Page 1 of Reeling in Love

Chapter 1

Nora: #WomenAreFromVenus

Sitting in my tiny cabin, I ponder over the eternal question—are men and women different? I don’t mean anatomically. Duh! But in their thought process, their way of communication, their very essence. Some might say we’re as distinct as day and night, or perhaps more accurately, as different as Venus and Mars.

If I think more deeply about it, I can see some truth to that. Venus is quite the fierce mistress. It has an atmospheric pressure that’s ninety-two times of Earth. It has scorching temperatures, and it rains sulphuric acid on the planet. Talk about crushing hardships! So yeah, given this scenario, perhaps we could say we women have what it takes. Unfortunately, that’s not the scenario the statement usually refers to.

It’s so annoying when people think a woman’s statement has a different meaning than if a man said it. That somehow their thought process is different. Say, for example, if I invite a colleague over for ‘a coffee at my place’ after work, he’ll interpret it quite differently than if, say, Ryan invited him over.

And my boyfriend, Rick, takes this thinking to a whole new level. He seems to think that if I politely decline something with a smile, I’m secretly saying ‘yes.’ It’s like he’s reading a different playbook altogether! Jesus! I’ve told him a hundred times that it’s my default expression. It always looks as if I’m smiling. But the dude doesn’t get it.

“Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. We’re different, Sugar. And that’s what’s fun,” he says every time, as if it’s the gospel truth.

Guess what! If he says it even one more time, it’s not going to be fun. Not for him, anyway. It might be for me, though. I chuckle at the thought of banging his head against the wall in a ferocious warrior-from-Venus style.

“Hey,” Eva says, peeping inside my room, almost making me jump at her sudden appearance. “What’s with these feminist and anti-male posts that you’ve been doling out since morning? And why are you in a digital-world fight with that what’s-his-name?”

Eva came to MooreGames as a consultant, but is now a core part of our company. Of course, her being the founder, Ryan Moore’s wife, helps. But she’s great at her work and has become a good friend.

I place my phone on the table. “His name is TruthSeekerBob. And I’m not fighting with him or anything.”

“It sure looks like that given the way you two have been commenting on each other’s posts and comments.”

“Since when have you started being so active on social media? Don’t you have anything better to do? Like eating healthy stuff for the baby you’re about to have?”

She chuckles. “It’s a slippery slope, these websites. I had to find out a little information about someone and before I knew it, an hour had passed and I hadn’t even searched for that person yet. As for eating healthy, Ryan takes care of that. If this is how he pampers me, I think I might decide to have many many more babies, simply for the pampering. But honestly, keeping that food down is a bigger challenge. Morning sickness is real, girl. Doc says it’ll go down after the first trimester. But coming back to you, what really happened?”

“Nothing. Just Rick. I’m not myself today. And when I saw TruthSeekerBob’s post on Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus, it reminded me even more of Rick and I took it all out on him. My bad.”

I move the small camera and mic that I usually use to record reels and other videos to the side of my table as she takes a seat opposite me. “Yeah, your comments on his post are more popular than his original post. No wonder he’s upset. But about Rick. What happened? How was last night?” She winks for good measure, as if her tone wasn’t enough to convey what she wants to ask.

Last night was Rick’s birthday, and it was supposed to be a romantic evening for the two of us. That’s all he needed as his birthday present, so I planned a romantic candlelight dinner at home. Eva and Lily had helped me decorate the apartment with flowers and aromatic candles. To be honest, I felt it was a bit much. I don’t think Rick even noticed it.

“It was fine.”

“And how was the... y’know,” she wiggles her eyebrows.

“Sex? Why do you feel awkward saying it out loud?”

“The baby, Nora! They can hear in the womb, for Christ’s sake.”

I roll my eyes. “The baby’s the size of a pea, if even that. It probably doesn’t even have ears right now. But the s-e-x was fine, I guess.”

“Oh no. Just fine?” She says, checking that the door is closed and leaning forward a little.

“It just wasn’t good. That’s all.”

“He couldn’t get it up?”

“Nooo… and what the hell? Aren’t you the one who doesn’t even like to say the word out loud in front of your baby? What kind of talk are you exposing her to?”

“So he couldn’t?”

“He could. He had a good time. At least, I think he did. It’s just that... y’know what? Forget I said anything.”

“Oh! So you couldn’t come? You had to fake it?”

I nod. She won’t leave till she has the details. “Well, we were doing…it, and things were heating up. Right then, he began saying, or rather chanting—are you close? Are you close? I swear, it was so irritating, such a turnoff. Yeah, I’m close to like getting 50k followers. I’m close to getting a promotion. But in bed? What does it even mean? Whispering things like that non-stop? Non-f*cking-stop.”

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