My name is Taryn. I'm 21, a size 00 blonde with long hair at 5 foot 4. As you're imagining, I'm tiny. My upbringing was upper middle class in the suburbs of an affluent city. I've always been a book-worm and never really fascinated with anything sexual. I do have a sister, Raena, who is definitely more on the risquΓ© side (more on her in a future chapter as she'll end up servicing my mentor too) but I'm certainly more reserved.
Many years ago, I got my first break right out of school at a large tech company serving as an intern. Truth be told, I think it was a combination of being at the right place and at the right time because I am certainly not someone who knows a lot about technology. Granted, it was in marketing. The guy who hired me was also the guy who was doing the job so I figured that since he chose me then he probably knows that I'd be a good fit for the job. My upbringing to this point did not really prepare me for this role but I figure I'd do my 8 months, learn from it and see what comes of it. I was 21 when I joined that company and, candidly, was still a virgin. It's not for any ulterior motive other than the fact that life was busy in University and it's not like I was one of 'those' girls in high school. The most crazy thing I did in life up to that point was being a cheerleader...
Anyhow, shortly after my internship began, the person who I was hired by and as such replaced, got hired full time by the same company and a very long story short, he became my mentor. He was super friendly, approachable, and definitely smart. He was always there when I needed him and he sort of became like a big brother over the upcoming months. He was 28, Asian, and was unhappily married. I think it was more of a combination of him trying to adult sooner rather than later and he made a number of poor decisions while his career was taking off beyond his wildest imaginations. I think, if anything, I slowly fell for him as opposed to his looks and really respected his style of work. He gave back to many of my colleagues and was always there to try to help others. If anything, I very much admired his success and his demeanour.
Like any good story, you've probably figured out the plot twist. I mean, this guy was married and I was the intern. I'll never forget one day he had sent me this article from HBR that he read which he thought was a good source of truth. The article talked about how a woman should handle herself at work and how she should dress (no panty lines, no bra lines). I'm still not sure, to this day, why he sent that to me. I mean, from that day on I wear thongs underneath my skirts/dresses because I was guilty of visible panty lines. Was that him sexually interested in me? Maybe.
One day, after a very very long day for both of us at work (we were in the middle of launching a new product), we headed to the cafeteria downstairs just to grab a free soda and to grab a few chips to snack on before heading home. We must have lost track of time because it was probably around 8pm and though the cafeteria was open concept, there was no one left in the building (outside of security). We talked about a number of typical mentor-mentee topics but things started to get personal as he opened up about his frustration with his marriage. He was obviously escaping life by working hard and so on this very interesting evening, I did what he did to me many times which was to be an active listener, and nothing more.
We were situated in a booth type arrangement in the caf and one thing led to another and I could tell he got really sad so I ended up sitting next to him and I put my arms around him. Everything to this point was 'professional' but then I did something I didn't expect. I kissed him on the cheeks. To this day, I honestly do not know what made me do that.