Chapter 10
June
I t had been a while since I sat down and ate breakfast with someone. My normal morning involved getting ready really quick, heading to the gym, and being at the hospital before any of my team got there. Apart from my assistant.
Oh and no breakfast – no solids until after midday. My morning routine was so busy and stressful, and breakfast often ended up in the wrong place before it even had time to settle in my stomach. So, I just decided to not eat anything until things calmed down at the hospital.
The salmon bagels that Kai bought were really nice.
It occurred to me that I might throw up since I really couldn’t remember the last time I ate breakfast but I felt fine afterwards.
I knew that stress did horrible things to our bodies, but it was still amazing – from a doctor’s point of view – to experience it firsthand.
“Is Jenny going to be okay on her own?” I had asked him a few times about this and he kept reassuring me that Clare was keeping watch for now.
“I have a surprise for her though.”
I hated Kai’s surprises to be honest. He had very skewed ideas about things sometimes, like how he thought it was okay to give an 18-year-old 99 one-hundred-dollar bills.
“I’m flying Jenny’s best friend over so she can help look after her.”
“Oh? Does Jenny know that she’s coming?”
“It wouldn’t be a surprise now would it, if she knew?
” Yes, he was right. But sometimes, best friends don't necessarily know everything about each other. Chloe and I were a good example. She ran away for ten years, and I’d had no idea that she was still alive and kicking.
It still bothered me that she didn’t think she could trust me enough to drop me a line so I could quit grieving for her.
“I thought it would be a good idea.” He stared at me blankly, as if he didn’t see the problem.
“Maybe.” I couldn’t keep out the note of doubt in my voice and I watched with a twinge of guilt as his eyes went wide.
“Shit!” His voice was so loud I thought I felt the cutlery on the breakfast bar vibrate. “I, honestly, I thought it would be a good idea.”
It was somehow adorable to see him care so much about his cousin. My own brothers cared a lot about me, but I think it pained them to show me that side of them.
“Do you know her at all?” I asked, hoping to find out if the best friend was at least trustworthy.
“What are you talking about? I grew up with her, we are family.” Kai’s brows drew together in confusion.
I stood up, stacked up all the plates from breakfast, and took them over to the sink to be washed. “I mean her best friend, genius.”
“I see. No, I’ve heard Jenny talk about her, but I’ve never met her personally.” Kai came over and tried to take over the washing up.
“Please, let me. You brought breakfast, at least let me do the washing up.” He didn’t need much convincing and let me carry on. “Maybe make yourself another cup of coffee.”
“Great idea.” Kai searched through my cupboard, examining my coffee selection. Not all of them were still drinkable, I must admit. “Cat poop coffee?”
“Kopi Luwak.”
“Whatever. We call it cat poop coffee in China.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, that was a gift from an Indonesian colleague. Although that might have expired.”
As I suspected, not everything in my cupboard was still in date.
“You know I don’t believe in expiration dates. For most things, it really isn’t necessary to have one. It’s just a business strategy to make you buy new things! And coffee is definitely one of those.”
“Are you sure?” I raised my eyebrows as I questioned him.
“One hundred percent. Either way, I’m drinking this. You can’t stop me.”
Kai proceeded to make himself a cup of coffee with my coffee machine as I dried and put away the dishes.
I did consider letting him do the dishes, because I was kind of curious if a spoiled Asian man like him would even know how.
To be frank, the fact that he knew how to make coffee, to operate a coffee machine, was kind of remarkable.
My father, for instance, wasn't born Asian, but my mother had spoiled him during their short married life. She took care of him so well that he had forgotten how to do most things in the house. Washing dishes. Doing laundry. Brewing coffee. Even putting on his own slippers… and I wasn’t even joking.
Hopefully with his new wife, things would change a little.
“Just so you know, I’m not responsible if you get a stomachache from that.”
He added a touch of milk to his cat poop coffee . His eyes closed as he sipped it slowly.
“Enjoying it?”
“Tastes kind of weird. But I like it.” I didn’t recall it tasting weird, but I wasn’t going to find out for myself if the coffee was safe to consume. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Depends on what it is?” He took a few more sips of coffee but didn’t say a word. The suspense of him not talking was killing me.
“Just spit it out.” I instantly regretted my choice of words. “Not the coffee, the words, what do you want?”
“I was just thinking, give me a sec.” He grinned at me.
I stared at his face – he had dark circles forming below his eyes, but he was still so gorgeous. Even if he looked ten times worse than now, he would still be welcome to visit me anytime, in dreamland or reality.
“Would you come to the airport with me to pick up Ting Ting?”
“Sure. Why so secretive?”
“The thing is, it’s a high security airport, so you’ll need to send me a copy of your passport. Just a photo should be fine.”
Hmm… was that really a thing? I didn’t recall ever having to send any documentation just to pick someone up from the airport. “This isn’t a stupid trick so you can take a look at my passport and laugh at my photo, right?”
“No?”
“If you want to see mine, you have to show me yours. It’s only fair.” I felt my eyebrows raise unintentionally, and I knew my subconscious wanted to see something else other than his passport photo.
“No, this isn’t a joke.” His stern voice broke my little fantasy about seeing him naked. “The security at this airport is top notch and they will do a background check before they allow you entry.”
Insanity. The world had gone mad. It’s not like we were going there to pick up the president.
I really needed to reevaluate what I knew about Kai and his family.
“Can I wait outside?” The American side of me refused to hand over my personal documents just because a pretty boy batted his eyelashes at me.
“No, princess.” Princess? No, not that word. It sent a shiver down my spine.
That word was the cheesiest word a man could ever use to call a woman. It was diminishing and I blame Disney for brainwashing us. My brother did that to Chloe for years – still does on occasion – and I hated it.
Somehow, Kai saying that word to me made me feel warm and fuzzy.
“It would look even more suspicious if you waited outside. Someone would come and escort you into a little dark room and interrogate you.”
I swallowed hard. Please don’t take me to such a place.
“Do you really need my company?”
“I was going to go alone. But after hearing what happened between you and Chloe, I have my doubts about this whole thing now. Jenny might not want to share this vulnerable side of herself with Ting Ting.”
I nodded and couldn’t agree more. “This is what happens when you decide things without discussing it with other people.”
His decision came from a good place but teasing him tickled me somehow.
“Well, she’s arriving in an hour. I can’t send her back.” He put his palms together as if he was praying.
“I’m sure you can send her back. Just tell her you made a mistake.” I could see his Adam’s apple drop – swallowing hard at my words. Kai wasn’t the kind of man who would easily admit that he had made a mistake. I knew the kind, I grew up with one.
“I could…”
“You don’t have to.” I announced. “I’ll help you.”
Fortunately, I always kept a picture of my passport on my phone. It was easier so I could send it to agents that helped me manage all the traveling that was part of my job. I made a few taps on my phone and Air Dropped the picture to him.
Evidently, I wasn’t so precious about my personal data after all.
“Sent. Don’t look.”
“Sorry, it’s impossible not to look, I have to forward it to Dave.” He took a peek and then chuckled. “Cute. And I promise I’ll show you my passport photo later.”
Or more? I wouldn’t mind.
* * *
When Kai told me about picking up Ting Ting, I had no idea he meant we had to leave right away.
Dave picked us up pretty much straight after I sent my passport photo, allowing me only ten minutes to clean up and get dressed.
Thank God I had a shower last night and didn’t smell too bad.
I spritzed extra perfume on just to be sure.
What surprised me most was the fact that security took so little time to clear.
I never thought twice about things like this, but I guess it wasn’t impossible in the age of the internet.
IT was never really my strong suit but as long as they were sure that I was a trustworthy person to be around their guests and promised not to shoot me while I was there, I wouldn’t think too much more about it.
After about forty minutes of driving, we entered a secluded space with a large sign on display – the largest one I had ever seen – trespassers will not be tolerated. What did that mean? Would they be shot at? Or taken down to a little dark room and held captive until the police came?
I knew people got into trouble for trespassing, but it had never occurred to me how serious it could be.
To me, those signs were just there to keep people out of unused land.
Seeing the number of surveillance cameras and armed guards around the compound had given me a different understanding of those signs now.
It took us another few minutes before we reached another compound, and inside the high walls were even more cameras, and guards, all armed.
There was a container looking building and, on the tarmac, parked several small to medium sized luxury jets.