Chapter Text
Berdly had spent the better part of the last 18 months working day and night on this damn project. His Magnum-Opus: a 13 acre lot in the mountains overlooking both Barcelona and the Mediterranean; featuring an 8 car garage, an external and an internal pool, and a private artificial lake. At the center of it all: Berdly’s master-piece; a 3-story, 12-bedroom, 10-bathroom Villa. Featuring a cutting-edge AI powered security system, a private cinema, and a spacious bunker which – when fully stocked – could last a couple of months. The exterior was inspired by late-medieval Catalan designs while making extensive use of newer methods of mass timber and engineered wood. The interior, meanwhile, took heavy inspiration from pre-reconquista muslim architecture but with a modernist twist.
Berdly had mentally gone over the design hundreds – if not thousands – of times, he knew it by heart. Whenever he closed his eyes and focused, he could see himself standing at the entrance. Dual marble stairwells and a pair of obsidian columns worked together to draw the eye to three huge arched windows which framed a most wonderful vista – Barcelona against the sea.
It was perfect.
It was not his design that was making him anxious. That matter had already been closed and settled: all the permitting and paperwork had been taken care of; construction was already scheduled to start; Berdly had already been paid; and the client, Mr. Daniel DeBear, had already been shown a mock-up model and was deeply pleased with it. (Not that he – a tech founder turned venture capitalist – had any understanding of high-art.)
No, Berdly’s mind is fixated and panicked over something else entirely: Mr DeBear’s upcoming birthday party. It would be taking place in just under 24 hours in his New York apartment. Everyone who was anyone had been invited. And also – somehow – Berdly.
This is the networking opportunity of a lifetime. If Berdly could establish himself as the luxury architect of the New York and tech elite he’d be set forever. A lifetime of fruitful, profitable work.
Berdly closes his eyes and looks around his entrance hall one more time. The solid mahogany floor, the red silk rug, the blue french wallpaper. A vision of perfection.
Berdly then opens his eyes and is thrown back once again into the world of reflections and shadows. Gone were the straight parallel lines and symmetrical right angles, the perfect geometry of his idealized mind. In the darkness of his bedroom, in the silence of the night, there were only shades of grays, edgeless silhouettes, and muffled echoes. In the real world, the true nature of things is obscured; appearances are meant to fool, words are meant to deceive. Everyone tries to hide away their core – their true selves. And so all that’s left are outlines.
At that moment, only one thing felt truly real. Laying next to him, nestled in between his arm, the one person he had ever been able to love. Sleeping deeply, breathing softly, snoring slightly. Her skin is tough yet soft, scarred yet smooth. Warm to the touch and pulsating, a lone ball of heat and life in the cold and indifferent upper-middle class suburbs of Burlington VT.
How erotic.
Berdly closes in on the warm body. He feels the radiant heat all throughout his body as he tightens his embrace. He starts moving his hand slowly and delicately so as to not wake her up – a skill he had perfected over many years of marriage. Departing from her legs, heading up her waist, feeling up her belly, until finally…
“Stop it!”
“What? What did I do?”
“You know what you did, asshole!”
“Oh, Susie. You have me all wrong. I was asleep… If I did anything unproper I must have been sleep-walking… Dreaming of you.”
“Ugh!” Susie growls, pushing Berdly away with her elbow.
“Ow! That hurt!” said Berdly, recoiling back to his side of the bed.
“Oh shut up, you perv! Go back to sleep!”
Berdly sighs and takes a deep breath. Despite the pain, the attempt was worth it. He lets his head fall on his pillow and allows himself to relax. Whatever fate held in store for him, It was now fast approaching. No use worrying about it, so he might as well get a little bit of sleep.