03

Author's note: This is a lesbian love story that started with Karina mistaking Juri for a sex worker, so she forced herself on her. This is NOT a non-consent story. It's a simply mistake that both parties come to understand. There are also instances that refer to characters race, but no racial or hateful statements are made in this story. I hope you enjoy the journey of this slow-burn love story! Big thanks to Chief Hal for helping me edit!

Chapter 2

After a series of poor decisions, I was now face-to-face with the non-English speaking woman that I had basically assaulted. My heart was pounding, my skin crawled, and my face was bright red... and

I

was the one that had forced

her

into sexual acts! I could only imagine how she must have felt!

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!

I screamed in my head, as I watched her practically squirming before me.

Should I just run away... or will that make me a fugitive?!

There was no way I could leave Japan and give her the impression that I attacked her on purpose, before escaping the country. I could only imagine the damage that would have done to her. It was a thousand times worse than my little issue, which now seemed completely irrelevant.

I tapped the man that I had just encountered on the shoulder and begged him to translate for me. "Pretty please... will you explain to her that I'm sorry about yesterday... and that I got this place confused with a dirty massage parlor... Not that she looks like one of those kinds of workers... I mean, she's way too gorgeous to work there, but I didn't know any better..."

Before I could completely overwhelm the man, who had already explained that his English wasn't that great, he began talking to the employee I had wronged the previous day. I just hoped that he was able to express my message in a more delicate way than my onslaught of babbling.

Though the woman was still blushing, and she still appeared quite uncomfortable, she smiled and nodded in my direction. "She said she understands the miscommunication," the man began to explain. "She also apologizes for the misunderstanding."

"Huh?! Apologize?!"

"Yes... because if she spoke English, she would have been able to help you reach your true destination."

There was just no way this was happening. Not only was this woman expressing that she didn't hold a grudge against me, but she was also apologizing, like she did something wrong?! It just couldn't have been true.

There was no way any human could easily forgive someone, who did something as horrendous as I did. However, as I looked into her eyes and witnessed the cute, yet nervous, smile she was giving me, her intentions seemed pure. Still, there was no way I could just let her go on, after what I did. What if she was just hiding how much this traumatized her? I couldn't let that eat away at my conscience.

"Please explain to her that she is a beautiful and wonderful person!" I begged the makeshift translator. "And also, let her know that if there's anything I could ever do for her... she can just name it and I'll take care of her!"

Surprisingly, despite the blush remaining on her cheeks, her smile grew larger, as the man translated for me. There was a sparkle in her eyes, almost as if something excited her.

"She wants to know if you live in America."

"Yes, I do! I'm just here on a work trip. I'll be heading back in a couple of days."

"She would like to go to America," the man translated, after receiving the message from the woman, who had seemingly grown even more excited. "She wants to know if she can live with you?"

"Live with me?" I asked, scratching my head at his terrible translations. "Oh, you mean she needs a place to stay, if she visits? Yeah, sure... I guess she can stay at my place... instead of getting a hotel..."

The man seemed a bit confused. I guess he was having trouble translating, since his English wasn't great. Still, he managed to communicate my answer, well enough to please the woman that I was now supposedly, going to host someday.

If I'm being completely honest, I didn't really like the idea of having someone I couldn't communicate with at my condo. It was kind of my private space, and I didn't consider myself a good host. However, after what I had done to this poor woman, I certainly owed her a favor, so it wasn't like I could complain about having her stay with me, if she visited America.

Unfortunately, the kind man who was nice enough to volunteer his time, needed to get going, so we wrapped things up quickly. I gave her my business card and even wrote my home address on it, in case she really decided to visit. She then strangely asked to see my flight information, I'm guessing because she wanted to know which airport she would be hypothetically traveling to, if she ever actually came.

It was all wrapped up, and we quickly said our goodbyes. I even did that bowing thing, I suppose, because I saw them do it and I didn't know how else to respond.

Before I walked away, I turned back quickly, because there was a very important question I had forgotten to ask... her name. I begged the man one last time, and he asked for me. That's when she looked at me, and for the first time, spoke directly towards me.

"Juri." That was her name... Juri.

She smiled at me, and I smiled back. "Karina," I responded, pointing at myself.

As she repeated my name, I couldn't help but appreciate our first time speaking directly with each other. Even though it was just our names, we had actually communicated with each other effectively... and it warmed my heart, considering what a disaster this could have been.

***

After an excruciatingly long flight, I found myself back in California, ready to resume my normal life. Despite the jet lag I was suffering, I only took a single day of rest, before getting back to work. The hardworking, independent woman mentality that I had wouldn't allow me to take any further time off. I was ready to get back to the office, and prove what a badass I was, to all my inferior employees.

Things couldn't have started any better. Much to my surprise, my office seemed to have been quite productive without me. I figured they would be a bit lackluster with me in Japan, but I guess I was such a great supervisor, that they all worked like a machine despite my absence.

There was a smile on my face as I shut the door behind me after walking into my office. I wanted a moment to myself, so I could get readjusted. I even put my feet up on the desk and relaxed in my chair, so I could bask in the glory of my own accomplishments.

Everything was ruined, however, when I heard a gentle knock on the door. There was no denying who it was. I had almost forgotten about the little intern that had been assigned to me. I was immediately in a bad mood again, as I yelled out, "Go ahead and come on in."

"Sorry, I was running a bit late," Alana explained, causing me to roll my eyes. "I didn't get word that you would be back until this morning, and I know you only want me to greet you by getting you coffee... so I had to make a late stop..."

In truth, the intern wasn't late at all. She had just made it a point to be fifteen minutes early every day, hoping to impress me. On this particular day, however, she was only a couple of minutes early.

It wasn't like I was strict with the times or anything; It was common for the actual employees to show up a bit late. Still, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the little intern, before chastising, "You cut it pretty close, didn't you?"

Looking nervous, she placed the coffee on my desk. "I'm sorry about that... Jennifer told me you wouldn't be here today, but then Tiana said you sent out an email... It wasn't forwarded to me until this morning, so I made a quick stop at Starbucks... and the line was really long..."

"Well, I appreciate the coffee," I said, taking a sip from the cup, after she placed it on my desk. I suppose my time in Japan had made me soft, but I maintained my dominant persona. "Just don't let it happen again."

Though I expected her to make her way out of my office, Alana just stood there, twiddling her fingers. I definitely wasn't in the mood to talk to her, but still she persisted, asking, "So how was your trip to Tokyo... Kar... Miss Ortiz?"

Immediately, I glared at her. "We've spoken about this, Alana... This is a professional business. You are not to address me by my first name."

"I'm sorry... I tried to stop myself... It's just that... while you were gone... the others would make fun of me, when I referred to you as Miss Ortiz... I guess I got into a habit of saying Karina, since that's how they all address you, and I accidentally let it slip out in front of you..."

"That's no excuse," I responded with a stern voice. "You're the only intern here. The rest of the office has earned the right to call me Karina."

"Yes, Ma'am," she said before nodding her head in shame. "So, if I may ask, Miss Ortiz... how was your trip to Tokyo?"

"It was fine," I answered, turning my gaze towards my computer. Since I didn't find this casual conversation important, I chose to focus my attention on reviewing the work my staff did, while I was away.

Still, she persisted. "Did you do anything fun?"

"Not really. As I've already explained, it was only a work trip."

"And everything worked out with the other businesses providing translators?"

"Yep... It's like I told you... I didn't need to bring someone just to translate for me."

"Oh, that's good," she started, like she was actually relieved for me. "Who knows what kind of trouble you could have gotten yourself into, if you would have had communication issues?"

Suddenly, my fingers stopped typing and my eyes grew big. An image of Juri popped up in my head, along with some of the things I did to her, on that infamous evening.

"Miss Ortiz... is everything okay?"

"Uh... yeah... I might have had some 'slight' miscommunication issues... but everything turned out fine... How was everything here?"

Fortunately, my attempt at changing the subject worked. "Everything was great here!" she answered cheerfully, for some reason. "Some of the other girls taught me how to do their assignments, so I finished quite a few for them. I thought it was a good experience."

"Wait, you did some of their assignments?" I asked, as I reviewed the recent documents on our shared drive. "You're not allowed to touch these. You're an intern... Besides, you don't know what you're doing, so I'm going to have to fix all of this."

Her demeanor changed and her head dropped a little. "Oh... sorry... I was just trying to help... and I enjoy learning how to do things."

"Well, now I get to enjoy fixing all your mistakes," I pointed out, crushing her little parade.

"Sorry... I was just trying to help..."

"Well, next time, try to help by not helping. Now go back to your desk and do your regular assignments."

Once again, she looked dejected. "Yes, Ma'am..." she said, before slowly walking out with her head still down.

I rolled my eyes as I clicked through each document. I couldn't tell which ones Alana completed, because the other employees took credit, by putting their names on them. Much to my surprise, however, I hardly ran into any errors at all. I just assumed the others checked over her work and fixed all of her mistakes before submitting them to me.

The rest of the day went somewhat smoothly. I mostly caught up on a few things and spoke with corporate about my trip. It was a relief to return to normalcy once again. I was ready to put my trip to Japan... as well as the incident... behind me. Having a boring work-day like this, felt like a step in the right direction.

Before leaving, I said my goodbyes to the staff and thanked them for working so hard in my absence. It was truly a great display of how effective my management skills were, that they could operate so efficiently while I was gone.

After everything I had been through, I was ready to get home and pour myself a glass of wine. It was part of my normal after work routine, but I had never needed it more, considering my desperation to return to my normal life.

Like so many times before, I parked my luxury car in my fancy parking garage and grabbed my luxury bag, before walking to my luxury condo. I considered myself a humble woman, but after being at the office all day, it was nice to come back, to a place that represented all the hard work I had done in my career.

As I turned the final corner to my place, I could practically taste the wine on my tongue, and I could almost feel my bedsheets on my skin! I was only seconds away from kicking my shoes off and letting my hair down in my own private condo.

When I approached, however, I saw a figure at the door. It was a tall woman with long and dark hair.

Who is that?

I wondered to myself, as I continued to move forward.

As I got closer, my heart rate increased.

No... it can't be...

I thought as a daunting feeling came over me. My eyes got big, and with every step that I took, it became even more apparent, that the infamous incident had come back to haunt me.

Standing at my door... was the woman that I had wronged in Tokyo. In her hand was my business card, which had my address on it, and beside her was a large travel suitcase. She was indeed serious about visiting America... and she had quickly cashed in on my offer to be her host...

As she caught a glimpse of me, she turned and gave the biggest smile. There was so much excitement in her eyes, they were practically sparking.

"Karina!" she screamed, giving me a big hug.

I stood there, frozen.

"Uh... hi... Juri..."

***

Chapter 3

"Uh... hi... Juri..." I mumbled, staring at the vibrant woman standing in front of me. "What are you doing here?"

It had only been a few days since I had last seen her, so I should have known that she hadn't learned to speak English yet. To my surprise, however, she quickly pulled out her phone and used an app to translate for her. After typing for a few seconds, she showed me her screen, which read, "You said I could live with you, if I came to America."

Quickly, I grabbed her phone in a panic and typed, "I said you could STAY with me!" I didn't know why this had become such a translation issue, but certainly this young Japanese woman understood that she couldn't just live at my condo.

Luckily enough, she seemed to get it. Juri nodded her head and even bowed a little at me, as the big smile remained on her face. I'll admit, she looked cute whenever she did that bowing thing, and it was actually pretty nice to see her in a dress, instead of the polo and slacks she wore at that professional massage place.

Not knowing what else to do, I shrugged my shoulders, before opening the door and letting her in. Like an excited kid, she practically ran in before going around in circles, taking a moment to observe every little thing in the condo.

I had no idea what her home looked like, nor did I really know anything else about Japanese homes. Assuming they were much different, I just figured her excitement came from culture shock. This led me into giving her a little tour of my condo, despite how much I valued my privacy.

Unfortunately, my place was pretty messy. With me just getting back from my long trip, I didn't get a chance to clean yet. To be honest, I wasn't the most organized person to begin with, so having stuff lying around, all over the place, wasn't abnormal for me, anyway.

We started with the kitchen. Juri didn't seem to mind all the dirty dishes in the sink and on the counter. She was even more excited to just look through my disorganized pantry as well as my stove for some reason.

Luckily, my bathrooms were pretty clean, though I had makeup and toiletries all over the place. Once again, she didn't seem to mind, instead, focusing her attention on some of the finer details, like the towels and even the shower curtains.

I then showed her my office, which was kind of embarrassing because it was really just a bedroom that had been converted into a work area. It just made me feel guilty not having a bed in there, since this should have been where guests, like Juri, could sleep.

Finally, we got to the messiest area of all; my bedroom. For some reason, my guest followed me inside with her luggage bag rolling right next to her. My clothes were everywhere, underwear and all, but surprisingly, Juri seemed too excited to notice me quickly putting my things away.

I got on her app and told her it was my bedroom. However, we must have had yet another one of those pesky miscommunications, because she immediately set her bag beside the bed before playfully falling onto the mattress.

"No, no!" I quickly urged, gently pulling her away from my bed. I then grabbed her phone again and messaged, "This is where I sleep. You can sleep on the couch in the living room."

I'll admit, she didn't look completely satisfied. Her face dropped a little, but she just shrugged her shoulders before grabbing her bag and making her way back out to the living room. From there, she took a seat and began organizing the things she needed from her luggage.

It was already pretty late. I had stayed at work a little longer than normal, trying to catch up on things after being gone for so long. There still wasn't any food in my fridge, so I decided it was best we went out for dinner.

Not knowing what she liked to eat, I decided to take her to this Asian restaurant, in a nearby fancy plaza. Of course, I didn't expect the food to be as good as the authentic Japanese food she was used to at home, but I thought it would be nice for her to eat something familiar. And with there being plenty of other restaurants in the plaza, we had other options if she didn't enjoy it.

Perhaps my time in Japan made me appreciate the food. I ended up getting a chicken and fried rice bowl, which was unusual for me. I also got some of that Asian liquor to wash it down. I honestly didn't know how else I would make it through dinner with a stranger like Juri, especially considering our past.

Surprisingly, she was like a kid in a candy store. Everything around us seemed to catch her eye, and make her excited. She'd let out little gasps, whenever she noticed something new. I guess I didn't expect this from a girl who lived in a huge city like Tokyo.

We didn't talk much. I didn't know what conversations I could bring up, considering the rocky start to our relationship at the massage parlor. And it wasn't like we could have a full-blown conversation anyway, since it had to all go through a translation app.

Eventually, the alcohol, as well as the fatigue from the past month, started to wear on me. She must have noticed how droopy my eyes were getting, because she asked, "Do you want to go to sleep?"

I told her yes, and that I had work, early in the morning. She indicated that she was also tired, which made sense, after her fourteen-hour flight.

Juri cleaned off our table and threw the trash away. We then headed back to my condo, which wasn't a far walk, but it had gotten pretty dark outside.

Once again, she was wide-eyed, distracted by all the buildings and lights. It was actually kind of adorable, but I had to grab her arm a couple of times, to make sure she didn't wander off.

This was yet another thing that seemed to excite Juri for some odd reason. When I grabbed onto her arm, she would cling onto mine, like we were sisters, or best friends... or something.

She ended up hanging on to me, the rest of the walk home. It was actually kind of nice, but also a bit awkward, since I hadn't walked with someone like that, since my ex-husband, so many years ago.

We got inside, and I told her I was going to bed. I even brought out some extra blankets for her and set them on the couch where she would be sleeping.