Sometime in the Past
"Hey...Hey!" a Japanese man waved.
Nik took his earphones off. He was jogging on a treadmill and didn't notice the man say hello.
"Hi."
"You look in good shape. Do you come here often?" the man asked.
"Sometimes, when work lets me. Why?"
The Japanese man was skinny like a marathon runner. There didn't appear to be an ounce of muscle on him.
"Ever thought about being a model?"
Nik laughed at the comment and shrugged.
"Yeah, sure, who hasn't thought about being a model?"
"You look good. I need a foreigner for a photoshoot. If you're interested, I'll leave my card at the front desk."
The man turned around and headed off in a hurry before Nik could have a chance to say yes or no. He was the only foreigner in the gym, out-lifting all but a handful of patrons. Surprisingly, no one batted an eye lash at him there. The model scout was the only aberration the entire month he had been working out in the facility.
Fresh out of the shower, and in normal clothing, he picked up the business card from the front desk. Nik's Japanese was poor, only having worked in the country for a couple months, but the front desk trainer had instructions to be on the lookout for him. Outside in the muggy night air, Nik gave the number a call. What did he have to lose?
"Moshi Moshi."
"Uh...hi, is this Mr. Sanada?" he asked, flipping around the business card.
"Yes, yes, who is this?"
"You gave me your card at the gym a couple hours ago."
"Oh, the gaijin. Good, I'm happy you called me. Are you available this weekend?"
"What is the job first? I don't even know what I'm modeling."
"Gomen ne! It is for dress suits, those ads you see hanging in the subway cars. You'd look fabulous. Please say you'll do it."
Nik got a bad vibe from how overly excited the man was for hiring him for a simple photoshoot.
"I guess I could. I don't have any plans. I just need to know how to get to the location."
"Great! I'll text you the location and directions. Don't worry, it is an easy job. Easy money."
"How much?"
Before Nik could get an answer, the man hung up.
"Right...this is definitely not weird," he said sarcastically. "Whatever, I really don't have anything to do on Saturday. What is the worst that can happen? I waste my time?"
Present Day
"Jerome didn't tell me he was sending a fine ass hoe to come get me," Jimmy Jack said, eyeing up Amanda.
"I'm his wife, not a hoe. And I'm the lawyer who got you out of jail right now, so don't be a stupid cotton picker," she retorted with disdain.
"Whatever, baby. I'm just glad to be free. No pussy in there, know what I'm saying?"
"Just get in the car. I already have the address to drop you off at."
"You're cold. You must not have a lot of fun," Jimmy Jack said, not bothering to fasten his seatbelt.
Amanda ignored the comment, and honestly didn't care if the street thug got splattered on the pavement if she hit a lamppost. She just did as she was told by Jerome. Spring him from jail and bring him to the address on the card. The nineteen year old kept yapping the entire drive but it went in one ear and out the other.
It was a dilapidated building located in one of the city's ghettos. Amanda was never there before, and the only thing she knew about the place was it was near PS 69. Why Jerome wanted him dropped off here was beyond her, but again she didn't care. The quicker he was gone, the better.
"Thanks baby, I've got a side girl here who loves when I drop by on the down low. Tell Jerome I'll keep my head down during the trial."
"I'll give him the message," she said, speeding off.
Just being in the area made the arrogant black woman feel like her car was depreciating by the second. Once she crossed the invisible line between ghetto and normal society an aire of calm returned to her demeanor.
"What the fuck are you doing, Amanda? Be a good girl and play chauffeur to some stupid thug. Oh yes, dear, I'll get right on that. Oh yes, I understand you have to work all night on our anniversary. Oh yes, I'll eat dinner alone at the restaurant again, all dolled up, made to look and feel stupid by being stood up for the literal hundredth time."
The black lawyer talked to herself the entire road home. It was a biting, sarcastic dialogue of how shit her personal life was.
"Yes, mama, I'll be a good girl and marry a black man. He is successful, handsome, and a pillar of the black community. I should be so grateful to wear his name as if he were a Massa. I feel so lucky and special that I get to be an overqualified secretary."
Driving into the giant parking lot of the mansion, she didn't see his car, nor did she expect to find it there. The butler took her jacket and the maid brought a soothing, hot coffee to the study as she worked on the upcoming case. Dirty thoughts kept invading the lawyer's imagination, making it harder and harder to concentrate on the task at hand. Even while reading a dry legal text, sexually impoverished fingers rubbed along the crotch of her panties.
Each minute that ticked away felt like hell. Jerome had a pattern. If he was coming home it was always before 10pm. Ten and one second, he'd never step foot in the house. Amanda got used to the lonely nights, but tonight she was going to indulge again. Each second that ticked felt like a struggle, not wanting to get interrupted by the car coming into the driveway as she was in the throngs of self-pleasure.
Amanda wanted to lock the door, put on a headset to not alert the in-house staff, and finger herself to dirty videos until she passed out, only to awaken in the morning feeling lathered in cunt juice and sweat. There was no time to buy a toy. That got ruined by bringing the thug to his side bitch.
"Did Jerome not know how humiliating a task like that was?" she thought to herself, closing a dusty book. "I'm his wife, not some first-year worker. It was grunt work. Jimmy Jack gloating he was staying at some side girl's place only made it more humiliating. One of the benefits of marriage is supposed to be easy access to sex, and I'm getting none of it."
A phone broke up her inner-monologue.
"Dammit, what does he want now?" she said, answering. "Hello, dear...uh-huh, yeah, sure, uh-huh. Yes, of course I finished your task. He said he'll keep his head down. Okay, I understand, dear. I'll see you in the morning at the office."
Amanda let out a sigh. It was not an angry sigh but a happy one. A week ago she'd have been angry, like always, that he never gave her the time of day. But after Valerie told her about the website, she felt better he wasn't around tonight. As to why she stayed with him for so long, obviously unhappy? She didn't know. Maybe job prestige, security. They were, on paper, one of the city's black power couples. To break that up would mean a dip in their perception, and perception is everything.
She learned early in her career that once a bell is rung, it can't be undone. A person can be shown the truth, no questions, and they'll still believe a lie if they heard the lie first. They won many cases painting good, honest people as racists, sexists, any 'ist' if it meant tainting the jury pool and public opinion because of the crazy social justice political spectrum galvanizing society currently.
"This is stupid. If Jerome doesn't want me, I'm not going to go grey worrying about that stupid nigger," she said confidently, getting up and leaving the house.