Part 42
Reflections
The next day, a different café. Alexandru sat across from the woman who had taken risk and won. The coffee shop was warm and bustling, the hum of conversation mingling with the hiss of the espresso machine. Elise leaned back in her chair, a satisfied smirk playing on her lips as she stirred her cappuccino. Across from her, Alexandru, her partner in life and victory, mirrored her mood with a wide grin.
"Well," Elise began, her voice low but brimming with amusement, "it’s been five weeks, and I imagine dear Nadia is barely holding it together. I mean, could you imagine her pacing her apartment, dripping in sweat, trying to keep up with the hours in that rubber suit?"
Alexandru chuckled, lifting his latte to his lips. "I can’t lie - I’ve thought about it more than once. The visual is just… too good." He set his cup down, his fingers drumming lightly on the table. "It’s not just the physical discomfort, though. It’s the psychological toll. The constant reminder of her failure. That suit clings to her as tightly as her shame."
Elise laughed, a light, airy sound that turned a few heads nearby. She leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "And the weekends," she said, her eyes gleaming. "Twenty-three hours a day. Can you even fathom that? She has one measly hour to clean the suit, shower, and catch her breath. And if she misses even a single hour, well…" She let the sentence hang, her smile growing wider.
"The needle frame," Alexandru finished for her, his voice tinged with mock solemnity. "Six days, twenty-four hours each. It’s almost poetic, really. Evelyn knows how to make her lessons stick."
"Evelyn certainly does," Elise agreed, taking a sip of her cappuccino. "But you have to give us credit too. We were the ones who sealed her fate. That belt - " Elise’s eyes twinkled mischievously as she spoke, " - it started it all off. The rubber enclosure is just the cherry on top of her misery."
Alexandru leaned back, crossing his arms. "You know, I sometimes wonder if she truly thought she stood a chance against us. That first challenge? She walked in with all the confidence in the world, as if she could actually win."
Elise shook her head, her curls bouncing slightly. "If she had won, she’d be sitting here with you now and I’d be wearing a chastity belt. But confidence or desperation - it doesn’t matter. Either way, she was woefully unprepared. And now she’s paying the price. Do you think she regrets it yet?"
Alexandru thought back to his prior secret meeting in another café with Nadia. How she asked what could have been, had she won. Elise belted instead. Her being at his side instead. He didn’t choose between both women’s attraction, and the fateful duel had decided for him. In the back of his mind, indecision still lingered.
"Oh, I’d not be sitting here with her, you know I’m into you, and yes, undoubtedly, she pays the price in orgasms she’ll never experience. And isn’t that the sweetest aphrodisiac we could ask for? I come so much stronger with you, knowing that she goes untouched, even by her own hands." Alexandru said, his voice rich with amusement. He did not add that he’d more than once imagined Elise losing, and in the belt, and the thought of her in heavy rubber was enticing. As frequent visitors to Abyss they were no strangers to including latex in their unisons, but he would avoid asking the full and heavy enclosure, hooded, from Elise as she should not think that he’d picture Nadia under him.
"And can you imagine her trying to get through the workweek? Sitting at her desk, knowing that as soon as she gets home, the suit is waiting for her? And the weekends? She must dread them like nothing else."
Elise’s laughter returned, softer this time but no less delighted. "The weekends are my favorite part. The thought of her lying in bed, encased in that rubber suit, counting the minutes until she can take it off for an hour… It’s exquisite. And all this for an attempt to get a single orgasm."
Alexandru raised his latte in a mock toast. "To your’s and Evelyn’s genius," he said.
"And to Nadia’s downfall," Elise replied, clinking her cappuccino cup against his.
For a moment, the two sat in companionable silence, their smiles lingering as they sipped their drinks. The coffee shop bustled on around them, oblivious to the dark delight they took in the suffering of another.
"You know," Alexandru said after a moment, his tone thoughtful, "I wonder what she’ll do when the six weeks are up. She’s got one left, right?"
Elise nodded. "Yes, just one. I wish we could keep her in this suit for longer. But what can we do? And what can she do? The belt isn’t coming off for a day unless Evelyn says so, and we both know Evelyn isn’t about to budge. If she wants to risk another gamble, Evelyn would consult me first. I get so hot knowing that my competitor is a puddle of unfulfilled lust. It makes my own orgasms so much stronger as well. And the belt never comes off as long as we are together."
"True, and it sucks for her that our love is still growing strong." Alexandru mused. "But people like Nadia - they’re stubborn. She might try to challenge someone else, thinking she can bargain her way out of this mess."
Elise smirked. "She’s banned from challenging for a while now. And after that she’ll fail. Again. Because people like her always do. And nobody takes her serious anymore."
Alexandru chuckled, leaning forward. "And when she does try her next act, I hope we get front-row seats."
"Darling," Elise said, her tone playful, "I wouldn’t miss it for the world."
They finished their drinks, their conversation turning to lighter topics. But the satisfaction lingered, a quiet undercurrent of triumph that neither could quite shake. For Elise and Alexandru, this was more than just a victory - it was a vindication, a reminder that in the world of Abyss, power and control belonged to those who knew how to wield them.