World of Women - World of Women – V4 – Chapter 25

It was hard to determine how far along we were. We waited in the bin until we were certain we were out of the city. Once the truck stopped making random stops and turns and remained driving straight for some time, I reasoned we had finally left. I left the box and stretched the best I could among piles and piles of boxes. Cornelia remained by my side, quiet and reflective as she dwelled on everything that had happened the last 24 hours. Her supposedly normal life had been completely upended in a single day.

Now, the pair of us were escapees. We were on our way to a demon lord’s castle. The last one we found had been buried beneath Matahari. What were the chances that the second one would show up in Amaryllis? Then again, maybe the fact it was in Amaryllis was the entire reason I was born near here anyway. Well, guessing as to why things seemed to fall this way was impossible.

It was several more hours before the truck slowed down and turned a few times. It had finally stopped, making a thud when the truck dropped down onto its landing feet. The engine cut out, and the pair of us waited quietly, listening for any noises outside. When the door in the front cab slammed shut, I took that as our cue to head back. They were probably getting food or stretching or something. Maybe, they needed to charge the truck’s batteries.

Very carefully, I unlocked the back door and lifted it just enough that I could glance out into the parking lot. We appeared to be parked in front of a diner, just as I had hoped. I couldn’t say what we would do if they had driven straight to this country estate where they were delivering the food and immediately unloaded. Thankfully, Nada’s plan went well. I didn’t see any other cars in view, so I opened the back a bit more, just enough for us to squeeze through.

I fell out of the truck and onto the floor, looking around cautiously. Cornelia followed behind me, closing the door behind her.

“We made it,” she muttered.

“You doubted?”

She didn’t answer, so I poked her.

“What?”

“You’re the woman. If any random person saw you, it’d be less shocking than if they saw me. You need to lead the way here.”

“R-right…” Her face colored as she stood up.

She was just one of a billion women. Even if they had put her face up in Amaryllis as a person of interest, it was unlikely anyone would notice her as long as she kept her head low. On the other hand, running into a boy in the country like this would be extremely unlikely. Men tended to gravitate toward the cities where the population was greatest and they could spread the most seed. A man in the country would be noticed by any woman who saw them.

She cautiously walked across the parking lot, heading toward a café. Her intention wasn’t to enter it but to skirt around the outside. We just needed a safe space to bunker down until Brooke could come to pick us up. By my guess, we were about five hours out of the city. That shouldn’t be too long.

As we snuck to the side of the café and behind it, there was thankfully no one close enough to notice us. With a sigh of relief, we found a spot in the back near a dumpster. I pulled out the device that Nada had given me and pressed it. With that, we had managed our part. As we waited, I sat on a stairstep while Cornelia leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Even here, I felt extremely exposed.

The land around us didn’t have any covering. It was a hilly area with an occasional tree, but the highway was passing by only a few hundred meters away. Any one of those people could glance over and see two strangers behind the café and make a call. I kept telling myself that no one would have any reason to care about two people who were just loitering, but it still bugged me. At that moment, my stomach growled.

I could smell something tasty coming from the café’s kitchen. I had spent so long eating fine and healthy foods prepared by chefs that the simple smell of a cheeseburger brought back nostalgia I hadn’t even realized I possessed. In my previous life, I had eaten a lot of junk food, and I realized I kind of missed it. I looked back at the café with a forlorn look.

“Are you kidding me?” Cornelia glared at me.

“Wh-what?”

“We were just in a truck filled with food, and you’re hungry now?”

“Most of that food was raw ingredients. You didn’t expect me to eat raw meat or uncooked dough, did you?” I responded helplessly.

At the time, I had been far too nervous and worried to eat. That had carried me through the night. It was around breakfast time now, the next day. Now that the hardest part was taken care of, the lack of eating anything finally caught up with me. I was ignoring it at first, but after Cornelia said something, I couldn’t help but look at her.

“You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking?” Cornelia demanded.

“I mean, no one would be looking for you. Do you have any cash?”

“Even if I do… if anyone saw us, it’d be a risk!”

“Only if they reach us before Brooke. Once she picks us up, it’s hardly going to matter.”

“Clyburn!”

“It’s fine… you don’t need to get anything.” I raised my hands. “I can wait for five hours. It’s not like you’re my agent anymore. You don’t need to take care of me.”

She narrowed her eyes, and after a moment, she pushed herself off the wall. “I’ll get us something small to hold us over.”

“You don’t need to.”

“No, it’ll be less suspicious if we’re paying customers. Hopefully, they’ll leave us alone because of that.”

Cornelia didn’t say anything else as she left me behind the café and walked around to the front, trying to look as casual as she could. The best key to hiding was to pretend you had nothing to hide. You could accomplish quite a bit just by exuding confidence. That was a lesson I had learned over the last six years.

I waited and it wasn’t too long before she came back with a bag and a drink. She tossed it down on my lap before returning to her spot leaning against the wall. I started opening the bag and then glanced at her.

“Don’t you need anything?”

“I only had the money for one meal.” She blushed. “It’s fine, just eat.”

“I’ll split it.”

“Just eat.”

“I won’t if you don’t join me,” I insisted stubbornly.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, then walked over and sat down next to me. I pulled out the cheeseburger and then pulled it in half, handing her half of it. She took it and bit, chewing rapidly. It was clear by the expression she was making that she had been hungry too.

“Have you ever eaten something like this before?” She asked, glancing at my wryly.

“It’s been a while. In my old… world…” my tone dropped off as I looked away awkwardly.

“A world where men and women are equal. Is it… a peaceful world?” Cornelia asked, taking another bite while distinctly not looking at me.

“No… and yes…”

She raised an eyebrow, looking over at me.

“It’s just a different world. If you were thinking that having equal amounts of females and males would create some kind of utopia, you’re wrong. There are still women who hate men, men who hate women, or even those they hate themselves. There are wars, famine, and prejudice, even based on sex.

“Is it as bad for men? I can’t even say that much. Men were typically in charge, except for the times when they weren’t. Everyone can be a lot more choosey about who they sleep with. People cheated on each other a lot. No one was protected and everyone was miserable.”

“I see…” She looked away, just a flash of disappointment on her face.

“However…” I continued, realizing I was letting my bitterness when it came to that life bleed through a bit much. “There is also a beauty to that world. Men were there to raise their children. Loving fathers in normal family units. Ah… I guess a normal unit for you are two women taking care of a child from another man. Brothers and sisters were much more common. Full siblings, not half-siblings you barely knew. Sisters grew up alongside their brothers and vice versa.”

“I… can’t imagine,” she said after a moment. “Would you rather be there, or…”

“Here…” I answered immediately, causing her to look up. “Is it so surprising? My children are here. My family is here. All of the women I love are here. No matter how screwed up this place gets, I have to make it work. We have to figure out a way to make this work. So, no matter how bad it gets, I’m going to keep pushing forward. I’m not going to lose the things important to me. That was the one mistake in my previous life that I will never forgive myself for. I gave up. I used to think I had lost everything because of what my wife did to me. It’s only after living this life that I realized I lost everything because I gave it all up. I used to think it was better that way… not trying. Heh… even now I wonder if the things I do are the right things, or do they even matter.”

“I already said it…” She responded. “What you do matters.”

“Yeah… I get you.”

“Clyburn.” She reached out touched my arm, her eyes now intently on mine.

Her appearance at that moment was filled with vulnerability. She was speaking honestly from her heart. Just because I didn’t get it didn’t mean it wasn’t true. I didn’t get what a lot of the girls saw in me, but they stayed by my side anyway. I leaned toward Cornelia, our lips approaching each other. At that moment, the backdoor of the café burst open and a waitress walked.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just getting a smoke,” she said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. “Actually, what are you two doing back-“

She was a pretty waitress, maybe in her mid-twenties, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. In my old world, she would have been a catch, but by this world’s standards, she was only average looking. That was to say that she wasn’t to the standard of a supermodel. Her body wasn’t quite perfect enough, and she even had signs of wrinkles around her eyes. This was a typical commoner of this world, a group of people I rarely had the pleasure of running into.

She was wearing an apron still and had a plain blue dress on. She looked tired like she had been working all day. This must have been her break, which was why she came out here even though she saw some strangers sitting on the back step. We had instinctively turned to her when she came out. At first, she had been focused mostly on herself. However, just as she lit the cigarette, her eyes raised and fell on the pair of us, and for the first time, she saw me. My hood had fallen back, and my appearance was clear as day.

“Ah… we were just leaving.” Cornelia tried to delay her.

“A… a…. man!” She cried out, her eyes growing wide.

She turned like she was going to run back into the café. Her appearance was like that of someone who just saw a celebrity walking down the aisle. Their first instinct might be to go tell anyone they could find about what they just saw. However, that would reveal we were here. The news would likely spread extremely quickly, and based on the efficiency of the government, that could cause us a lot of problems. Cornelia stood up and grabbed the woman’s arm before she could run back into the café.

“It’d be best if you didn’t see us.”

I raised an eyebrow in Cornelia’s direction. I didn’t know in what direction she was going with that. I think she was asking for a favor, but her demeanor and tone of voice made it seem like she was threatening the other girl. Cornelia was a lot of things, but she never really came off as threatening. The other woman’s eyes narrowed, and I had a feeling like she was going to run in and tell everyone just to spite Cornelia. As good as she was with dealing with men, she didn’t seem to be all that good with her own sex.

“Actually…” I stepped up and gave her my best smile. “What my sister here means to say…”

“Sister?” She frowned and let go of the other girl’s arm.

“-is that it’d be really bad if we were caught. You see, I’m currently traveling and I’m supposed to be going incognito, but I got a bit travel weary and needed to stretch my legs. Then, our transport didn’t realize we weren’t on board and took off. You know how severe those new MPA regulations can be. My sister and I will get in a load of trouble if the top brass finds out about it. Could you please keep it a secret for us?”

I asked the question as smoothly as I could, containing all of the flattery that a middle-aged businessman could summon. She calmed down slightly, stroking her sleeve where Cornelia had grabbed her, she pouted her lips and made a somewhat hurt expression.

“Well, I don’t know. You two are strangers, after all. What would I get if I helped you?”

“What would you get?” Cornelia’s eyes flashed with anger and she took a step forward. I pulled her back behind me.

Reaching down to the zipper of my pants, I pulled it down slightly. “I’m sure… we can come to some kind of agreement?”

She let out a gasp and then looked down at my crotch like it was candy. Licking her lips, she looked in both directions. She seemed to be thinking about it thoroughly.

“You’ve got to be kidding… ow!” Cornelia cried out.

My hand was still holding Cornelia and when she opened her mouth, I punched her arm.

“Okay… we got to be quick.” She ripped off her apron. “Oh, and I’m a virgin, i-is that okay?”

I grinned. “That’s fine.”

Ten minutes later, I walked out from behind the garbage dumpster, zipping my pants back up. Cornelia gave me a cool look with her arms crossed. I shrugged helplessly as a woman stumbled out from behind the dumpster and grabbed me.

“That was… wonderful,” she said, grabbing me and kissing me sloppily in the way only someone who had no experience could.

I didn’t know how to respond to that. Her first time was a quickie on her smoke break behind a café dumpster. Admittedly, in my old world, there were probably plenty of girls who lost it this way, but I never would have called it wonderful.

“Yeah, so, don’t tell anyone,” I said when she finally stopped sucking my face.

“Ah! H-how could I?” She blushed. “I committed a crime too here. Since those dumb laws, commoners like me have no chance in hell of getting with a man. At least, in the past, we could go to a club in the city and hope some bored guy felt generous enough to cum in us, but now that stupid MPA ruined everything!”

“What?” Cornelia dropped her arms. “You’re against the MPA? Then why did you make us… I mean him… why did you make him go through that.”

“Hmph… I know an MPA agent when I see one.” She sniffed. “You’re part of the problem.”

“The problem!” Cornelia’s mouth fell open as the other woman shot her a defiant look before turning back to me.

“You, on the other hand, sugar… I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life. If I get pregnant, I want to name the baby after you. What’s your name?”

“My name is Clyburn.” I went with the truth.

At this point, things had already gone this far. She’d be in just as much trouble as us if she spoke about anything that happened. It truly was illegal to sleep with a man without government approval. On the other hand, if a woman did become pregnant, the government might slap her with a fine or even try to abort the pregnancy. On the other hand, if she hid the pregnancy until the third trimester, they wouldn’t be able to do much about it. It happened rarely enough that there was a precedence for this kind of thing, so many women would take the chance where they normally had none.

“Eh… Clyburn.” She looked less impressed. “Well, I’ll name them something else.”

I frowned at that, and Cornelia covered her mouth, hiding the smile over my slight. The woman whose name I didn’t even know let out a cry and pulled away from me. She looked down at her phone, specifically checking the time.

“Oh, I’m out of time! That bitch better not dock my pay!” She grabbed her apron and then headed back into the café.

As she opened the door, she turned once, blew me a kiss, and then went back inside. This was probably the last time I would ever see that woman. With a sigh, I walked over to Cornelia. She looked me up and down.

“How come when I want you to sleep with a woman, it’s like pulling teeth, but you’ll stick your dick in some random floozy without a thought?”

“Would you rather she had spilled the beans and gotten us both in who knows how much trouble?” I asked innocently.

“I’d rather you reserved your semen.”

“For who? The right women? Women screened by the MPA?” I raised an eyebrow.

She turned silent. It didn’t take much to remind her about that. The things the MPA was doing weren’t liked by a lot of people. She had once been one of its greatest supporters. Now, she had her entire world turned upside down. It took a while to get used to that.

“I’m… sorry,” she finally said.

“To answer your question… the difference is choice.” I glanced over at her, causing her to look up at me. “Choice is why I’m willing to sleep with one woman, and not another. The MPA has taken the choice away from all of us, both men and women. Even if the system was perfect, and the matchups led to more people in the world, it’s not the way relationships should be allowed to form.”

“Is that something you took from that other world?” She asked.

“It’s something I found from this one.”

The pair of us moved a bit away from the café and I put my hood back up. Thankfully, there was no commotion, so it looked like she was able to keep her mouth quiet. A few hours later, a car finally pulled up next to the café. After a few tense moments where we wondered if it contained a government official or Brooke, I was relieved to see her familiar face when she stepped out. The pair of us snuck into the back of her car, and then we pulled off. As the café disappeared behind us, I stared in the direction we came.

“Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about that girl.” Cornelia snorted.

“No…” I shook my head. “I’m just thinking about the future.”