The passengers had drifted from the plane listlessly upon their arrival, their legs numb and their eyes heavy with the inevitable exhaustion which always accompanied air travel. Lily's neighbour had tried to apologise again for his disruption to her peaceful flight, which might have been appreciated had he not clumsily attempted it in Japanese.
While Lily knew some conversational Japanese, and a handful of other odd phrases thanks to Netflix drama shows which were subtitled to perfection, but she didn't know nearly enough for anyone to presume it was native to her. Indeed, she looked far more Caucasian than Japanese anyway, so she wondered why it was the man was so resolute in his idea that it was her first language.
Perhaps he'd noticed her converse with her aunt during the flight, and had thought they were only speaking English for the novelty of it.
Whatever his reasons, it was enough to frustrate her immensely, and she made a point of hauling her suitcase from the conveyor with such aggressive force that it landed on his foot which caused him to yowl in pain; an act which elicited more giggles from the other passengers who'd suffered him, and very little sympathy for his plight.
After this display, Grace had wanted to stop immediately for a coffee and pastry before they got into their car, perhaps under the assumption that her niece's frayed temper was a sign of hunger. Lily had, instead, made a point of rushing her aunt through their passport checks so she could change at the hotel, humiliated enough that the coat only reached her knees, and did nothing to hide the garish pink pyjamas on her legs. Given Lily was normally the sort to linger in airports to check out any boutiques or cafés, her aunt knew better than to argue the matter, and the two women walked with some urgency towards their collection point.
It was entirely coincidental that Lily spotted the man again. His limp had drawn her gaze, as had the enthusiastic way he greeted the man who'd come to meet him from his flight. The man gestured to his foot and waved his arms while he explained the injury, no doubt professing to his friend that he'd been an innocent party who'd done nothing at all to earn the ire of a sleep deprived woman on the flight.
She had half a mind to drop her case on his other foot.
To his credit; his friend laughed. Perhaps he was accustomed to the annoying man's behaviour, or he simply found the entire tale hilarious. Lily was somewhat relieved that he hadn't expressed outrage and thought to come after her in vengeance.
Just in case such things were on the men's minds, Lily used her aunt as a barrier, and scurried on beside Grace in the hopes they wouldn't be seen.
The car was indeed waiting outside for them. A smartly dressed young man held a sign bearing Grace's name. He was rather handsome in his chauffer's uniform, and Lily rather hoped he'd remain their driver for the duration of their trip. It was certainly better than hailing cabs or attempting to navigate buses in a foreign country. The driver held open the door for them both, and tucked away their luggage in the boot before he set off, conveying them to their home for the next week or more.
While Lily stared out of the tinted windows at the sprawling city as it flew by, her aunt flipped open a newly purchased guide book and scanned the pages. Grace had made many visits back to her native Japan in her lifetime, but Lily supposed it was the sort of country that was always changing, and that her aunt would want to be as well prepared as possible before she was dragged between locations by the production crew.
Lily was more the sort of woman who allowed other people to tell her where she needed to go when she travelled. She was usually overseas for the sake of work, was met at the airport by whoever was hosting her, taken to an event, went to the hotel, and then flew back home. There'd never been much need to purchase a guide book, let alone make notes in one.
'Shun,' Grace said aloud, interrupting Lily's reverie. 'What do you think of Shun?'
'Is that someone I should know?' Lily asked, drawn away from her sight-seeing by the question.
Grace tapped a pen against a page of the guide book where she'd been scribbling in the margins. 'For my next male lead.'
'Oh! Oh, it's fine, I guess.'
'You don't like it.' It wasn't a question.
'I do! I just don't think it'll translate well. Sounds like shin in English. People might think you're talking about a leg,' Lily joked feebly.
'I highly doubt that.'
Lily smirked. She'd read all her aunt's books, and they did translate well into other countries and cultures. There was something of a fascination with Japan, she'd noticed, in the western world. Lily had always supposed it had something to do with the vast differences between their cultures. It was a fascination which must have worked in reverse, because Lily had heard tell of foreigners who were obsessed with everything English.
Anglophiles, she believed they were called.
It wasn't the most flattering term.
To Lily, English culture was exceptionally dull and barely differed at all from that of America or most of Europe. She wasn't a fan of scones and certainly wasn't a royalist, and other than the healthcare system and the eclectic side streets of London, there wasn't a great deal to love. True, the country was now tainted with the sins of Julian, who had made Lily loathe anything and everything that was even remotely associated with him, so she probably had a skewed opinion of her home country. On any other day she'd have been glad to outline the benefits of living in England. Now, should she be asked, she would merely say, 'Well, at least Julian can't be in every city at once, so there's a good chance you won't have to meet him when you visit.'
But as far as Japan was concerned, Lily could, in part, see the appeal. It was little wonder that its inventions, cute mascots, and culinary expertise had reached almost every country in the world. And, for Grace, the upside to this apparent love-affair with Asian culture was an uptick in book sales when her aunt set them in any such countries, as opposed to when she set them in and around London.
The downside of Eastern cultural appreciation, or so Lily had found, was that a lot of the men who'd asked her out or dated her for extended periods of time had only done so because they thought she was exotic, and had very little interest in her other than her outward appearance. In fact, most were horrified to learn that she had a personality beneath it all, and didn't fit into the idea of Japanese girls portrayed in manga comics and anime cartoons.
Lily wasn't sure what they expected, save perhaps that she might have a wardrobe full of school uniforms and the power to transform into a magical girl intent on ridding the world of evil.
Suffice to say, she was happy to not conform to such stereotypes, and was quite happy to be a three-dimensional woman without a talking animal sidekick.
'Now, as my assistant -' Grace began.
Lily choked on her own breath and coughed into her hand. When she was done with this uncouth display, she asked, 'Assistant?'
'Well, of course I didn't bring you along so you could hide in a hotel for days on end!'
'You can't just introduce me as your niece?' Lily asked. It had never been a problem in the past whenever Lily had attended one of Grace's book launches. Mostly because people were too enamoured with her aunt to bother with Lily. It was a novelty for her to be elbowed aside so that someone else could take the spotlight, and it was something that she rather enjoyed.
'Hardly professional,' Grace said. 'Only people involved in the production can be on set. As an assistant, it means you can be with me through every step of the process. Doesn't that sound fun?'
'No. Fun would be a week in an onsen with all the sushi and sake I can stomach. Fetching your coffee, taking notes, and hailing cabs is the opposite of fun.'
'You're being incredibly ungrateful,' Grace scolded. 'They've gone to a lot of trouble to welcome us, and I think a little work in return is a small price to pay.'
Lily slumped back into her seat, now too busy scowling to admire their route.
Ungrateful?
No, not at all.
Her unwillingness to be at her aunt's beck and call had nothing to do with the production company of the lengths they'd gone to, to make her and Grace feel welcome. It did, however, have everything to do with being under her aunt's watchful gaze every minute of the day.
'She still doesn't trust me,' Lily thought.
Yes, she'd been stupid with Julian. She'd put her heart and soul into a relationship with a man who only wanted her for her money and position. Lily hoped rather than believed that he'd not approached her with ulterior motives, and that there'd been a spark between them. Even if this were the case, it didn't change the fact that it had ended the way so many of her other relationships had ended; with her heart broken and her bank account depleted.
Grace reached over to pat Lily's hand gently. 'It'll be good to keep busy. Keep your mind off things.'
'A hot spring would take my mind off things,' she muttered.
'Well... perhaps if we have time before our flight back, we can do something about that.'
Promises, promises.