Seventeen
Irest my head against the car door, careful not to mess up my elaborately styled hair. I’ve sprayed it with three times the amount of normal hairspray to combat the early August Japanese humidity. Without it, my hair would be ultra frizzy.
“Do you want me to wake you when we arrive at the Imperial Palace, ma’am?” Art asks from the seat beside me.
“No, I’m just resting my eyes. There’s no chance of me falling asleep. I downed an entire can of Red Bull before we left the hotel so I could get through the banquet tonight.”
“Not coffee?”
“No. It won’t last long enough. I needed something stronger. The banquet’s going to be at least four hours long.”
“Which means we won’t be back before midnight.” Art sighs, glancing at me with concern. “Ma’am, would you like me to see about canceling your morning engagements so you can have a lie-in? You’ve been working nonstop since we arrived.”
“I’m exhausted, but I feel like it would come across as a massive insult to our guests if I cancel anything. The main reason I’m here is to make up for the PM’s mistakes. We only have to get through two more days. And tomorrow shouldn’t be too bad. We’re finally doing somesightseeing in Kyoto between engagements! I promise I’ll sleep when I’m on the plane home.”
We’ve been in Japan for four days, and from the moment the plane touched down at Narita International Airport, it’s been all cylinders firing. The scheduling office in London somehow miscalculated the time change. All the dates were off. Instead of having a day to recover from jet lag when we arrived on Monday morning, after a fourteen-hour flight, I was faced with a full day of events, including lunch with the prime minister of Japan.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and today haven’t been much better. It’s almost as if the planning offices in London and Tokyo couldn’t agree with one another on what events were the most important, so they decided they’d squash their schedules together and hope everything worked out for the best. It seems like every minute of the day is accounted for. I’m either in a car on my way to meet with government leaders, or attending a reception held in my honor. I haven’t been able to do much sightseeing.
At first, it was difficult to be under so much scrutiny. The press and photographers are everywhere. However, unlike back at home, the members of the Japanese media have been extremely polite and respectful. I’ve even had a few of them bow and say “Thank you” to me after snapping a photo. It’s helped me relax into my role and served as a reminder that not all members of the media are out to get me. Now that we’re a few days in, I feel that I’ve finally gotten the hang of things. Some of the frost has melted away from this Ice Princess.
Today is Thursday, and I’m off to a banquet at the Imperial Palace. I’ve had little downtime to myself, which is fine. I can handle this knowing that it’s temporary. I’m more worried about the toll it’s taking on Art and Angela. They’ve had to be up ready to go before me every day and haven’t been able to call it a day until I’m in bed. I’ll wager they’re only averaging four hours of sleep a night, like me, but both of them tell me they’re fine every time I check.
“If you ask me, ma’am, I don’t think canceling one or two engagements would be insulting.”
Art’s right. Events at home get called off and rearranged all the time. Icouldhave my morning cleared, and it probably wouldn’t botheranyone, except me. Clearing my day tomorrow would be the easy way out. Being raised by a father who is a military man at heart, I’ve always been taught to keep calm and soldier on. It’s probably why I’m so stubborn. I’m not giving up if I can help it. I refuse to let anyone down on my first official engagement.
“I can do this,” I urge, picturing Kyoto’s temples, castles, and forest landscape that I’ve seen in all the photos of the city. It’ll be my reward for all the hard work I’ve put in.
A few moments of silence pass between us. “Do you promise you’ll let me know if you change your mind?” he asks in a tone so quiet, I almost don’t hear it.
“Mm-hmm.” I open my eyes and turn my head slightly to the left. My thoughts go to my bodyguard. It’s one of the rare occasions Art is sitting in the back seat with me. He looks incredibly handsome tonight in a form-fitting black tux. Every time I see him, I lose my breath a little bit.
Angela is riding in the car ahead of this one with the three other temporary members of my expanded detail. She also looked elegant in a long, sequined dark-green evening gown. I’ve been meaning to ask her where she hides her weapons and radio. She has to be using something like a thigh holster. Or maybe she plans to rely on hand-to-hand combat in the rare event there’s an attack.
“Do you need me to quiz you on any of the people you’ll see tonight?” Art asks.
“No. Thankfully, I can give my brain a little bit of a mental rest. I’ll probably be seated next to the emperor’s eldest daughter, Princess Kaori, or by the empress. They’re both easy to talk to and we actually have quite a few interests in common. I like them a lot.”
“The princess is around your age, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, she is. She’s twenty-one and has been attending uni in the States the last three years. I’m hoping maybe we can pick up where our conversation left off on Monday. We were talking about roller coasters.”
“Roller coasters? Are you both wild thrill-ride seekers?” he jokes. The laugh lines around his eyes and his mouth crinkle. I lick my lips. It’s like he’s playing a game with me. It’s the one expression I find irresistibleon him. I rip my eyes away from his mouth and focus on an interesting spot on my clutch.
“No, nothing like that. They actually make me motion sick.” I laugh. “Kaori is working toward a hybrid civic and structural engineering degree. She hopes to become a theme park attractions designer. I was curious about the different programs she’s been using to render the 3-D models of her designs in the computer.”
“Huh, I’d never really considered designing roller coasters could be a full-time career. That sounds like a brilliant job.” Art crosses one long leg over the other. His shoes are polished to perfection. I can’t stand it any longer and lift my chin to meet his gaze. He’s still smiling. My insides are beginning to melt like an ooey-gooey ice cream sundae.
“Doesn’t it?” I say enthusiastically. “Kaori is so passionate about it; she lights up like a Christmas tree. I don’t have any doubts she’ll be snapped up by a top design firm when the time comes.”
“Aren’t members of the Japanese imperial family not allowed to hold jobs?” he asks.
“They aren’t. In the long-term she’s planning to resign her title. She can’t inherit the throne. And if she marries, she’ll become a commoner. In her words, she’d like to make her own mark and do things on her own terms, rather than be subjected to antiquated standards.”
“She sounds a lot like somebody else I know.”
I decide not to answer him.
