Chapter 10 #2
“Are we here?”
“Yeah, we were here about fifteen minutes ago,” Kai confirmed.
“Fifteen minutes ago?”
“Yes. It wasn’t marked or anything. But the land belongs to the airport.”
Funny how he called it an airport like it was just a regular bus stop or something. “You come here a lot?”
“Only in emergencies. I like traveling commercial. It’s more fun.”
Okay. He and I had a very different understanding of fun.
I hated flying and every time I thought about flying it just made me nervous.
I wasn’t afraid, but I hated the whole routine, checking in, security checks, the waiting, etc.
I wondered if I would enjoy traveling in a private jet, not that I had the money to afford one – not even a sharing scheme.
“I think that’s our plane.”
Right in front of us was a white plane with three golden stripes, and some Chinese characters thrown in – probably saying The Great Li Empire or something like that.
“You own that?”
“No, this one belongs to one of my friends. My family owns one too, but I couldn’t let them know that I brought Ting Ting over without them finding out about Jenny.
They get notifications when I use it. That’s the other reason why commercial is better, because they can’t really track me.
” I doubted that was true. Someone could hack into the airline database and find him if they really wanted to.
I’d seen it in movies – any ordinary geek downtown would be able to do that.
We got out of the car and waited, watching the plane pull up closer to us. The door was released after a few minutes. A lady in red, with a stick thin supermodel body walked out onto the steps.
Kai removed his sunglasses as if he was trying to verify how hot this woman was.
“Lucy?”
What was going on here? I thought we were picking up Ting Ting.
“Li Kai.” She didn’t seem surprised to see him, though.
“ Zen me shi ni?” I could only assume that Kai was speaking in Mandarin, or some other dialect that I didn’t understand.
“Does she speak English?” I snapped, interrupting rudely like the American that I was. No one should speak in any language other than English.
“Yes, I think she does.” Kai introduced us quickly and Lucy spoke beautiful English with a hint of a British accent, very much like Kai’s. Fortunately, they didn’t spend too much time speaking in Mandarin before they switched to a language I could understand.
“Lucy and I–” He paused.
“We were dating and then he left the country.” I could totally see that. She was definitely the kind of woman Kai would date. Beautiful. Supermodel body.
Her fingernails were so perfectly manicured I felt a little embarrassed when she shook hands with mine. Not that I didn’t enjoy a little manicure at the salon, but I just didn’t really have the time. Besides, I scrubbed my hands so much, there wasn’t much point really.
“Blind dating.” Kai felt like there was a need to clarify.
“His mother arranged it.” The gorgeous woman winked, and I had no idea why she did that. Perhaps she was trying to say that she was the perfect candidate for Kai’s wife, approved by his mother.
Kai sighed quietly. She noticed it right away and gave him a nudge. “Come on, we had fun.”
Kai nodded and I could feel my heart sink. It was only when he looked up and stared right into my eyes that I realized I had been staring.
“Interesting. Uh, by the way, what happened to Ting Ting?” I had to clear my throat ever so slightly to speak – it had somehow seized up.
“Lucy’s Ting Ting. I just didn’t know her Chinese name until now.” Ah ha! Their dating can’t have gone all that well then if he didn’t even know this about her.
“What a small world right?”
Really? “Did you know Kai was Jenny’s cousin?”
“Not until yesterday.” Lucy replied, her smile flirty, yet somehow innocent. I narrowed my eyes at her, wanting to hate her, uncertain that I could.
“Why didn’t you tell me then?” Kai asked and they went on to chat in Mandarin, and at times it sounded like something else, while I watched the airport staff get busy with unloading her belongings.
My God, she had a lot of stuff. Was she planning to move to New York permanently?
I couldn’t hear a word that they were saying, not that I would understand.
My mind was everywhere. With the kiss the other day, I really thought that we were going somewhere. Perhaps it was all in my head.
Then Kai got Lucy and I in the back of the car while he volunteered to be in the front seat. Throughout the drive, he had his face turned towards us while having a conversation. Dave asked about switching the Porsche for a limo, but they didn’t have time to do that.
Kai gave me a signal and I started briefing Lucy about Jenny’s condition.
“Don’t worry. No one knows why I’m here,” Lucy reassured him. “But I told my mother that I was visiting you.”
“Ah, I see.” His face changed a little as he rubbed his fingers on his forehead.
“Was that a secret that you’re here?” I chimed in.
“Well, I didn’t exactly tell my mother I came.” He laughed awkwardly. “Never mind, my mother would have found out sooner or later.”
I had learned a lot about Kai from my brother, especially how amazing and brutal he was when he conducted business, but I didn’t know much about his family.
“I’m sorry,” Lucy said nonchalantly. I doubted that she actually meant it.
“I guess now my mother will get off my back about seeing you.”
She laughed a sweet laugh, covering her almond-shaped mouth with her perfectly manicured but short nails, as if Kai had said something funny.
I felt like a third wheel.
“So, how long have you known Jenny?” I asked, hoping that this would change the topic of the conversation. I knew Kai had dated many women – beautiful, sexy women – but seeing what one of them looked like was reality hitting home. I didn’t look anything like that.
“We went to university together.”
“Did you go to her wedding? I would have remembered if you were there.” Kai asked with a huge smile, his voice vague as he seemed to try to remember.
Jeez, was Kai flirting with her? Then suddenly, his smile turned upside down. I wondered if it was the thought of Jenny’s unhappy marriage.
“No, I was stuck in Canada. Snowstorm. They canceled all the flights, so I missed it.”
Kai didn’t tell Lucy about Jenny’s husband, or our speculation of what her husband did to her. It really wasn’t our place to say anything. It was up to Jenny if she wanted to share the details with her friend.
“Have you been to New York before?” I tried to think of something else to say as Kai didn’t seem to be in the mood to say anything.
“Yes, I have many times. But only for work.”
“What do you do?” It felt rude not to ask after what she said.
“A bit of everything. I’m an artist but I model in my spare time.”
Okay . She just confessed that she was an actual model. What did I say about Kai’s women?
“Anything that I would have seen you in?”
“Nothing big really.” Phew. “I had a contract with a prestigious lifestyle magazine called Gao Shang. ”
Okay . I knew about that magazine. It was so prestigious that you couldn’t just buy it. These magazines were gifted to the wealthy. It was their version of the Bible. Who was whom, what to wear, where to be – for the richest of the rich.
I was glad that our car journey didn’t take as long as it did to get to the airport. Dave had the airport staff – who had been following behind our car – deliver Lucy’s suitcases to Kai’s apartment.
“Thank you for coming to the airport with me. Come up for a cup of coffee. I owe you that much.” He said, though his attention kept drifting to the amazingly beautiful woman we’d picked up from the airport.
I felt my eyes narrow as he looked at her again, not even paying attention to whether I answered him or not. He owed me more than just a coffee.
Kai held my hands, and his eyes came back to me. This time, I could really feel how much he appreciated me being there. Even if, in the end, I was just another plaything to him.