Gypsy Lover

Harman stared at Alodia and smiled with amusement reflected in his eyes. He turned to the woman with a meaningful smile, too. Alodia had to deal with this later if he was going to "reprimand" her for it. For now, she just wanted to get rid of this beautiful black-haired woman from her path.

"Alodia, this is Laili, a childhood friend," he introduced the older woman to her.

But neither of them wanted to shake hands. Besides, they did not even smile at each other. She already took the hint that this other woman would not back down, like her. And instead, Laili took Harman's arm. Nevertheless, she had no wish to lose this "battle" either. She also took Harman's other arm and the three of them went to a reserved table. Harman did not seem to have any choice of the matter at the moment.

The round table was in the middle of the vast room and the rest were scattered around. A buffet table was in one side, together with the drinks. Uniformed waiters and waitresses hastily walked here and there to serve the guests. The three of them were now the center of attraction. And Alodia knew very well that he was the envy of every man in the room tonight for having the two most beautiful women on either side of him. By the look of his apologetic eyes to her, she understood that he was going to explain this to her later. Alodia just gave him a smile to assure him she had no problem with this scene though heaven knew she wanted to kick this woman's ass real good! She wished she could. Alodia noticed that Laili wanted to control the conversation with Harman by talking about the company. After dinner, the men grouped together to talk about business while the two women were left at the table by themselves to enjoy. Harman, however, was one of them at their table. He was going to join the rest of the men at the bar to talk more about business and other things. After all, the party was about business.

"Huh! Girlfriend you say?" The other woman huffed when Harman was out of earshot. It was like the other woman was looking down on her.

She did not even correct it. That she was his girl-friend, his woman friend. "That's right! Can't you see he's even all over me? Just by picking me up and coming here together are proofs enough for that," she bragged.

She and Laili stared at each other hard and bitchy, and then, they ignored each other for quite some time while they drank wine from each of their wine glasses. They both looked at Harman who was busy talking with the investors. After a minute or so, Harman looked at their table. He seemed worried.

Alodia then gave Laili a triumphant smile. The other woman's eyes sent daggers in her direction.

"You don't know what you're talking about! It is because you're a gadzo!" Laili told her scornfully with fire in her dark eyes.

Alodia glared at Laili, her eyes angry. She did not understand what she meant by that word. She was sure it was not Romanian. "Gadzo?" she echoed. She just knew instinctively it did not mean well for her. She was one hundred percent sure of that.

The other woman smiled coldly and tauntingly. "You won't understand because you're not like me or Harman," she proceeded in the Romanian language. "And someone like you has no place anywhere with us!" she added scathingly. Alodia laughed at that. "Whatsoever you mean by that gadzo word, I don't care as long as Harman's with me. Do you understand that?" she calmly rebutted. Her composure was not at all shaken.

The other woman still smiled coldly, without warmth in her eyes. Alodia thought she must be a very angry woman with nothing that can make her happy in this world.

"You're just Harman's pasttime. Your... relationship is not going to last for long. Just remember that, gadzo." Laili gave her a fiery glare, stood up and walked toward Harman. She took Harman's arm while talking to him animatedly. After some moments, the other woman looked at Alodia over her shoulder while Harman just smiled at her apologetically.

Alodia, on the other hand, just followed them by her eyes and drank her red wine. If only the wine could just drown her jealousy away... She balled one hand into a fist. She was very pissed with that high-hat woman as if she was a royalty! After a couple minutes or so, she found Harman coming back to her with an apologetic smile. Her heart fluttered because of it. She did not expect that he would be back soon. She then tried her best to smile at him warmly, not wanting to show him she was pissed because of that childhood friend of his.

"Laili wanted to go home. So, I have asked Pali to drive for her," he explained as he sat down next to her.

She nodded calmly. "I see." She noticed somehow that he acted restless. "You need a drink?" she inquired while offering her unfinished drink.

He took it and their fingers brushed. She could feel the tingling of that wonderful electricity that moved toward her arm and spine and stopped right in her heart. As a result, that familiar hot liquid fire shot right at her womanhood. Harman gulped the wine down in one swig and put the glass on the table. "Did she... did she say something to you?" he asked her while looking into her eyes. His brows were furrowed. He seemed agitated over something, which she could not guess at the moment. All she knew was it had to do something with Laili.

She shrugged. "Like what? What could it be? You seem... worried, Harman. What's happening to you?" She instinctively touched his hand that was on the table and his eyes were pulled there.

"Can we... can we get out of here? I wish to talk to you in private, Alodia," he requested as he stood up.