by L. J. Hawke
Tania poked buttons on her phone, looked up, and said, “You owe me more than what’s left on my school loans,” she said, stunned. “That's even paying myself by the hour for the website work.”
“And how long did it take for you to pay me back for that?” asked Sanur. He smiled at her expression that combined shock and horror. “And, half the business, half the profits. Business has never been better, we're opening up new markets faster than we can service them, and my accountant wants to hire another accountant to help the tax attorney.”
“Whoa.” Tania stared at her boss, stunned. But he wouldn’t be her boss for long.
Sanur did not like the fear in her eyes. “I do not think you understand how many people have better lives because of us. You kept the business afloat, then expanded it. You have the ability to hire the right people, to keep moving in the right direction.”
“How will this work?” Tania asked, dazed.
“I shall keep a percentage, look things over, get paid for my travels bringing in new products for you. I will protect you from scams, because those people will begin to harass you now that a non-Thai name will be on the business paperwork. I will have to move offices, leave the current one as your showcase. I will steal one of the interns to run things and get a much quieter office where I can hear myself think. I know of a property just around the corner, the same builder, and I can get a discount on the rent. Same courtyard, more living space above for interns if they want it. I can show it to you after dinner.”
“You either bought it or built it.”
“I improved it, a duplicate of our current office.” Sanur grinned over the rim of his teacup. “I like the fish in the pond. Also, I need my own office space to run my businesses. I've spent too much time on this one, and I have more that needs my attention.”
Tania felt her heart drop. He was leaving? She couldn’t see him every day? She put her fingers to her mouth, felt his phantom kiss there.
“Perhaps we can have lunch or dinner from time to time. You will still keep me on as a consultant, no?” Sanur asked, with a wicked grin on his face.
Tania crunched some more numbers and showed him her calculator. He added five percent, and they shook hands on the final amount. “I will have our attorney, because I assume you would like to keep the same one for your business, draw up the paperwork. We’ll both look it over and sign at the beginning of next week.”
“Nice doing business with you,” said Tania. She stood and shook his hand. “I'll be right back,” she said, and headed towards the restroom. Sanur amused himself by altering the number on the contract his attorney had already sent him and sent it back for review. He hadn't been off by much. The guilt he felt over realizing just how much work she had put in compared to how little he had paid her in exchange left him as he finally gave Tania her proper compensation.
The server had taken away the empty plates and refreshed the tea by the time Tania came back. “How are Kandace and Corinne doing?” Sanur asked, sipping from his tea.
“Very well,” said Tania. “I'm afraid I frightened the staff here with my happy dance in the bathroom.”
Sanur choked out a laugh, trying not to spew his tea. Once his face was under control and she had poured her own tea, he looked into her beautiful hazel eyes. “I was paying you about eight times less than I should have been paying you,” he said quietly. “I should have known and done something about it. I let myself get overwhelmed with too many other projects, but, in my defense, you should have, as you Westerners say, kicked my ass.”
Tania laughed. “You did me an enormous favor and saved me many years and many thousands of dollars in very useless interest payments. If it makes you feel any better, I was planning on approaching you with at least cutting the rest of my debt in half.” Sanur nodded approvingly. “I also wanted to talk to you about the time we kissed. It could be seen as a sexual harassment thing.”
Sanur very carefully put down his teacup. “I can only apologize,” he said quietly. “You were up on stage, and you were absolutely stunning. I'd never seen anyone like that before, didn't know how that would turn you from a swan into a very beautiful dirty angel.”
Tania blushed at the dirty-angel description and snorted. “Smooth, but accurate. Besides, I sort of kissed you first. Just a peck, not a toe-curling one, but I sexually harassed you first.”
Wait, she had curling toes? What does that mean? Sanur asked himself. “I was overcome. I rarely lose control. And despite my previous behavior, the woman who worked here before who stole my money begged me for months before I gave in. I'm not the kind of man who sexually harasses his employees. If it makes you feel any better, I always considered you to be an equal. It didn't take long, after a mental shove in the correct direction, until I realized that you could be the one to take over this company. I've been grooming you for that ever since.”
Tania shook her head slowly. “I didn't feel sexually harassed, but I went along with you avoiding me, avoiding talking about what happened that night. What we had was too electric, too passionate, something that could easily distract us, and I had bills to pay, and there are literally people counting on me—on us—to put food in their bellies. I know neither one of us could afford the distraction at the time.”
Tania smiled sadly, and Sanur sighed. That kiss was an amazing mistake, Sanur thought. But Tania did seem to feel as he did. How, then, should they proceed?
Tania ducked her head, kicked her feet under the table like a little girl. “Then you started having dinners with myself and Lupe, I assumed to train us, but also because you wanted a buffer between the two of us.”
“And half the young people you surround yourself with,” said Sanur. “Lupe is truly lovely, beautiful, and special. But it didn't escape my notice that she prefers the company of women.”
“She's bisexual, I think,” said Tania. “I've only gone out with her and her friends twice. They drink like fish, and I have other things I'd rather do with my money and my time than watching other people get drunk.” She held up a finger. “Just so you know, Lupe cuts herself off well before the end of the night, and she's never come to work drunk or stoned or anything else.”
“That is now your problem, not mine,” said Sanur. “For now, I will own half the business. It is your choice whether or not to whisper in Lupe’s ear that she could own some more of the business if she paid off her school loans faster. I looked into combining her loans into one, but interest rates in Spain for college loans are nowhere near as horrific as they are in the United States. Even though it's not really your business, I can say that she's paying them off more quickly than it may appear from her lifestyle.”
Tania nodded. “You’re right. It’s not my business.”
Sanur made his voice tight so Tania would hear his warning. “Like you, she has other things that bring in money. Not all of the people she spends her time with are friends. They are sometimes clients she introduces to other clients. They do business with each other, and she gets a...shall we say, a finder’s fee. She only works with people that she trusts and she knows will do an excellent job, and she's very good at what she does.”
Tania's jaw hit the ground. “I see. I take it she introduces online friends to other online friends in the real world?” Sanur nodded, and Tania laughed. “She's a mover! A shaker! A fixer!”
“Nimman is very much its own little community, and there are diamonds in the rough, so to speak. There are digital nomads with actual businesses. She brings people like travel vloggers, hoteliers, and adventure seekers together, things like that.” Sanur smiled at the look of wonder on Tania's face.
Tania’s jaw dropped. “That little skank, keeping things from me! She built her own entrepreneurial digital nomad introduction business right under my nose.” Sanur watched the wheels moving in Tania’s head once more. “Come to think of it, this is the perfect place to do that. This is where they are after all, their hunting grounds. Might as well get them all together, let all the parties get
to know each other.”
“You make them sound like wolves and lions meeting each other on the savanna, making introductions at the watering hole,” said Sanur. “And what is a ‘skank’?”
Tania laughed. “It should be mountain lions and wolves meeting each other. Wolves are cold weather predators, and lions are hot weather, and from different continents. And a skank is...the kind of woman I dress like when I perform on stage.”
Sanur laughed, and put down his cup again before he spilled tea all over himself. “I have seen your ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ performance. So, that is what a ‘skank’ is?”
“The lyrics of the song actually call me a ‘tramp’ and a ‘video vamp’, which is close enough.” She laughed, and said, “I need something stronger.” She called over a server and ordered a Coke. Not a rum and coke, just a Coke. To her, “stronger” meant caffeine and sugar.
Sanur found himself laughing again, in wonder that he found this woman so far from her home. Of course, he was far from his home as well, having spent most of his youth in Bali. He missed the sound of the waves, the smell of salt in the air. He had considered moving there to run his many businesses, but he would wait for her for as long as it took.
“I will not date you tonight. When you sign the papers and own half the business, then it will not be sexual harassment if we choose to date. Then, when I'm actually in town, and you're not performing or teaching children, then I would like to spend time with you.” Sanur smiled as her jaw dropped, and that light he loved to see came up in Tania’s eyes. “I like many kinds of food, I like to dance, or we can simply walk around the city, or even lay still and watch a movie. I will do what you want when you want it, as long as it's something I can stand. I'm not going to do bungee jumping, cliff diving, or any other risky procedure. I prefer not to put myself at risk, because other people are counting on me.”
“Oh, honey.” Tania looked into his eyes. Sanur froze, afraid she was about to destroy his carefully-laid plans for her. Tania had never called him “honey” before. It seemed to be a term of endearment in the movies he had watched to try to understand Tania and where she had come from. “Kandace had friends like that for a hot minute; they scared me half to death. Well, I did the cliff diving, but that was an aberration. No, I plan on doing all my activities on the ground, unless we go to some tower that looks down on things, like the Petronas Tower in Kuala Lumpur. That would be kind of nice. And yes, I will date you. Once the company is half mine, of course.” She grinned, eyes shining.
Sanur smiled back and bowed a little. “I accept your conditions.”
“I’m not finished,” said Tania. Sanur smiled at her hard-nosed attitude. He and his kind used tongues, not noses, but it was the same thing. She had a scent for business. “I won't make the same mistakes I made before, being paid less than I'm worth, half killing myself to prove myself. I have already proven myself, and you're selling me half your business because I have proven that to you. As you said, I am your equal. I'm probably younger than you, from what you told me I’d say about six years younger than you. But I'm most definitely anyone’s equal.”
Sanur stared at her. “I accept all your conditions,” he said, his tone serious. “I do hope we can take buying trips together, but just letting you know, that's not a thin veil for an actual vacation. I do a lot of real work on those trips, but I do like to take a day or two and look around and enjoy what I'm seeing. I don't plan on spending my entire life on planes. There are some places I'd really like for you to see, and I hope at some point that you will go with me.”
“That would be lovely. As for tonight, you can take me dancing for an hour and a half. After that, I'm going to go home and fall down on my bed, alone. And no kissing. If we do that, I'll forget that I have work tomorrow, and that's going to go very badly for both of us.”
Sanur held up both hands in capitulation. “At this point, you make the rules. Later on, I'll probably have one or two of my own, but most of it's just common sense. I think we're both too old and wise to engage in the useless, petty, stupid games most people play in their relationships. I very literally do not have time for that.”
“Now that I own half a company, neither do I.”
Tania finished her tiny can of Coke, and Sanur gave his credit card to a passing server. “I'll be right back,” Sanur said quietly. “We have a time crunch, and I know a place that you're going to love.”
Sanur took his life into his hands when he rode on the back of her scooter. She had lightning-quick reflexes that saved their lives more than once. He directed her to a club, and she laughed when she realized they were playing ‘80s music. While she danced to Alannah Myles’ song “Black Velvet,” Sanur wondered how he could keep his hands off of her until the papers were signed. For now, he kept his hands on her swaying hips, her legs strong from Muay Thai kickboxing, and they danced until they were ready to drop.
The next afternoon, Kannika smiled at Tania. “Thank you for speaking at our school on Career Day. Everyone was sick of shops, tourism, restaurants, hotels, construction, tour guides, divers, people to watch after the children. We do so much more here.”
Tania smiled. “They loved the story of the honorary uncle.”
“What story?” Lupe asked.
“I found the woodcarver, the one who carves those gorgeous mirror frames. And I get a percentage of each sale, which makes the woodcarver happy, because we are distantly related. I call him Uncle now, and he is showing me how to carve. He was my father’s friend. He says that he is very sorry about the motorcycle accident that killed my parents and is very horrify that no one stepped forward. Now I have an honorary uncle, and it is because of you.”
“Horrified,” Tania corrected Kannika without really thinking about it. “Great choice of words. Someone's been studying her word of the day. So what have you learned here?”
Kannika pulled up an ad, tapped it on the screen. “This ad brings in almost four hundred American dollars in profits a week. I designed it, and now I get a percentage of those profits.”
“So, sales, marketing, profit-sharing, and spotting local artists. When you went on photo shoots, did you learn anything?”
Kannika lowered her voice. “I learned color, composition, formatting, backgrounds, which camera to use and why, lighting, and so much more every time I go. We hate the lottery system. Every time we learn something, we don't go back for another two weeks as the other people rotate through. Why don't you have us on for a week then off for a week? Everyone has been... What do you say? Cross-trained.”
Tania held up a finger and thought a minute. “Sure, go to a week-on rotating schedule.” Kannika cheered soundlessly, waving her arms, which made Tania grin. “If there's any takeaway I wanted you to get from this, it's cross-training. The more you learn, the more valuable you are to me, and Sanur and Lupe, and to this company. And the more you bring to your classes, because you have more knowledge. And the sadder we're going to be when you do the whole college thing and leave us behind.”
Kannika grimaced. “You want me to spend thousands of dollars of my own money to get a degree in business. Why? Didn't you go to college, and then teach me, teach all of us, what you learned by running this business? Wouldn't that apply to any business? So why do we have to go to school if we already learned it here?”
Lupe nodded her head. “The young woman has a point.” Lupe raised her hand when Tania pretended to lunge across the desk at her. “Wouldn't you agree that this young woman has learned more than either one of us learned in school? I'm not disparaging my art degree. The problem is, I didn't see real-world applications until I met you. I wanted to work in a gallery, an auction house, a museum. I had no idea that the competition was so fierce for those jobs, the number of degrees and certifications that would be required.”
Tania calmed down. She could see Lupe’s point. “I see that. Knowledge versus real-world application.”
Lupe pointed to her own computer. “Here, I get to work with the artists t
hemselves, use the Internet and my language skills, and my skills in composition, lighting, and photography to bring those artists to the world. I can't think of something more rewarding.”
“I think that's a point,” said Tania. “How much of what we learned had real-world applications? That's not to say I didn't really enjoy learning the guitar and drums.” The others laughed. Although it embarrassed the hell out of her, everyone had been by to see Tania’s rock goddess performances. She didn't perform every weekend, didn't even get together with the band every week, but she practiced like a real rocker and was getting really good, or at least much better.
“Knowledge is a really good argument for attending school. But did I really need to learn the works of every master in history to do my current job? Even following your plan, and yes, I know, I go out too much, it will still take me another two years to pay off my debts.” Lupe made a face. “Certificates are the key. You should be able to build up enough to get in at least an associate’s degree, if not a bachelor's degree.”
Tania nodded. “Most businesses that make money these days are online or have an online component. If you don't know how to run your own website, put up ads, or write blogs, you're in big trouble in the real world now. And so many people with degrees have their own businesses, and they have to hustle to learn this on their own because a lot of colleges just don't teach this stuff.” She grinned as phones rang; they picked them up and began to help their customers.
Island Days
Sanur called his travel agent and got a booking to Boracay in the Philippines for Tania. He upgraded her to business class and told Tania to go away and not come back for a week. Tania had been looking pale and had made silly mistakes. She corrected them quickly, but it was obvious she was exhausted. He told her to book whatever hotel rooms she liked, to do whatever she wanted to do. He gave her a prepaid credit card loaded with a thousand dollars and told her to be sure that card was empty when she returned.