1 Surprise

Samantha crashes on the couch with a sigh. She is grateful that her assistant accepted to keep the position while she is in Japan. She is also thankful to Wakamatsu-sensei, her old professor from Sorbonne University. He was the one who recommended her for the job. She really needed to get as far away as possible from New York.

"It's all set," Ed says as he places her room key on the glass table.

"What would I do without you?"

"Probably find another assistant?"

"Never," Sam says with her hand on her chest, feigning shock.

They both laugh.

"Are you sure you don't need the driver?" he asks. "What if you want to go out later?"

"I'll be fine. A friend is picking me up for dinner anyway," Sam answers. "I don't want you to take the train with your luggage when it's your first time going to your apartment."

"Well thanks, boss. I really appreciate it."

"I have to take care of my precious assistant." Sam smiles.

"By the way, I didn't know you had a friend in Tokyo.

"I actually lived in Japan for a few months when I was in high school."

"What? Why is this the first time I am hearing about this?"

Sam shrugs. "Probably because I usually don't like to remember some things from back then."

"Oh, sorry."

Ed does not push the subject and Sam is grateful for that. When she was considering Mr Wakamatsu's offer to move to Japan for a year, she was afraid of running into Kei Ichihara–her ex-boyfriend and first love.

It would be impossible not to, since she is friends with his brother and sister-in-law. They are bound to bump into each other, and that scares Sam. She has no idea what her reaction would be, or his. They haven't met in thirteen years, and they didn't part ways on the best terms either.

"Well, I'll let you rest then," Ed says awkwardly while walking toward the door. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Thanks, Ed."

Samantha takes a quick shower and lies down in bed, hoping to take a nap before it was time to meet Jiro. Unfortunately, as soon as she closes her eyes, her phone rings. It's a private number, but she answers just in case it is someone from the university, or her new apartment.

"Hello?"

"What the hell, Sam? You're in Japan?"

Sam closes her eyes, immediately regretting picking up. She doesn't have the energy to listen to Andrew right now.

"How could you leave in the middle of our divorce?" he adds with an angry voice.

"My lawyer will be handling everything from now on, since you decided to be an asshole about it?"

"An asshole? Look who's talking?" he scoffs.

"How dare you? I am not the one asking for your money, Andrew."

"We were married when you made that money, and it's the least you can do after everything I have been through."

'Everything he has been through?'

"Are you kidding me?" She shook her head in disbelief. "You know what? Fuck you, Andrew. You can deal with my lawyer from now on." Then she hangs up.

Andrew calls a few more times, but Sam hangs up on him every time. He leaves her a voice message with every call, but she decides not to listen to them. It will only upset her further.

Needless to say, she is not able to sleep after that exchange. She recalls everything that she had to go through during their marriage and on top of it all, he cheated on her.

Sam sighs. 'I hope being away from Andrew and the divorce will help.'

She spends the next hour in bed, scrolling through social media, before she has to get ready for dinner. She goes through her three suitcases and finds the blue dress she has planned on wearing.

For some reason, Sam has a knot in her stomach. Jiro had reassured her that Kei was traveling and that he would not be home. But she is still nervous.

As soon as she finishes putting on her eye makeup, her phone rings again. Thankfully, it is not Andrew this time.

"Hey," she answers with a smile.

"Well, hello there," Jiro greets. "I am in the lobby."

"You're early." She looks at her watch.

"I know, so take your time. I was just too excited to see you."

Sam chuckles. "I will be down in a couple of minutes."

"Great."

As quickly as she can, she puts on mascara and a pink lipstick, some perfume, and then she heads downstairs.

"Jiro," Samantha runs to her old friend and hugs him tightly.

"Wow, you look amazing, Sam."

She beams. "You do too." They hug again. "How is Yoko?"

"She is good. The first couple of months of pregnancy have been really hard on her, but she is much better now."

"That's good to hear. I can't wait to see her."

"Shall we, then?" Jiro guides her to his car. "I actually haven't told her that you were here. I thought it would be a nice surprise."

"That is a brilliant idea." She nods with a big grin on her face.

For the first time in a long time, Sam feels happy.

The car ride is pleasant. Jiro and Samantha spend it catching up a little and remembering their childhood. They haven't seen each other in nine years, so a lot has happened.

Of course, neither one of them brings up the most important subject, or person to be more exact.

"Everyone in the house is traveling, except Yoko and me," is all Jiro says, which means that he is not there. She already knew that, but hearing it again makes her feel a bit at ease.

They finally arrive at the Ichihara mansion. It sits on top of a beautiful hill surrounded by tall trees. Samantha is speechless. The gates open and reveal a huge property. On one side, there is a traditional Japanese style house, and on the other, a two-story modern villa. They are both gigantic.

"Welcome." Jiro motions to the house as he sweetly opens the door for Sam.

"This is beautiful," she says in awe.

"I guess the Ichihara business is doing very well." He shrugs with a grin.

They make their way inside the modern house and Jiro calls out Yoko's name.

"Why are you being so loud, Jiro?" As soon as she sees Samantha, her eyes widen. "Oh my goodness, is that you Sam?"

"It sure is." Sam smiles and nods. She hurries and takes Yoko in her arms. "You look so radiant, Yoko."

"God… thanks." She turns to her husband. "You, rascal. Why didn't you tell me she was in the country?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Jiro answers.

"This is the best surprise ever." Yoko beams. "Come, dinner is ready, I'll ask them to add a plate."

The three of them walk to the dining room. A huge table, garnished with delicious Japanese food, sits in the middle. The room is extravagant and the twelve dining chairs look like they weigh a ton.

The intricately carved dark mahogany and the beautiful sage velvet seats remind Samantha of those high-end furniture magazines Andrew kept around the house. The thought of him brings a bitter taste to her mouth.

Jiro helps his wife with her chair, which makes Sam smile. 'Cute.'

"Oh my God, I am so happy to see you. How long has it been? Eight, nine years?"

"Nine years," Sam answers.

"Since…"

"My mom's funeral." Samantha's voice is barely audible. Yoko and Jiro look at each other but don't comment any further.

"So, when did you get here?" Yoko asks, trying to change the subject.

"This morning."

"How could you, I would have picked you up at the airport." Yoko pouts.

"You're too sweet." Sam smiles. "My assistant took care of everything."

"Oh?" Yoko raised a brow.

"Yeah, I have an assistant now."

"A famous painter like yourself should have more than one." Yoko jokes.

"The constant nagging of one assistant is more than enough to handle, trust me."

They all laugh.

'A genuinely happy moment, the perfect welcome back to Japan.' Samantha thinks to herself.

She eats and laughs and answers all of Yoko and Jiro's questions. She is grateful that they don't bring up the divorce.

After dinner, they move to the living room to continue their conversation over some tea and sweets. They spend the next couple of hours reminiscing on their high school days and talking about her good friends' life, probably the only friends she has ever had.

Samantha looks at the beautiful clock hanging on the wall, she doesn't want to leave, but she has to. She has a meeting first thing in the morning and she wants to get a good night of sleep before that.

"It is with the dean," she explains when Jiro asks. "He wants to go over the class syllabus since I need to start as soon as possible."

"Let's have lunch this weekend, a girl's date?" Yoko adds as she winks at Samantha.

"Yes, let's do that."

"I will drive you back to your hotel." Jiro offers.

"No need. I can take a taxi, Jiro."

"I insist." He kisses his wife. "I'll be right back, sweetheart."

"I will call you, Yoko." Samantha hugs her friend before following him.

Jiro's hand almost reaches the knob when the door flies open. Samantha looks up to find Kei's green eyes staring at her. A chilling silence spreads through the foyer.

They both stare at each other without a word, mostly in shock. Neither one of them was expecting to see the other, especially in this house.

Jiro clears his throat, which gets everyone's attention. "I thought you were in Kyoto, Kei," he asks carefully.

It takes his brother a few seconds to register the question. "We had an emergency in one of the warehouses, so I had to postpone my trip till tomorrow," he explains, his eyes never leaving Samantha's.

"Well, we are leaving right now. We can talk when I come back." Jiro puts his hand on Sam's shoulder and guides her outside, like a lost child.

"Good night," Kei utters before Jiro closes the door behind them.