Queen of Love

“No, but she won’t say anything. She knows better now.”

Aya snorted in disbelief. “At least there’s Dad.” The only person in the family better at English and more well-traveled than Aya was their father, a former schoolteacher whose biggest claim to fame was attending a gay wedding in San Francisco. While he was supposed to be visiting his daughter down at UCLA…

Aya’s family was only slightly strange.

“I’m not dating anyone,” she said, letting her tea cool.

“Mmhmm. Not even in that client of yours?”

“Not every gay girl is obligated to fall into bed with another. Come on.”

“Was she at least pretty? I saw that movie, you know.” Mari grinned over the rim of her teacup. “Crazy Rich Asians. Can you believe it? Made me think every woman in Singapore is glamorous and every man is Henry Golding. Not like my husband.”

“What’s wrong with your husband?” Last Aya checked, Kentaro made a damn good living running his own commercial truck shop, where he was both owner and lead mechanic. My sister hasn’t worked since getting married, so there’s that.

“He’s gotten fat.”

Aya rolled her eyes.

“So, is she pretty?” Brows waggled and shoulders wiggled. “Can I cut her picture out of a magazine? Oh, what’s her name again?”

Aya couldn’t bear to look her nosy sister in the face. “Genevieve.”

“Hontou? So fancy! Jyunebiebu!”

Aya didn’t bother correcting her sister. “She’s a bijin, all right. One of those women who look like they can’t possibly be real. All poise and brains.”

“Sou, sou. I know the exact type you’re talking about. Like in that movie.”

“I’ll take your word on it.”

“So? You dating her?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Curls shook against the table. “Hell, no. My baby sister deserves the prettiest girl in the city. Whether they were born here or elsewhere.”

“Sis, you live in the ’burbs.”

“Like she would think of Saitama as anything but Tokyo.”

“You’re this close to driving me back to my nice and quiet apartment with a view.” Aya draped her arm over the back of her chair. “In Meguro, if I may remind you.”

“Oooh, because that means something to me.”

“In real estate terms, you would understand.” While Meguro wasn’t Shibuya, Shinjuku, or Shinagawa, it bordered two and was a stone’s throw from the other. Close enough for Aya to be near work and some nightlife, while still affording a bedroom and some amenities. I say this while admitting Meguro is expensive as hell. Good thing Aya had locked in her apartment, a seven-minute walk from the nearest rail station. She knew what it was worth now, and that’s what scared her.

“You’ve always been so fancy.” Mari pulled her foot up onto her chair and leaned her elbow against the chair. “Soooo cool. When are you gonna get a girl who is as fancy and cool as you? I want to live vicariously through you. I don’t even like girls like that, but you make it seem so neat.”

“Would you stop? This is like Dad all over again.”

“I do take after him most.”

Yeah, right! Mari was their mother, through and through, all the way down to how she chastised her kids and folded her laundry. Only thing missing was the traditional homophobia dripping from her lips. Mom used to be way, way worse. Between her husband telling her to knock it off because it was a new century, and her daughters refusing to listen to her… well, that’s what Aya had going for her.

“So, any plans for the weekend? Don’t tell me you came all the way out here to say hi and have nothing else to do with your Saturday.”

Aya didn’t know what to say to that. “My life is hardly exciting. Only reason I’m not in the office today is because I closed the deal yesterday.” True to Genevieve’s word, as soon as Aya entered the office on Friday morning, she discovered that the building in Ni-chome had been purchased. Aya spent the rest of the day filling out paperwork and talking to Genevieve’s team of property lawyers, both Japanese and those with strong British accents. “Figured I could take the weekend off. Maybe I’ll stop by one of my haunts on the way home.”