of course," she responded with a wry smile and a kiss.
"Did you have fun last night?" asked Richard.
"Sort of, just the usual banter with Emerald and some of my colleagues at the firm," she answered.
"You know...I was really horny from all that drinking last night but you didn't wait on me and fell asleep," She teased.
"I'm ready for some loving now," he smiled.
"But I'm not in the mood now, you missed your chance mister" she smiled back.
Richard made a sad face which made Megan laugh.
Their playful exchange was soon interrupted when Megan's phone rang; She took the call and walked out to the living room. Richard couldn't help but notice Megan's concerned facial expression when she took the call.
A few minutes later Megan emerged from the living room.
"Everything ok, who was that?" Richard asked.
"That was just Emerald, she wanted to just have lunch together," Megan tried to break out a smile.
"Great! it's about time she treated us to lunch," Richard joked, having no intention of having lunch with Emerald.
Megan arranged to meet at a local cafe, their usual hangout after the gym. Emerald had already arrived and was sitting at the corner table drinking coffee.
"I already ordered you a latte, but told them to hold off serving it before you arrive," Emerald said as Megan sat down.
They both ordered food before the usual chit chat until Megan asked her sternly, "So, what happened to you last night?"
Emerald averted her eye contact with Megan and looked to the outside.
Megan already knew what the answer was from Emerald's expression.
"You went away with Zen, didn't you...? what were you thinking?" Megan exclaimed.
"I'm sorry for leaving you ok!" Emerald finally answered.
"I'm not angry you left me! what were you thinking? What about Steve? How could you cheat on him?" Megan kept firing out the questions.
"You know, I have been attracted to Zen since you introduced him to me..."
"As a friend, not a lover!" Megan interrupted.
"We have been flirting with each other for weeks...months, but he knew I wasn't available...I got jealous every time I saw him leaving with another women...so last night...," She continued to talk sheepishly.
"But what about Steve!?...are you ending it with him or is it just a fling with Zen?" Megan was getting frustrated and angry.
"I don't know ok! I really like Zen but please don't tell Steve," Emerald pleaded.
"You know what, I think I lost my appetite, clear your head and sort it out" Megan told her.
Megan got up and left, she was angry at Emerald but at the end of the day, that was her personal life. On the other hand, she can't help but felt sympathy and compassion when she thought about Steve. The two women did not see each other again for the next few weeks; Megan had expected to see Emerald at the gym but there was no sign of her.
It was already the weekend but Megan did not feel like going out and stayed home; this whole saga had made her feel mentally exhausted. She had hoped, given time it will all blow over and return back to normal soon. She sent a text to Emerald to let her know that they are still friends and she was always available if she wanted to talk.
Several days later, Megan was sitting in her office; She was busy reviewing an important case for a client. Although this was not a big case, it required some focus and attention from senior management as the case involved a long-standing client of the firm. She was deep in thought about who should be taking this case on. There were a few junior lawyers that are vying for promotion and whoever took on this case would have a good chance to be one of the candidates on that ladder. Michael and Ed were two of the longest serving juniors in the firm and then there was Zen; He has been in the firm for just over 2 years but has a good track record of settling cases quietly. Megan wanted to remain professional, she didn't want her personal feelings to cross over with her. The fact that Zen hooked up with one her married friends should not cloud her judgement. She had to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses diligently.
Suddenly her mobile phone rang, Emerald's name was flashing on the screen. Megan was happy that Emerald had rang her, she thought this may be the start where their friendship gets back to normality.
"Hey Emerald, how have you been?" Megan answered the call with positive expectation.
In complete contrast, Emeralds voice was nervous and hesitant.
"Hi Megan...I know we are good friends and ...I just want to say goodbye," she muttered.
