"You guys are going to get us in so much trouble," Cristal Gentry said to her two cohorts in crime, Satoshi Hayashi and Takumijo Yamazaki, as they helped her scale the wall of the Aomori compound after sneaking out to go party and drink beer.
"Your big mouth is going to give us away," Satoshi warned as he put his hand on her butt and tried to help her climb the rope Takumijo had dropped down to them once he made it over the wall safely. His fingers pressed into her cheeks.
"Hey, watch that."
"Sorry," Satoshi said without embarrassment. "The opportunity presented itself."
He is such a leach. Cristal continued to climb the wall, glad she had opted for boots instead of heels when she'd dressed the previous evening. Takumijo grabbed her hand and pulled her over the wall. He stood on a ladder they had used to make their escape. Cristal put her feet on the rungs and climbed down behind Takumijo, thankful that she had worn pants, or both men would have gotten quite an eyeful.
Takumijo climbed back up and tossed the rope back down to Satoshi while she waited at the bottom and acted as a lookout. Satoshi climbed over, and both men grabbed the ladder and stashed it back amongst the cherry trees.
"We'd better get back inside the house," Takumijo said.
Satoshi nodded. "Masaaki will kill us if he finds out we snuck out without the bodyguards."
Cristal had only been working with them for nearly two months, and even she knew that Aomori's manager would have a fit if he found out they'd left the compound without their bodyguards. Satoshi and Takumijo were two of Japan's hottest J-pop artists, and fans mobbed them wherever they went - except for last night, because they wore disguises so they wouldn't be recognized. Of course they did draw a lot of attention from the ladies in the club, since they were both over six feet tall. Being best friends with them did have its disadvantages, especially for these two, who had a penchant for breaking rules and getting into trouble. There were two other members in the J-pop group, Ichiro Yoshida and Yori Morioka, both newlyweds and out of the country with their brides. Both couples would be returning soon for a meeting with Mr. Niigata and Aomori's manager Masaaki.
They entered the farmhouse quietly through the side entrance. Takumijo flipped on the light and gasped. "Shit, we're busted."
Cristal peeped around him and then hid behind him again.
Masaaki Fugimoto and her boss, Goro Niigata, sat in the living room waiting for them.
"Do come in and sit down," Goro said to the three of them as he rose.
Mr. Niigata never raised his voice. He didn't need to in order to get his point across. Masaaki, on the other hand, yelled at them a lot.
"You are so grounded," Masaaki said to them as if they were a bunch of kids.
Satoshi and Takumijo left her and sat down on the sofa like two obedient babies. Cristal sat on one of the leather armchairs, wanting to slap the shit out of them for acting so docile.
"Where the hell have you three been?" Masaaki asked.
"Clubbing," Satoshi volunteered.
Cristal scowled. He didn't even try to lie. Big baby.
Mr. Niigata glared at him. "Without your bodyguards?"
Satoshi picked at an imaginary piece of lint from his pant leg. She was surprised he could still see after all the Shochu and beer he had consumed earlier. Hell, she was surprised that any of them had made it home. "Yes, it was just a spur of the moment thing. We were just sitting around bored, and Takumijo suggested that we get out of the house for a spell."
"And you listened to him?" Goro asked.
"Never again," Satoshi said. "I knew it wasn't the smart thing to do."
Oh, please, Cristal thought. Satoshi was the one who dragged both of them out of the house.
Mr. Niigata turned toward Takumijo, who just sat there looking innocent. "I figured you were the ringleader in all of this, but did you have to drag Ms. Gentry with you?"
Takumijo shrugged. "Well, we couldn't very well leave her in this big house by herself. What if someone would have gotten in?"
"That's what the guards at the front gate are for," Masaaki answered.
"Didn't stop us from getting out," Takumijo reasoned.
Masaaki stared daggers at Takumijo. "Didn't you two idiots learn anything from the Shaundra Morrison incident?"
"What Shaundra Morrison incident?" Cristal asked. She slapped her hand over her mouth, regretting opening it.
Mr. Niigata turned to face her. "Shaundra Morrison is Ichiro's wife."
She knew that much.
"Because of her affiliation with Aomori, Ms. Morrison experienced the wrath of the fan girls."
"Huh?" Cristal asked.
"Let me rephrase it. Aomori's fan club members do not like other women socializing with Aomori. Some of them can get pretty nasty, if you know what I mean?"
She wasn't a complete idiot. "What does that have to do with me?"
"Is clubbing not socializing?" Goro asked.
"Oh, so you seem to think they will come after me?"
Goro nodded. "Yes."
Cristal laughed. "I'm not afraid of a bunch of silly little girls."
"You should be," Masaaki replied. "Ms. Morrison was nearly killed when one of her own fan club members blew up her house."
Cristal gasped. "Just for socializing with Ichiro?"
"No, for messing around with Yori," Takumijo let slip.
"Huh? Why was she messing around with Yori?"
"Long story," Satoshi replied. "You'll learn all our dirty little secrets soon enough."
"Don't worry about me, Mr. Niigata. I can take care of myself."
"That's beside the point, Ms. Gentry. If you expect to stay in my employ, you are expected to follow the same rules as Aomori. From now on, I expect you not to go anywhere without taking a guard with you."
Cristal frowned. "What? I don't want some big doofus bodyguard tailing me. I have a life."
"Not for long, if you don't listen to Mr. Niigata. Or a job either," Masaaki told her.
Crystal frowned. Why did Masaaki have to go and add that last sentence? Japanese businessmen are so...men.
"You don't know how many people recognized these two while you were out clubbing. For all you know, right now someone may be posting your pictures on YouTube or spreading rumors about you having an affair with both Satoshi and Takumijo."
Cristal frowned. She hadn't thought of that.
"You are now a part of Aomori's life, which means you are privy to information that people would kill to get."
"I think you should have told me that during my employment interview. I thought I just had to write copy for their speeches and feed the media tidbits on the group's activities. I didn't think it came with strings."
"There are no strings, Ms. Gentry," Goro told her. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be these guys?"
"Well, no." She wasn't big or a doofus.
"They can't do things normal people take for granted, like going out clubbing, or taking a walk in the park."
"Or going out on a date," Takumijo said grudgingly.
"I think I understand." Cristal rose and bowed low to Masaaki and Goro. "I am deeply sorry for my part in tonight's little adventure. I assure you that it will never happen again."
She sat down.
Satoshi looked over at her and raised an eyebrow like he didn't believe her. She would have poked her tongue at him if she didn't think it was a childish thing to do.
"Make sure that it doesn't," Goro replied. "We're not in Osaka right now, and we have to be careful. Your father would be very upset if I let something happen to you."
So true. Her father was very protective of her and even balked when he'd found out she would be working for a J-Pop group. Aomori's reputation for causing trouble preceded them. Cristal rubbed her temple. The Shochu and beer had snuck up on her.
"Maybe the three of you should get some rest," Goro suggested.
"That sounds like a very good idea," Satoshi replied. "I think I'm still drunk."
Mr. Niigata rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Maybe you should find a nice girl and settle down like Ichiro and Yori did.
Marriage seems to agree with both of them."
Satoshi's shoulders tightened. "Never." He rose and headed toward the stairwell that led to the upstairs bedrooms of their rented Korean mansion. "I love my freedom."
"And Shaundra Morrison," Takumijo teased. "Besides, who would marry him?" He's too stuck on himself."
"Bite me," Satoshi replied before disappearing upstairs.
Shaundra Morrison? Cristal asked in her head.
"It is very unwise to tease a scorpion," Masaaki told Takumijo. "See Ms. Gentry to her room. Mr. Niigata and I have some important business to discuss."
Takumijo rose, towering over both men. "Come on, princess. Time for nighty-night."
Cristal rose. If those words came out of Satoshi's mouth, she was be hightailing it in the opposite direction, but coming from Takumijo it sounded like something a brother would say to her. She walked with him to the stairwell, leaving Masaaki and Mr. Niigata alone. He took her hand and pulled her up the steps.
"Masaaki isn't serious when he says we're grounded, is he?"
"Yes," Takumijo replied. "Masaaki is always serious when he says things. We can't leave this place without security."
"And you're comfortable with being grounded at your age."
"No, but what else can I do? It is for my own good. I am such a troublemaker."
Cristal chuckled. "Well, I guess it could have been worse."
Takumijo stopped outside her bedroom door. "You're going to wish for death once this is over. Mr. Niigata is deadly serious. Don't fall for that innocent fatherly act. He plans to get back at us for disobeying him, and he's going to get you too."
"I hope you're joking," she said, putting her hand on the doorknob of the bedroom assigned to her for their two-week stay in Korea.
"Unfortunately, no," Takumijo said as he continued down the hallway to his room next to Satoshi's.
Cristal went into her room, closed the door and turned on the light. "He'd better be joking," she mumbled as she walked into the room and sat down on the bed. "I am a grown woman and not a child who needs to be punished just because I want to go out and have fun with my friends." She leaned back on the bed, suddenly exhausted from too much partying and clubbing. Her eyes closed slowly.
It was close to noon when Cristal's eyes opened up again, and she felt like crap. She hadn't done any binge drinking since college, and she had given all that kind of crap up and become a responsible adult. She sighed. Why did she let those two pretty-face goobers get her into trouble with her boss? "Never again," she moaned as she slid from the bed still dressed in her clubbing clothes. Both of the young men should be out of the house by now, she reasoned as she headed for the bathroom. Takumijo had a commercial to do, and Satoshi was supposed to be at Mr. Niigata's Korean office posing for a magazine cover. That just left her alone to do some girl things, like read a book.
After her shower Cristal went downstairs to scrounge up something to eat. She found Mr. Niigata and Masaaki seated at the table talking and drinking tea. "Sorry," she said when they looked up and saw her. "I didn't mean to disturb you."
"No, come on in," Masaaki replied. "We were just talking about you. There's fresh coffee in the pot and a plate of food in the oven. Satoshi told me to make sure you ate something when you got up."
"That was very sweet of him."
"Not really," Masaaki replied. "He's just trying to get on your good side."
Cristal heated her food, poured herself a cup of coffee and joined the men at the table. Her meal consisted of rice, fruit, and vegetables. Her body wanted meat, but she took what she could get. The men continued to talk, which gave her time to study them closer.
Masaaki was in his early thirties, not very tall, but he looked good in the suits he always wore. He wore his dark black hair short and well groomed. He talked in a very educated manner, and she understood why Mr. Niigata had assigned him as manager over Aomori.
Goro Niigata was in his early fifties, and taller than Masaaki. If she didn't know better, she would swear that the two of them were father and son. Like Masaaki, she'd never seen him in anything but a business suit. His wore his hair short, and it had just started to gray a little at the temple.
She couldn't say he was the best boss she'd ever had since she'd only had one other job in her life, but she could definitely say he was the meanest. Well, not exactly mean - more like the business-before-pleasure type of person.
Masaaki pushed a stack of papers toward her.
"What's this?" Cristal asked, swallowing a mouthful of hot coffee.
"An assignment," Mr. Niigata answered.
Cristal reached for the papers. "For Aomori."
"No, for my entertainment magazine."
Cristal looked down at the crisp Japanese writing and began reading. "You want me to conduct an interview?" She'd been hoping he'd use her talents for something more than writing speeches for Aomori.
"Yes, I thought it would be nice to do one on a local celebrity while we're here in town."
Cristal continued to read. "Yi-jun Lee. Who is he?"
They both looked at her oddly.
"He's a famous movie star," Masaaki answered like that was supposed to help.
Cristal groaned inside. She didn't want to do tabloid reporting. "I don't watch many movies," Cristal replied.
"Should I know him?"
"Everyone in Korea knows him."
She shrugged. "Still never heard of him."
"Well, that's okay. He's filming in town, and we thought you might like to get an interview for us. There might even be a promotion in it for you if you do a good job."
Okay, she knew a setup when she heard one. "What happens if I fail?"
Mr. Niigata chuckled. "I'll fire you. We don't have room on the payroll for failures."
Ooh, hadn't expected that.
"You won't fail," Masaaki assured her. "You graduated the top of your class in journalism."
Cristal raised her cup to the two snakes. "When and where?"
"This afternoon. He's filming a new movie not too far away from here. I'll send Hyun-woo with you as cameraman. All you have to do is get Yi-jun to agree to do an interview."
"That's all?"
"That is it," Masaaki answered.
How come she didn't believe him?
