"That's nice," Charlotte said sincerely. It had always been her dream and Land's to be reincarnated as Japanese, and she liked to think that would happen in their next—-huh?
The stranger was smiling at her, and Charlotte had no idea why that was.
"You haven't any idea who I am, have you?"
Charlotte frowned. "Should I?" She didn't know that many Japanese celebrities, but she wouldn't be surprised if this man did turn out to be one. He might not be as handsome as her husband (no one was), but now that she had taken a good look at Mr. Bilingual here, Charlotte found the stranger to be imposingly tall and strikingly attractive with his sun-kissed blond hair and features that were almost too refined and structurally perfect to be true.
The man took his wallet out to present her with a business card, and Charlotte's eyes widened in recognition. "You're Sano Takahashi?" Since his name was very much Japanese while he looked anything but, it would never have occurred to her that he was one of the prospective investors she was to meet for the first time today.
"I was about to take the train when I saw you."
"Oh." It was all she could say at the moment, with Charlotte still trying to figure out whether to feel wary or impressed. Since she had paid a healthy sum of money to have all of her photos scrubbed from the Internet, how did this guy know what she looked like?
Sano checked his watch. "We should get going, if we don't want to be late." He smiled down at her. "Shall we go together?"
Charlotte thought back to what she herself had managed to glean online about Sano. Although he was the scion of one of Japan's wealthiest families, he was also considered to be a self-made billionaire, having used his own money to build what was one of today's most trusted mobile payment services. More importantly, she remembered that he was also a mere twenty-eight to her thirty-six, and since such an age gap automatically made him no different from a little brother in her eyes—-
She smiled up at him. "I'd appreciate that, yes."
"Great."
And then off they went, with Sano suddenly grabbing her hand as he led them straight into the crush of people hurrying towards the ticket gates. Charlotte's first instinct was to yank her hand out of his hold, but with Sano walking so briskly, all she managed to do was hang on to him lest the mad rush of passengers ended up carrying her away to God knew where.
They barely made it to the train when the doors slid closed, and Charlotte was just about to catch her breath when the train abruptly lurched into motion.
Oh my Lord!
She was about to lose her balance completely when a pair of strong hands suddenly gripped her waist, and Charlotte froze.
"Are you alright?"
Since her husband had been the only man to hold her like this, Charlotte was definitely not alright, and regardless of how good Sano's intentions were, it was time to let this younger man know she had enough of his touchy-feely hands.
"Could you—-"
Oh no!
Countless passengers suddenly swarmed towards the doors as the train made its first stop, and Charlotte, caught completely off guard, was forcibly spun, shoved, and swung to this direction and that until she ended up...with every inch of her body plastered against Sano's lean, hard figure.
I am so, so sorry, Land!
She had never been close to any other man like this except her husband's, and Charlotte had this childish urge to shove herself off him and run out of the train. While her favorite mangas had given her a fairly good idea about Tokyo's morning rush hours, Charlotte hadn't expected it to be this crazy, and by the time the train made its fourth stop, Sano had been forced to hold her tightly against him.
FORGIVE ME, LAND!
If she had thought there was the slightest chance she could bend down without being trampled all over, Charlotte would've long unlaced her four-inch leather boots and chucked them off. Her stupid boots were to blame for the way she kept losing her balance, and with so many of them squeezed against each other like sardines in a can, Sano's arms around her were the only reason why she hadn't accidentally kissed a grandmother in the mouth or bumped off an office guy with her butt.
"Sorry about this." Sano's voice felt awfully close to her ear, but Charlotte told herself that this was likely unavoidable as well. "Just a couple more stops to go," he murmured, but the words only made Charlotte feel more antsy. The tone he had used, whether deliberate or not, had a rather intimate feel to it that she was completely unused to hearing from another man. Only Land had ever talked to her like that, and she wanted it to stay that way. It was supposed to and should stay that way—-