Free The Same Woman by Thea Lim Page B

wearing a tiny tie. He had not seen her in two months. He didn’t recognise any of the clothes that she was wearing. If she had seen him she showed no sign of it. It was like they had never known each other.
    He turned his head, pressed his face into Ruby’s hair and tried to keep the memories of the things he wished he hadn’t done from spurting up, like bile.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Ruby jerked her head away from his face. She stared at him for a moment in disgust. “Maybe you want to go over and say hello?”
    â€œNo, Ruby, please.”
    â€œPlease what? What do you want to do?”
    â€œWhatever you want to do, if you want to leave we can leave, if you want to stay, we’ll stay.”
    â€œI’m not leaving,” Ruby said, “It’s my best friend’s birthday. That girl just keeps on pushing me and pushing me, and some time soon I’m going to push back.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Tariq panicked in the face of such undiluted fury. He tried to talk her out of it. It was probably the worst thing he could’ve done.
    â€œMaybe she just happened to come here tonight.”
    â€œWhat?!” Ruby’s voice went from a whisper to a scream, but as the night got later the music got louder and no one could hear her — except the bar staff who often hoped for drama like this to liven up a monotonous shift.
    â€œWhy does everyone keep on saying it’s a coincidence? Did she just happen to stumble into the café where she knew Octavia worked? Did she just happen to stumble into your bed?” This high drama was too much for Tariq.
    â€œI don’t know what to say,” he said.
    â€œYeah, I know.” Ruby began to push her way out of the bar crowd and Tariq hopelessly let her go.
    She was headed for Octavia and Isi, but when she got halfwayacross the room, Ronald, Frankie, and the boy with the tiny tie who was actually called Aurelio, were at Octavia’s table. Ruby was trapped on the dance floor between Tariq at the bar and Frankie at the table.
    All the things Ruby had tried not to think about cascaded over her. Had Frankie ever come here with Tariq? Had he held her in one of the red plush booths and touched her back under her shirt with the same fingers and bones and skin that touched Ruby? How long had it taken Tariq’s hands to forget Ruby?
    Bodies swung around her. Though she was still, Ruby wasn’t hesitant. She knew exactly what to do. A plan was ready in her mind as if it had always been there. Ruby headed straight for the front door.
    Yousuke was talking to one of the few women in the bar who could’ve been under 25.
    â€œYousuke,” Ruby said, and smiled benevolently at the younger girl, who half-smiled and then stepped back, deftly hiding her annoyance.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” He put his hand on her back and she was aware that he could’ve held her entire torso in one hand. She leaned into him so that he could feel the warmth of her and the soft curves of her body against him. Ruby knew how to gain power over a man like Yousuke but she had rarely been willing to do it.
    â€œThere’s a girl here who’s been harassing me.”
    â€œNo way. Where is she?”
    â€œShe’s at the table, talking to my friend, you remember Octavia?”
    â€œYeah, of course. Which girl is it?”
    â€œShe has long hair, she’s standing up, in the black.”
    â€œI see her.”
    â€œI just,” Ruby paused dramatically. She slid her arm around Yousuke’s waist, and stood on her toes so that she was speaking right into his ear, her lips brushing the skin on his neck. On some remote level of clarity she was sickened by Yousuke’s cologne and how easy this was. “I feel scared. She came after me in the bathroom, and she said,” Ruby stopped. What did she say?
    â€œIt’s okay honey,” Yousuke said. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll