Thank God, in the morning I didn’t have a hangover. Which was compensated for by a pillow all smeared with make-up. Worse still, turned out that enough of it is still on my face, making it look like a Picasso work. On top of all, I still looked sexually attractive, and the morning arousal did its best to confirm it. I really had to find a way to deal with this problem.

Wiping completely the make-up from my face turned out harder than I expected. Attempts to wash it off with water achieved next to nothing. Finally, I had to sacrifice my towel. Would have to buy that stuff women use to take off make-up, in case I have to get it on again. Hopefully I would never need it…

Trying to find on the Net what that stuff is called served me another nasty surprise. After about a minute of work, the screen suddenly died. Sure, it was old, but I liked it… Some morning was that.

“What’s up, Lexie? Is there anything wrong?” Lu asked while we were changing into work uniform.

“No… Nothing important.”

The other women suddenly stopped their chatting and turned towards me.

“Come on, girl, spit it… Did Carlo behaved badly while accompanying you home? He didn’t appear drunk…”

“No, absolutely nothing like that!” I felt offended for Carlo. “He behaved like the consummate gentleman! Didn’t pressed me for anything, didn’t take advantage of me, had the taxi driver wait while I got safely inside the building…”

The women exchanged meaningful glances. What had I hinted about this time?! Gosh…

“So, you didn’t invite him in?” asked Mommy.

“Ummmmm, I think it is still too early for this. We, ummm, went on a date only once, I am a bit conservative about that…”

“Okay, okay, I will not embarrass you more. Are we all ready, girls? Let’s go work, it’s time.” She opened the door of the dressing room, almost hitting Carlo who was just passing outside. “So, what is then, Lexie? Maybe you didn’t have time to get some needed comfort?

“No, it is just that my screen at home died suddenly. It is pretty old, but I like it a lot—”

“Lexie, may I help with this problem?” I suddenly heard the voice of Carlo behind me. “Screens are the same kind of computing devices like for example the processing desks. I don’t dare to promise it, but might be just able to fix it. You never know until you try.”

Shit, shit, shit, shit!!! What kind of luck is that?! How do I manage to always turn the things the worst possible way?!

Being a woman is a HELL. Complete. Anything you say instantly carries a mountain of hints and meanings you never meant. You never even suspect they are there. And the more you try to get out of this web, the worse you entangle yourself…

“Umm, sure, thank you Carlo… But I insist on paying you for that! Otherwise, I will not accept it!” Hopefully the decent and nice Carlo would refuse to take a payment and this will give me a somewhat polite reason to refuse him!

“Oh, that is very easy. I would gladly accept a next lesson on statistics. For example, may I be present on your next scripting lesson?”

Shiiiiiit!…

“Umm, yes, sure… But we have already taken a few lessons, it might be a bit hard for you to catch up…”

“I have some knowledge of scripting from the IT. The statistics specifics will be new to me, but I will do my best to catch up.”

All women were pretending to not pay attention to us, but weren’t going to the work room either. No doubt expecting to hear my answer to Carlo. Shit…

“Um, well, of course, you are welcome. Just give us about half an hour to see how the processing tasks we left yesterday go, and to make adjustments and run new if the old ones are already done… Um, I will call you when we are ready…”

The door of our room barely closed when all the women turned to me:

“Now I am getting it all, Lexie! And you played it brilliantly. Just the right hint in the right moment, and he swallowed the bait on the spot! Excellent!” Mommy congratulated me.

“And you are really an actress. Did all the leading after the bait so finely and with such an innocent face, I almost believed that you actually hesitated!” added Lu. “I am more than twice your age, and I could learn from you! Lexie, your looks might be absolutely perfect, but your skill at playing Carlo is even better! God, you are what every woman dreams to be!”

“How d-did you d-d-damaged the screen? Or it really b-burned out, and you g-g-got an idea from t-that?”

The right hint in the right moment?! Fine leading after the bait?! Skill at playing a man – and Carlo at that?!?!… Being what every woman dreams to be?!?!…

And the worst of all was, now it suddenly dawned on me that I had done exactly that. Yes, by clumsiness and pure chance, without intending any of it. But now I was understanding all the mechanics of it. Would be able to pull it again, if I wanted to. Or do anything similar. It was so damned easy, you just had to have my perfect looks and the experience I had gained for the last two months…

What I was turning into?!?!…

Whatever gods there may be, please kill me. Unless the damned bodysuit protects against you too…

And now Carlo had really gotten into me. Would he be able to accept my taking the disguise off? Or even just my disappearance? He was the very last man to deserve to be through that. Because of me. How could I ever repay such a debt?

And he deserved so much to be with the best girl ever. Which everyone around said to be me.

That is, Lexie.

That is… me as Lexie.

Yes, I dreaded this more than anything else. But maybe it was exactly the punishment I deserved for creating all this mess. And mountaineers pay their debts. Always. No matter the cost to themselves. This is what makes them real men.

Oh, the irony – my only way to be a real man was to be a woman… What every woman dreams to be…

And that would not even be enough. Carlo would likely want children, and I could not conceive. When this becomes evident, he would want to visit fertility clinics, and they would find out there the things. Maybe not all, but surely enough to shake him even worse…

If my life was a book, its author would deserve to be shot on the spot. Psychopaths who can put someone through this don’t deserve to live!…

I tried to get my thoughts off this track by checking the tasks we had left yesterday on the decks to be processed. All had gone to the plan and were ready before we came to work. I quickly helped the other women to set new ones – that is, the real women – and went to invite Carlo to our scripting lesson.

During the lesson he listened intently and sometimes quickly tapped notes on his old-fashioned big-screen phone. After the lesson, he came to me:

“I believe I got the principles right. They aren’t very different from those of language or even shell scripting. However, it looks like that I am still missing enough footing on the statistics foundation. Would you please be able to give me another lesson on that?”

Again, in front of all women! Aaaaarghhhh…

“Um, yes, sure… But hope you don’t plan to invite me to a restaurant over that!”

“Of course I do. How else I can repay your lessons?”

“You don’t need to. They are, umm, improving the company personnel qualifi—”

“You wanted to repay for me checking your screen and I accepted. It is only fair that you accept now my repayment for your lessons.” His smile was so charming that I just couldn’t force myself to contradict him. Especially in front of the women.

“Um… Okay. When we can do it?”

“Today is Thursday. I want to see your screen first, to fix it as soon as possible, but that might take the entire evening. And in Friday have to catch the early evening train to Genoa, have promised to spend the weekend with relatives. What about Monday evening?”

I suddenly felt the eyes of all women on me. What to do? Postpone it for how long without being suspicious?

“Umm, what about Tuesday?”

“Perfect. I will be waiting impatiently.” He smiled again.

When the door closed behind him, Lu turned to Grace:

“Well?”

Grace sighed, took her wallet out of her purse and put on the table a ten Euro banknote.

“Yes, he is definitely not gay. Couldn’t wait to be one on one with Lexie, despite being well behaved.”

“Lexie, why did you postpone the date for so long? Want him to build some sexual tension? Smart – you will be in for a glorious night!”

“Ummm, no, not at all, it is too early for me for that… It is just, ummmm, I am on my period now…” I felt my face burning, because both of the lie and off the topic.

“So what, if you do not envisage sex?… Come on, girl, that bit about men smelling your period is just a legend!”

“Oh, ummm, I am not sure… Some girls say men can do it… And Carlo is indeed a good catch, and I don’t want to jinx my chances…”

“Okay, let it be so. If he will not wait for you for a week, he absolutely does not deserve you. And he is indeed a good catch…”

“So, how did it go away?” Carlo asked while I was unlocking the door. “Were there any strange images or sound distortions before that? Or some post-effects?”

“No. When I turned it on, it worked for a minute and then suddenly went dark. No flashes, no smoke, no smell of anything burning…”

“Hm. I guess it is this one, on the wall?” Carlo lit the flash of his old phone and used it to peek between the screen and the wall. “May I unhook it and put it on the bed?”

“Of course.” I barely constrained myself from jumping to help him. I likely would delay him anyway – he did it in just a second.

“Really good thing. Original Lenovo SC412-31, they are a legend. Especially the German-made ones, and this is one of these.” He pulled a universal screwdriver out of his pocket, selected a bit for it and unscrewed a small lid on its back. “Let’s see. Standard Xiansi controller, I think I have tests for these.” He pulled from another pocket a small flat box, took out of it something that looked like a big centipede and connected the thin cable coming out of it to his phone. Then carefully pulled a thumb-sized piece of electronics out of the screen.

“Ugh. That thing is really dusty. No, absolutely not your fault. This is not made to be opened and cleaned. They just didn’t expect it to work for more than 10 years straight, and it did. Excellent tech…” He blew some dust off the piece and put the centipede over it. “Let’s test the controller… Hm… Tests OK! Could it be just down to the dust?”

He produced another box from a pocket, took what looked like a small wet wipe from it and started to clean the inside of the screen under the lid. I looked at him with envy. God, what a convenience were the male clothes with all of their pockets!

“Now, let’s see.” He plugged the piece back into the screen, screwed the lid back on, hooked it to the wall and plugged it into the power outlet. Before I could say anything, the screen lit up. Conveniently restoring the results of my search this morning – a mind-boggling amount and diversity of make-up removal stuff. I felt my face burning. He however didn’t pay it any attention at all.

Like any man wouldn’t. Why should they? They don’t need make-up, girls do…

“I think that is all, Lexie. Looks like you are lucky too.” He smiled.

“Umm, oh, thank you Carlo! Indeed, I am lucky, to know you and have your help. Thank you!”

Yes, what a luck! Well, apart from having to be a woman!

“I am sorry to have to leave so quickly, but have promised to help and old friend too this evening, if I can," Carlo replied. "I’d better hurry up. Thank you too in advance for your lesson.”

“Just a moment, I will accompany you down. There is a cab stand nearby…” Just sending him out would be the ultimate impoliteness. Even if I had to pretend being a girl, I think.

When we passed near the door of Aunt Lauretta, it suddenly opened and she stepped out, smiling widely:

“Hello, dear! Lexie, could I please ask you for some salt? I just found I am completely out of it. And I need to take some salt when my blood pressure is down, or it is hard to stand up, my legs are wobbling…” They indeed did.

“Of course, Aunt Lauretta! Right now! Carlo, would you wait half a minute, please?…”

I sprinted back up the stairs. While I was unlocking the door, suddenly a thought flashed through my head.

Didn’t I buy a pack of salt for her just a few days ago?

I stepped a couple of times in place and closed the door noisily, pretending to have entered the apartment. Then listened carefully. There was some noise from above, likely someone was repairing something, but I still could hear Carlo and Aunt Lauretta clearly.

“— not only beautiful as an angel, but also kind as one. And I think she needs a friend in life.” That was Aunt Lauretta.

“Doesn’t she have one? I just was at her place, fixing her screen, and got the impression that a boy lives there too.”

Damn he is observant too! But this now would be of use, I smiled to myself.

“She rents it part-time from a boy who lives here. During the week he is up on the Alps, works there as a mountain rescuer, comes down only for the weekends, Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon. And she lives here during the workdays and goes to her parents for the weekends, leaves in Friday evening and is back on Monday morning. I have never seen them here at the same time, and if they were, I would notice it, you can trust me!”

“It would be only natural for her to be with him, I think—”

“I don’t think that they are interested one in another. Too different, you see, he is into mountains, not into women. And she might need someone who lives with her and cares for her. There was a burglary here, right this afternoon. If someone enters while she is in, she might be in danger…”

Ooooohhhh, Aunt Lauretta too was trying to match me with Carlo! Gosh…

I quickly grabbed some salt from the kitchen and ran down the stairs.

“Here is the salt, Aunt Lauretta.”

“Oh, thank you very much, dear! You are a sunshine for everyone. Never have seen so nice a girl in my life…”

After showing Carlo the cab stand, I sighed while climbing the stairs to my apartment. Turned out, she would even lie about a burglary just to induce somehow Carlo to move with me!

Or… was she lying? That noise from above…?

I quickly climbed two floors above my apartment, following the noise. Two workers were just finishing replacing the door directly above mine. Next to it, there were some wooden pieces, likely from the old door, and a piece of police tape.

Okay, so what? If they tried to rape me, I would beat them into pulp, the bodysuit would protect me from their hits. Not that any rape would harm the real me anyway. And if they broke in while I was at work, what they would steal? The screen was too old and heavy to be worth stealing, and there was nothing else valuable in the apartment.

I unlocked the door and entered my place with a smile. Which however froze when my glance fell on the room table.

There was the remote for the bodysuit.

What if they stole it? Or damaged it while breaking everything around to seek for hidden money? I would be doomed to live the rest of my life as Lexie…

And how I would carry it?! Shouldn’t be visible, I couldn’t think of a reason for carrying everywhere a standard-looking remote. But none of the female clothes I had had any pockets…