Page 24 of Behind Frenemy Lines

Kriya

I felt a little less brave, going back to the hotel, than I’d let on to Charles.

His offer to cover for me while I sloped off had been tempting. I’d thought about it for a good five seconds.

But it didn’t feel right to stand him up, when he’d been so decent about everything. Looking back on it now, I couldn’t believe I’d jumped on him like that. In the moment, the only thing I’d cared about was getting out of talking to Tom.

Was that all there was to it, though? There must have been a part of me that wanted Tom to see me in a clinch with another guy. You didn’t hurt me. Look, I’ve got someone new, too.

Poor Charles. Honestly, he’d be in his rights to report me.

At least it had been barely a kiss. It had felt like it had lasted forever, but it had probably only been a few seconds, at most.

His lips had been a little dry, but not unpleasantly so. I could still feel the rasp of his stubble against my chin. The warmth of his breath, and his hands on my back, soothing.

I tore myself out of the memory. It wasn’t going to help me in the task I’d volunteered for—being Charles’s normal, pleasant, cheerful date to the wedding.

If that fleeting touch had revived appetites my body had been too sad to notice in the past six months, that was something I was going to have to deal with another time.

In private, with the necessary equipment, and fantasies about someone appropriate—Hyun Bin, or my first crush from primary school, Vijay, who’d grown up to be an incredibly hot ophthalmologist based in Phoenix, Arizona, or literally anybody except the guy I shared an office with.

The dead time between the ceremony and the reception was nearly over. I only had to tough out the dinner. There was dancing after, but Charles would probably be as keen as me to slip away once the cake was cut.

It was surreal rejoining the bustle and merriment of the wedding, with the guests in their fancy dress. I was on edge, seeing Tom in every white guy there, and his new girlfriend in every white woman.

Dinner was in the same room that the ceremony had taken place in, set up now with round tables bearing lavish floral centrepieces: pink and white roses, peonies, ranunculi, and hydrangeas.

The effect was only slightly marred by the fact that around the base of each vase of flowers were ranged cartoony little action figures of badminton players.

I scanned the room, but I couldn’t see Tom or Alexis. My shoulders loosened, the tension seeping out of them.

As we took our seats, Charles nodded at the action figures. “Those are the wedding favours.”

On closer inspection, I could see tags tied around the figurines, labelled: Take me home!

“Cute,” I said. “Which one’s the character you’re dressed as?”

“There are three on this table,” and Charles pointed them out to me.

I picked the one of Yamaguchi Kiichiro gazing into the distance, his badminton racquet at the ready, his mouth a resolute line. There was something very Charles about it.

I didn’t speak much to Charles himself, after that. He kept getting summoned away, dashing off on errands for the brides and their parents. The rest of the table was occupied by Loretta’s university friends, who seemed to know Charles well.

“I’m so glad he’s met you,” said one, a friendly Scottish Chinese doctor. “Charles is great. I’ve been trying to set him up for years, but it’s impossible to pin him down for dates. He’s such a workaholic.”

Her affectionate familiarity with Charles didn’t really fit with his self-image as a friendless loser. He was clearly popular among Loretta’s friends. Maybe he thought that didn’t count.

While we were finishing up our portions of wedding cake, Charles came back to the table and bent down by my chair to speak to me.

“Loretta’s parents are having some issues with their room, I need to sort it out for them. Once that’s done, we can go. Is that all right?”

His breath was warm on my ear. I caught the Scottish doctor looking at us. She murmured something to her neighbour, who glanced at us and smiled.

Heat rose in my cheeks.

“Sure,” I said. “I’m not in a rush.” It was true. Knowing Charles was looking out for me made me feel safe, as though I was surrounded by a force field generated by his concern.

It felt worse when we were moved on from the dinner table to the dance floor, in the same room where we’d had drinks and nibbles earlier—where I’d encountered Tom and his new girlfriend. Charles was gone, and the people we’d shared a table with had dispersed. I was alone in the crowd.

Jpop was blaring out of the speakers: “ Kiss kiss fall in love! ” sang a sweet, high-pitched female voice. A group of guests in costume squealed and rushed onto the dance floor.

I hadn’t spotted Tom or Alexis yet. Maybe they’d left. If I were Alexis, I’d be pretty damn suspicious about Tom running out of the hotel after me, calling my name.

But I didn’t want to think about that. Fortunately I wasn’t left to brood on it for long. Loretta lurched out of the crowd, pink-faced and high as a kite on love, excitement, and champagne.

“Kriya!” she crowed. “Where’s Charles?”

I explained about her parents’ room issues. “I think he’s speaking to the manager.”

“Poor Charles,” said Loretta. “My mum’s probably just being a nightmare. I’ll worry about it tomorrow.” She beamed at me. “I’m so happy you’re here. Do you do hugs? Can I hug you?”

“Of course.”

Loretta was warm and smelled of alcohol, but also of a rich fragrance that was somehow familiar, reassuring. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it was nice.

Her eyes were wide and serious as she drew back. “Listen, I need to talk to you. Woman to woman.”

Her shift from exhilaration to sobriety was disconcerting.

“What about?” I thought of Tom and Alexis, with a nauseating dip in my stomach.

“About Charles.” Loretta burped. “Sorry.” She swayed towards me.

It didn’t seem a wholly intentional movement. I put my hand on her elbow. “Do you want to sit down?”

“I’m good,” said Loretta, resisting my attempts to steer her towards the chairs arranged against the walls. She grasped my hand. “I want you to understand about Charles.”

“OK…” Where was this going?

“I know he can come off like a robot. ‘Beep boop beep, all I do is work.’” Loretta moved her arms up and down, her elbows locked at a ninety-degree angle, in something that was apparently intended to be a robot dance move.

“But what you’ve got to understand is, under that exoskeleton, Charles has the purest little heart that man ever had.

I bully him constantly and all he does is cook dinner and take the abuse.

” She gulped, sniffing. “That’s the kind of person he is.

All he cares about is the law, his gains, and his family. ”

“Do you want a tissue?”

“No.” Loretta rubbed her eyes. “I want you to know. Charles may seem like a weirdo, but he’s a gem.

He’s a little… a little diamond, twinkling alone in the night sky.

His last girlfriend dumped him because she wanted something ‘more exciting.’” She did the quotes with her fingers.

“You saw him today, in his Kiichiro cosplay. Is that a man who is not exciting?”

“Well—”

“No! Fuck her!” Loretta turned her gaze on me.

“Now you’ve come along, like a beautiful goddess who also does law.

And you seem like you get Charles, and you laugh at his jokes, and he really likes you.

That’s what I want you to know. It might seem like Charles is solid metal all the way through.

” She banged her chest. “But his heart is soft and squishy, like a… like a delicious red bean mochi. And you’ve got that heart in the palm of your hand. You’ve got to be gentle with it. OK?”

I wanted to laugh, but I also felt touched—and guilty. I’d known intellectually that accompanying Charles to a family wedding as his date would involve deceiving his relatives. That had been the whole point.

But the lie had felt less bad before I’d actually met Charles’s relatives. I didn’t mind what his horrible aunt thought, but Loretta was different. I wasn’t here to fool her. But if she was exhorting me to be gentle with Charles’s heart, some wires must have got crossed somewhere along the line.

Loretta was fun and funny and full of life, someone I could imagine being friends with.

And here I was, making her think I was dating someone important to her.

That I was able to affect Charles’s happiness in any meaningful way, when the most I could do was have my headset on during video calls and avoid eating anything too odorous at my desk.

“Will you promise?” said Loretta.

“I think there’s been some confusion—”

“Please?” Loretta gazed at me, wide-eyed. “I feel like you’re the kind of person who keeps her promises.”

I couldn’t bring myself to lay waste to her illusions. It was her wedding day. I’d have to get Charles to explain everything to her later.

“I’ll try my best,” I said. That was true, at least. “He’s a good guy.”

“He is,” said Loretta. “He deserves someone like you.” She gave me another hug, glimpsed someone behind me, and shrieked, “Lexi!”

I turned around with a grim sense of inevitability.

Alexis hadn’t recognised me from the back. She checked as she approached us, blanching. Tom was with her.

“Hayley’s been looking everywhere for you,” said Loretta to Alexis. “Let’s go find her!” She glanced at Tom. “You’ll let me borrow her for a second, right?”

“Er,” said Tom, but Loretta was already dragging his girlfriend away.

I’d been spending the hours since returning to the wedding dreading another run-in with Tom. But now it had happened, it didn’t feel that bad. It helped that Tom was frozen to the spot, looking petrified.

“Hi, Tom,” I said.

He looked as though he thought I might bite his head off.