Too intimate matters

An almost real, almost fictional story! From the life of a bank employee.

Magda and Kasa were sitting at a small, round table — literally meant for just two people — in the café located on the ground floor of the bank where they worked. They often had lunch together, and after their meal, they would order coffee and sit for a while longer, chatting about personal things.

"How are things going with Chris?" Magda asked, sipping her latte through a thin plastic straw.

Kasa, who had always been eager to share intimate details with Magda, this time replied without enthusiasm: "Fine."

And that was the whole answer. Magda couldn't help but notice her friend's unusually subdued expression, but she never pried if the other didn't see fit to speak up on her own. However, after taking a couple of long sips, Kasa added: "Have you ever had that feeling that you and Bobby have gotten bored with each other? I mean, sex... that Bobby no longer satisfies you in terms of sex, even though you still love him?"

Magda, it seemed, understood what was going on. Everything was perfectly fine with Kasa, and what she was talking about was a mere trifle — yet one that still needed to be gently corrected.

"I'll send you the address after lunch... I went there myself before I met Bobby. Saw an ad on TV." Seeing her friend's slightly startled look, Magda smiled, warmly placing her palm on Kasa's hand and glancing away. "Don't worry, it's not what you think. It's something like a... well, a 'Love Factory' workshop. You just need to sit there for a couple of hours, and you don't have to do anything..."

"Love Factory? But I'm not looking for a date," Kasa said, suspecting it was probably some kind of speed dating.

"No, silly..." Magda winked. "I told you, you won't even have to do anything... and if that doesn't help, I've got even heavier artillery."

Magda had a knack for surprising people, and even now, when Kasa was sure she knew her inside and out, Magda managed to prove her wrong once again. "How many more skeletons does she have in her closet?"

They had flown to Bali together with their boyfriends, celebrated New Year's together, and Kasa had not the slightest reason to distrust her.

Kasa arrived at the place about ten minutes late. Apologizing hurriedly for the delay, she sat down in the nearest chair, right by the door. It was only after settling into the seat and looking around that she noticed the room was filled with women — elderly women, in cardigans and burgundy robes; one of them was wearing a wig, and next to her chair stood a walker.

Among them all, there was only one other young woman, roughly her age — thirty to thirty-five — in an elegant navy blue business suit, with beautiful auburn hair like molten silk. Her name was Colleen. As it turned out, she was the facilitator of this gathering. And when Kasa's eyes met hers, in that look, she felt something... it was like a little secret. As if Colleen knew the real reason Kasa had come there.

"It's Ruth's place!" someone among the ladies in the room exclaimed nervously, startling Kasa, who had been looking directly at her.

"Laurence, Ruth won't be coming anymore," Colleen replied with a smile, very calmly, allowing herself a barely noticeable little chuckle at the end. It seemed no one noticed except Kasa.

"Now then, where did we leave off? Mabel, it seems you didn't finish your story at the last gathering," Colleen added, introducing a note of authority into her tone as she lifted her pointed chin toward the elderly woman.

"Honestly, I'd rather manage on my own somehow, rather than go out in public with someone just for the sake of company..." Mabel spoke unbearably slowly, yet everyone — including Colleen — listened to her patiently.

Kasa sat with her hands folded, doing the same — watching the old woman and listening until she started tuning it all out. Because it was absolutely dreadful. It was some kind of elderly women's gathering, women who had waited their whole lives for princes and were still waiting. Some, it seemed, had remained virgins... Kasa was simply horrified. But as Magda had said, Kasa just sat and watched it all, even though she wanted to run away.

Mabel was immediately interrupted by an elderly woman sitting nearby: "Me too. Why waste time for nothing? I go to the movies alone, sleep alone, have sex alone..."

Mabel was immediately interrupted by an elderly woman sitting nearby: "Me too, why waste time for nothing? I go to the movies alone, sleep alone, have sex alone..."

She uttered the last part joyfully and loudly, but then a third woman cut her off: "The same thing happened to me..."

Kasa actually started to feel somewhat relieved, since no one was paying her any attention. And Colleen didn't intervene either, as if she was letting each woman have her say, and as if she knew that Kasa wouldn't utter a single word.

"What?" a hoarse, unfamiliar voice croaked, as if someone had just woken up—someone they hadn't heard from before. A fart sounded.

"She wasn't talking to you, go back to sleep, you old bitch," the woman in the wig said, waving her hand near her nose, turning her head away from the elderly lady sitting next to her in disgust.

"Well then, I think that's enough for today," Colleen said cheerfully and loudly, glancing around at everyone in the room. "Goodbye, everyone!"

Kasa was utterly stunned by what had happened and was the first to dart out of the room. Without even looking back, she nearly ran out of the building. For just a second, her gaze crossed with Colleen's, who, immediately after her final words, had locked eyes with Kasa — still wearing that same mysterious smile — but didn't utter a single word to her.

Nevertheless, that night Kasa was on fire — the need for an overwhelming desire to fuck had been satisfied after that goddamn gathering.

Chris, lying there covered in sweat after sex, exhausted, forced out as if devoid of all strength: "You're on fire tonight!"

Kasa hadn't expected it herself. It was as if an interest in sex, in Chris, and in experimenting with him had awakened within her...

She lay there, equally sweaty, and wondered what the hell that was all about.

When she met up with Magda again at work, once more at their small, elegant round table, she shared that she'd had a breathtaking night with Chris the day before. The kind of night that's usually not talked about, because Chris literally fucked her half to death, without a condom.

"Did he fuck you, or did you fuck him?" Magda laughed.

"But about the Love Factory — it's awful!" Kasa explained. "I'm not going back there."

"Did you talk to Colleen?"

"No, she didn't even ask my name!"

Magda took a sip of her latte, staring at Kasa. As if she had been right there with her throughout the entire gathering and had seen it all with her own eyes.

"Colleen just knows that when young women come, they come simply to get turned on," Magda said, lowering her voice almost to a whisper.

"What?" Kasa made a sour face. "But... that's immoral, Magda!" Her friend's revelation threw Kasa into confusion, which was reflected in every expression on her surprised face.

"Well, sometimes you have to resort to things like that to save a relationship, don't you?"

Kasa silently stared into her cup, where there was no coffee left.

"Besides," Magda added with a pause, "you have no reason to blame yourself — you didn't do anything."

Kasa raised her eyes to her friend uncertainly. "Didn't I?"

"Listen, we're running out of time! We need to get back to the office... especially since I'm already wet from all this talk and these memories!" Magda laughed, then noisily stood up. Her face took on a serious expression.

Magda went to the restroom, and Каsa headed for the elevators.