Theme #17:
Chapter 4: Mystery Girl
Seki’s phone call had been
quite the surprise for Adam. He hadn’t heard from his high school friend in
over six months and although he knew that Seki’s job took him from one part of
the country to another, Adam didn’t really think the older man would even
bother to call him for anything - let alone to help pick up a young woman he
had just met today at the train
station.
What was even worse was the
fact that he had agreed to the stupid request. Adam could only blame it on
boredom and the need to do something – anything
at all to alleviate it. He had
been feeling listless all day – even though he had spent the better part of the
morning working on his parents’ house and yet the evening had loomed ahead with
nothing much to look forward to. He had debated calling Akari, a long time girl
pal of his. She wasn’t a girlfriend in that
sense. He just wasn’t interested in getting too involved with any member of
the opposite sex right now. A bitter experience with a woman in his early
twenties had scarred him for life and he had vowed never to get too attached
again.
Akari, for her part, seemed
understanding and was willing to be no more than a listening ear and a source
of comfort when needed. She would put no pressures on him for a definite
relationship and so far things had been going great between them. They
genuinely enjoyed being in each other’s company and Adam was beginning to
regard her as a younger sister. However, he didn’t think she’d be willing to be
his companion tonight. She had said something about working on a late night TV
show at NHK, so she might be away for the entire weekend. Her stint as a local
reporter was beginning to yield some good results and she couldn’t miss the
opportunity. So, at the end of it all, Seki’s hair-brained idea looked like
just the thing Adam needed to end his boring evening.
“She is beautiful and
American just like you,” Seki had said and despite his trepidations, knowing
that this mysterious girl was a foreigner had piqued Adam’s interest. It wasn’t
as if he hadn’t spoken to foreigners or Americans over the years- he had met
quite a few in college - but it really was rare to see a female coming all the
way out here for something. What could she want to do in a place like
“She’s got shoulder-length
brown hair and hazel eyes…almost hypnotic when you look into them.”
Adam had to smile at that. It
sounded like good ol’ Seki was smitten with this woman. The whole concept of
love at first sight had been true for Adam five years ago, but not any more.
Love was just a stupid word people threw around whenever they felt they had the
need to commit to another person. However, if Seki was head over heels for this
woman, it only seemed like the decent thing to do by helping her settle down in
the city.
“You can’t miss her. She’s
wearing an orange silk blouse, black pants and a hat over her head.”
An orange silk blouse. He blinked at the image that came to his mind. He was
no fashion guru but anyone willing to wear a color that bright was either
daring or had no sense of color co-ordination.
He checked his wallet for
change. He had enough to get them a taxi at least and having spoken to the
landlady earlier, she had told him there was an extra room on the second floor
for rent. It would have to do for Mystery Girl.
“Her name is
Fifteen (long) minutes later,
the train finally arrived as he pushed himself away from the wall he had been
leaning against to walk towards the platform. As the passengers spilled onto
solid ground, his eyes darted through the throng of people, desperately
searching for the elusive female. The crowd was beginning to thin out and Adam
felt mixed emotions of irritation, frustration and mild panic as he had seen no
woman in an orange blouse had step off the train. Cursing softly, wondering if
he had missed her when he had turned around earlier, he stepped over a puddle
of water and began to make his way towards the other end of the platform.
All of a sudden…WHAM!
It was so fast that he barely
had the time to steady himself or the other person. Together, they fell to the
ground in a tangle of limbs, but not before experiencing dual sensations of
pain as his head hit the wet pavement and the subsequent weight of the person
on his torso and chest. The person shifted and glad for a little room to
breathe, Adam was soon regaled with the most piercing scream of terror he had
ever heard.
A flash of orange filled his
vision before he squeezed his eyes shut to gain some sort of control over the
situation. The police was bound to show up any minute now and all hell would
break lose if he didn’t get her to shut the hell up. Just what was she
screaming about anyway? He was the one with the head injury. He should be the
one crying for help.
“I’m so sorry!” she finally
managed to blubber out in panic as she leaned closer to him. “I didn’t mean to
kill you! Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know that you were behind me
and…and…”
A loud whistle, running
footsteps and sharp calls of ‘Hey! What’s going on here?!’ had Adam struggling
to sit up. He really didn’t need the extra attention.
“It’s okay,” he reassured the
two policemen - who were now peering at the couple with skeptical looks - with
a small smile. “My wife was just
careless and slipped and fell.”
He squeezed her arm gently,
noticing that she was about to open her mouth to refute his statement. If she
denied anything now, it would only make the situation worse. “As you can see,
there’s no blood,” he said, more to the girl (although he doubted she could
understand a word of what she was saying now) than to the policemen although he
wasn’t even looking at her.
“Hmm, okay…” one of the men
said rather warily as they both continued to stare at Adam and Aurora as if
hoping for just something to arrest them for. “Well, just be careful and make
sure you take her home safely or we arrest you two for disturbing the peace,
okay.”
“Okay, officers. Thank you.”
Adam felt her tremble against
him and he had to bite his lower lip to stop himself from pulling her into his
arms completely. It was clear that she was still recovering from the ‘shock’ of
the fall. However, he didn’t need a rocket scientist to tell him that this was
the mysterious
“Stop gawking at me, you
pervert!” she suddenly screamed, as she held the folds of the shirt together
and glared at him. He blinked in surprise, unable to believe she had actually
said that.
She’s got beautiful eyes…almost hypnotic.
And Adam could see why. Her
look of concern had turned indignant and those eyes seemed to blaze with a fire
that sent delightful shivers down his spine.
Fuck. This is definitely not what I need now.
“Maybe you should get off
me,” he said tightly, amazed at how cool and collected he sounded even though
his heart had almost skipped a beat just seconds ago. “You’re too heavy.”
She gasped and opened her
mouth…then shut it until her lips became a thin line of infuriation. Without
saying a word, she rose to her feet, ‘accidentally’ stepping on his hand which
had him wincing but glaring at her all the same. Wonderful. They were getting
off on the right foot already. This night ought to be interesting.
“Don’t worry, officers,” she
was now saying in broken Japanese. It sounded terrible. “My husband and I will be heading off now.
Thank you for your concern.”
“Gaijin,”
one of them murmured as they smiled politely at her before making their way
back to their stations. They had seen their share of weird foreigners and the
lady was just another one to be added to the bunch.
Adam rose to his feet and
eyed her luggage. One large suitcase, a bulging carryall bag and her ordinary
handbag. He eyed the make of the suitcase and held back a whistle. There was
nothing cheap about the Louis Vuitton logo on them and as he dared to stare at
her again, he definitely knew that this woman was more than she appeared to be.
She didn’t look any older than eighteen and even though she was wearing a
relatively simple outfit, she carried it off like any model or professional actress.
That is to say with class and style. She wore little makeup, but that didn’t
stop her from looking extremely pretty. Those lips were full and kissable,
although they looked anything but at this time. She was still glaring at him as
if he had crawled out from under a rock. Shaking his head softly, to get rid of
the excess water, he winced as it throbbed with a blinding ache.
“I’m sorry about your head,”
she said, the anger fading a bit from her visage. “I can compensate you…”
“I don’t need your money,” he
said tightly, feeling something hard twist within his stomach at how flippant
she had sounded. Just who was she anyway? She didn’t look poor and yet she
wanted to live in a place like Kappabashi and in his district no less. It
didn’t make any sense.
“I’ll be fine. Now let’s go…”
He made a move for her luggage but she dove for it with a look of confusion and
annoyance on her features.
“What do you think you’re
doing?” she asked. “Don’t touch my things!”
“Didn’t Seki tell you I’d be
helping you to a new apartment?” he asked impatiently. Their little performance
was beginning to gain more attention from passersby. “I’m Adam. He must have
told you about me.”
“Actually he didn’t,” she
retorted. “But at least you aren’t lying about Seki leading me here. How can I
trust you?”
“Because I’m the only friend
you’ve got around here now,” he replied with a small smirk, watching the
conflicting emotions of wariness and fear in her eyes. “So unless you want me
to leave you here…”
“Fine, fine, just lead the
damn way,” she replied with a grumble, allowing him to pick up the heavy
suitcase. “Just don’t expect me to tip you or anything. I’m trying to save up
enough money as is.”
She began to walk towards the
exits, leaving him staring after her with mild confusion. Saving up money? What
was she? The daughter of a fallen aristocrat?
“Yes, your majesty,” he
muttered beneath his breath, reluctantly admiring the sway of her hips and her
rather nice ass(ets). Despite her less than stellar attitude, Adam had to admit
that this
__
The ride to the apartment
building was a rather quiet and slightly uncomfortable one. Adam kept expecting
(sexy as hell)
…an annoying little bitch. So
why couldn’t he stop imagining what she would be like next to him…in bed?
The taxi gave a light jolt as
it went over a speed bump and this (thankfully) broke through his rather
distressing thoughts. However, they came back in full force as something heavy
and warm fell upon his shoulder. He started and tried to move, before realizing
with surprise that it was
Seki loves her. Seki loves her. Seki loves her.
Don’t even think about doing anything funny, he warned himself while fighting back a groan as she
moved even closer to him. He had warned himself off women, hadn’t he? He didn’t
need the complications of dealing with them and having to put up with their
mood swings. He had suffered the brunt of a failed relationship with that other
woman. He didn’t need this to happen to him now.
“Mmm…Tony,” she murmured
thickly and to his chagrin, she wrapped her arms around his waist to hug him
gently.
Tony?
He closed his eyes and fell
back against the seat with a soft sigh of relief. Good. She was in love with
someone else. It would make things so much easier between them. Knowing that
she too would have no interest in a man like him would make them better acquaintances.
So why couldn’t he stop
himself from feeling a painful twist of jealousy in his heart?