Page 25 of Twisted Little Thing

She chuckles. "Good. You didn't make it easy for him."

I shake my head, even though I am not entirely sure how true that part is. Did I make it hard for him? It certainly doesn't seem like I was playing hard to get, especially since it was anything but easy for me to fend him off, as much as I wanted to.

"So, there was nothing strange about him?" Yuka keeps pressing.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you read the article, didn't you?"

She pushes the magazine back to my side of the table and turns it around for me to be able to read the text.

"Sheila and him broke it off so abruptly," she says. "And then he just disappears from the spotlight completely? They were all lovey-dovey one day and then it was over the next. And he has never been seen with anyone else, not before her and not after her."

"So?" I ask. "I don't see what's so strange about that. Some people stay single by choice, you know."

I am winking at her. Yuka has never had a real relationship that lasted longer than a few weeks, because she grows tired of every man she has ever dated within a short period of time. She always claims that the thought of a real and long lasting relationship only makes her think of confinement and pressure, but I am pretty sure that her standards are just unattainably high.

"Whatever," she says, rolling her eyes. "That guy is still – weird. Something is up with him, I am sure."

"I don't see why you would say that," I argue. "Relationships end, sometimes very suddenly. And who knows what was going on between them? The tabloids don't have as much inside info as they claim to have."

"So cute," Yuka says. "You're already defending him!"

I frown at her. "No, I'm not, it's just that –"

"Ah, don't be so defensive," she interrupts. "Just be careful with that guy. Everything I have ever read about him described him as withdrawn and somewhat mysterious. And then you tell me you weren't allowed to ask questions? That doesn't strike you as odd?"

"Well, maybe he just enjoyed the fact that I had no idea who he was?" I suggest. "I mean, I'm pretty sure he hates being in the spotlight like this. Maybe it was just a nice change for him to not be recognized..."

"And the fact that you look just like her?" Yuka presses. "That's not suspicious to you?"

I sigh. She got me there.

"Yes," I admit. "Of course I noticed that."

"Maybe that's what he has been doing all this time since the break-up," Yuka presumes. "Picking up girls who look like Sheila, because he can't get over her."

I shrug. "Maybe."

"Will you see him again?" Yuka asks.

I look at her, unsure how to reply. "I don't know... maybe?"

She raises only one of her eyebrows this time. "Are you asking me for permission now?"

In a way, I am. I know that I still want to see him again. The chemistry between us was too good to ignore, no matter who he is or what his motives were when he first started talking to me. The sex was amazing – I want more of that. And I felt weirdly comfortable with him. His presence was so familiar, so pleasant. He did not feel like a stranger at all. I have dated other guys for weeks and months without ever feeling this connected with them. And with him it happened within just a few hours. It would be stupid not to pursue that.

"Well, he left it up to me," I reply. "He gave me his phone number, but he doesn't have mine."

"Good," Yuka says. "I mean, that makes it easy for you, doesn't it? He has already signaled his interest in seeing you again. If the number he gave you is his real number, that is."

"Right," I admit. For some reason, that thought never occurred to me. He could have just given me a fake number! How stupid of me to naturally assume that this really was his private phone number. After all, he didn’t give me his business card but a handwritten note.

"Find out," Yuka suggests. "Call him."

I look at her, my eyes widening in shock. I have never been a good phone person, let alone someone who takes charge when it comes to dates.

"I was actually thinking of ... you know, texting him," I stutter.

---