Chapter Twenty

Naoki could not believe his luck. Just when he thought he was about to have his world come crashing down everything landed in his lap. He had finally got rid of that selfish shrew of a wife, and he was now in a position where he had both his mistresses under the one roof. Admittedly, Moe had not found out about him and Kaede yet. If he could help it, she never would. Just when he thought he needed to buy Akane a car to keep her mouth shut, he was free. It did not matter if Mai found out that he had not returned that night, it was now all out in the open. Naoki was now with his boss and mistress Moe. He could divorce Mai and even let her have the house and he was still in a secure position. He had never been happier in his entire life. It was like his bad karma had evened out. In a way, his life had become simpler too. He no longer had to juggle three women, he only had the two. Since moving in, Kaede had also kept her distance, so in reality, he was back to having only one woman. Admittedly, that woman was his boss, but it was so much simpler. What made it even better, was he was less stressed. His work improved and several terrible weights had been removed from his already over burdened shoulders. Another thing that made him happy, was that he did not need to pay any maintenance for Akane's upkeep. Akane was already over sixteen, and as such no longer considered Naoki's responsibility by the courts. As Mai had been the main bread winner in the household he did not have to pay her anything either. In fact, his lawyers hinted that she might even needed to pay him. It was like he had won the lottery. He had swapped two shrews for two princesses. What a deal! Nothing would land in his lap as good as that in a million years, he thought. I am the luckiest guy on earth. Moe was also very happy. She had won the man she had wanted. Since Tatsuya, she had avoided any form of intimacy with people other than with Kaede. Kaede had been her life. Well, Kaede and getting revenge on Tatsuya. Once Tatsuya was out of the way, there was only Kaede. Moe was able to start a new life. With her new life, came a new love. She had started work at the pharmaceutical company, and liked Naoki from the first. At the time they met, he was either engaged or married. She could not remember. It didn't matter that much. Their love affair really only began about a year ago. It began at one of the management weekend retreats. It was strange in a way. Neither of them were looking for love. Both being Japanese, they were a little more reserved than some of the crazy foreign gaijins they worked with. Though married, a lot of the bosses were playing up with each other. It was a casual sort of thing. Moe was certain that some of the people who coupled off actually hated each other in normal working life. The company had rented a resort for the weekend. There was a gym, a swimming pool, a golf course, some tennis courts. Everything for the adrenaline pumping executive needed to release some over energetic exuberance on. Somehow, not much got used. Even during the team building exercises and seminars, people just failed to turn up. Moe was concerned and seriously thought about throwing some of her weight around. 'I'll put the fear of God into this lot,' she told Naoki at the bar on the first night. Naoki had diplomatically avoided the subject. Sometime that night, between a long island ice tea and some green thing with an umbrella sticking out the top, he had kissed her. At first she was shocked. She wasn't sure if it was because she was drunk, or simply because she had always found him so attractive, but she did not dislike it. In fact, the kiss had aroused feelings in her she had long forgotten. The kiss had been nice. Not too hard, not too soft. Not timid at all, yet not forcing his way onto her. It was perfect. It was exactly what she had needed at exactly the right time. It placed her in a peculiar position though. The next day, she was not able to 'get up the troops' as she had been planning. After all, she was as guilty as they were. Admittedly, she had not slept with Naoki at that stage. She had, however kissed him back. Naoki had become something of a hero amongst his peers. Some of them had overheard what Moe had said to him at the bar. They all suspected that Naoki had kissed her deliberately, that somehow he had devised a plan to save everyones bacon. The truth of the matter was Moe was everything Mai was not. Moe was quite, reserved, yet at the same time had a definite sense of knowing who she was and what she wanted to be. She was soft, and yet at the same time as strong and she needed to be. As they had stood their talking at the bar together, Naoki had simply fallen in love. He had kept buying Moe drinks. It was unusual for Moe to let her guard down. She had not been drunk since her teenage days with Tatsuya. Possibly it was Naoki's charm. Maybe she had subconsciously always wanted him. She had suppressed it deep down inside, and now, this very night, she had allowed it to surface. Or maybe it had fought its way to the surface against her conscious will. She had fallen for a married man. By the second night of the weekend retreat, she was well aware that the others knew what had happened. She was determined not to let it happen again. During the day she deliberately avoided Naoki. If she knew he was on one side of the room, she sat on the opposite. If she was presenting during one of the seminars, she always avoided eye contact with him. She was going to be strong, and she was going to set a good example which she expected others to follow. That night however, once again most of the managers had somehow coupled off. She wasn't sure how they managed to do that, because there were in fact more male managers than female ones. She decided it was none of her business. Somehow though, it was the same as the night before. She was at the bar, and the only available person to talk to, was Naoki. A part of her knew she should have gone to her room alone. Another part of her craved for the attention she had denied herself for all those years. No one had been allowed into the inner sanctum of her soul. No man, no woman. No one! She never came across as cold though. She knew that was social suicide. She played the game, she worked the crowds. She laughed at her superiors stupid jokes, she flirted, but she always remained in control and inaccessible. She had perfected the art of being whatever was needed by her audience at the time, without becoming the object they possessed. She could bend like bamboo without breaking, yet be more rigid than the steal of a katana sword. So it was, that as she sat at the bar, with some of the other couples mumbling amongst themselves in booths or at tables, that Naoki sat next to her with his drink. She immediately got up, and gave him a stare. At the time, he couldn't work out if it was more ice or venom. The look did not go unnoticed amongst his co-workers. What they had missed though, was Moe pressing her room key into his hand. The plastic card that opened her room, was with him. She was unable to get into her room unless he followed her. In one move she was off her chair and walking out the bar room door. The swish of her sleeve had upset his drink and it spilt across the bar top. Anyone in the room who had not seen the stare had heard the glass. All eyes were firmly on Naoki, and Moe did not miss a beat. Though the glass had been an accident, she did not stop, did not break stride and did not turn around. She was out the door. Naoki sat there, his face bright red. He knew what it looked like. To everyone, it seemed like he had tried to hit on his boss, and she had rejected him. It was a while before his face returned to a normal colour and the room returned to its normal banter. Only then did he realise that she had given him her key. It hit him. 'I have her key!' he thought. 'I have HER KEY!' He cautiously looked around the room. No one was looking. Even if they were, he was sure they thought he was going away to hide. It had been a great loss of face. He kept looking left and right as he walked along. As he turned the corner into her corridor, he saw her standing in front of her room. She looked fantastic and a broad grin crossed her face. He walked up to her, and looking left and right to make sure no one had seen, he used the plastic key to open the door to her room. Then, they were inside her room. Naoki had heard rumours about her dragon tattoo. He was the first one in his company to actually see the entire thing in full. Other had seen glimpses of it whenever she wore a top or dress which hung too low at the back. This was the complete picture. It was an ancient water dragon. An eastern one. A green one. A lucky green dragon. It swirled through the clouds and rain. Through the red and blue mists across her back. The artwork was amazingly complex and detailed. Every scale, every wisp of cloud captured by the artist. He was intrigued. How did such a nice girl get such a complex tattoo? She was an enigma. That just made her more beautiful than ever to him. He knew he could not resist her every will. He was ensnared by the dragon.