by Guy Winters
The next day Kevin stood singing in the shower.
“Dear, have you asked Kim what I said about your singing?”
"Of course not. She doesn’t tell me anything. She said if I wanted to know what you two talked about I should ask you." Mieko smiled and walked away humming.
=THREE=
Two weeks later, Mieko came home after a long day at work looking a bit frazzled. It had been a difficult day at work for Kevin too. A client blew up at him over what appeared to be silly changes and it became a challenge for him to keep his temper.
"I want to talk to Kim today."
"She's being temperamental. It was a rough day today, nothing went right at all." He sighed as he glanced up at her puppy-dog face. "I'll go ask her, wait a moment."
Kim emerged a half hour later in a dressing gown, heels, and makeup. Her hair was pulled back into a braid with a small ribbon tied in a bow.
"Hi Mieko, Kevin warned you that I'm a bit grumpy today, didn't he?"
"Yes, but I really need to see you."
Mieko began to cry.
Kim rushed to her and wrapped Mieko in her arms. She began to stroke Mieko’s hair gently. "Whoa-whoa, sweetheart, what happened?"
Mieko dried her tears with a tissue then blew her nose. "My boss hit on me."
"What!?"
She started sobbing. "I can't tell Kevin, he'll murder the asshole, not that he doesn't deserve it. But..."
"When did this happen?"
"We have this stupid uni-sex restroom at the firm, apparently they’re all the rage in corporate. He cornered me against the sinks. I shouted at him to stop but he kept pawing at me. Finally, I kneed him in the balls and got away but..."
Kim hugged her and kissed her on the forehead. "Mieko, you have to tell Kevin. You can't keep something like this from him."
"I know, I just don't want him to fly off the handle and get thrown in jail."
"He won't, I'll make sure of that. Besides, I bet he'll have a plan as soon as he hears this."
Kim stayed with her for a while, and then Kim disappeared and Kevin walked back out into the hallway. He went into the kitchen and started dinner, seemingly oblivious to what Mieko told Kim.
“Kevin,” Mieko sniffled, looking distraught, “I need to tell you something and Kim thought you needed to know. But don’t fly off the handle or anything…promise me, okay?”
Kevin turned to her and nodded. “Okay, what is it? Should I sit down?”
Mieko nodded and Kevin turned off the stove before taking a seat in the dinning room.
“You know Roger Hayden, my boss, right?”
Kevin nodded.
“Well, we have this unisex bathroom in the office, it seems to be all the rage among corporate, filled with nothing but stalls, no urinals. Anyway, I was washing my hands when he came on to me, pinning me against the counter. I yelled at him to stop but he wouldn’t listen, pushing his hands down where they didn’t belong. Finally, I kneed him in the balls and he crumpled like a rock. I stepped over him and walked out of the restroom.”
“He leered at me when he walked by my cubicle later that day. I picked up my briefcase and stormed out of the office. I don’t know what to do, I mean he is my boss, and I want to keep this job, Kevin, but I think he’ll try it again. Suzie in reception said he tried it with her first before he saw her boyfriend. That seemed to scare him of.”
Kevin thought a moment, mostly because he knew about this because of Kim, but he needed to separate the two for Mieko’s sake.
“Okay, a couple of my clients work with the Asian community looking for extras for corporate events and such. I know these two guys who look a lot like a couple of Chinese gangster types, straight out of a Hong Kong kungfu movie. They're actors that I met once when one of their cousin’s books was adapted into a pilot for a television episode that never got picked up. I did the graphics for the promos. Anyway, I think I’ll ask them tomorrow if they can help me out. They’re really great guys and said they’d help me out if I ever needed anything.”
Mieko hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Promise me you won’t go postal on Hayden, please.”
“I promise,” Kevin grinned.
The next day, Kevin called his friends and after explaining what happened, he told them to pretend that they were Mieko's uncles and that they should imply that if ever something bad happened to their niece, Mieko, they would hold whoever it was, personally accountable. “Lay it on thick, if you know what I mean,” Kevin suggested. Both men chuckled. “Sounds like fun,” they said.
The following day Roger Hayden was standing down in the building lobby getting a cup of coffee from the kiosk near reception. Two burly Chinese gangster types stood behind him waiting in line.
The first one, wearing sunglasses and a scraggly moustache, tapped Hayden on the shoulder. “You’re Roger Hayden aren’t you?”
Hayden turned around and the two men leaned even closer. Hayden nodded, glancing around the lobby as if hoping someone would rescue him from these two.
“I think our niece Mieko mentioned that you were her boss.”
“You know,” the second fellow, a little shorter but stockier, leaned even closer, “if something was to happen to our little Mieko, something bad perhaps, we might regret what we might do.”
"An accident would be so unfortunate,” the first man growled, “don't you agree?"
Hayden, a weasel type if ever there was one, shook in his alligator boots.
Kevin bumped into her boss the next day while Hayden stood in line in a coffee shop. He introduced himself and casually mentioned that he saw Mieko's uncles the other day.
"You know, I don't have any proof, but I had to go through hell to marry that girl. Those uncles, they're ruthless. But once you get to know them, they're pretty good guys. You just don't want to cross them when it comes to money and family. If you know what I mean?" He winked and walked away.
Mieko watched this from behind a stand of palms in the corner of the shop, hidden from Hayden's view. "My God I love this man," she said smiling from ear to ear.
Over the months since that incident Kevin and Mieko found a happy middle ground where they mostly returned to their true genders with a greater understanding of who they were together and individually. Occasionally, Mieko asked to go shopping with her best girlfriend and Kevin relented but, for the most part, they were a happily married couple, comfortable with who they were and oblivious to the cares of the rest of the world.
A NOTE TO THE READER:
The author copyrights this story, as well as any past or future parts of this series. The reproduction of any part of this story of Her Best Friend Forever without the written permission of the author is expressly prohibited.
This story is a work of fiction. All of the characters, their names and the places they visit, are purely from the imagination of the author. Any resemblance to persons, places, or things is not intentional and purely coincidental.
Connect with the Author
G.. WINTERS is a writer, playwright, artist, teacher, and designer who spends his days teaching in Virginia. He spends his evenings with his family, and his weekends writing, a rediscovered passion.
His most recent novel, Partners in Love, is available through Smashwords.
Other fiction work by Dreamweaver594 include:
Stray Cats
Sleeping on the Terrace
(both available in print)
Partners in Love
Dark Places
Once Upon A Bite So Sweet
I really appreciate you reading my book! Here are my social media links:
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