Final Flu Shanghai by Jadling

Chapter 10

As Jim rode the elevator back up to the penthouse, he briefly considered just telling them he was done, right now. He knew he could do it. Now that he had found that self control, he knew he really could stop all of this. What would happen? Well, for one, Dr. Chun probably wouldn't study him today. He had promised to cooperate in exchange for that. He really wanted answers, and he had done almost all of his part in that deal already. He just had to cooperate until lunchtime.

What else would happen? Of course, Leizu might go through with her implied threat, but now that was a threat to tell his wife what he was trying to tell her anyway. What difference did that make? Maybe a huge difference, he realized. It needed to come from him, along with a firm commitment that it was over. That promise would have a lot less credibility if it came only after he was caught.

Or maybe Leizu was bluffing and wouldn't even tell his wife. No, she'd do it, he realized. It made strategic sense for her to intentionally wreck his marriage if he stopped cooperating. Sure, he'd be angry at them but he'd be single, and lonely. They'd have him right where they wanted him. It might be their best strategic move, actually, even if he kept his end of the deal. Get all they could from him this week, then blow up his marriage so he'd be free to be with others, even if he was too mad at them to come back to them.

No, he wouldn't let it come to that. For once he'd be a move ahead of Leizu. He would be the one to tell Catherine first. Tomorrow morning, that was when he could tell her, and then end it. One more day. One more wild fucking day of this heavenly nightmare.

He really had been about to promise to stop, just now during their call. That was where his confession would naturally have led, even though he hadn't decided it ahead of time. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that Fei Fei's people had picked a time for their dinner with his wife that left so little time for his call with her. They knew what time that call was. They had pictures of his planner, where his wife had written "Call Cat" every day with a heart around it. They'd know he'd want to have enough time for that conversation, and they wouldn't want him to have that conversation yet. He wouldn't put that kind of forethought past them. They were always two moves ahead.

And maybe his internet difficulties weren't a coincidence either. The hotel internet had been flawless this whole visit except those crucial few minutes. That might be a bit of a paranoid thought, but it wasn't unrealistic. Fei Fei seemed like the kind of person who could arrange something like that. She was a powerful player in Beijing, specializing in media and tech. He decided to ask his IT friend at work how to make a secure call home.

He had to step around a luggage cart full of groceries at the penthouse door. As he entered, he saw Soomin having breakfast at the counter, next to Leizu and the two new Japanese flight attendants. Leizu waved, her mouth full of food. Soomin gasped and stared at him, almost like she was meeting him for the first time. He felt that way too, that rush of desire, memories of last night with her flooding his mind. He couldn't wait to touch her more. He still couldn't believe how much she enjoyed his touch.

Then he saw there were two new faces in the kitchen, their arms full of groceries. In quick succession their eyes met his and they gasped and stared, their lively sparkling eyes going wide. He smiled, admiring their sweet lovely faces and imagining what was under those clothes. What fun it would be to unwrap these two new presents. He knew they had to have extremely sexy slender bodies hidden under those casual comfortable clothes. They almost had to, to match those faces, and anyway they wouldn't have been invited here if they didn't.

They put down their groceries and shook his hand, introducing themselves as Xiaohui and Nuying. They were two of Susu's friends, here to help with cooking for the day. Both were aspiring chefs who had gone to the same culinary school as Yuming, Susu and Chun-Hua. They hadn't known each other well and had never cooked together, being a couple years apart in the program, but Susu had remembered them for their beauty, looked them up online last night, and gone to talk to them in person at their restaurants, both in the same neighborhood, catching them right before closing time. With Chun-Hua gone, and with what might be an even bigger crowd expected all day and especially tonight, she needed all the help she could get.