Be Careful What You Wish For (PUBLISHED)

(4) - Things Fall Into Place

 

Ana almost considered putting a scarf over her head when she went to work on Monday but quickly squashed down the fanciful idea of a celebrity disguise. After all, no one would dare associate the primly dressed Dr. Madrigal to the gypsy in the grainy photos that were still making headlines.

 She stepped into the office, greeted her colleagues, and waited in anticipation of someone noticing something. However, everyone was preoccupied with writing abstracts for the newest call for papers of a prestigious scientific journal.

 At lunch, Nakano and Tanaka corralled her, and the three of them sat at one of the farthest corners of the cafeteria. This was standard operation procedure whenever they had juicy news to impart about the on-and-off relationships of some of the grad students and their tutors.

 Ana slid into her seat and laid her tray on the table. She had picked a heavy lunch today, a pork soy-ginger shougayaki set, as she was famished from working non-stop in the lab the whole morning. After a hasty “Itadakimasu” they all picked up their chopsticks. Ana inhaled the fragrance of her miso soup. She almost choked on the hot broth when Nakano leaned forward and whispered, “Ne, shitte iru yo. We know it was you.”

 Ana shook head in disbelief as she stared at two pairs of eyes that were as wide as was possibly allowed.

 “What do you mean?”

 “The woman in the papers with Nakamura. It was you, wasn’t it?” Nakano answered.

 “How did you know?” she asked disbelievingly.

 “We’ve traveled with you before,” Tanaka stated, “Who else could have been at the airport that day with that color luggage?”

 Ana breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, so it wasn’t my face then?”

 “No, your hair was in the way,” Nakano smiled mischievously, “So are you having an affair with Nakamura-san?”

 Ana started giggling. “I didn’t even know it was him. And apparently it seems that he shares my taste in luggage …” she went on to regale them with the whole story.

 “Eeeee! You didn’t even recognize him? Masaka? I have been in love with him all my life!” Nakano gasped dramatically after Ana had finished her tale.

 “Maybe he looks different in person,” Tanaka offered as an explanation.

 “Unnnn... What was he like Ana-san?” Nakano asked.

 Ana chewed a particularly tough piece of pork as she considered her answer. “He seemed almost normal from afar...” Tanaka and Nakano started nodding. “But there was something about him that should have tipped me off if I hadn’t been tired and cranky at that time …”

 “Heehee. You’re always cute when you’re in that mood,” Nakano interjected

 “Shhh.” Tanaka interrupted her, “Nani ka? What was it you noticed?”

 Ana laid down her chopsticks. “I don’t know, there was a golden glow about him, as if he was really someone special. That’s why I was calling him Golden Boy in my head the whole time. I guess it’s like that for actors, they all have this golden glow huh?” she asked Nakano whom she knew sometimes stalked stars when she wasn’t at the lab.

 Nakano was silent and considered this for a moment. “Hmmm, I’ve never really noticed that about them …” she finally said

 Tanaka snorted, “Maybe that’s because you’re too busy getting them to notice you”