She was drinking her usual ice mocha at the local Starbucks when she noticed a guy in the corner talking on his cell phone. Her lip curled a bit. She drank him in deeply as she sucked her coffee through the straw. She noted his slightly long pure black hair that obscured her view of his eyes. He was bowing emphatically, uttering a rapid stream of apologies, as if the person on the line could see as well as hear him. The cute cowering underling, she mused. Good little salaryman. She undressed him with her eyes, still sucking on the coffee. As her brain switched from observation mode to predatory mode, her tongue snaked around the straw as she pulled the cold liquid into her mouth. Because she was so focused on him, she was rather unaware of the action.
He continued apologizing for what seemed like eternity. She thought "These damn Japanese have more words for 'sorry' than the Inuit have for snow." Finally he hung up, stashed his stylish black cell in his equally stylish bag. That done, his shoulders slumped slightly and he looked down at his polished square-toed shoes. She waited for her moment to move in.
She judged him to be about late twenties early thirty-ish, unmarried, probably overworked with a shitty salary. Probably can't understand a lick of English.
He looked up, shook his head and now she could see his eyes that were a nice dark brown, just a touch lighter than the usual black color. She saw him see her as she continued her unabashed staring. Watched him as he perceived her Caucasian features, her ample bust, her soft hips. He looked away so as not to be obvious. But she continued staring, not giving a damn whether she was obvious or not. That was her cue, his gesture of temerity. Quickly, she rose from her seat.
Just a few strides and she was standing before him. He pretended to read the business magazine in front of him. Pretended he could not see the foreign girl towering over his corner table.
"Hello," she said to him, in English. "How are you today?"
"Eeeh~?" He uttered in terror and confusion at the foreign tongue, lowering the magazine. His eyes resembled that of a frightened woodland creature as he was forced to acknowledge her presence. Having produced the desired effect, she smirked, though to him it probably resembled a friendly smile.
"How. Are. You. Today?" she repeated in a condescendingly slow manner. It was the wicked English teacher to the struggling student.
He blinked, eyes taking in her heeled feet, the hem of her skirt before looking up at her face again.
"Ore..sono....anou....I...I amu fine" he stuttered. "Sorry...no English."
She grinned at him more widely, knowing that probably scared him to death as much as speaking English. Okay, I guess I'll give the guy a little break, she thought. Of course, she wanted to scare him, but not enough to make him run...She addressed him in Japanese.
"Gomen ne...My name is Sandra. What is your name?"
"Neyagawa to moushimasu. Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu." he said, bowing stiffly in his seat, speaking very formally. He was still nervous as hell, but obviously relieved to be back on more familiar ground.
"Nice to meet you, too, Neyagawa." she said to him casually, "But I would like to call you by your first name."
`Ah yes. It is usual with foreign people, isn`t it. Then, you can call me Osamu.`
`Osamu. I like that name.` she said.
`Thank you.` he said, beginning to relax a little. `Won`t you sit down?`
`Oh, thank you.` she said,taking the proffered seat. `My card,` she said, handing him her highly stylized personal business card. One side was in English, the other in Japanese.
He was clearly impressed as he took the card. `Wow. So you own a erm...novelty shop?`
`Yes,` she said. `Basically it was a product of my homesickness...you see, I created a store that sells everything I ever missed from America that I can`t get in Japan easily.`
`For example?`
`Well, things like Velveeta shells and cheese, root beer, fuzzy dice, tacky Budweiser paraphernalia.`
`Sounds interesting.` he said politely, tucking the business card carefully into his special meishi carrier and pulling out one of his own. She looked at it briefly. He was a web designer. Typical.
`Are you off work for the day?` she asked.
`Yes,` he said, sounding relieved.
`Would you like to go out for a drink?`