Chapter 28 - Rurik
The trip to Tokyo wasn’t exactly as relaxing as I hoped, and not nearly like the honeymoon I envisioned. In fact, it was turning out to be even more hectic than dealing with everything that was still going on at home, just on foreign soil.
I was spending way more time with Shin Koboyashi than my wife, for instance, playing more golf in three days than I had in three years, all while Clem was being whisked to museums and art galleries without me.
No matter how many times I reminded myself of the millions, possibly even billions, this deal could end up being worth over the next few years, I still missed my wife, damn it.
And suddenly, she was upset about something and trying to hide it.
Maybe someone who hadn’t carefully observed her every move since I’d met her might have missed it.
She was doing a valiant job of pretending everything was fine, but she wasn’t.
She was back to being jumpy, treating her phone like it was a venomous snake about to bite her every time she had to check her messages.
Was I being overly protective, or was she just being run ragged and overwhelmed by keeping up appearances? Clem was the hardest-working person I knew, and now I had Uncle Konstantin in the mix, showing up for dinner unannounced, trying to get me involved in his shady deals there in Tokyo.
Yes, they were shady, even for someone who’d been raised in the Bratva.
The man seemed determined to get himself killed, addicted to dangerous situations.
I had made up the lie that he was involved with a married woman to keep Clem from asking questions about what we’d really been up to the night he dragged me into his fight with the Yakuza, only to find out he actually was mixed up with some high-level official’s mistress.
There was no way I wanted Clem anywhere near the fallout of whatever might happen with that fucked up situation.
“Let’s just cut the trip short,” I said at breakfast after getting a message from Kon’s daughter, Sofiya.
Aleks told me you were in Tokyo. Have you seen Papa? I’m worried about him.
He’s fine, I answered. Don’t come here after him, though.
I could almost hear her sighing all the way from Moscow. They say kids are supposed to be the ones to give their parents heart attacks, she replied.
“How about it?” I asked Clem. “We can leave tonight.”
“What?” She jumped, setting her juice glass down a little too hard, making it splash onto the table. “Why?”
“Are you even having any fun?” I asked.
She blinked rapidly, shaking her head. “We’re scheduled to go to the opera with Shin and Erina tomorrow night.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.” I shrugged, watching her carefully. “We’ve got the game system, we’re almost assured first right of refusal on all new products. Let’s make up an excuse and dip.”
Did she actually look like she was afraid of going home? I had to be conflating how badly I wanted to get her all to myself again with her sudden jumpiness. Why would she be scared to return to LA?
“I have a better idea,” she said, reaching for my hand. “Let’s think of an excuse to get out of lunch today and go somewhere on our own. That’ll be fun.”
That was more like it. The light was back in her eyes.
Maybe a little dimmed, but her smile was sincere when she made the suggestion.
My paranoia was revved up from Konstantin’s problems and the reports from back in LA, with everything escalating there.
I had been careful, and Clem couldn’t know how bad things were, so she couldn’t possibly be scared to go home.
While she got ready, I quickly searched for the perfect place where we could go to relax and be ourselves. It wasn’t too far to get to the Meiji-Jingu shrine, and when she saw where we were pulling up, her shoulders relaxed, and she let out a long breath.
“It’s perfect,” she said, tugging on my hand as I got out of the taxi.
Once we were in the urban forest, her dark hair dappled with sunlight streaming through the trees, she gave me the first real smile I had seen from her since she came home from her shopping trip with Erina.
“I thought it would be,” I said.
There was no way we could ever be considered similar with our different upbringings, but we both had quiet souls underneath it all, soothed by nature.
Here, we could let go of our problems, the secrets we couldn’t tell each other.
As much as I wanted to know what was bothering her, I couldn’t press her for answers I wasn’t also prepared to give when she pressed me back.
Yet. Time would tell if something was giving her trouble, and whatever it was, I would eradicate it.
We waited to have our fortunes told, and when the old man told us we’d be happy if we worked hard, I didn’t laugh at the diplomatic fortune. I turned to Clem and said, “Then we’ll be happy for sure. No one works harder than we do.”
She blushed, and turned even redder when I asked the man how many children we’d have.
“Four,” he said instantly, and I paid him double.
After checking everything out and taking hundreds of pictures, we meandered away from the crowds and onto the trails leading into the acres of wooded area.
Within a few minutes, it was impossible to believe we were only steps from the bustling city.
Clem held onto my hand, looking up into the trees, her eyes filling with tears as she finally turned to me.
“It really is so perfect,” she said, laughing ruefully at getting emotional.
“I know what you need,” I told her, pulling her close. “I know you through and through.”
I tugged her long, loose hair and dipped my head to kiss her.
It was only meant to be a quick peck, but her hands slid up my chest, and she rose onto her toes to meet me halfway.
She sighed my name against my lips, weakening my resolve and making me forget we were out in public in a place that didn’t favor tourists making out at their shrines.
As always, Clem made me forget everything but her. There wasn’t a business deal, a turf war, or a crazy uncle who could put a dent in the way she so totally consumed me. Words bubbled up in my throat, the need to tell her strong enough to make me grip her hard and yank her closer.
This wasn’t just physical; this was my soul calling out to hers.
“Clem,” I murmured, silenced by her eager, questing tongue.
A loud cough made us jump apart, like school kids caught by an angry principal. The elderly couple who tried to make their way past us on the path shook their heads as we scrambled to get out of their way, half disgruntled and half amused.
“Oh my gosh, we’re being so disrespectful,” Clem said, cheeks flaming bright red.
I waited until the old folks were a little further away, then playfully slapped her perfect ass, grabbed her hand, and hurried her back toward the street. “We'd better get back to the house then, before we get deported.”
Her happy, relaxed laughter was the sweetest sound as we raced to find a taxi.