Part 41
A secret meeting
The café was warm, its ambiance stitched together from polished brass fixtures, the soft clink of ceramic cups, and quiet jazz bleeding through the speakers overhead. It perched on the corner of a quiet street, out of view from the more frequented spots where Abyss’s usual clientele might gather. Discretion had been critical.
Nadia arrived first.
Her heels clicked too sharply on the stone sidewalk, each step a reminder of what clung to her beneath the long, charcoal-gray coat. Her full-body latex suit hugged every inch of her like a second skin - glossy black, gloves added on top of her ensemble. The outline of her chastity belt clearly visible under the tight garment. Six weeks. That had been the deal. Six weeks of wearing the suit for 112 hours each week. She had thought it would be manageable.
She had been wrong. It was eating at her. Every waking moment was a reminder of what she had lost. Every squeak of latex beneath her coat, every bead of sweat trapped against her skin, every time she felt her breath warm the inside of the hood when she wore it inside Abyss, reminded her that this punishment hadn’t simply come from Abyss. It had come from herself. Her own suggestion. Her own terms.
A single orgasm, that’s what she had wanted. One night of touch. One release. One attempt.
Nadia had paid the price in rubber.
She slid into a seat near the window, keeping her head low, her hands gloved in latex resting in her lap. She hadn’t hidden her suit today. Alexandru had insisted.
"If we meet," he had written, "you’ll come as you are. Latex. Visible. No hiding what you endure. That’s the condition."
And she had agreed. Hesitantly, but honestly. She understood she had no leverage.
A few minutes later, he entered.
He was calm, tall, and somehow unbothered by the strange contradiction of his world - the man who had been the subject of a duel, now walking through a café toward one of the women who had lost him in more ways than one.
He wore a grey sports jacket over a black turtle neck pullover, his scarf draped loosely around his neck. His expression was neutral, but not cold. Still, he looked at her differently than before. Not with longing. With curiosity.
"Nadia," he greeted, sliding into the seat across from her. "You look… well."
She smiled bitterly. "As commanded. And as well as someone can look in public in latex."
He studied her silently for a few moments. "You’re not wearing the hood?" He asked jokingly.
"Only in Abyss," she said quietly, a serious response to his joke. "You know I’m not required outside Abyss."
He nodded. "But the rest?"
She held up her gloved hands, showed her rubber booted foot from underneath the table. "Still faithful. Full body. My final week has begun."
A moment passed between them. The silence wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t hostile either. Just charged.
He broke it first. "You asked for this meeting. What did you want to talk about?"
She looked out the window before replying. "The duel. The forfeit. Everything I lost. Everything I thought I could win."
He leaned forward slightly. "You thought you’d beat Elise."
She laughed, low and bitter. "I thought if I gave enough, risked enough, you’d see it. Appreciate me. You’d choose me. I imagined Elise locked away in chastity, forgotten, and me at your side. Devoted. Yours."
He didn’t respond immediately.
"I thought," she continued, "that if I played by Abyss’s rules, I could earn something real."
Alexandru exhaled slowly. "You tried. That matters."
She met his eyes. "But it didn’t change anything."
"No," he said. "It didn’t."
Silence returned, thicker now.
Finally, he spoke. "Elise and I are together ever since then. As a couple, committed."
"I know."
"We’re… good together. Better than I expected. She surprises me. She’s deeper than she lets on."
"And she won," Nadia said quietly.
Alexandru studied her. "She did."
Nadia’s eyes dropped to her gloved fingers, twisting slightly in her lap. "And now I’m like this. Every day. Wrapped in this thing, with another even crueler thing underneath, reminded every second of what I failed to keep."
He hesitated. "It’s cruel. But I have to admit… it’s compelling."
She looked up sharply.
"You’re saying you like it?"
"I do. I’m saying it’s hard to ignore. The image of you in latex. Your restraint. Your denial. Your discipline."
"Objectifying me," she muttered.
"Admiring you," he corrected. "You chose this. Even if it backfired, these things were your idea. You took the risk. That means something to me. To Elise too."
Nadia’s face twisted. "Don’t include me in your foreplay."
His tone cooled. "I’m not mocking you. I’m telling you that this - what you’re enduring - is part of what drew us closer. Your presence, even absent, is part of our story now."
Nadia sat still. Her breath was shaky. "So I lost you… and became fuel for your love life."
He didn’t flinch. "You made yourself unforgettable. And that’s more than most ever manage."
They sat in silence for a while. Their drinks arrived. Neither of them touched them.
She finally spoke. "Would it have been different, if I had won?"
Alexandru thought carefully before answering. "I don’t know. Maybe. But winning wouldn’t have changed how deeply Elise wanted me. Or how hard she was willing to fight. She is controlling. Always in control. She would never risk anything severe in Abyss, she told me. But she risked indefinite chastity when you asked for that. She put herself on the line for me. That… impressed me."
He continued. "But it was not only for me. It was for you as well. You had the audacity to challenge her over me, to a duel. Even if technically, Elise was asked if she’d challenge. But you set it up, the duel and the forfeit. You wanted to control her, her choice of partner, take away her orgasms. She wants you to pay for that, Nadia. Heavily. As heavy as she can make it."
She nodded slowly as a sliver of fear crept up her spine. "And now I’m paying with my latex enclosure… And my sacrifice for you, doesn’t it mean something?"
"I respect it," he said softly. "And yes, I find it beautiful. But I won’t pretend it changes where I am now."
"You’re with her."
"Yes."
"And you’re… happy."
He met her eyes. "I am."
She looked away, jaw tight.
"But I’m glad you’re part of it," he added.
She frowned. "You mean part of your story. Not mine."
"No," Alexandru said. "I mean your discipline - your denial, your suffering, your submission - it lives with us. We talk about it. We… think about it. It’s shaped us."
Nadia blinked, unsure how to process that.
Alexandru leaned in. "You may not have won. But you changed the game."
She exhaled slowly. Her latex-covered shoulders relaxed just slightly.
"Then let me ask you something," she said.
He waited.
"Do you ever wish it was me instead? That Elise lost?"
He looked down at his cup, then back to her.
"Sometimes," he admitted. "But not because I don’t love her. Because there’s something in the sight of you - contained, restrained - that stirs something in me I didn’t expect. Having a strong woman like Elise in restraints is intoxicating. Had she lost, she would have been a part of our story as well. But I also know… had you won, you’d also wear a belt and that suit. For me instead for Elise."
She exhaled deeply, then paused. Then smiled faintly. "But I also know… had I won, I would have been happy if you held my chastity’s key."
She put her rubber gloved hand on the table, close to his cup. But he did not touch her hand. They sat there a while longer, the distance between them no longer awkward, but heavy. Nadia tilted her head slightly, eyes fixed on him, still holding the ghost of that faint smile. But something flickered behind it - curiosity, or maybe ache.
"That’s sweet, but you should know that I also enjoy that you are chaste now and neither of us has access to the key."
"Next month, it will be two years already. I miss it so much."
"I cannot lie, but I like that. Your burning is like a flame to be admired. It will not help when I tell you, it will be much longer."
"Does Elise wear a belt for you?" she asked, quietly.
Alexandru didn’t answer right away. He looked down again, fingers wrapping around the porcelain cup, then returned his gaze to her.
"No," he said evenly. "She wouldn’t."
Nadia blinked, once. "Because you wouldn’t ask her?"
He shook his head. "Because she’s not built for it. She’s fire. Sharp edges. She doesn’t submit easily - and that’s part of what keeps our rhythm. Every night is a new conquest. She likes to lead. To seduce. And I let her."
"And me? Are you sure the duel came out the right way?"
His answer was gentle. "You’re different. There’s a softness in you that doesn’t come from weakness. It comes from intention. You wanted to surrender. You wanted to be held there, to be shaped in that space. That’s rare."
She looked down at her gloved hands again, resting against the tabletop like something ornamental.
Alexandru leaned slightly forward. "I don’t want Elise in a belt. But I want someone in chastity for us. For me. You… being in denial - it completes something. Even if you’re not beside us. And beside the chastity, I do enjoy your rubber forfeit. The enclosure is severe. I enjoy it, a lot actually. I hold nothing against you, but I do like to see you sink into deep submission."
The words hovered for a moment.
Nadia sat very still. The café, the music, the warmth - all blurred behind the crackle of her chest.
"Then I’m a symbol," she said sadly. "A fantasy. Not a partner."
Alexandru’s face didn’t shift. "You’re part of our story. That’s more than most ever get."
She nodded slowly, eyes distant. The coffee cooled. The light shifted. And Nadia remained - a woman wrapped in latex, sealed in silence, but no longer invisible. When they parted, they didn’t touch. She watched him walk away, tall and sure, part of a world she had fought for and lost.
And she, clad in latex and sealed in steel, grabbed for her coat.