Queen of Love

You don’t know me, but I know you now.”

This was off to a great, threatening start.

“You are dating Genevieve Liu. It is common knowledge now. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t know her yet. She is very fun in the beginning and will change your life. She might be a great friend ten years into the future. But be careful. She always wants more and more from you. If she can, she will change you. She does not do it mal…”

The pen had crossed out and rewritten the word “maliciously” enough times that Aya barely made it out.

“She does not do it maliciously. She is a very kind person who cares about others, but before you give anything up for her, think about it very carefully. I don’t want to see another woman be hurt.

I am not a jealous ex or someone who dislikes you. I just know Genevieve. Better than you do. I don’t want her hurt again. I don’t want you to think she is cruel or misguided if she says things that suddenly upset you.

We call her ‘Queen of Love’ because she is in love with love. Love is the most important thing. The person is a vessel for that love. It is different with such rich and emotional people.

I hope this finds you well and have a nice Golden Week.

A friend of you both.”

Aya stared at that last line more than she wished to acknowledge. A friend of you both… Did that mean it was one of Genevieve’s friends? Someone who didn’t have anything against Aya? Was this a warning of good faith? Clearly, the sender cared enough to write and send this postcard all the way from Singapore. Yet who could it be? When Aya translated the name of the sender in her multilingual app, it came out as the name of a hotel in Singapore. Not helpful at all.

Could it be Wendy? Or Lisa? Definitely not Wendy. Maybe not Lisa. Besides, both of those women were fluent in English. More fluent than this postcard, which showed a shaky hand and hesitation to use certain words that might be unfamiliar. Aya couldn’t get over the strike-out and rewriting of the word “maliciously.” Wendy definitely knew that word well.

Aya ran through a mental list of people she met at Genevieve’s party. Nobody seemed the type to do this. Until she thought of the one person who had a whole conversation with her using nothing but their curious gaze.

Short. Blue hair. Never said hi.

Aya’s instinct was to send a picture of this to Genevieve but then thought better of it. Perhaps it was best to keep this in the nightstand until she deemed it more necessary to bring it up with Genevieve. Aya had been given so many warnings about the “Queen of Love” that past week that… well…

Really. Perhaps it was best to take a pragmatic approach right now.