Harley Greene 1

Our conversation stopped shortly after as I sensed she had fallen back asleep.

When she woke up again, we had landed at our destination. With the timezone difference, it was already late into the night when we arrived.

Our group of four got out of the airplane and went to the hotel.

My mother and her friend took the penthouse on the top, sharing it, while Minako and I had our own rooms on the floor below them.

Despite sleeping for most of the flight, she still had a bunch more hours of rest in her as her eyes were drowsy when she waved me "good night" and entered her room with her suitcase behind her.

When I entered my hotel room, I immediately noticed that in the living room was my PC that had been set up for me.

I sent my father a text of appreciation before hopping into the showers. 

Getting out, still a little damp with a towel wrapped around my thighs, I opened up the curtains and took a look at the view outside.

It was breathtaking and I ended up falling asleep in the living room while admiring the view from the couch.

Getting up the next morning, I joined my mother on the bottom floor where she was enjoying a plate of fresh breakfast of fruits, an omelette, and some rice.

"Where's Auntie?" I asked as I sat down beside her with my own plate.

"She's sleeping in. The two of us drank a little bit before heading to bed so she's dealing with a slight headache at the moment," she answered.

A "little"' according to her was probably a lot of alcohol. My strong tolerance to alcohol probably came from her. Neither of us had ever woken up with a morning hangover before.

Minako joined us a few minutes later, her hair already combed to perfect and her makeup was set for the day.

I listened silently while eating as the two of them had a conversation which mainly consisted of my mother questioning Minako about her life abroad in America, what she did, what she studied, how different the culture was, etc.

It's not like I was actively trying to memorize what information was being spewed but I did keep note of a few things that I overheard.

'She doesn't like seafood. Hahaha, we're surrounded by nothing but water.'

'She majored in business. Is she preparing to take over her father's company? But would her father accept that?' 

If my memories were correct, her father was pretty old-fashioned and would likely pass the company over to her future husband rather than his daughter.

He had wanted a son of his own but after constant failures to produce a second child, he had gotten tested and his seed was impotent (this was information I had overheard when I was younger). 

"Why don't the two of you head out to the beach? I'm going to check up on your mother," my mother said to Minako before getting up from her seat and heading to the elevator.

"Shall we?" Minako asked me as she got up and pulled down the zipper of her hoodie to reveal the top half of her bikini.

"You want me to come with you?" I questioned.

"Why not? That's why you're here, is it not?" she chuckled. 

"How did you find out about that piece of information?" I asked.

"On the plane. When I woke up before you the first time. Your mother was explaining to my mother about how you ended up accompanying us on the trip."

"You do know it was just an excuse my mother made up to get me to come on the trip with her, right?" 

"...." she just smiled in response as she began heading out of the hotel.

I followed her behind, not minding that I was playing into her hands.

She took off her pants, revealing the other half of her red bikini. 

"Could you hold on to that for me?" she asked as she passed it over to me.

Taking it, I answered, "You know that there's only so far I'm going to let you push me before I start pushing back?"

"I know. Kekeke," she chuckled. "But don't you think I'm treading that fine line pretty well so far?"

I thought about it for a second before nodding.

The two of us walked along the sandy beach where the waves would sometimes push the water all the way over to us and sand would get in between her toes and although I wasn't bare-footed like her, I was only in sandals.

It was hot but the breeze counteracted. 

About ten minutes into the walk without a single word being uttered between the two of us, I saw an American couple in front of us in distress.

They were likely here on vacation as well.

About to ignore it, before I could even react, Minako had already made her way over to them and asked in English, "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah," the blonde American girl answered. "I lost my engagement ring."

The fiance looked like he was trying to remain calm about the ring but I could see that there was panic in his eyes.

Although I didn't ask and he didn't say anything, I could guess the reasons behind the panic.

Firstly, it was bad luck to lose the ring.

And secondly, the ring was probably extremely expensive.

Losing it would dampen the mood for the rest of their vacation.

"Would you like for us to help you guys look?" Minako asked.

She didn't even ask me before involving me in the scenario.

"That would be a lifesaver. If... if y'all don't mind," the fiance said.

"Nope," Minako shook her head before looking back at me.

"....No. That won't be a problem," I also answered in English.

I could see a slight surprise on Minako's face; she probably didn't expect me to be able to speak English that fluently without the accent of a foreigner either.

"Thank you," the blonde girl said. "Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Harley and this is my fiance Malcolm."