Synopsis
Take three men and three women, throw them into the fast-changing city of Dubai and observe how six lives unwittingly interlace and form a tangled web of relationships.
Forbidden Dates takes a raw look at the head-games best friends, lovers and married couples play, the manipulative fibs told along the way and the inevitable emotional earthquakes that follow. This character-driven novel is an anthology of scenes cut out of their complicated lives, resulting in a supernova of emotions, narrated with sardonic humour and artfully injected with witty observations. The stage play of parallel realities handles themes like searching for connections, divided loyalties and playing with fire in a place as ephemeral as Dubai, where life can seem lonely and isolating at times.
It is also an astute portrayal of the perilous struggle between want vs. should, lust vs. commitment, deceit vs. honesty.
The onset centers on the main characters partaking in individual interviews, unbeknown to each other and chosen at random, for a survey about life as expatriates, intended for the launch of a new magazine called EELA! (Emirates Expatriates Living Aloud!). The narrative ends six months later at the launch party of EELA!, when the main players unexpectedly find themselves in the same venue, where the chilling truth, like a slow-motion car crash, is exposed.
Forbidden Dates will handcuff the reader to a roller coaster, as the edgy story yanks through permutations of emotions, such as passion, rage, elation, jealousy, obsession, guilt, and lastly, love.
Chapter 3 - ROBIN
Monday, July 11th 2005 at 19.00, Ginseng Lounge Bar in Dubai, "Happy Hour"
“It’s only love, doing it’s thing baby, it’s only love that you’re feeling. Don't be afraid to touch me babe, girl let's be real, there's nothing wrong with the way we're carrying on, so enjoy and live, because it's only love, doing it's thing baby.”
Simply Red was filling the air with velvety, sensual tunes.
Ginseng Lounge, a leading style bar within the Dubai nightlife, seemed the perfect spot for a first rendezvous. Nivaldo chose it for a number of reasons. He loved this eatertainment venue with its sophisticated décor, a contemporary design with a strong Asian influence, depicted by the unique murals focusing on Asian calligraphy and imagery, and the music was wonderfully soothing, mostly Buddha Bar-ish melodies, although on this particular night it was slow tracks from the 90’s. However, the main reason he selected Ginseng was for its anonymity, it guaranteed safe territory, he knew none of his work colleagues or friends hung out here.
Nivaldo had been fighting the mounting itch to call her from the moment he clapped eyes on her. Not that he’d been faithful to Susi during his five-year short marriage. He loved beautiful women, it was in his DNA to be promiscuous and he was a Brazilian after all, didn’t that alone give him license to enjoy women? As long as his wife didn’t find out, nobody got hurt, his belief-system was simple. But his attraction for this woman was something very different. He knew he’d be really setting off a fire with her. She was not ‘one-screw-will-do’ material. He felt an unexplainable connection, the impact frightened him. There was this energy between them and he sensed she felt the same way too. Nivaldo knew they would hit it off and that was the real danger. It was going to be a meeting of the minds, not only a fervent physical attraction. A dangerous and toxic combination for someone who’s not available. He cursed his marital status and found himself battling those old feelings of entrapment again. He’d been doing so well for himself, save a few very short-lived flings in recent months, with women he cared not to remember, they didn’t really count, did they? It wasn't his fault his wife was practically asexual. A man had his needs, and he more than others.
He had binned her number, forced himself to divert his thoughts about her, he tried ignoring his fantasies when she crept into his head at work, at home, in the gym, at the weekend, in the bathtub, in bed. She followed him incessantly, no place was safe. He told himself it would be a mistake he’d live to regret, he didn’t want the messy drama, couldn’t afford it, particularly not after the scandal Pietro, his brother, delivered only last year. Nivaldo had witnessed the painful and bitter collapse of his brother’s marriage, wife and four small children, who lost everything for a silly slip-up, unfortunately discovered by his over-jealous wife. No, Nivaldo would be different, he was determined to keep the family unit together.
However, it physically pained him to keep away from her, this total stranger he’d met once. It was irrational madness, what else could it be? He should know better, he rebuked himself for being so testosterone-driven or was it more? Try as he may, he could not get this woman out of his mind. After weeks of commendable strong willpower, he asked his secretary for the number of Arabian Adventures and called her. “I’ll only go out with her the once, realize she’s nothing special and never see her again,” he told himself calmly, “this is the best way to get her out of my system”. He was hoping she’d be shallow and vain like so many attractive women he’d met in his lifetime. Eye candy, he called them, only good for the sack, but useless for anything else.
It was absurd he agreed to meet her on his birthday, it certainly wasn’t meant to happen that way. But he had been so unusually nervous speaking to her, he’d agreed to her proposal and only realized afterwards which day it was. He didn’t have the heart to cancel, too afraid she’d think he was playing mind games and it wasn’t masculine to make a fuss, was it? It was no big deal, he’d meet her straight after work, short and sweet. He promised himself to be safely back home by no later than nine o’clock, just in time for dinner. Susi wouldn’t know any different. She was used to him staying late in the office. It was infallible, nothing could go wrong, could it?
Robin had been in frothy high spirits ever since he asked her out. Their paths crossed several weeks ago through work. She had organized a desert safari tour for Dolce & Gabbana. It was instant mutual attraction, one of those rare defining moments you never forget in life. She was bowled over by his devilish smile and manly charisma; he was drawn to her sexy, quirky personality and big brown eyes. He was a man of bit gestures, extravagance and class, she was an Italian femme fatale, devastatingly sexy and laugh-out-loud funny. They hadn’t spoken long, but it was enough to know that this man was different, special, extra-special in fact.
She realized soon after their first encounter that she was obsessed with a man she’d briefly met once, surely, this was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever come across! Sure, she’d been in love and lust before, but nothing quite as powerful as this pull towards the heavenly Mr. Sanchez. She was a woman always in control of romantic situations; she was never the wronged woman and her head was mostly stronger than her heart. Thanks to her good looks and alluring charm, she enjoyed the luxury of picking and choosing her men. Yes, she’d been let down a few times, who hasn’t and she’d even had her heart broken once, but that was a very long time ago and she hardly remembered what it felt like. She suddenly felt very much out of control of her emotions, he was doing something to her she couldn’t quite put the finger on. Was she infatuated? Was it just lust? After weeks of silence, Robin resigned herself to believing it wasn’t meant to be, he wasn’t calling her, maybe she imagined the spark. Disappointed she was, but what was worse that she couldn’t stop thinking of him. Calling him up wasn’t an option, if there’s one rule she had, it was that she never called men first and it had always worked for her. At 29, she wasn’t going to change the record.
When he eventually called her at work, she was so caught off-guard that her brain-to-mouth transmission was provisionally jolted out of sequence and she found herself reduced to a stuttering fool, her cool confidence suddenly in shreds.
Robin had been on a cloud of deliriously happy energy all week, counting down the minutes to their sweet first date. Like most women, she agonized for days over what to wear, she had nothing in her two wardrobes, it was full of rags, nothing fit, it was all old news. She wanted to feel fabulous for him, so what she needed was something new and dazzling...
Back to the current scene in Ginseng Lounge.
The two were perched on highchairs, drinking fancy new-age cocktails, adorned with colourful umbrellas, a fusion of exotic fruits and modern spirits with a subtle hint of far eastern herbs in posh glasses. Nivaldo had just ordered a ‘lychee and lemongrass sorbet’, beautifully arranged, for his beautiful date. With the long elegant spoon he started feeding her seductively. She let out a little sigh, as the icy sweet blend glided down her throat, her eyes closed for a moment in delight.
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