Chapter 2: Eri Exposed
Steve found Jeff in the lounge, he was sitting on the couch with drink, and he looked a little anxious over what had been happening in the kitchen. As Steve walked in Jeff shot a fierce and questioning look at him, then at his wife. Steve turn and indicated to Eri that she should remain by the door. He walked over to Jeff and sat in a chair facing him, his back to Eri. He assumed she would stay where he had left her - just out of earshot - and she did.
'Well', said Jeff, 'What's happened?'
Steve answered in a quiet tone, 'I asked Eri if this was her idea or yours, I clarified for her that anything which might now happen between us is about sex not love; there's a difference - certainly for me, and asked her to take her dress off.' He paused, ' She said that she was not being forced by you into anything, and as you can see that she complied quite happily with my request about the dress!' Steve turned so that they could both admire the splendid vision of Jeff's half naked young Japanese wife standing, quite modestly by the door. Her head bowed, her hands clasped in front of her just over her public area.
'How much do you know about Eri's sex life Jeff?' asked Steve.
'You mean since we've been married? I've no reason to think she's been anything but faithful to me'
'And before? asked Steve.
'Well I don't know too much about before. We met up at a rather unusual club in Tokyo. I was taken there late one night by a Japanese co-worker, we were pretty smashed by the time, we got there and I never really followed what he said about the club.'
'You were introduced to Eri?' asked Jeff. 'Yes, I think so, we'd fallen in with a mixed bunch of ex-pats and locals, I'm not sure who knew who at that point. But Eri seemed to know one or two of the group and she was really very very friendly to me. Well you can see how friendly - we were married within 6 months.'
'Jeff, she seems amazingly comfortable standing over there in her undies, I mean we've only just met, and she dropped her dress without a seconds thought?'
'Steve, we've been talking of nothing else but this party and meeting you for weeks - we've been preparing for it for weeks!'
'Yes, I guess that might explain it.', said Steve thoughtfully. 'Eri,' called Steve, 'come over here and kneel in front of me.' Eri immediately responded. She knelt and with her hands on her bare thighs and resumed the pose with her head bowed. 'No, Eri,' said Steve, 'When I speak to you I want you to look at me, and when you reply you will also look me in the eye.'
'Now Eri, I want you to tell me what we three are doing here?' Steve said in level neutral voice. ' I don't understand,' Eri replied very softly, but she did lift her head and spoke directly to Steve. 'Eri, I think you must have worked it out by now, we're here - all three of us - because you want us to be. Oh, I might have had the odd fantasy after meeting you that maybe some kind of affair might be possible, after all we seemed to hit it off pretty well tonight. Maybe I thought I might even have scrounged a rather nice goodnight kiss from you - but never in my dreams would I have imagined this.'
'I don't understand Steve, don't you want me?' she said softly, again looking directly into Steve's eyes. Eri seemed pretty good at remembering what she was told when it suited her.
'Oh yes Eri, I want you alright, and amazingly it seems my friend is prepared to give you to me, but neither of us guys could or would have arranged this - this is all about you!'. Jeff interjected at that point, 'What are you getting Steve, I'm beginning to wonder now. Have we made a mistake, do you want Eri? I thought she would have been right up your street, and what with your divorce and all, just what you needed.'
'Well, okay, don't think I'm not delighted that you thought of me,' Steve replied, ' and I image you might have thought I'd be pretty desperate but, I just want us all to understand what's happening here, that's all. We're all grown ups, we're reasonably intelligent and responsible people, I don't want any of us falling for some guff about the inscrutable east - Eri knows exactly what she's doing, and I want to make sure I do too!'
'Jeff, how long have you been married, coming up for two years? And in that time as far as you know you're the only one who Eri's been with?'
'Yes, Steve, exactly.'
'And Eri, you've been faithful to Jeff, until this idea came up in the last few weeks?'
'Yes Steve, but while I was being faithful with my body in wasn't always in my thoughts. I have thought about some of the things I wanted to do - sometimes when I was with Jeff.'