Up In Smoke, Pt. 01

Disclaimer: First of all, this story contains Drug-use with elements of mind control/altered perception. It is not intended to promote its usage or actions within. Secondly, while the story takes place overseas, and most of the characters are not native English speakers, I have made the executive decision to not try and emulate the speech patterns of non-native speakers, nor am I going to try to use much Vietnamese, itself. My own skills in that language are limited, and I do not wish to embarrass myself nor the beauty of the Vietnamese language. So, I hope you will apply a bit of the suspension of disbelief to how fluid these conversations are displayed. Also, this is a slow build story, and somewhat long, so if you are looking for a quick wank, maybe try another story. And finally, this is my first attempt at writing a story like this, so please be kind, I hope you enjoy it.

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Sometimes life can be strange and you find yourself in situations you never thought possible. Some people run when things take a turn, others will ride the tide and wait for life to settle back down, but a small few will dive right in and reap the rewards unclaimed by those who refuse. This story is a vault of possibilities just waiting to be cracked wide open. So sit back and enjoy and light 'em, if you got 'em.

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THE BREAK-UP

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Ben had found himself teaching English in Vietnam for the past five years. What had brought this 30 year old to Vietnam? A sense of adventure? Love of travel? Not being trapped in small-town America like his friends he had grown up with had? What ever the draw, life seemed to be going well. He had built up his own clientele and was making a good living teaching English to High School and University students, while hosting lectures and conferences on the side for those wanting to learn more. The cost of living in Hanoi was low, the food was good, and the locals were friendly. Ben also had a solid group of friends, mostly young professionals and former students who liked having a foreign friend for conversation and parties. But above all, Ben had found the love of his life, Thuy.

A girl out of the mountains, Thuy had come to Hanoi to finish her law degree, but what she had really wanted was an escape. Escape what? Her family? Vietnam? Boredom? The life of a traditional house-wife? Maybe all the above. Ben had met this 23 year old law student at one of his conferences but it wasn't until running into each other at a New Year's Party that they had got together. They enjoyed each others company, sharing each others culture and foods, and traveling around Asia together. And that the sex was great didn't hurt. Their physical relationship started hot, and soon they could not keep their hands off each other.

It turned out Thuy was a bit of an exhibitionist, always trying to push the boundaries just a little bit further. Make-out sessions in front of her family's house after being dropped off on date night, which usually devolved into wild pelting and grinding until being interrupted by her father coming home from work late. Naked pictures and videos being taken on weekend getaways up in the mountains. Hours long Mantric sex-a-tons on the roof of Ben's apartment in view of anyone looking out their window in the high-rises surrounding them. And even once, full on fucking on a charter bus in the back seat after they had not seen each other for a month. The relationship was wild, until it wasn't.

They had been together for three years, both had professed their love for the other, and settled down into a comfortable relationship. Perhaps that was the problem. Thuy was not one for settling down. She wanted excitement and adventure, and apparently dating a foreigner she claimed to love wasn't enough. She wanted her own adventure and she wanted to do it by herself. So after three years together, she dropped the bomb on Ben, telling him she had gotten a job as an Au-pair in France, living in some man's house taking care of his kids. This of course did not mean she did not love Ben, nor did she want to break up, she just wanted an adventure of her own and that she would definitely come back to him and they could be together. But spoiler-alert kids, long-distance relationships NEVER work.

So she went, and in the beginning things were fine. Hard, but fine. They would call or write each other every night, talk about their days, sites they had seen, people they had met, and even have the occasional booty "call". Ben knew Thuy would flourish there. She was a cute, little, Asian girl, new to the country with wide eyes and a desire to learn as much as possible. Who wouldn't want to get to know her. Then the phone calls and texts started to get fewer and farther between. She had met a group of friends who invited her out more and more, showing her the wonders of a French night-life.

Then after six months, it happened. Coming back drunk from a party one night, Thuy accidentally sent Ben a message meant for someone else. "Hey baby, I'm not going to call him tonight so you can come on over, the dad's already asleep."

Long-story short, it turns out Thuy was flourishing a bit too much there and had met some nice French gentlemen, more than willing to show her a good time.

Ben was devastated. He wasn't dumb, he knew this could happen. She was a sexually-adventurous, wild beast, and going six months without getting fucked was asking a lot. But for his part, Ben had been on his best behavior, and finding out that not only had she been cheating, but she was lying to him about it. It left him shattered. It came out in arguments later that there was more than one guy - and even a couple of girls - she had been "exploring the French countryside" with. Arguments turned to fights, and fights turned into silence. Needless to say, things were over between the two. Ben blocked her numbers and emails, not wanting to know more about what she got up to. Thuy was free to explore all she wanted, happy that she would get to live her life as she saw fit. And Ben got to pick up the pieces of his life left in shambles.

This is where our story starts.

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THE PUB

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March, 2017

It had been a few months since the break up, and I had only left my apartment for work and food, otherwise it had been video games, movies, and bottles of rice wine at home to pass the time. Until, that is, my best buddy, Minh, stopped by one evening to drag me out of my stupor.

"You can't let her keep you down forever, man. Vietnam is full of hotties all just waiting to meet you." Minh told me as he put the cork back in the bottle of wine. "It's Friday night, you and I are hitting the town. I have a surprise for you and I know you will love it. So put some pants on, and make yourself presentable. We are going out!" God love him. Minh was a law professor and a part time lawyer on the side, with a sharp dress sense and an ego that made him think he was God's gift to women. The funny thing was, women thought so too. He always said he was on the search for Mrs. Right, but that search seemed to go on forever. Every week he would introduce me to another hot co-ed he had fallen in love with. He told me she was perfect and that they would make beautiful babies together, only to be replaced by the next Mrs. Perfect the following week. Every once in a while I met the same woman twice, but rarely much more than that. And they all seemed crazy about him too.

Because of this, he didn't understand why I needed time, nor why it wasn't as easy for me to pick up girls. OK, to be fair, I had let myself go a bit. Break-ups do that to me, but I had never exactly been Casanova to begin with. I had a few relationships before Thuy, but mostly my experience had been hook-ups at parties and awkward one-night stands. Otherwise, I was usually described as "like a brother" type. I had plenty of friends that were girls, but I usually got friend-zoned pretty fast. Call it "good-guy syndrome", or lack of confidence, or weakness; whatever, I thought of it as respect and not wanting to treat women like pieces of meat. However, post-breakup, I wasn't in the most respectful of attitudes, and it had been long enough, I was ready to maybe try and get back out there. Even if that meant going out with Minh to one of his sleazy, underground (I.e. less than legal) karaokes or massage parlors.

You see, Hanoi is a beautiful place to live and a great place to visit, but as the Capital of Vietnam, the local government doesn't want the city to get a reputation like Bangkok or even Saigon where international tourist go primarily for parties and sex, so they rein in the night-life as much as they can. Bars, clubs, Bia Hoi's, cafes, discos, whatever, are all closed by midnight and the local police roam around the touristy areas at night making sure things don't get too rowdy for all the family-friendly tourists trying to sleep. That is unless you know where to go, and unfortunately Minh always knew where to go.

Behind the scenes, outside of the touristy areas of the city, are a number of underground karaokes, massage parlors, and night-clubs run by local organizations that...lets say, watched the Godfather one too many times, and have managed to grease enough palms where the establishments are able to stay open as long as they want. This also means that these underground businesses (sometimes literally under-ground), have next to no rules. You want girls? No problem. Drugs? Sure, why not. You want to fuck on a couch right in the middle of the dance floor? Who's gonna stop you? Not the cops, that's for sure.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. As it turns out, Minh had something a little cleaner in mind for my first night back on the town. So, after I got my pants on and cleaned up bit - or rather I just tossed on a baseball cap - we were out on our motorbikes, heading to a pub. An Irish Pub as it turned out. I hadn't realized but it was St. Patrick's Day, and we were walking into an establishment that best described as a cartoonish example of cross-cultural appropriation. The place called itself an Irish pub, and they definitely were celebrating St. Paddy's, or at least there were a lot of green decorations on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. What hit me most, however, as we walked in the door, was that all of the waitresses were in uniform. Kind of. All were young and beautiful Vietnamese women, wearing tight green tube tops, with shamrocks splattered across their chests, and either in plaid mini-skirts showing off their well formed legs, or sparkling skin-tight green yoga pants accentuating their asses. Some were wearing those wobbling shamrock head-bopper things, while others wore little leprechaun hats, or simply had on green headbands. They had also been painted up in face paint with shamrocks, hearts, stars, and leprechauns, whatever, on their cheeks. A bit over the top maybe, but the view was still appealing. The Pub was not big, maybe enough for 10 tables, but the place was packed, what it being the busiest day of the year for an Irish Pub, no matter the country its in, and the party had already spilled out onto the street. But Minh, being Minh, was way ahead of me. He walked in the door, had a word with the Hostess at the front, and soon enough we had our own booth against the side wall, with a great view of the bar.

I was astonished. "How...I mean, damn, dude. How did you do this? I didn't even know what day it was."

"Haha, I knew you'd like it. Remember last year, you took us all out for St. Patrick's Day. You said it was your favorite holiday. I remembered, and I knew you were in desperate need of a fun time. So I booked us a table...among other things." Minh said with a smirk.

"Yea, but what is this place? I didn't even know it was here!"

"Well, its new. A friend of mine just opened it up and I was keeping it as a surprise. Oh! And speak of the Devil." he said, and he stood back up to greet a woman who had just walked over. She was not old, maybe late 20s- early 30s, but she was clearly a woman of importance in this place. She was not wearing the same uniform I had seen on the other waitresses, instead she wore an elegant green pants suit that probably cost more than my apartment. Minh moved in for a quick hug and after some conversation in Vietnamese, he turned back to me. "Ben, this is Mai. Mai, Ben. She runs the place."

I stood up and reached out my hand to shake hers. "Hi, its nice to meet you."

She took my hand, and gave me a warm, but professional smile and said, "It's nice to meet you too. I have heard a LOT about you." While her smile was professional, I saw something darker buried deep behind those eyes, I worried about what she had heard. She spoke with an elegantly "posh" British accent, which usually meant she had learned English from a native Brit, and most likely an expensive one at that.

"Minh here tells me you have been having a bad time of it lately, so we are here to make sure you have a good time tonight." She threw a wink at Minh who smirked back at her. I just glared at him. "I'll make sure my girls treat you like the very special customer you are." She gave me that same smile again. My stomach twisted, not sure what Minh had set up.

"Please, sit. Enjoy. I will be busy tonight, but I will have drinks brought to the table. Everything has been taken care of, so just have fun tonight."

Minh and I both gave her our thanks as she gracefully turned and sauntered off. We sat back down and I gave him a look.

"What have you done?" I asked him under my breath as he watched her sway back through the crowd.

"What? Me?" He gave me a feign look of hurt, "Nothing! Much. Mai's just a special friend of mine, and she's doing me...us...a favor."

"Another girlfriend?" I asked.

"No, but not from a lack of trying. She's too much woman, even for me. She owns this place, and a few others spread around town. Connected in all the right places, if you know what I mean. Not someone I would fuck around with and piss off." He laughed.

"Any woman you fuck with eventually gets pissed off." I throw back at him. "And don't change the subject, what are you two planning anyway?"

"Hey! Not always. Giao still likes me."

"Giao, works for you, she has to like you. Or pretend to at least."

"Not fair, my friend. Not fair at all."

I couldn't help but noticed he was ignoring my question, but our conversation was interrupted anyway by a very lovely sight. Three of the waitresses emerged from the crowd like it was merely a haze of smoke, not a wall of bodies all trying to reach the bar. They approached our table, each wearing smiles that would brighten up the Sun. They all wore the same skin tight top I had noticed earlier, one was in green yoga pants, while the other two wore plaid mini-skirts, one green and blue, the other black and red. As they stopped at the head of our table, I saw that one carried a bottle of whiskey and a few glasses, another had her arms full of beer bottles, while the third carried a briefcase.

Their smiles aimed at me, the one in the yoga pants and carrying the whiskey said. "Hi, Mai sent us over with some drinks. My name is Amber, and these are my friends Cici and Hong." Motioning to each of her friends turn. My eyes turned to the girl in the green and blue skirt carrying the briefcase - Cici - who gave a cute little curtsy and almost blushed. The skirt was really working with her hips and legs.

"Can we join you?" Amber asked, as they settled their bottles on our table. Her English was not as refined as it could be, but this was not an issue. I had been in Vietnam for years, teaching English to people of all different levels of the language, and I knew a bit of Vietnamese myself so communication was rarely an issue, especially when I had a friend with me to translate if needed.

Regardless, I sat stunned, unable to find my tongue for a moment, but Minh through his ever present smirk, nodded and slid over the booth making space in between us. "Please, join us. I am Minh and once my friend remembers how to talk will introduce himself as Ben."

The girls smiled again and sat down. Amber sat in between Minh and I, with Cici to my right and Hong to Minh's left. We made our introductions and handshakes as the girls settled in. Amber seemed to be the talker of the group, most likely happy to practice her English. She was taller than most Vietnamese girls I had met, with a bit of that "take-charge" mentality about her. Her face was round, with sharp cheek bones that stood out and emphasized her ruby red lips and chin. But it was her eyes that drew my notice. Acute, dark brown, and mischievous, her gaze would bare into my soul every time she looked at me through square glasses which sat perfectly on top her cheeks. Her dark brown hair had streaks of lighter brown mixed in. It was long and straight until it curled at the tips to accentuate the roundness of her face. She had a long, smooth neck which drew ones gaze straight down to her chest, which - while not large - was perfectly shaped to her body.

When Amber moved to get to her spot passed me, and I caught a look at her from behind and I froze. The yoga pants she wore outlined her ass flawlessly. It was small and tight and perfectly heart-shaped, I could have bounced a damn coin off it. As she squeezed between me and the table, I could see every muscle tighten on her cheeks and realized she wasn't even wearing underwear. Her hips slid over my lap and her perfect little butt gave a little wiggle while she did. Then she sat down on the bench and gave me a devious little smile and took my baseball cap off my head, put it on her own and said "I'm keeping this."

"For now, maybe." I laughed as shook my hand through my hair, trying to get rid of any hat-hair.

On my right, Cici slid down close to me, her legs touching mine and she set the briefcase on the table in front of her. It seemed to me that she had a very different style than Amber. While Amber was tall and sleek like gazelle and about as playful, Cici was more like a lioness; strong, beautiful, and regal. She had on a bit more weight than the average Vietnamese woman, by which I mean she didn't look like she starved herself her whole life, but instead of looking over weight, she had a much more shapely form. A much larger chest than most, more than a couple hands could handle, and hips that men would kill for. Her hair was longer than Amber's and was deep black, with the tips dyed green. She had a round face with thick, plush red lips that I couldn't look away from. She was quiet and mostly kept her head down, her eyes constantly moving to the case in front of her. But when our eyes did occasionally meet, they looked round and shy, almost sad, and she would stare for a moment before blushing and diverting her eyes back down to the case. Her hands were constantly fidgeting in the pocket formed by her shapely legs crossed together under her skirt, her fingers rolling together in what might have been a nervous tick. Her shy demeanor only made her look more luscious.

I didn't get a great look at Hong - the girl on Minh's left - at first, but from what I could tell she was a runner, or maybe more like a fast, little bunny. She was short and compact, with an oval face. Her hair was short and light brown, tied up tightly in a bun and thick eyebrows which only drew attention to her eyes, small and narrow like the rest of her. But it was her lips when she smiled that warmed men's hearts and tightened their pants. You could tell she had a mouth on her, and she knew how to use it. She wore a choker on her throat with a little broken-heart charm in the middle, sending a message to the world, that she was something worth chasing, but the chase would not be easy. Minh was infatuated in an instant.