That One Time

by Marian Tee

  Nic looked at the old man. “You’re not kidding?”

  “NO JOKE.”

  He looked at the other passengers, most of them appearing to be English-speaking tourists and a few locals. “I’ll give each of you one hundred dollars if you let me go first.”

  In a few seconds, Nic was alone in the elevator, the others generously providing him with privacy. The elevator creaked and shook as it ascended. It gave him a headache, just thinking of Ayah having to ride this contraption from hell every day to get to work.

  An eternity passed before he was at the front door of Nana’s Guesthouse. It was open, but courtesy had him knocking anyway. There was another old man seated behind the counter, and he, too, looked grumpy. “Good morning,” the old man said, even though he sounded like it was anything but.

  Nic suppressed a sigh. So far, Hong Kong was proving to be nothing like the stupendous place that Ayah kept raving it to be. “I’m looking for Ayah Chandler.”

  The old man’s gaze narrowed. “You are Luuk?”

  Nic made sure his surprise did not show on his face. “Yes, I am. Is she here?”

  An evil grin appeared on the old man’s face. “She is out on a speed date.” He scribbled something quickly on a notepad and tore the page off. He waved it in the air with glee. “Here, you take it. You see for yourself.”

  Nic thanked him with a tight-lipped smile before swiftly making his way back to the elevator.

  What the fuck was she doing on a speed date?

  ~ Four ~

  “One: do not say you have a boyfriend because, honestly, you don’t really have one. An imaginary boyfriend, sure, but a real one? No. So don’t you speak about it if you don’t want to kill our friendship.”

  “But—”

  Another finger came up. “Two: do not say anything about your Luuk. He has nothing to do with this. It is not a betrayal because, frankly, there’s nothing to betray since he never ever called you his girlfriend.”

  “But—”

  “And lastly, do not compare the guys to Luuk in your mind. Have fun.” Mari glared at her. “Understand?”

  Ayah returned it with a grim look of her own. “Fine. I won’t talk about having a boyfriend, won’t talk about Luuk, but you have no control about what I think! I’ll always think about Luuk and that’s that!”

  As Ayah stomped towards the tables to join the other speed dating candidates, some of the café’s crew who had overheard their conversation snickered amongst themselves. Since Mr. Hsu also owned the café, Ayah was known to all of them.

  Mari grumbled to them. “She makes it sound like I’m setting her up to be raped.”

  One of the waitresses, Emi, patted her back. “You know Ayah.”

  The buzzer they used rang, indicating that the speed dating event was officially starting. They looked at Ayah, who had her smiling hotel receptionist face on. It was a very cute look, one that immediately made people relax and get comfortable with her. Also, she was dressed more fashionably than usual – a pink flowery scarf over a loose pale blouse with batwing sleeves, paired with a leather belt, peach-colored cotton shorts, and open-toed sandals.

  She wanted to think it was for the speed dating event, but Mari knew that was sure to be wishful thinking. She recognized this look. It was what her friend called her “SoHo look” – outfits that were meant to make people think she was rich and just being casual about it, a look that helped Ayah sweet talk locals into providing discounts and freebies to the guests under her care.

  Mari sighed. She was pretty sure that her friend would charm the socks off every guy in her event. If only one of them could make Ayah realize that nothing was going to happen between her and the evil Luuk.

  Her mobile phone rang, and Mari was taken aback to see it was Mr. Hsu calling her. “Hello?”

  “The bad Mr. Luuk is heading there,” he told her.

  “Luuk – as in Ayah’s Luuk?”

  “Yes,” Mr. Hsu said dourly. “I don’t trust him. He’s too good-looking. He doesn’t wear a ring though.”

  “He could have just taken it off.”

  “Bah! Doesn’t matter. Don’t want him for our Ayah. She should marry within her kind, a good Chinese boy—”

  Mari had to smile. Mr. Hsu rarely took to foreigners, and this was yet another proof of how easy it was for Ayah to worm her way into people’s hearts. She was just so…sweet. Even when she was also so freaking stubborn, she was just too sweet about it.

  “You do remember she’s American, right?” Mari teased.

  “No,” Mr. Hsu snapped, “I don’t.” He ended the call.

  Mari’s smile faded when she looked back at Ayah. She was clearly having fun, the guys she spoke to were clearly smitten with her, but it was also glaringly obvious she wasn’t taking any of the guys’ words seriously.

  Ayah, Ayah, Ayah. What did that Luuk guy do to you to make you like him so much?

  ****

  A waiter blocked his way the moment he tried to enter the café. “Wait here.” He had a curiously militant expression on his face, like he was expecting an enemy to come anytime. The way he was looking at Nic now, it was clear he was that enemy.

  So far, Hong Kong was truly leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

  Lifting a brow, he asked dryly, “I suppose you know I’m looking for Ayah Chandler?”

  The waiter repeated stoically, “Wait here,” before promptly turning his back on Nic and entering the café.

  He would give the guy five minutes, Nic decided. He knew from Ayah’s stories that her boss also owned the café. It could be that they thought they were just protecting her from the big bad Western wolf.

  A woman emerged from the café, a dark-haired local dressed in a lacy blouse and pencil cut skirt. She looked like a fashion executive – or to be specific, a fashion executive dressed for battle, considering the glint in her eyes.

  “You are Luuk Aafjes?”

  How many people had Ayah told about him anyway? And what the hell did she tell them that made everyone seem to want to come after Nic with pitchforks?

  He inclined his head to the side, not saying yes or no. “I’m looking for Ayah.”

  “I know you are,” she told him frostily. “The question is, why are you looking for her just now?”

  Nic asked coolly, “And this is your business because?”

  “Because we prefer that she dates a nice man from here and not a lying jerk like you.”

  “Not while I’m fucking alive,” he snapped right away. She appeared startled at his words. He supposed he could have toned it down, but…unlikely. Ayah – dating another man? No fucking way would he stand for that and especially not now that he had decided to…

  Never mind what he had decided. The most important thing was to get Ayah out of this shitty speed date as soon as possible.

  Ayah’s friend was still looking at him suspiciously, but he didn’t give a fuck. The more time he wasted here, the more time those assholes had with his Ayah. He said without preamble, “You either let me inside peacefully and I will not make a scene, or I will get this whole place shut down.”

  Mari blinked at the man’s threat. He sounded like…he meant it and that he could carry it out easily. Her gaze narrowed. The way Ayah described him, Luuk Aafjes had seemed more like an ordinary white-collar worker in Europe, but there was nothing ordinary about this man. His height, his looks, and the way he spoke and moved – everything screamed money, power, and authority.

  It was just so like Ayah not to notice all of that!

  Lifting her chin, Mari said, “I don’t care who you are or what you can do. Before I let you in, I want you to know that we all think you’ve been leading her on all this time and we all think it’s suspicious that you’re suddenly here.”

  When the man started to speak, she shook her head profusely. “No! You do not get to speak until I’m done.”

  The man lifted a brow.

  Gah! So smug, Mari thought. Whatever did the sweet Ayah see in this jerk? S
he continued hotly, “All this time, Ayah’s been loyal to you when we all know you never even called her your girlfriend.” Planting her hands on her hips, she finished ominously, “If any of us find out that you’ve hurt her, we’ll kill you.”

  His expression did not alter, meaning he still looked like a cold handsome bastard. But his voice was even when he said, “Fair enough. Now can I come in?”

  Those were the only words he could manage to say. Nic felt like his world had started spinning in the wrong direction at what Ayah’s friend had revealed.

  Over one year…that was how long they had not seen each other.

  Just that one time…that was how short they fucking knew each other.

  And yet this woman was telling him that none of those things mattered.

  Ayah had…taken a risk on him, the way he had once gambled on them…and lost by choosing to take the easy way out.

  “Anything else?” the man asked.

  Trying not to show how disconcerted she was at how “cooperative” he was being, Mari dug into her pocket. “Not so fast, Mr. Aafjes.”

  Nic suppressed an impatient sigh, reining in his instincts to just bodily lift the woman out of his way and barge into the café. Hong Kong was a nightmare so far, with everyone forcing him to wait on others and in a way that he had never waited on anyone his whole life.

  “You’ll need this.”

  Nic returned his attention to the woman and at the sight of the object in her hands, his jaw clenched hard. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

  “No. I’m fucking not,” she said sweetly. “If you want to see Ayah peacefully, then this is what you have to do.”

  “Fine.” He all but snarled the word as he grabbed the name badge from the woman’s fingers.

  Mari suddenly had a bad feeling, and she caught his sleeve just as he started to walk past her. When he turned to her, his face terrifyingly blank, she swallowed. Was she making the right decision here? “Luuk…” Mari looked at him pleadingly. “What are you planning really?”

  Only the genuine care on Mari’s face allowed Nic to unbend enough to answer honestly. “I just want Ayah and me to have time alone and get to know each other again.”

  And then he was walking into the café.

  Mari knew she should follow him right away, but she couldn’t. Her heart was heavy with the knowledge that Luuk Aafjes had yet to realize that he was the only one who felt like that. In Ayah’s world, a person didn’t need to know someone to be in love. One just…loved.

  ~ Five ~

  For a billionaire, his mobile phone was like a gun. One call, one bullet – and careers could be ruined, millions of dollars spent, and entire businesses shut down. The send button was its trigger, and right now Nic was an inch away from not just pulling the trigger but raining fucking bullets all over the place.

  Ayah was surrounded by jackasses.

  He flexed his hands, striving for control. One call was all it would take, and this whole place would be closed down. He could have an entire army of detectives in here within minutes, figure out everyone’s identities, and have all of them fired from their jobs, no questions asked.

  Mari smirked at the expression on Luuk Aafjes’ face. “So you’re sure about this? You really want to be one of the candidates?”

  His expression became even colder, but to his credit he didn’t say any of the curses that were probably running in his mind. This Luuk dude sure was possessive, Mari thought. With a smothered laugh, she told him, she smothered a laugh. “Well, you need to fill out the badge with your name and stick it somewhere on your shirt.” She gestured to Emi, one of the waitresses, and gave her instructions as Luuk took out a pen and filled out his name badge.

  When he was done, Mari said, “This is Emi. She’ll direct you to your place.”

  The other woman, Emi, took over and she gestured towards the pool of speed date participants. “Sir? Would you follow me please?” Her tone was polite, but her face was agog with curiosity.

  Yet another person who knew about him, Nic realized. Was that something to be happy about? He considered their reactions to him so far. Probably not.

  There was a row of tables and bar stools in the middle of the café, with one row occupied entirely by females while the men were lined up opposite them. When the buzzer sounded, the men moved on to the next woman in line.

  A swift look told him that the men outnumbered the women about 2:1, but most of them seemed clustered around...Ayah. It had him clenching his teeth together, the only way he could stop himself from snarling at the other men to stay away from his woman.

  Emi pointed to the end of the line. “You will line there and wait for your turn. The rules are simple,” she informed him in her accented English. “You will hear a bell. It means you have one minute left to talk to your date. When you hear a buzz, you must move to the next woman – no time to say goodbye. You cannot ask for their contact details. We will give it to you if they allow us to. You must always be respectful. We will ask you to leave if you are not. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” he bit out. Just the fact that he had to be issued a warning about respecting women had him bristling, not because he was offended but because it meant Ayah could be at risk of being offended by any of these fuckers.

  When Emi left, his glance swung back to Ayah. She was smiling as she listened with seeming attentiveness to what her “date” was saying. Jealousy struck him like lightning, making Nic want to challenge everyone to a fight. No one had the right to make Ayah smile like that but him.

  Her date said something else, and this time Ayah blinked before laughing out loud, the sound of it like the sweetest and most seductive melody to Nic’s ears…and no doubt to all the other men.

  Nic closed his eyes. This was going to be one long fucking event.

  ****

  As the buzzer sounded, Ayah did her best to surreptitiously look at her phone under the table, checking it for messages. But before she could unlock the screen, nimble fingers had swiped it out of her hold. Her head jerked up. “Mari!”

  Her friend shook her head disapprovingly. “Concentrate!”

  “But what if Luuk—”

  Mari’s glare became more evil.

  She shut up. She would just explain to Luuk later if she ended up missing his call or text.

  Her “fifth” date worked at the stock exchange, liked reading books, and had a cute smile. She knew right away that they would get along – as friends. Her sixth date was very handsome, and his dimples only added to his sex appeal. He was a lot of fun, teasing her outrageously about being the most popular girl in the event. He made her laugh, and she just knew they would get along, too – as friends.

  It wasn’t as if she was comparing them to Luuk like Mari warned her not to, Ayah reasoned to herself. It was just impossible for her heart to get into this entire thing because somebody already owned it.

  The thought had Ayah snickering privately to herself. Even to her own ears, it sounded very mushy.

  It was the same cycle over and over, and who her date was didn’t really matter or register. They were not Luuk, ergo they were all the same to Ayah. As she waited for her next date, she glanced down at her notecards, which contained a list of questions she was supposed to ask if she ran out of things to say.

  Sensing someone taking the seat opposite her, Ayah looked up with a smile but instead she ended up choking.

  No, it couldn’t possibly be—

  She looked closer.

  It really was—

  Nic calmly tore the lid off one of the unopened bottles of water on the table and handed it to her.

  She took it and drank everything in one gulp.

  Ayah’s shock amused him, but more than that, the way she stared at him like he was a gift from the heavens made his entire body vibrate in heightened awareness. She still wanted him, was still attracted to him, and most importantly, she seemed like…

  He did not want to continue the thought. This time, he was th
e one who needed water and so he opened another bottle, drinking it all in a single gulp as well.

  Then they stared at each other.

  Somewhere behind her, Ayah heard Mari cough meaningfully and she was jerked back to reality. She scrambled for her notecards even as she tried madly to make sense of what was happening. What was he doing here? How had he found her? Was he mad that she was a part of this?

  She stole a look.

  Same beautiful blond hair, those wicked blue eyes, the chiseled face, and that wonderfully hard body, which seemed even sexier than she remembered.

  Ayah quickly looked down again. Great, she thought. Now she was even more confused and scatter-brained. How the heck could any girl concentrate with such a hot guy in front of them?

  Another loud cough from Mari behind her had Ayah blurting out the first question on her notecard.

  Ask his name.

  Example: How do I call you? What’s your name? Hi, I’m _. And you are?

  She said automatically, “Hi, I’m Ayah, and you are…” That was when she saw his name badge. “Ayah’s owner,” she finished weakly.

  Ayah’s owner.

  Oh my God, but that was seriously sexy!

  Luuk leaned forward.

  She…did her best not to lean forward as well. Everything in her wanted to close the distance between them just so she could “accidentally” kiss him and find out if it was as good as she remembered, too.

  Did Ayah know she was staring at his lips? He deliberately gave her a smile that oozed of dirty hot sex, and Nic was rewarded with a tiny whimper.

  “You can call me anything you want, lieverd.”

  Ayah was close to melting in her seat.

  He smirked. “Any other questions?”

  “Umm…” She looked down at her notecards, more flustered than ever. The next question started with the words “how long”, but her Chinese reading skills totally failed her then, probably because she was so nervous. How long…was what? How long was his cock?

  Nic choked. The couple next to them choked as well.