Hidden Nexus Read Free

exclaimed to the man who'd eventually greeted her.
     
    ‘True.’
     
    ‘What are we doing
here
?’
     
    ‘We run the place – that’s why. You have a problem?’
     
    She’d merely sniffed and had looked down her cold nose at him - a look that quite clearly indicated what it had meant to – ‘
You dirty little man!
’
     
    He'd simply shrugged his shoulders.
     
    It had been an inauspicious start.
Quite obviously
neither love nor sex had been on her mind and even if it had been, it wasn’t the kind of place that even at her most passionate she’d ever had the occasion to consider. Love hotels were simply not something discussed in polite society nor by those lucky people who lived in houses with walls thicker than the usual paper – of which she was one.
     
    These hotels, having been around in one form or another for over a century or more, varied from the pedestrian to the incredible and offered a discrete and distracting service for young couples who, typically living within the confines of the extended family, wished for a little more privacy. Due to their often gaudy, blatantly obvious name, love hotels were part of a ‘hidden’ Japan for many Japanese and whilst not totally inaccessible like the  ‘ flower and willow world’ of Kyoto’s Geisha district and being relatively comprehensible unlike the tea ceremony , which required years of study, there were none-the-less a set of cultural barriers that made love hotels difficult to enjoy for those not aware of the protocol or who found their brashness too hard to negotiate.
     
    However, due to the often delicate personal circumstances of a typical guest their design reflected a focus on privacy and discretion. It had been, in all honesty, the perfect place for a secret, clandestine meeting. Consequently, she and her 'companion' had ‘checked in’ without a sole seeing them. The man had simply punched in a few numbers at a key pad which had then automatically opened the main door to the building.
     
    Sadly she could easily recall the room in all its intimate, gaudy detail. There had been negligees, hair products, face creams, toothbrushes and bathroom necessities all laid out on the bed in front of her. A stack of condoms had also been all too evident by the bedside. There had been no décor as such - only mirrors on the ceiling and walls and n o more than a pane of glass separated the bedroom from the bathroom. She'd needed the toilet but had absolutely no desire to go in such public view.
     
    It had made her feel sick and yet she had remained loyal to her task despite the feelings of disquiet that had rapidly grown within her.
     
    ‘I still don’t understand?’
     
    ‘It’s just a room, get over it. Nothing is going to happen. I was told ‘be secret’ and this is secret.’
     
    ‘You stupid little man!’
     
    She'd sensed him bristle at this rebuke, had noticed the muscles quickly tense in his arms and had wondered, even then, if his first reaction would usually have been a violent one. She wasn’t to know what he’d really been really thinking. ‘ I’ll take her later on, ’ had been his main plan in mind.
     
    At the time she'd remained ignorant.
     
    ‘It was for your benefit, not mine. What do I care for secrecy,’ he'd replied tersely.
     
    Eri had remained unmoved by this assertion. In fact there'd been nothing about the squat, ugly looking man with a mass of curly hair and wispy, black moustache that had made her feel inclined to believe anything he said.
     
    ‘Idiot!’ she'd said again.
     
    There had only been the bed to sit on and she'd eased herself awkwardly onto it feeling deeply uncomfortable. It had been a self-conscious position to be in and thinking back she realised that her skirt had had a tendency to ride up when she’d moved giving an impression that was wholly contrary to what she'd been feeling.
     
    She'd secretly known why she’d been chosen for that particular job, perhaps for all the jobs. 'Wear a