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It was starting to feel almost rude keeping his hands to himself. Ket Siong tried putting a hand up under Renee’s blouse and was encouraged by her receptive wriggle. He felt the lace of her bra under his fingertips and reached under it, cupping her breast. The nipple was soft against his palm, but it stiffened as he rolled it between his fingers.

He was lying sideways, so only his top half was pressed against her. Renee tried to tug him closer, but Ket Siong held back, conscious of his erection digging into the mattress. He had a feeling things might be over a little too soon if he got too close, and there were things he wanted to do first. He pushed the fabric of Renee’s blouse out of the way, fumbling with her bra.

He had no experience of taking anyone’s bra off, and figuring it out took an embarrassingly long time. They both started getting distracted, till Renee sat up and took off her blouse, undoing her bra one-handed. Fortunately, she only had to stop kissing him briefly in order to do this.

Ket Siong was vaguely aware he should take his shirt and jumper off—it was what they both wanted—but kissing Renee was taking up all his attention.

Wasn’t there something else he was going to do as well? Something important.

It was bothering him enough that he pulled away from her so he could remember. She looked adorably rumpled, her hair tousled and her cheeks flushed.

He hadn’t done anything yet about the fact she’d taken off her bra. That was what he’d forgotten.

She sighed when he lowered his face to her breasts. He took a nipple into his mouth, sucking it. Renee let out a stifled moan.

It was at this point that the phone rang.

Ket Hau had chosen Ket Siong’s ringtone for him, in the hope of curing his inattention to his phone. It was like having a car alarm go off in the room. Renee started, kneeing Ket Siong in the chest. He fell off the bed, landing on the floor with a thud that knocked the air out of him.

As he was staring up at the ceiling, dazed, Renee’s face hove into view.

“Oh my God, are you OK?” she said.

He had to strain to hear her over the phone ringing. It had to be a spam call. His family would have texted in advance if they wanted to speak, and it was late in Malaysia. Ma and Ket Hau would be asleep.

Ket Siong grabbed his phone off the desk and rejected the call. It was from a private number.

He collapsed back onto the floor. Renee looked down at him, pink and apologetic.

“Sorry,” she said. “Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” said Ket Siong. “I need to change my ringtone.”

Renee was still topless. He was struggling not to stare. But it didn’t seem to occur to her to feel awkward.

“Why do you even have one of those?” she said, meaning his phone. “It looks like it should be in a museum. You can get a smartphone cheap nowadays.” She paused. “Your birthday’s in May, right?”

“I don’t want a smartphone,” said Ket Siong. “My phone does everything I need it to.”

Despite his best efforts, his gaze had drifted downwards from her face. He only realised when Renee caught him looking. She smiled.

For a moment they gazed at each other, sheepish and delighted.

“Do you want to come back up here?” said Renee. She held out her arms.

With impeccable timing, her stomach let out a loud growl.

Ket Siong sat up. “When did you last eat?”

Renee sighed, slumping against the wall. “You’re not going to interrogate me about my diet now? We could bemaking out.”

“Did you have lunch?” said Ket Siong, frowning. Renee had a bad habit of skipping meals.

Her shifty look was all the answer he needed. He rummaged around for his shoes, sitting on the bed next to Renee while he put them on.

“Ket Siong…”

“I’ll get us dinner,” said Ket Siong. “Takeaway from the Vietnamese place?”