“She is my girlfriend,” No answered, raising his hand in a stopping motion to prevent any further verbal attacks from Go’s wife. “And she is one of the few people I trust to witness this meeting.”
As usual, Ana made her feelings known to everyone by broadcasting her surprise so clearly upon her face that Go asked No in Japanese, “Did she know that?”
“No,” he answered the taller man, wondering just how much Ana understood of their conversation. “We hadn’t had a chance to discuss these things yet.”
A lie. The smallest one he would tell this evening, as he remembered how good Go had been at reading the body language of other Americans back when they were in grad school. One of many skills on a rather strange talent list.
“You were not part of my plan for this evening,” Go told him, tucking both hands under the armpits of the suit jacket he wore over his hoodie.
“I realize this and I apologize for my unannounced visit.”
Go grunted. “I’m almost used to it by now after being married to Nyla.” Then he frowned, looking around the otherwise empty restaurant. “This was meant to be a private reservation. I assume you had people watching us?”
“I recommend you get a new driver for the remainder of your stay,” No answered. “He leaked your itinerary.”
“And the leak back in the States? The one that nearly ruined my relationship with Nyla? Do I have your father to thank for that or you?”
Even with the knowledge that his father had hired one of his employees to spy on him, No struggled against his natural instinct to protect Kazuo’s reputation. It was not easy for him to go against decades of cultural and familiar programming to respond with the truth. But he did. “My father.”
Go nodded, not looking the least bit surprised. “Yes, that’s what I thought. So then, why are you here, No? Guilt? Greed?”
No was oddly pleased to see Go hadn’t become any less direct over the years.
“Both,” he answered. “Kazuo is my father. The head of my family and of my family’s company. Nevertheless, I cannot agree with his methods and I would not have had you hurt. For this I must apologize.” No bowed deeply before his former friend.
Go shifted and appeared to become agitated. Finally he turned to his wife and said, “Nyla, new plan: I need exactly fifteen minutes with No. Then he’ll leave and we’ll eat dessert.”
“If you ask me, this new plan is a load of bullshit. Here, you want get in on this?” Nyla extended the unused fork that had obviously been meant for Go toward Lilli.
Normally Lilli would have declined, especially given the circumstances. But the restaurant’s waiter had just popped out long enough to clear the dinner plates and bring out tiramisu. Actual tiramisu.
Any American living for a little too long in a country with much different ideas of what construed a good dessert would fully understand why Lilli took that fork and dug right into the cocoa and mascarpone delight.
“Didn’t your husband say to wait?” Lilli thought to ask—but not until they were halfway through the dish. Again. American in Japan.
“Yeah, he did,” Nyla answered with a naughty grin. “But me ruining his plans is kind of my thing. Although it looks like I’ve got some competition from your boyfriend.”
Damn her open face, because Nyla immediately pointed at Lilli with one long black stiletto nail. “I knew it! I knew he wasn’t your boyfriend. Did he hire you? How much?”
“Um…he didn’t really hire me for this,” Lilli answered as best she could with her sub-par lying skills. “We’ve been together for six months. And I don’t know what happened between him and your husband, but whatever it was, I think he’s been feeling guilty about it. I mean, if that’s worth anything to you.”
Nyla harrumphed, but it must have meant something to her because instead of getting angry again, she asked, “So you got any suggestions for what to do in Osaka while you and your one-year-old are waiting for your husband’s boring conference to be over?”
Actually Lilli did.
“Have you tried yakiniku yet? Or okonomiyaki? Or really any yaki whatsoever? It’s all good here. Plus, there’s bunraku, kind of a type of Japanese puppet theater that my—I mean, kids in general love.”
While they finished off the remainder of the dessert, Lilli began to feel a lot like her old self again as she offered Nyla all sorts of suggestions for where to go with her daughter, Marcella, during their time in Osaka.
“You know, I still don’t like your boyfriend, but you’re pretty cool,” Nyla informed her after she was done with her list. “Want to meet up with me and Marcella tomorrow? That way I won’t have to worry about getting lost on the way to the puppet theater place.”
God, how much would she love that? Sometimes she actually forgot what city she was in because she’d spent so much of the last six months either getting beauty treatments or waiting for No to come home from work.
But in this case… “Oh! That actually sounds really great and normally I’d love to. But No and I are leaving for Tokyo tomorrow night and I should…pack.”
A slightly better version of the truth than what she really could have said: Sorry, but I can’t because my sex client likes me to be available to him 24/7 and I pretty much never leave the apartment or hotel unless I’m getting a beauty treatment.
Luckily for Lilli, before Nyla could argue further, Go stood up from the table where he and No had retreated to chat. Clearly a man of his word, Go ended the men’s conversation with a fifteen-degree bow towards No and returned to the table where Lilli and Nyla sat shoveling the remaining tiramisu into their faces.
Go frowned briefly at the almost empty dessert plate and then called out to the waiter. “New plan, I’d like to order another dessert to finish with my wife now.”
So less than thirty minutes after their arrival, Lilli and No were back in the car and heading to the love flat.
“Go and No, huh?” she asked, unable to bear the suspense for more than a minute or two.
“Hai,” No answered with a sideways smile. “We were given these nicknames at grad school.”
“So were you guys able to make up?” she asked, hoping for his sake that they had.
“You could say that. Go is ‘hard to read,’ but he said he would take my proposal under consideration.”
Unfortunately, Lilli didn’t realize until No said “proposal” that the two men had been discussing business. Business of the sort No’s father would certainly expect her to report on when she called him the next week.
She inwardly cursed herself. And Doug. For putting her in this impossible position.
“You seem tired,” No observed when her shoulders sagged with the realization of how truly shitty her situation was.
“I am,” she admitted. “Tonight was kind of intense, and I still haven’t eaten.”
“I understand.” He inclined his head. “I’ll have Riyu send something over for you to eat. She’ll also come by early tomorrow to help you pack for the trip. There is some…additional finessing I must do in Tokyo and I’ve decided we will leave earlier than originally planned.”
“Oh there’s no need to send Riyu over. I can order takeout and pack myself,” Lilli answered, sooo not wanting to deal with Riyu, especially in the wake of Miyuki’s departure. “She’s already going to have enough on her plate until you find a replacement for Miyuki.”
No considered her words for a moment and to her relief, gave in with a small bow. “As you wish.”
This is nowhere near what I wish, she thought as she got out of the car. He had no idea how much she wished she could wish herself right out of this situation. She didn’t want to be like Miyuki, but if she didn’t do what Kazuo Nakamura wanted, Doug wouldn’t get his five years. But if she did…
Lilli shuddered, not even wanting to think about the harsh, ugly look on No’s face when he told her about Miyuki’s betrayal. She didn’t know how she’d be able to bear him turning that look on her.
So by the time s
he made it up to the love flat, Lilli felt weary to the bone. Her whole body aching as she fell into bed still wearing a face full of make-up.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lilli went to bed feeling so abject and miserable, it took her a moment to realize what was going on when she woke the next morning with a clogged nose and two golf balls where her tonsils should have been. Oh, hell…. She was sick.
Sadly, she was also ridiculously relieved. Getting sick was a clear violation of her terms with No. Which meant she wouldn’t be able to accompany him to Tokyo and would have less opportunity to spy on him. Meaning less information for her to share with his father.
Fumbling for her phone on the nightstand, Lilli started to dial Miyuki’s number only to remember…
Crap. Miyuki was no longer in No’s employ. And she didn’t have No’s number. Which was how she ended up having to dig up Riyu’s contact info via the company directory. Riyu, who took Lilli’s call and answered in pleasant Japanese until Lilli said, “Hey Riyu-san, it’s Ana.”
“Nakamura-sama said I not pack you!” she informed Lilli in broken, agitated English.
“No, I am calling because I have a cold,” Lilli answered in just as broken Japanese. “Sick?” She made a coughing sound to bring home the point, even though coughing wasn’t currently one of her symptoms. At least not yet. This cold had her feeling so weak, she had to wonder if it wasn’t just the beginning of a flu.
A brief, chilly pause from Riyu. Then, “Yes, I tell him you sick. Anything else?”
Lilli hesitated, the nurse in her knew she’d do well to ask for some kind of food delivery that included fluids. But…
“You appear to expend a lot of energy taking care of others. In fact I think it’s safe to say you’ve organized your life around this,” her college therapist once said. “I wonder, how would it feel if you let someone else take care of you for a change?”
Lilli knew then and there that she’d definitely picked the right field because the thought of asking anyone for anything didn’t just unnerve her, it triggered all sorts of unhappy childhood memories of the mother whose life she’d ruined simply by being born.
“You think I want to take care of you?” Her mother’s voice rang in her ears. “You think anybody want to take care of your needy ass?”
And of course there was the fact that she really didn’t want to stay on the phone with No’s unfriendly assistant a moment longer than absolutely necessary.
In the end, pride won out. “Yes, um…please tell Mr. Nakamura that I’m sorry and I hope he has a nice trip.”
There was yet another cold pause during which Lilli swore she could actually feel Riyu’s annoyance seeping through the phone line.
“Yes, I tell him,” she said in slightly better, but even colder English.
“Domo arigato,” Lilli answered as clearly as her clogged nose would allow.
“Hai,” Riyu answered before hanging up.
She needed to go back to bed. Rest. Then she’d rally for liquids and see if the delivery app she’d used when she lived with Doug and Ruby worked in this part of town.
That was the last thought Lilli had before falling back into a miserable black sleep.
“Get out! Get! I never wanted you in the first place!” her mother was screaming from the porch, throwing her things out into the snow on their unshovelled porch.
“Mama, please!” Lilli pleaded, crying. “Just let me stay until the end of senior year. Please!”
“No, you ain’t staying with me no more!” her mother slurred, still drunk from the night before. “You stupid-ass bitch ruined my life! Now get out! GET OUT!!!”
Hands were on her, shaking her awake. And Lilli blinked back tears as she woke up in overly bright light. She was no longer on the cold streets of Seattle but in a broiling hot room. What time was it? How long had she been asleep?
“Water,” she croaked to the hands that had shaken her awake. Too dehydrated to care about keeping her tone polite.
A bottle of cold water was pushed into her hands and, thank the Lord, it was already open. She was so weak, she had no idea if she would have been able to unscrew the cap herself.
Only when she sat up to take a grateful but uncomfortable—thanks to her aching throat—swallow, did she realize it was No and not Riyu who’d passed her the water.
No said something under his breath in Japanese, and lifted the bottle to her mouth again so she could take another swig instead of staring at him.
“What are you doing here?” Lilli croaked after taking a few more painful but necessary gulps. “Wait, are you a hallucination? Is this another dream?”
Could be, she decided. No was dressed in his usual suit, and he looked very handsome, as usual. But if it were really him, wouldn’t he have on a surgical mask or something to prevent himself from getting sick, too? This was fairly common practice in Japan and she knew No wasn’t all that interested in hanging out with sick people.
But most telling of all, Lilli couldn’t imagine No tending to her like this. Bringing her water and helping her drink it. Holding up a squat, white spoon filled with a broth she assumed was miso soup, but couldn’t say for sure because her sense of smell and taste had been compromised by this truly nasty virus.
But oh, Jesus…the soup felt heavenly on her throat. It went down a lot more smoothly than the water, and was totally worth the painful act of swallowing.
Yeah, this had to be a hallucination. But she ate the imaginary soup until the bowl was empty. And then No seemed to vanish…only to reappear a few minutes later.
“Can you stand, Ana? Walk?”
Lilli paused for a moment, wondering why an adult was calling her by the name she only gave to her niece and other Japanese children. Until she remembered she was Ana—at least to this one adult. She nodded in the general direction of Imaginary No and the next thing Lilli-Ana knew, she was making her way to the bathroom in a slow shuffle with the support of No’s arm and shoulder.
“Do you need help?” he asked when they finally stopped in front of the GoNo toilet.
Probably. But she shook her head. Finding a secret reserve of strength, she managed to force her weak hands and arms to push down her panties so No wouldn’t have to do it for her.
Perhaps sensing she didn’t want an audience, Imaginary No turned his back and allowed her some privacy as she peed. But a sixth sense seemed to guide him, because he turned to face her again before she could pull her underwear up.
“Chigau, I would like for you to step out of those, please,” he said in a soft voice. Imaginary No stepped forward and pushed Lilli’s underwear all the way down to her ankles, then helped her stand so she could step out of them without falling on her face.
Then he did something else the real No had never done before: stripped her out of her clothes. And she was vaguely surprised to notice that he handled the job with the efficiency of a health professional.
Still, even this small act managed to turn her on. A latent bit of their usual sexual tension kicked up as his hands moved over her aching body, pulling the dress she’d worn during their “dinner date” over her head before leading her to the step down at the edge of the bathroom’s tub. Lilli had admired the huge—especially for Japan—tub when she first moved here, but had never managed to use it. Like most Americans, she took showers…too rushed and impatient to take the time to fill up and soak in a bathtub.
But Imaginary No had filled it with water and offered his hand for her to take as she wobbled her way into the tub. The surprising scent of lavender hit her, a smell so lovely and sharp, it somehow managed to force its way into her congested sinuses and—sweet Jesus! The water felt warm and heavenly to her aching muscles. Lilli seriously could have stayed in the tub forever, and probably would have fallen asleep there had Imaginary No not rolled up his sleeves and begun cleaning her body with a wash cloth.
At this point, it dawned on Lilli that either this was the longest and most interactive, non-drug induced hallucination ev
er or…it was real. If this experience and Imaginary No were truly imaginary, she’d have pulled him into the bath with her and fucked him in a water-based version of their usual “naked female, fully clothed male” position. But her body, try as it might, only slightly stirred, sending up a few pitiful sexual flares, even when he pushed the washcloth between her legs.
Also, if this situation was simply a creation of her fever-addled brain, No would not have pulled her out of the warm, soothing water just as her eyes began to drift closed.
“You can sleep in the car, hai?” the no-longer-imaginary No told her while drying her off with a large bath towel. “I would like for you to come with me…”
Too tired and sick to protest, Lilli allowed him to bundle her into the fashionable trench Miyuki bought her last November. Then they slowly made their way out of the apartment, him guiding her with an arm around her shoulders. No’s arm remained around her in the elevator, but he released her briefly during their public walk across the lobby where they might be observed by others.
In the past, they’d always leave the building at separate times. Lilli had always gone out the main entrance of the building. But now she realized all this time No must have been using the back. He led her there now and they emerged through a rather unexciting brown door into a parking garage where a car was idling in wait.
They remained separated as No’s driver helped her into the right side of the car. No entered on the left. But as soon as the driver was back in his seat, No closed the partition and pulled Lilli into his arms. As it turned out, he was right about sleeping in the car…
With her nose running like a faucet into a tissue, Lilli drifted off with No’s arms wrapped around her, his heart beat calm and clear beneath her ear.
She woke a few times during the drive. The road was sometimes bumpy, and now and then No would reach over to switch out her crumpled, damp tissue for a fresh one. Although Lilli was pretty out of it, she could tell the drive lasted for a while, and she noticed the landscape outside the window dramatically changing. Going from tall buildings to tall trees to forest and snow-capped mountains and then, finally. a whispered, “We’re here.”
His Revenge Baby: 50 Loving States, Washington Page 12