Chapter 1

Good Morning

The morning started out like any other. Wake up, fix breakfast and stand back as her husband, Alan, dashed into their apartment’s breakfast nook, scarfed down his breakfast, drank his coffee and rushed out the door.

As always, he stopped his headlong rush to get to his train long enough to quickly kiss his wife, Lena, and then remind her

“Sorry honey, I won’t be home tonight. Remember I told you about the client who’s coming in from Singapore? I’m going to have to show him around and won’t be able to get home tonight.”

Lena pouted “No chance of getting one of the interns to do the club crawl with him?”

“No I’m sorry, not if I want the contract.” and with that he dashed out the door.

Lena’s pout lasted no longer than the sound of the door closing as her husband dashed off to work. Quietly she made her way into the bedroom, opened the closet, reached into the back, pulled out a smartphone and charger and plugged it in. She sat on the bed and waited.

At precisely 8:45 the phone rang, Lena picked it up and immediately froze as a high-pitched whine, just on the verge of hearing began. Five minutes later the sound stopped, she opened her eyes and continued along with her daily routine as if nothing had happened.

Shortly after two in the afternoon there was a delivery. She signed for the medium sized box and then as if on autopilot took it immediately into the bedroom. Inside the box was a small case full of professional makeup, a shoulder length wig of curly dark black hair, some fashionable lingerie and club wear, a pair of sexy high heels, an elegantly styled black jacket. And, a DVD.

Lena took the DVD out of its case and placed it into her laptop. Clicking on the icon brought up a swirling, repeating mandala and then a voice began reciting instructions, which she dutifully repeated.

Lena sat down in front of her mirror and took a close look at her face. Looking back at her was a twenty-nine year old woman with short blonde hair, green eyes and pleasantly unremarkable features. She was about to change that!

With eerie familiarity, she opened up and laid out the makeup kit: brushes, sponges, pencils, tubes of makeup, the wig, some dark brown coloured contact lenses and some assorted bits and pieces of rubber.

With precise movements she began by inserting the contact lenses and neatly pinning her hair up under a wig cap. Then she inhaled the contents of a small aerosol spray bottle, tested her voice and repeated the action twice more. Her voice was now deeper, huskier, sexier...

Lena robotically applied some gelatin bags under her eyes; a thin layer of latex to mask her eyebrows and some strategically placed wrinkles. False tooth caps and some thin, sponge pads that fitted in her mouth aged her appearance even more.

Gradually, an attractive looking woman in her early forties took her place as she applied heavy makeup, eyeliner, false eyelashes and lipstick. Her makeup completed, she slipped into a padded, black corset, black stockings, a leopard print dress of crushed velvet and matching elbow length gauntlets. Long, false black painted fingernails, and her wig completed the transformation.

Once again, she sat down in front of her laptop, clicked on the DVD icon and dutifully began repeating a new set of instructions. As she did so her body language, posture and mannerisms began to change. She awoke, extracted the DVD, meticulously broke it into small pieces and threw it into the trash. She looked at herself in the mirror, made some minor adjustments to her makeup and accessories, slipped on a pair of expensive looking black high heel shoes, a stylish black jacket and stepped out the door.

An hour later, she was sitting in a bar idly toying with a Singapore Sling when he came in. She watched him order a drink settle onto a barstool and survey the sparse crowd in the bar. His gaze swept over and ignored the salarymen singing karaoke, the OL’s plotting in the corner and finally, fastened on her. She met his gaze for a moment, looked away and looked back in his direction. She calmly sipped her drink. She looked in his direction from time to time, then decision made picked up here phone, selected his number and texted “Would you like to buy me a drink?” Her efforts were rewarded when the bartender approached her with a drink, the same as she had just finished, “Compliments of the gentleman sitting at the bar.” he said. She told him to take it back and have the gentleman bring it in person.

Encounter

He entered the bar, looked around and picked a seat by the counter. There wasn’t much action; he looked at his watch, “Hmmmmn! Still early-Roppongi doesn’t come alive until 11:00.” Surveying the scene, he automatically dismissed the salarymen getting noisily pissed and the group of office ladies in the corner.

And then he saw her! A bar hostess or, possibly, a member of a group of ladies out on the town, she stood out amongst the background of office wallflowers like a diamond amongst glass. His gaze was drawn back to her time and time again. Was she the mystery lady? The one he had met in an online chatroom. He hoped so then he got that text.