Be Careful What You Wish For (PUBLISHED)

(3) - The Thing With Knowing

“Dyosko Ana, have you been living under a rock?” Kaye rolled her eyes.

“I still can’t believe that you didn’t recognize Nakamura Ken! He’s famous!” Tessa exclaimed.

Ana groaned and for the nth time reminded them that he had been wearing dark glasses. Both Kaye and Tessa had been in shock when she had told them about what had happened at Narita.

She tried to zone both of them out as she browsed the evening papers online. Damn Japanese technology. Their altercation had been faithfully captured in living color. One photograph even showed an enlarged shot of Tessa’s lingerie cradled in those big, strong hands.

Fortunately, she had been wearing dark wearing glasses and her hair had come undone and covered most of her face. Even so, the Japanese media was rife with speculation as to her identity. They were even speculating that Ana was the cause Nakamura's recent breakup with the actress Erina Sakamoto.

Omigod, why hadn’t I recognized him, Ana thought desperately. Kaye was right, his face was literally plastered everywhere! He had a thousand and one endorsements, movies, dramas, and commercials. And why not? Ken Nakamura was one of the manliest Japanese actors. All the others seemed either puny, too immature, bisexual, or outright gay.

Ooooohhh! Ana had hoped to make waves upon returning to Tokyo, but she  never imagined that it would be this big a splash.

She groaned. This was just perfect.

+++

“This is perfect Ken-san,” Takashi crowed as he paced the room, holding the paper aloft in his hands. Emblazoned on the cover were color photographs of Ken and the mystery girl that the press assumed was his new girlfriend. “This is the perfect diversion we need to erase the bad publicity of the situation with Erina.” He paused to mop his forehead. “Some papers are already hinting that you have had an affair with this gaijin girl and that that was the reason you and Erina broke up.”

Ken remained silent as his manager paced his living room. Copies of the latest papers were scattered across the coffee table. But Ken’s mind was far from the present; he thought back to Erina and their last conversation at his hotel room in LA.

“I think a split would be best for both of us,” she had said.

Ken stared at her as he lounged on one of the room’s couches. He had not expected tonight to turn out like this. He felt the ring in the box in his pocket burn a hole through his suit as he asked, “Why?”

She breathed in deeply. This was not easy for her, he knew, but he had to find out why she was telling him it was all over between them when just a few weeks ago she had hinted at the ring she wanted at Tiffany’s. The same ring that was now in Ken’s pocket.

“Perhaps it is my fault,” she began slowly “when we first started going out, I could not believe my luck,” She looked at him sadly, “I was more than happy. You’re every girl’s dream… And yet after almost two years, it still isn’t working out as I had hoped.”

“We are good together,” he asserted, wondering what the hell she had hoped for in the first place. The press looked favorably upon them both and photographs of them attending events often made the papers.

“Yes we are, but are we good for each other?” She countered.

“Nan da yo? What do you mean? Don’t speak to me in riddles.”

“I mean that I feel that all this time I have never really felt as if you needed me … that you never really needed anyone at all. And I feel that lack of passion eating away at me.” She turned to face him, “I loved you in the beginning, but now I feel as if …” She couldn’t finish her statement and simply bowed her head. She walked towards the windows and said, “Gomenasai. I’ve met someone…”