Queen of Love

Chapter 9

Thefamilyrestaurantin Ikebukuro was crowded for a Thursday night. Between the students filling the tables with their study materials and the solo businesspeople dining and rushing to their next mission, Aya felt like she was stuck between two worlds while wearing her office pantsuit. Especially with a messy seven-year-old covering her face in Margherita pizza beside Aya.

“Ara!” Mari tossed a napkin at her daughter, who had slopped greasy cheese and basil against her Tokyo Mew-Mew T-shirt. “Why are you so messy? Did I raise a monkey? Watch out that you don’t get any pizza on your Auntie Aya’s clothes.”

“Sou,” Aya sarcastically chided her niece, who was giggling like a helium addict as she patted the napkin against everything but her grease stain. “I’ll get fired from my job if there’s even a bit of grease on my pants. You want me getting fired?”

“Yeah!” Hisa shouted.

Aya snorted into her cola. “Your kids really are something else,” she said to her sister across the table. “They must be related to us.”

While mother and kids raised their voices over the already noisy restaurant, Aya got up to refill her drink. Yet when she made it to the drink bar, she chose a hot English Breakfast over more cola. It was caffeine either way. I need the burst to get me home after this. Mari and the kids were in the city for a specialist’s appointment. Since they didn’t need to catch the train back to Saitama for a while, it was the perfect opportunity for Aya to swing by Ikebukuro after work to have dinner with her closest family.

She returned to the table to find her nephew smacking the button that called the waitress to their table. Mari hastily pulled him away and profusely apologized to the young woman rushing to tend to them.

“You wouldn’t trade this for the world,” Aya said with a sigh as she sat back in the booth, blocking Hisa from making a great escape. “Also, you couldn’t pay me to make this my life more than one night a week.”

“You’ve got that whole not liking men thing on your side,” Mari muttered as she cleaned up her son’s drink spill on the end of the table.

Aya took out her phone and checked for messages. “Uh-huh. Say that loudly enough and your kids will be repeating it at school.”

“Pretty sure their teacher blocks them out now. Sho-kun told her I like to eat weeds and she didn’t bat an eyelash.”

Aya was already distracted by the first notification on her phone. Against her best judgment, she opened it.

“I went to the Tokyo Tower today,” Genevieve had written an hour ago. “I know it’s no longer the ‘best view in Tokyo,’ but I’m saving the Sky Tree for some other time. Besides, I wanted to cruise through Roppongi and Azabu-Juuban. Someone thinks I might like living there.”

Aya quickly punched a reply.

“What did you think of the Roppongi Hills?”

Genevieve did not immediately reply. Aya glanced up from her phone, catching her sister’s curious gaze.

“It’s either work,” Mari mused, “or it’s that girl you were telling me about.”

“Trust me, she’s far from a girl. More like a whole heap of woman I can barely handle.”

“What’s a ‘whole heap of woman’?” Hisa asked.

“It means she’s super confident and knows what she wants.” Aya jammed her finger into her niece’s side, spiraling Hisa into another fit of chaotic giggles. “Like you.”

“Are you gonna marry her?” Sho asked from the other side of the table.

“Eh? No way.” Aya laughed that question off as she looked to her sister for help. “Besides, you know girls can’t get married in Japan.”

“He’s learned a lot lately,” Mari said. “One of his American cartoons had lesbian parents, and he said ‘Oi, it’s Auntie Aya, but prettier!’”

“Typical.” Aya pretended to lament. “Leave it to the Americans to make me prettier than in real life.”

Mari waved her hand in front of Aya’s face to get her attention. “Hey, so what’s with this girl, huh? You dating her?”

Aya didn’t have the energy to deal with this inquisition. “Yes. No. It’s complicated. You know how it goes.”

“Sure, sure. She’s one of your clients. Makes it difficult.”

“You could say that again. She’s still technically my client, so if we’re caught, it could be the end of things for my career. Super fun, right?”

“You’re right. You should get caught so she’ll feel bad enough to marry you. Didn’t you say she’s from Taiwan? You can get married there.”