Queen of Love

“Let me guess. From Wendy Ahn? I heard from Terry she is in Tokyo.”

“A courtesy call, and nothing more.”

“So, she gave you advice about Genevieve? Interesting.”

“I think you know more about the situation, though. You used to date her.” One of the other bar patrons lit up a cigarette. As the smell of tobacco filtered in Aya’s direction, she was reminded of her younger days, back when she used to smoke in bars like this one. “Why did you break up? Seems you are still friends.”

“Genevieve is a good person,” Nyla said, “but not my kind of girlfriend. She is very…” Nyla snapped her fingers for a word. She pulled out her phone and looked up the word she wanted. After deciding she didn’t want to pronounce it, she showed the word to Aya. Rigid. “She likes roles. Rules. She wants to know who she is in a relationship. Me? I am flexible. So, when she changed her mind, I broke up with her. She wanted me to be someone I am not.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Huh? No way. Even without Terry, life is fine. Besides, I got a good job at Paradise. Foreigners tip me. I work nights. I like it. Genevieve is better as my boss than a girlfriend.”

Aya folded her arms against the bar. “She really lost some of it with the leak.”

It took Nyla a minute to understand what Aya had said. “Yes. She is delicate.”

“Hmph. That’s a good word for her.” Delicate, but not like a doll. Nothing about Genevieve’s body or attitude was delicate. It was her feelings. This was a woman who had courted love and heartbreak for most of her life. When faced with more, she crumbled. “When she was leaving, I told her I loved her. She didn’t respond. We haven’t talked much since.”

Nyla’s mouth was agape.

“What?”

“You said I love you? Like in English? Or Asian style?”

“Trust me, we’re past ‘I like you like that,’ and it was a full English confession.”

“She said nothing? Didn’t hug you? Didn’t kiss you?”

“No. She picked up her things and left. It messed with my head.”

“Wa! What an idiot!”

“Excuse me?”

“Not you! Genevieve! She dies to hear someone loves her. She should have taken you to bed, not walked out!”

That didn’t make Aya feel better. “I am the one who feels like an idiot.”

“You really love her?”

Why did that embarrass Aya to admit in front of Genevieve’s ex? “Yes.”

“You don’t mind she is so… uh, that word?”

Rigid. “No. I like her the way she is. I only wish she would talk to me. She said she was taking care of her image in Singapore and it was better for me to stay here.”

“Sounds like PR specialist bullshit. Maybe they’re right, but we are human. We want to be with the women we love.”

“My family told me to go to Singapore to see her. Wendy said I should be assertive about my feelings because Genevieve would like that.”

“Yes, she would like it. She would die of happiness if you went to Singapore and took her off her feet. You could take her to America and marry her. Have a happy-ever-after.”

“Why do you sound like that, then?”

Nyla knitted her brows in lingual consternation. “Because you should not do that.”

“No?”