The Center of the Universe: Volume 26, Chapters 105-107 / The Center of the Universe (ePub)

"Every time the wall fan was passing air over her underwear on the mattress, next to her, the light fabric shivered a bit, like it had a fever."

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When Douglas begins an affair with his dazzling yet prim colleague, Nguyet, neither of them suspects how turbulent their liaison will become. Over the years, not only their intimacy and audacity grow, but also their susceptibility to temptation. On their journey of unbridled lust, they also meet others, who are equally liable to sin, so that eventually even an orgy circle forms in their sleepy little town in Central Vietnam.

Their first rendezvous begins when Douglas's muse Nguyet opens the entrance to the old, vacant hotel in a simple, yet provocative dress. With a single swift move of her hand, she sets the tone for their whole encounter, during which she uses all her charms to persuade him to purchase the imposing building.

As the vacant hotel is ideal for sensual trysts, the two meet there again in the following episode, after a lewd interlude at a café. During their lunch, Nguyet not only manages to satisfy her exhibitionism but also to arrange an epic surprise later, at the old stately pile of bricks.

In the unusually long third chapter, Douglas finally meets his all-time favorite student Anna again, who is now attending university in Saigon. One hot late morning in July, the two of them drive out to the beach. Soon, Anna challenges him, and Douglas has to make a quick decision that fateful moment, so that his relationship with the most beautiful young woman he has ever met doesn't end abruptly, with an éclat.

As varied as all the episodes are, they have one theme in common: Ultimately, they tell a captivating tale of liberation from the rigid and confining moral norms of their small Vietnamese town. All chapters are meant to entertain, amuse, and – in the best case – stimulate in taboo-free ways, without slipping into crudity.

All light-hearted stories are told in a very revealing, tongue-in-cheek manner and, in passing, also offer insights into Vietnamese culture. Without taboos, every episode explores the sources and dynamics of erotic desire and lures the reader under the spell of an exotic world.

The author of this extensive series of erotic stories has been enjoying Southeast Asia for ten years now. After living in Germany and the U.S. for most of his life, Douglas ventured in the opposite direction in 2010: first, he taught at a community college in the South Seas for three years, before settling in Vietnam. Naturally, all novellas reflect his undying love for young Southeast Asian women.