Ch.238Side Story 3: Ladies Night (1)

# 03_Ladies Nights_1

The day before Independence Day.

If this were Las Vegas, the weather would have been so hot that even solid asphalt might melt under the scorching sun, but Boston was considerably cooler in comparison.

Emily, who had spent her childhood near California and Nevada, was wearing just a thin long-sleeved shirt.

Still, the sky was clear and humidity was low, making it perfect weather for going out, but it was a bit different for the four women.

They had all gathered at their home in Boston’s Back Bay after finishing their work for the day.

The four women, seated at the table facing each other, maintained silence with coffee and tea in front of them.

Then, Himena was the first to speak.

“It’s… 3 PM now. Dexy said he’d be getting home around 1 AM.”

Dexter had been away all day escorting inmates being transferred from South Bay Correctional Facility in Boston to another state.

Judy nervously glanced around before carefully speaking up.

“How many Ladies Nights have we had now?”

“This is the third one. Dexter has that surprisingly diligent side to him. He rarely leaves his post, and whenever he goes somewhere far, he always takes at least one of us along… so we don’t get many chances for Ladies Night.”

“That’s what we like about him, but sometimes we need a little freedom too.”

“Wait, when we say it like this, we sound like terrible people.”

“Maybe a little… like we’re complaining about someone who takes good care of us.”

“There you go again. I’m always the bad guy, aren’t I?”

Himena pouted as she grumbled at Judy and Jesse.

“I understand we’re meeting because Dexter is away for once. But what’s the reason for this particular gathering?”

In response to Emily’s timely question, Himena looked around at the three women and said:

“Well, you could call it the agenda for this Ladies Night. I thought it was time we decided on something most important to us.”

“The most important thing?”

“The rotation.”

As soon as the word “rotation” was mentioned, the look in the three women’s eyes changed.

The word carried many implications.

“We’ve been deciding this too haphazardly until now, don’t you think?”

“Wasn’t it working fine?”

“It’s been too concentrated on one person, or completely disconnected for others. Actually, Jesse had the most turns, and I had the fewest.”

Emily, who generally liked to get her hands on everything, had been accumulating quite a bit of dissatisfaction since before coming to Boston.

This was because Jesse had claimed the spot next to Dexter since they lived at his house in Honeygood Springs.

Jesse knew this fact too, but given her personality, she didn’t immediately concede and instead questioned:

“Got any proof?”

“Well, I don’t have actual evidence, but… it’s a fact that Jesse has benefited the most…”

As Jesse directly challenged her for evidence, Emily’s voice grew quieter, like someone turning down the volume on a TV.

Seeing the two of them, Judy smiled lightly and stepped in to defuse the situation.

“I thought this might happen, so I prepared some statistics.”

Judy pulled out a folder from her bag hanging on the dining chair.

When she opened the folder on the table, there were four rows of graphs categorized by item, with the names Himena, Jesse, Judy, and Emily written on them.

Feeling uneasy about Judy’s inexplicable confidence, Jesse was the first to look at the documents and began reading the graphs.

“What is this? January 2016… Himena 8 times, Jesse 11 times, Judy 7 times, Emily 5 times. February… Himena 7 times, Jesse 9 times, Judy 8 times, Emily 6 times.”

“I’ve organized how many times each of us slept next to Dexter by month.”

To be precise, it was a graph showing “the number of times each shared a bed with Dexter.”

Thanks to renovations, this house in Back Bay had five rooms excluding the master bedroom.

One was Dexter’s childhood room, which was kept clean but unused, so the remaining four rooms were divided among them.

The “rotation” referred to the order in which they would take the spot next to Dexter in the master bedroom.

‘Don’t tell me she’s been recording this every night before we go to bed?’

Jesse shuddered slightly as she looked at the graph.

“I’m not sure if this is thorough or just creepy…?”

Like Jesse, Himena was also surprised.

She had consulted with Judy about the Ladies Night agenda, but she hadn’t expected her to produce an actual graph like this.

“When did you compile all this?” Himena asked.

“…I figured if I didn’t do this, someone like Jesse would ask for evidence.”

Jesse frowned as her name was suddenly mentioned.

“What, am I the target now?”

“You’re not a target, it’s just that you just said something similar…”

“We’re not trying to blame anyone here. We just want to make things fair. Anyway, I didn’t expect you to organize it to this extent… Thank you, Judy.”

After carefully examining the graphs from January to June, Himena took out a red pen from her pocket.

She circled the person who had slept next to Dexter the most each month.

“Look at this. I’ve marked who slept next to Dexter the most each month.”

Jesse had the most with 15 times in January, 14 times in March, and 14 times in May.

Judy had 14 times in February, Himena and Judy each had 10 times in April, and Judy and Emily each had 9 times in June.

“Jesse really did have the most. And I had the least.”

Compared to the other women, Jesse had spent an overwhelmingly longer time next to Dexter, and he seemed to take it for granted.

But Emily desperately wanted to be by Dexter’s side too. Himena and Judy felt the same way.

Confronted with this documentary evidence, Jesse hesitated before finally speaking.

“…So, how are we going to decide the rotation?”

“Well, Independence Day is tomorrow, Monday. Let’s have each person take one week.”

“So from tomorrow until the weekend? Seven days?”

“Let’s be honest. Don’t you all feel it’s not enough when you only get to sleep next to Dexter for a day or two?”

All three women nodded in agreement with Himena’s words.

Though they had formed “Ladies Night” to prevent losing Dexter to another woman, each of them harbored a desire to have him all to themselves.

When Himena pointed this out, everyone agreed.

But there were still issues to address. Judy tapped her cheek and asked:

“Having Dexter all to ourselves for a week sounds like a good idea. But what about times like Christmas or Thanksgiving?”

“We can’t always sleep next to Dexter for a whole week, right? He might have to work overtime or go on a sudden business trip.”

“We can make adjustments for those times. That seems reasonable.”

“What if someone has to be hospitalized because they’re sick?”

“That doesn’t happen often, so we’ll decide among ourselves. Besides, there are so many good doctors in the universe. Just call Dr. Eliya, and minor illnesses will disappear.”

“That’s true.”

There were a few more questions, but the plan didn’t change much from Himena’s initial proposal.

“Then one last question. How do we decide rooms when we go on vacation?”

“Unless it’s unavoidable, we should all stay together. Or for vacations, we could decide through a bet.”

“A bet? A bet, you say…”

Jesse’s eyes lit up at Himena’s words.

* * *

An American mini roulette device and a small roulette table on the dining table.

Ten chips placed in front of each person.

The four women were staring anxiously at the roulette.

“Alright, I’ll spin it.”

Himena used two fingers to spin the mini roulette.

Whirrrr.

“Roll it!”

At Jesse’s shout, Judy forcefully rolled the metal ball into the mini roulette.

Rrrrrrrr!

The four women’s gazes followed the spinning ball intently.

After circling the roulette device several times due to centrifugal force, the ball gradually lost momentum and bounced off the ridges on the device a few times.

“Black! Please, black!”

“Huh? Red? This is definitely going to be red…!”

Unlike Judy, who was watching the roulette with her hands clasped in prayer, and Jesse, who was clutching her chips so tightly they might crumble, Emily calmly looked at the roulette and said:

“It’s 00.”

“What?”

Clack.

Just as Emily said, the ball settled in the green slot marked 00 (double zero).

Himena looked at Emily with astonishment, as she had correctly predicted the ball would land on 00 while it was still spinning.

“H-how did you know that?”

“I could see the angle. But it’s useless.”

“Why? It seems like it could be helpful.”

“When playing roulette, you place your bets before spinning, not after.”

Come to think of it, that was true.

Even the four women betting on the rotation had placed their chips on the roulette table before spinning the wheel.

“Then it’s not much help.”

“Since we place our chips on the table before spinning, it’s fair, right?”

“But saying it in advance ruins the suspense.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Despite Jesse’s criticism, Emily spun the roulette this time.

The four women were betting with the roulette, but the rules were very simple.

They couldn’t bet on numbers, only on the two colors: red and black. If the ball landed on 0 or 00, the green slots, they would spin again.

If the ball landed on a red slot, those who chose black would lose a chip, and vice versa.

Even if they guessed the color correctly, they wouldn’t gain additional chips but would simply take back the chips they had bet.

In other words, the person who preserved the most chips would be first, and the one who lost the most would be last.

“Roll it!”

With Jesse’s shout again, the metal ball left Emily’s hand.

Rrrrrrrr!

The dizzily spinning roulette and ball gradually lost speed, and the ball mercilessly found its place.

Rrrrr….

19.

A red slot.

“Yesssss!”

Himena stretched her hands to the sky in excitement, while Jesse and Judy looked dejected. Emily simply clenched her fist, grateful to have saved her chip.

“Red is the best!”

“Hey, isn’t this racial discrimination? How can it avoid black three times in a row?”

“Ahem, how dare you accuse the sacred roulette of racial discrimination.”

“Avoiding it three times in a row doesn’t make sense!”

“It’ll probably get better next time…”

Judy tried to calm Jesse down while still looking glum. After Jesse and Judy’s chips were confiscated, it was time to bet again.

Jesse, who only had four chips left, said:

“This time it’s really going to be black. Please! Roulette gods, I even watched ‘Boyz n the Hood’ diligently!”

“Wow, isn’t that more racially discriminatory?”

“Shut up! Not choosing black would be more racially discriminatory!”

Jesse chose black again, while the other three women chose red.

Seeing them deliberately avoiding her choice, Jesse glared at the three women, who each offered an excuse.

“Somehow I have a feeling Jesse will end up last…”

“You’ve been losing since we started, right? Maybe today you’re just the unlucky case?”

“Don’t jinx me!”

At Himena’s words, Jesse crossed her middle and index fingers to form a cross, placed her chip on black, and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Please black! I just want black once! It’s too pitiful!”

“…Should we stop Jesse?”

As Jesse now showed almost fanatical behavior, Judy expressed concern, but Himena shook her head and said:

“Leave her be. It’s punishment for hogging Dexter’s side too much.”

Regardless, Jesse didn’t seem to hear Himena’s words and continued to chant for black.

“Please black, please black, please black…”

Thirty minutes later.

Himena with an ambiguous expression.

Judy with an innocent, bright smile.

Emily with a blank face.

And finally, Jesse, leaning back against the chair, lost in a daze, making a deflating sound.

“Heeee…”

“Emily secured 8 chips for first place, Judy has 5 for second, I have 2 for third… and…”

Himena looked at Jesse with pity as she continued:

“Zero chips. Jesse is last.”

“So I get to sleep next to Dexter this week?”

“That’s right. Next week is Judy, then me. And last is, well…”

“No, no way…”

Jesse was experiencing real-time despair at the thought of not being able to sleep next to Dexter for the next three weeks.

Feeling sorry for her, Himena said, half-jokingly:

“It was your idea to bet, and you made your choices. There was no manipulation.”

“I… know…”

Even though there was a sense of poetic justice in Jesse ending up last, they couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her.

After all, they were family.

The three women forcibly lifted Jesse, who was still leaning back in her chair in a daze.

“It’s Ladies Night. Let’s go get a drink. I heard there’s a nice bar nearby that’s been open since 1933.”

When Judy, who enjoyed researching, made the suggestion first, Himena grinned approvingly and said:

“Sounds good! Jesse, put some strength in your body. We need to go drink together.”

With the proposal from Himena and Judy, Emily lifted Jesse’s body with an arm around her shoulders.

It looked exactly like someone being taken away by the police, so Jesse grumbled as she put strength into her body and stood up.

“I’m only having one drink.”

The other three women smiled at Jesse’s grumbling.

“Let’s go!”

“When else would we get to drink together if not now?”

“Geez, are you kids? Let’s go quietly.”

“Jesse’s secretly excited too.”

When Emily pointed out Jesse’s light footsteps, Jesse deliberately started walking heavily and lifelessly.

“We’re not children. Walk properly.”

“You’re so stiff, must be the civil servant in you. Is this stiff too?”

“Why are you touching my butt?!”

And so, the four women headed to a bar in downtown Boston, giggling all the way.