Queen of Love

The representative didn’t have a response for that, of course. All she had were more apologizes and promises to connect Aya with someone higher up. By the time the conversation was over, she had an appointment to speak with one of the regional managers in the Tokyo office, but that wasn’t for another week, and no power could put the genie back in its bottle.

Aya’s phone had been hacked. The nebulous faces behind the hack were snickering all the way to their high-five caves as they not only unearthed nudes and videos but posted them to the goddamn internet for everyone to see! The Chinese tabloids have dubbed it a sex tape. The Japanese ones were a bit coyer, simply calling it a private video.

Genevieve had put up a good front when she and Aya called one another about it the night before. Apparently, they had heard about it around the same time. Probably because it was hitting the media and their personal contacts’ lists. Even Aya was hearing about it from her sister, who had called her, exasperated and screaming, ”Is it true? What the fuck!”

Aya could only deal with so much stress at one moment. When she wasn’t fretting over Genevieve’s state of mind, she was dreading the inevitable phone call from Takatani. A phone call that was put off until she stepped into the office Friday morning, hoping that a large face mask and keeping her head down meant she wouldn’t have to deal with the stares.

Nope. The moment she walked into the building everyone, from the doorman to Kenji in the break room, was falling over themselves trying to be polite. Because it’s not only my girlfriend’s body on the internet. It was hers, too. If someone dug deep enough, they found a topless Aya taking a bathroom mirror selfie that was meant for Genevieve’s eyes only.

You’re all lucky I’m not a wobbling mess right now. Aya was barely in her seat when Takatani stood in his office doorway, gazing right at her.

He didn’t need to say a thing. Aya knew to get up and go.

“You can’t be here right now,” he said, up from behind his desk for once. “Do you understand? I know this isn’t your fault, but we can’t have you here distracting everyone.”

“Glad we’re on the same wavelength, shachou,” she glibly responded.

“Un. You’re working from home starting today. No face time with any clients. As for your promotion…”

Aya steeled herself.

“We’ll talk about it later when this all blows over.” Takatani grunted again. “If this blows over.”

That’s when Aya called her service provider and gave them an earful. What else could she do? She couldn’t get the club video taken off the internet. She couldn’t wipe everyone’s memories of what they saw. The best she could do was vent her frustration.

Like at the two subordinates who were laughing about it behind her back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, diverting from her path leading to the elevator. “Did you want to say something to my face?”

Both young men stepped apart, heads down. “No, Sugiya-san.”

“I hope you two are never in this position. I hope your girlfriends never know what it’s like to have their privacy so violated.” She stepped away. “Do me a favor and forget what you saw. Also, don’t share it, for the love of God.”

That direct confrontation was enough to shut up most of the office. It wasn’t enough to assuage Genevieve’s mortification.

“What am I going to do?” She sat on the end of her bed. Although she hadn’t been crying, a hundred years’ worth of worry aged her face. “I can’t believe this has happened. You promise me everything was encrypted, right?”

“Of course. I took no chances.”

“Yet you were still hacked!”

“My whole provider was hacked, Genny.” Aya sat beside her, careful to not intrude upon her girlfriend’s space. “You’re not the only person whose nudes are out there right now.” As the day progressed, more Japanese celebrities were showing up on scrupulous websites. The press was having a field day. The only ones around them who cared about Genevieve Liu’s Mandarin dirty talk were those who directly knew Aya. When one of the biggest actresses of our generation is showing up on porn sites right now, the tabloids care more about that.

That didn’t help Genevieve back home, though.

“It’s not just the nudes!” The more time went by, the more Genevieve appeared on the verge of a panic attack. What could Aya do? She had never seen Genevieve in this state before. She might be okay with me touching her. She might never want to be touched again. Aya wasn’t about to find out. “That video was taken in Paradise. You know the number two rule is no video or pictures! The only thing more important is not harassing people! Sure, everyone is sneaking pictures and stuff in the private rooms, and it would be one thing if it were a guest whose pictures leaked…” Genevieve pushed her limp hair out of her face, elbows piercing her thighs. “I’m one of the owners! Do you know what humiliating conversation I had with one of my co-owners earlier today? The man is old enough to be my father. He sure as hell talked to me like I was his misbehaving daughter. I’m not to show my face in Paradise for at least a month.”

Aya let the steam cool between them before replying. “I’ve been put on pseudo-leave from work. I mean, my boss told me I’m working from home until everything ‘blows over,’ but I’m in trouble. My boss has definitely seen the pictures of me to know how bad it is.” She shuddered. Until then, it hadn’t dawned on her that Takatani probably now knew what Aya’s naked chest looked like. Let alone in her bathroom mirror! Time to go curl up and die now. The walk-in closet was big enough for her to lock herself in and have a good cry.

“Millions of people are sending nudes every day,” Genevieve grumbled. “Yet it’s ours out there on porn sites.” She shook her head in dismay. “I’ve got my assistants and my PR agency working around the clock getting them taken down, but it won’t save my reputation. I’ve lost enough face to bring down Singaporean stock.”

“I’m so sorry, Genny.” Aya extended her hand to her girlfriend’s back. “I swear to you, I did everything I could to encrypt everything. I’m also changing my phone provider. But…”

“It doesn’t take back what’s happened.”

“No.”

Genevieve leaned her head against Aya’s shoulder. “How am I supposed to get back to work? I’ve got a bar being remodeled. My contractor and my future employees are going to know that’s me in the news. They’ve probably seen my pussy all over their phones!”