Be Careful What You Wish For (PUBLISHED)

(7) - Twenty Questions

“Just because I agreed to cooperate with your insane plan doesn’t give you the liberty to abduct me at your leisure,” Ana grumbled as she strapped herself into Ken’s Porsche. They were at the Hongo campus of the University of Tokyo where Ana had been one of the presenters at a symposium that afternoon. She had been chatting with a couple of other researchers during the informal reception afterwards when she realized that her colleagues’ awed silence wasn't due to her presentation. She had turned to find Ken standing slightly behind her, watching her with an indulgently affectionate look on his face. She had scowled at him, but he had just smiled.

Like most of the attendees, Ken had been wearing a suit, but Ana thought that he completely stood out in the sea of black and white. The growing buzz of speculation at his presence had alarmed her, but he had charmed her colleagues with his excuses. She was privately amazed at how smoothly he had extricated her from the gathering.

Ken chuckled softly as he strapped himself in. “Can’t I take my girlfriend out to dinner?”

“Pretend girlfriend,” Ana hissed as he pulled out of the parking lot. “You didn’t have to make such a spectacle of yourself,” she grumbled.

“Did I?”

“Don’t play innocent. You deliberately put your arm around me when you saw Dan approach.”

“I was playing a role.”

“You didn’t have to overdo it.”

“Who knows? I may truly be affectionate in real life.”

“Do you even have a real life?” Ana shot back.

He glanced at her, amused at their childish sparring, “That’s what we’ll find out tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, shouldn’t we take some time to get to know each other?” He asked, glancing at her, “In order to play our roles out successfully, we have to do a bit of research and preparation. Isn’t that what they call a scientific approach?”

Ana saw the logic in his argument and pouted grumpily, “Oh alright, I see your point.” She conceded, “But I’m not some dog you can snap a leash on and lead away at your leisure. If you had called first…”

He glanced at her profile and was struck at how cute she looked when she was annoyed. Her arms were folded in front of her and she was staring stonily ahead. She had sass; he’d give her that. He decided to try and pacify her, “I’m sorry, I took it for granted that you would be free.” When she finally fell silent, he glanced at her once again and asked, “Is it just me or are you like this with every man you meet?”

“It’s you. I’m usually really charming,” she assured him. “So is it just me or are you this high-handed with every woman you know?” She countered.

He chuckled, “Pretty much every woman,” he told her, “however, it seems that you’re the only one who has fought back so far.”

“Thank you. I’ll take that as a great compliment.”

“No wonder you haven’t managed to get Sato,” Ken observed. He smiled as Ana turned to him, and demanded to know what he meant by that. “Men like women who are soft and subservient,” Ken explained.

“Intelligent men like women who stimulate them,” Ana argued hotly.

“Soft women can be stimulating too.”

“Not that kind of stimulation!”

“Was there any other kind?” Ken discovered that he was having fun sparring with Ana. This was a novel experience. Since he wasn’t romantically involved with her, he felt comfortable saying what he really thought. Plus, he felt that she was tough to take anything he threw at her, and she gave back as good as she got.