Page 104 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

The reporters had seen them, filmed them, taken photos of them leaving together, holding hands and running. And if that got out… if it somehow made its way beyond China…

Her chest tightened.

Russia.

Rumors.

There would be severe consequences.

Would she be going to jail for holding a girl’s hand? That would be the end…

These thoughts alone made her feel like she was already falling, like the ground had disappeared beneath her feet.

By the time the bus started moving, her hands were trembling, and Tora pulled her into a tight embrace, one hand stroking grounding circles along her back.

“It’s okay… we got away from them,” Tora murmured trying to steady her. “We can just go somewhere, maybe a mall, buy something nice for tonight… something beautiful, like sexy underwear or—”

Alisa barely heard the second half. Her head was so loud with anxiety and fear.

“We’ll be everywhere tomorrow,” Alisa said, her voice almost breaking. “On every site, every article, people will start talking, they’ll say we’re together… And I’ll be done.”

“Hey, don’t rush such things,” Tora said quickly. “Nothing’s happened yet.”

“I cannot do this!” Alisa snapped, panic rising in her chest. “You’ll go home and be fine no matter what they write, but me? They can ruin my life because of this. Do you understand that? I could go to jail just for holding your hand!”

That made Tora go still.

For a second, her expression hardened at the situation itself, at how unfair and suffocating it suddenly felt. Her jaw tightened, and Alisa looked at her with worry in her gaze. “If anything like that comes out…” Tora said carefully, “then you will come with me. Immediately.”

“I can’t,” Alisa shook her head. “I don’t even have a Schengen visa. And they don’t give them directly to Norway for Russians now.”

That only made the tension in Tora’s face deepen, the frustration clear in the way she exhaled through her nose.

It felt like a dead end.

Tora reached for her again, squeezing her hand this time instead of pulling her closer.

“Let’s deal with things when they actually happen, okay?” She said more quietly now. “Nothing’s been published yet. And even if it is… people can write anything. This is China, they’re not exactly rushing to publish stories about same-sex relationships either. If anything, they’ll twist it into something else like heeey, two rivals were seen together, secret meetings, drama before the Olympics, something like that.”

Alisa didn’t answer, but she listened.

“Don’t destroy yourself over something that doesn’t exist yet,” Tora added gently. “Please, Alisa, let’s just… breathe for a second. And maybe go somewhere, distract ourselves a little. I don’t want tonight to be ruined because of them.”

Alisa just nodded obediently and buried herself in Tora’s neck, nuzzling into her blonde hair and inhaling her familiar scent. She smelled like home, and it amazed Alisa how a single person could create such a feeling, how everything dissolved in her arms, how all problems disappeared somewhere far away and all worries faded into nothing. The smell of Tora was impossible to describe in words, but it could be described in feelings, like the warmth in Alisa’s heart that spread through her entire body, as if wrapping her in a soft, protective blanket that shielded her from the harshness of this world.

They reached a huge shopping center and went inside to look for lingerie stores, and as soon as they entered the first one, their eyes immediately scattered from the sheer number of options.

But the most important thing was that there were only women there, and it was quiet. Soft pleasant music played in the background, while the girls walked around trying to find sets that would catch their attention.

Alisa noticed a translucent set with tiny roses all over the fabric and immediately took it, trying to find her size, and a consultant approached them, quickly assessing her with a glance before handing her the right size, then turning to Tora and leaning slightly forward, as if expecting her to ask for something similar, but Tora shook her head and instead asked, “Do you have something for bigger breasts?” gesturing with her hands. The consultant nodded and led her to another section of the store, where there really were bras made just for Tora, and she smiled.

“Wow, thank you,” Tora said, while the consultant waited patiently for her to choose, and Tora settled on a light blue set that looked almost like silk, but then the consultant pulled out an additional piece with garters and stockings from a drawer beneath the display, something Alisa didn’t even know the name of… she had never worn anything like that before, but it looked insanely sexy, and Alisa couldn’t help smiling as she imagined Tora in that set.

They went to the fitting rooms to try everything on, and when Alisa saw herself in the mirror, she wasn’t shy about her body at all, she looked beautiful in that set, even though the fabric was sheer, the white color and those tiny red roses suited her perfectly.

Tora knocked lightly on the wall from the next fitting room. “Can I see, or are you saving it for later in our room?”

Alisa felt her cheeks flush pink again and slowly pulled the curtain aside, just a little, and Tora immediately slipped inside, already dressed in that beautiful blue set, only missing the stockings, standing in the small shoes provided for fittings, which Alisa had never used before and still found a little strange.