A couchsurfing host realised she and her housemate has been sold by someone she hosted.
When I first heard of the idea, I thought it was brilliant.
A social platform that allows you to meet travelers from all over the world complete with a review and reference system. It’s a hospitality exchange program.
I can host travelers from overseas, offering them a spare room or space in my place and in return, the next time I travel, I would be able to do the same thing.
I love to travel and I can fly 3-4 times a year.
When I first broached this to my housemate Huiyi, she was a little hesitant.
Two female housemates inviting strangers into our place doesn’t seem like a good idea but after evaluating the options and setting in place some ground rules, we decided to start of hosting only females.
It’s the rational thing to do.
Over a period of 6 months, we hosted students from far flung places in Eastern Europe to a Mongolian model who showed us pictures of her life on the great plains. It was truly an eye opener for me and my bestie Huiyi.
We would chat with the girls we are hosting through the night on weekends.
Talking to them offered a glimpse of what life is like on the other side of the earth.
It strokes the wanderlust flame within us and spurred us to work hard to one day be able to travel to those countries.
As our review as host grew, we started getting more requests from male and female alike, but we stuck to our rule to only host female.
It’s common sense isn’t it ?
One day, we got a request from a girl from Hong Kong that we hosted previously for a week. She’s making another trip to Singapore but this time round with her boyfriend.
She was hoping we can host the 2 of them for a short period of 3 days.
Rene is a nice girl, very quiet and shy but when she laughs, you can see the excitement in her. We like her a lot and we correspondence regularly though email. She was also one of the first to offer to bring us around Hong Kong if we visit.
Not the touristy places of course, we’re going to hit the places off the beaten track.
Huiyi and I liked Rene a lot, and we found it hard to say no. So we agreed to host the couple, breaking our girls only rule for the first time.
Rene’s boyfriend, Frank, is tall and well built. He hits the gym regularly from what we could see. I could see his muscles bulging from his tight shirt and through our conversation, realised he is a mix of Chinese and Indian.
With his heritage, his features are sharp and I must say, he looks pretty decent.
Naturally, Huiyi and I were a bit more reserved with a man around the house but Rene is still the same Rene.
Although I could see Frank stealing glances at Huiyi and me, I brushed it off.
It’s normal for a man to look at girls.
Especially given how the 2 of us look.
We’re not exactly super hot babes but I dare say we’re well above average.
Maybe after a couple of drinks, I might even say I’m prettier than Rene, but I don’t think I’m as cute.
Despite Frank’s roving eyes, he remained a gentlemen and the couple kept to the house rules we set.
Anyway, it was an uneventful few day and we bade farewell to Rene and Frank shortly after.
Then something strange happened.
After about a week, we received an email from Frank. He sent a mail to the shared account Huiyi and I used, saying that he has broken up with Rene.
We found it weird that he would send us something like this out of the blue but out of courtesy, we replied him.
‘Hi Frank, we’re sorry to hear that. We thought you guys are a great match. Please take care.’
Just a simple generic reply because we didn’t think we would be seeing him again.
Then a couple of days later, we got a mail from Rene. She told us she has broken up with Frank and that she needed to get out of the country for a few days. Since she is familiar with Singapore, she’s heading over in a week’s time.
She felt bad making us host her again so she asked if we would accept payment for her stay. Of course we refused, but Rene was adamant that we take her money, or she would go stay in a hotel.
After a bit of back and forth, we compromised and agreed to accept a token sum of $50 a day.
Rene came on a Friday and she told us she’s in a lousy mood. She wants to hit the clubs to have some fun, make get drunk or something. Huiyi and I were pretty beat after a full day’s work but we decided to go along with Rene because we can’t possibly let her go drinking alone in a country where she is a visitor.
It was an uneventful night for us girls despite putting in the extra effort to dress up. We saw plenty of men eyeing us but no one dare to make an approach. Not that we would readily go off with them back home but all girls can attest to this, it feels so good to be approached by men.
It doesn’t matter how they look, we just want to feel appreciated and wanted.
It boost our ego!
The 3 of us went back home and knocked out till the next afternoon.
Waking up in the morning with a bad hangover, Huiyi and I were fooling around and talking about a cute guy we saw that kept looking at us the night before.
While brushing our teeth, I saw Rene is up too and she asked us to post for her camera as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes while fiddling with her phone.
Perhaps it’s the remains of the alcohol in our blood, Huiyi and I started posing and Rene’s skills as a photography student really showed from the pictures she took.
It started with only 1 of Huiyi and I brushing our teeth but when we saw how nice the pictures are, we made Rene take more of us amidst laughter and tease. My bestie saw fit to tie a corky looking ribbon on my head just to make me look stupid.
“don’t post these online ok Rene, we’re in our underwears. Haha. “ I laughed
I found it weird though that only Huiyi and I were laughing and having fun while Rene just continued taking pictures of us.
She looked a little sad and unhappy and I attributed that to her recent breakup, or perhaps this is how artist work.
Totally immersed in a world of her own.
Huiyi and I laughed and giggled at the photos and I commented that it felt like we’re taking photos to sell our bodies.
“I’m pretty sure we will get a good price” Huiyi chuckled while trying to puff out her already undersized breast.
“yes yes, I will pay a good price for you baby. “ I teased while sliding my index finger up the slit of my best friend’s vagina from outside her panty before she could stop me.
“ Oh you bitch ! “ Huiyi screamed as she tried to do the same to me and we ended up trying to yank each other’s underwear down before collapsing into a heap on the floor laughing.
After the bout of photo taking, we got dressed and I suggested heading out for breakfast.
The 3 of us got changed and we noticed Rene packing her bags.
I didn’t think much of it because I knew she’s too nice to leave our place in a mess even though we didn’t mind.
We had brunch at a café and I noticed Rene busy texting away.
“ Is everything ok Rene ? “ I asked.
“ yeah, yeah, it’s fine. “ She replied a little absentmindedly.
I didn’t think much of it and continued chatting with Huiyi as she tapped furiously away on her phone.
I never expected Rene to get up suddenly.
She went to get the bill.
“ It’s my treat girls. It’s the least I can do given how well you treated me. “ Rene said and I thought it a little funny that she said it like she was going to cry.
Seems like she’s getting a little emotional early in the day.
After the brunch we were about to head back to my place when Rene gave Huiyi and I a tight hug each.
“woah, what’s wrong with you girl ? “ I asked.
Rene said it’s nothing. She’s going to head out and meet an aunt of hers for a while before coming back.
Huiyi and I didn’t think much about it and made our way back home.
However, when we got back to our place, I noticed several pairs of shoes by our door.
They are all men’s shoes.
“what the hell ? “ I mumbled as I quickly keyed in the passcode to unlock the door
Upon entering, I had a shock of my life.
Seated in our couch was Frank and 2 of his Indian friend.
I felt my heart skip a beat as I tried to make sense of what is going on.
“why are you in my house ? And who are they ? “ I demanded to know.
“ Juliette, please calm down, let me explain. “ Frank said calmly but I could feel my anger about to explode.
How dare he come inside our home without our knowledge and how did he know the passcode. We changed it every time after we host someone.
Suddenly Huiyi screamed from behind me and I felt her shove me inside the house.
Looking back, I saw another Indian man standing by the door as he locked and bolted the only way out of our small cozy place.
I felt the hair rise on my body as I looked at the lecherous looks the 4 men in the house was giving us.
My eyes caught what was on display on the phone of one of the men.
It was a picture of Huiyi and me in our underwear taken that morning.
I felt as if someone dropped a stone on my chest as I realised what is happening.
Rene.
She just fucking sold us.
9000 words