Chapter 46
Aya
Emi was helping Aya get ready for the party, just like in high school, in a way.
Except back then, they hadn’t been invited to many parties.
Sheena’s parents had let her throw a New Year’s Eve party once.
But the dumpling kids ended up hiding out in Sheena’s bedroom, escaping the orange peel game that the “cooler” invitees were playing downstairs.
From then on, they had decided they would spend each New Year’s with one another.
“You look gorgeous,” said Emi. “You’re glowing.”
Aya rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, preggo. Aren’t you the one who’s supposed to be glowing?”
Emi touched her neck. “I’m feeling kind of sick, actually. I think I might just stay here.”
“Stop. I’m sure the cabin will be cozy. You can just, like, take a nap or something.”
Aya’s dress was a pale-peach color, the kind that would be considered “skin tone” for the average American white woman.
But because Aya’s skin was darker than the dress, it made for some contrast. It had long sleeves and a huge tea-length skirt with more tulle than she ever would have worn ordinarily.
But she had to be fancy without shopping, so it was as good as it was going to get.
She’d bought it to wear to a formal university event years ago, but at the last minute, she’d caved and worn a nondescript black dress instead.
It had taken Twyla and Emi all morning to persuade her to wear it instead of jeans.
“Gay men are going to take it as an insult if you wear jeans to a formal engagement party,” said Twyla. “I mean, the invitation specified Japanese formal or American cocktail, so unless you want Mom busting out one of her old kimonos, you’re going to wear this.”
The memory of the Kato yukata made Aya blush. “Fine,” she told her sister, and Twyla flounced off with a smirk. Aya hadn’t even asked how Twy had known what was on the invitation. Aya hadn’t received a physical invitation, but if Justin was expecting her, she wasn’t going to skip it.
Though she was sorely tempted.
Emi smiled, stretching herself out on Aya’s bed. “Yes, I’m sure Nobu and Justin care so little about their engagement party that they’re ready to let people literally sleep through it.”
“Or nap in the car. Whatever you want.”
Emi shook her head. “That’s the part I don’t like. I think even driving over there is going to make me queasy. Good thing they didn’t do it up at the cabin.”
Aya stared at her. “But it is at the cabin. They’ve been getting the place ready for weeks!”
“Apparently, the weather’s too dicey. According to Twyla, anyway. They’re doing it at the Katos’ house.”
“How does Twyla know all this?” grumbled Aya, digging through her vanity for a bobby pin.
“She would say she has her sources.” Emi let another little smile flit across her face.
Aya glanced up at the mirror, shooting Emi a look. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you.”
Emi grinned. “I have to admit I really am. Though I’m sad my parents are on vacation. They could have been my spies at this shindig.”
“Oh, what do you need spies for?” Aya went over to her closet to find some suitable shoes.
If she could just find some ballet-style black shoes, that was as fancy as she was going to be able to get.
Wearing heels would bring her slightly closer to Noah’s height but at the rather steep cost of rendering her unable to walk.
“What do you think of these?” she asked Emi, waving around some maroon flats that had seen better days.
Emi wrinkled her nose. “Might as well go in your tennis shoes.”
Aya knew she would be expected to ditch her shoes at the door in the Kato house, as she had always done at her own house. They weren’t a critical part of the outfit.
“Oh, hush,” she said, slipping her foot into one of the shoes. At least they still fit. “I won’t even have to wear them for very long.”
“Wear what?” Twyla asked, poking her head in the door just as she had always done when Aya was younger and no less annoying. “Your clothes?”
Aya held the shoe up, ready to throw it, but Twyla had already flounced off.
“Seriously, though,” said Emi. “What’s up with you guys?”
“Well, he’s a celebrity. I’m not. He’s rich. I’m not.”
“But?”
“I mean, we had a chance in high school. But I feel like now, he doesn’t really understand much about what’s important to me. He basically told me not to finish my doctorate! And for all his talk about how important the museum is, he hasn’t actually wanted to donate.”
Emi was silent for a minute. “Did he actually tell you not to finish your degree? And what was the rationale?”
Aya thought back to it. The conversation had been overshadowed by the events in the reading room but not quite obliterated.
“I don’t know. There were lots of reasons.
But I think it says something that you came out here specifically to tell me to finish my degree, and he tried to convince me not to listen to you. ”
Emi smiled. “So you saw through my excuses, huh?”
Aya rolled her eyes. “You came back home for a visit when your parents weren’t even here? Um, yes, Dr. Obvious. Safe to say I saw through that one.”
Emi pulled herself up, wiggled down from the bed, and hugged her. “So that’s it? You’re just going to give him up?”
Aya frowned, straightening the pearl necklace she had borrowed from her mom. “Of course not. I’m going to try to make it work.”
“Because…”
“Because I’ve never felt this way about anyone else,” Aya answered. “And that has to mean something.”
“Okay,” said Emi cautiously. “If you’ve never felt this way before, do you think Noah knows that?”
Aya scoffed. “Probably. I mean, my love life this past decade has been pretty pathetic. You’ve seen it.”
“But he hasn’t. He might imagine you don’t really feel that much for him these days.”
Aya laughed. “Oh, okay. He’s a celebrity, Emi. He thinks everyone is madly in love with him.”
“Does he, though?”
Aya rolled her eyes. “The annoying thing is that he’s right.”