Chapter 31

Once the festivities have ended, I crawl into one of our SUVs with my girlfriends. Their parents have all agreed to let them spend the night as long as they sleep in the living room, and I sleep in my bedroom.

We get home, and I am too beat to do anything, so I kiss each of my girlfriends goodnight and head to my room. I go to close my door only to discover Moira has followed me. She may be tired, but she is wearing a flirtatious grin.

“You know I promised all the parents that there would be no sex.”

“Ya, but mine don’t care if we do it or not.”

“You are insatiable. It wouldn’t be fair to the others, and even if your parents don’t mind, Carol’s Dad will.”

She pouts, yet smiles with her eyes as she says, “You’re mean.”

I playfully swat her on the ass as I send her away.

The following morning, I wake up as Carol jumps on my bed, stating, “Get up. We need to eat and open presents.”

Since my girlfriends’ families insisted they have Christmas with family, we decided we would have a second Christmas.

Moira and Dahlia are in the kitchen, making breakfast, and Kim is in the living room as Carol drags me out of my room. I barely have time to grab a robe. Seeing me, Dahlia takes off to wake Sam and her Mom. Before long, we are all in the dining room, eating breakfast.

After breakfast, we opened the presents and continue as if it were Christmas Day. The only difference is, after the gift opening, the five of us just relaxed and cuddled until supper. Zlata even cooks a Christmas feast. Two Christmases in a week with people that love me is almost too much for me to handle. I am sad to see the day end. I ride in the back of one of our SUVs as we take the girls home.

The following evening, I head into town for a supper meeting with an engineer from Kawasaki. He is only here for a few days, and I don’t want to waste his time getting him to drive to the western communities and back.

As I arrive at the hotel restaurant, I see Kim sitting with the 18 or 19-year-old boy from the range. They are sitting beside each other in a booth, kissing as he has his hands all over her. I slide into the other seat and clear my throat before they realize I am there.

As soon as she sees me, Kim bursts into tears. He looks at me, asking, “What the hell do you want?”

Addressing Kim, I say, “As the assistant to the head of security, you should know better. You work with classified materials, and if you are to maintain your security clearance, you need to report any love interests as they are potential security breaches. You are required in my office first thing tomorrow morning with Paul to go over security protocols.”

Kim’s crying becomes uncontrollable.

“Kim, there is no need to cry. I am not mad. Disappointed, yes, but not mad.”

Hearing of my disappointment Kim gets up and runs out of the hotel. Her boyfriend is angry, stating, “You lost fair and square. You have no right to cock block me. I was going to fuck her tonight. Why the hell do you think we are in a hotel?”

“We both know you are only going to hurt her, and when you do, I am going to hurt you.”

“What is a pipsqueak like you going to do to a man like me? Are you going to sic your bodyguard on me, oh, I’m so scared.”

I just ignore him and head over to the table where the engineer is waiting for me. The waiter is approaching, and I hear a scuffle behind me. Victor, my bodyguard for the evening, is behind Kim’s boyfriend holding him in an armbar to incapacitate him. Victor states, “Kid, you are stupid if you think you can beat Trent in a fight, even if you sucker punch him. The last fight he got into there were six boys with knives. The smallest boy was bigger than him. Trent killed 3 of them and incapacitated two others. You do not want to mess with that.”

I record my meetings. From the time I got out of the vehicle, everything has been recorded. I pay Kim’s boyfriend no more attention and order supper.

The next day, Kim doesn’t show up for our meeting, so I phone her house.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Mrs. Huang.”

“Trent, do you know what happened to Kim. She came home crying last night and refuses to come out of her room. Any time somebody tries to talk to her, she starts crying again.”

“She broke up with me last night, but that isn’t why I am calling. I think she believes that she is in more trouble than she is. She did break some security protocols, and she needs to come into work to address it. She is not fired. We are still close friends. She just needs to come in for a quick discussion and to fill out some paperwork.”

“Kim took the job pretending to be an adult. She has adult responsibilities and shouldn’t be crying like a little girl. She will be there in a half-hour if I have to grab her by the ear and drag her there.”

I then page Moira and have her tell Paul that he is required at my office in a half-hour. He should already know what it is about since Victor should have given him a full report.

Twenty minutes later, Paul knocks on my door, and I tell him to come in. Once he is seated, I ask him, “Do you know what this is about?”

“I know enough. I must say, I thought Kim was smarter than that.”

“I was asking too much of her, and I knew it.”

“Still, she should have said something.”

“We all make mistakes.”

I can hear Kim crying on the other side of the door before she knocks.

“Come in.”

Paul gets up so Kim can take the seat directly in front of my desk. He then sits behind her. Even after she takes a seat, she looks at her feet and refuses to look up. she breaks the silence by saying, “I’m so sorry.”

“Listen, Kim. I had no right dating four girls at the same time. I knew this was a possibility and am not mad. You deserve a boyfriend to yourself. You obviously want that, and I want it for you. I have no right to tell you that you can’t see other boys. The problem is, you went behind my back. As far as I am concerned, you broke up with me last night.”

She starts crying uncontrollably. I want to put my arm around her and tell her that everything is going to be alright, but it is no longer my place to do so. Instead, I say, “Look, I still have the embroidered purse hanging on the wall as a reminder of your feelings for me. I know they haven’t changed as my feelings for you haven’t changed. Unfortunately, actions have consequences. Did you sleep with that boy.”

She weeps out a meek, “Yes.”

Have you slept with me since you slept with him?”

“Not really.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I woke you up that one time.”

“So you are saying that you slept with him sometime in the last week and that since then, you have only given me a blowjob?”

She sobs out a, “Yes.”

I notice that she is shifting in her seat as if she is itching.

“You have no idea what kind of sexually transmitted diseases he has, and you slept with him, then you were going to sleep with me. You didn’t just cheat on me you cheated on your sisters. You disappoint me. I’m done with talking about this. We are at work, and you know the rules. There is to be no relationship business while at work. Paul, you are her boss. Straighten her out.”

“Kim, you did bad dating a boy without letting me know. Do you have any idea the implications of your actions? You know the risk of corporate espionage. You made a poor judgement. Now, if you are going to continue seeing this kid, you better fill out the paperwork.”

I butt in, “I’m sorry, Kim, but I have to say this just once. He is a 19-year-old boy. We both know that I don’t have something against loving somebody of a different age. The problem is, there are only two kinds of 19-year-old boys that date 16-year-old girls. They either date them because they know they can dominate the relationship, which isn’t good for you, or they do it because they know they can talk their way into your pants.”

She snaps back, “You’re just jealous.”

Paul intercedes, “Kim, Trent can’t say a lot of the things that he should say because he was your last boyfriend. However, I am not in that boat. Trent is telling the truth, and at the same time, leaving things out so that he doesn’t hurt you. I have the recording of his meeting last night. Let me play it from the time after you left.”

Her boyfriend says, “You lost fair and square. You have no right to cock block me. I was going to fuck her tonight. Why the hell do you think we are in a hotel?”

“We both know you are only going to hurt her, and when you do, I am going to hurt you.”

“What is a pipsqueak like you going to do to a man like me? Are you going to sic your bodyguard on me, oh, I’m so scared.”

You can hear me leave the table and greet the guy from Kawasaki. There is the noise of a quick scuffle. Then you can hear Victor saying, “Kid, you are stupid if you think you can beat Trent in a fight, even if you sucker punch him. The last fight he got into there were six boys with knives. The smallest boy was bigger than him. Trent killed three of them and incapacitated two others. You do not want to mess with that.”

Paul turns off the recording then continues, “Trent is right. That kid never loved you and only wanted to get in your pants. Judging by the way you are dancing in your chair, I suspect that he gave you crabs.”

As she listens to the recording and hears what Paul had to say, she gets madder and madder. Now she sits in her chair, still looking at the floor but she is half-mad half sad.

Addressing Paul, I say, “I think that is all we need you for. Can you step outside for a bit? When I am done with her, you can have her. Get her to fill out the paperwork, even if she has decided not to see him again. I’m sure we all know why he swindled her, but do a background check just in case.”

Paul doesn’t say a word. He just gets up and leaves.

Once the door is closed, I say, “Listen, all is forgiven. I had a hand in it too. Now the important thing is to get you taken care of. I remember when I was on HMCS Algonquin, we hit a foreign port, and one of the guys in my mess caught crabs. Before the next port, 52 of the 54 guys in our mess caught it. You can’t come to work until you have a clean bill of health. At least it isn’t a permanent STD.”

“Why do you even want me to come back?”

“Are you saying that we can’t be friends?”

“That isn’t what I said. I did something that hurt you, and you are acting like I did nothing wrong. Yell at me for fuck sakes.”

“But, I don’t feel the need to yell at you. You are hurting enough. I care about you. We are still friends. I meant it when I said I was fixing things so that we would all be together for a long time, even if our romantic relationship didn’t work. In truth, that relationship isn’t over yet. It is just on hold until you can find a way to make it up to your sisters and me and rebuild the trust.”

I know that not getting mad at her hurts her more, but I can’t find it in me to get mad.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Give it time. I know as a 16-year-old girl, it will seem like forever, but it is really just a drop in the pond.”

“Says the 70-year-old man.”

“You have a lot of growing up to do today. You have to tell your Mom that you have an STD that you didn’t get from me. You have to confess to your sisters, and you have to go to the doctor’s. I’m sorry, but I don’t have any more time to spend on personal matters. I need to get to work. I still want to hang out, but I’m sorry, you aren’t welcome at my place until you are cured and back to work. I want a doctor’s note. Do you got that?”

Sniffling and wiping her nose, she says, “I got it.” It is the first time we say goodby without a kiss.

New Year’s Eve, after supper, Carol and Moira take me to town. I always find it interesting, hanging out with just the two of them because their personalities are polar opposites. Moira couldn’t be more feminine if she tried. Carol didn’t even know what effeminate was until January of last year. She is still the epitome of being a tomboy, albeit an extremely attractive tomboy.

We end up sitting in the park behind City Hall. I have one girl under each arm, and we are just relaxing on a bench, taking in the sights. Carol complains, “I want to do something.”

“Everything that I can think of that both you fine ladies would enjoy we have either recently done or can’t do it today. Speaking of which, what do you girls think of taking a day off and going whale watching.”

“I think that is something all of us could enjoy,” states Moira.

Carol interrupts, “I hear there is a new sporting goods store over by BC Shaver.”

“You need to pick something that Moira can at least get a little enjoyment from. You two have got to have the least in common of all my girlfriends past and present.”

“How about the arcade?”

“Why can’t we just stay here and cuddle, “complains Moira.

Carol counters, “We have been doing that for more than twenty minutes now. You got to choose this. Let me chose something.”

I intercede, “Carol has a point. I’m sure we can find a game that you can enjoy. Besides, I wouldn’t mind laughing at the primitive games.”

Carol admits, “I never thought about it, but they would be primitive to you.”

“Ya, it would be like forcing you to play pong.”

“Tell us about some of the future games,” asks Moira.

We get up and start walking as I explain, “I know a couple that you would like. For starters, there is Dance Dance Revolution. You stand on a pad and watch a screen that tells you where to place your feet while you dance.

“Or, better yet, Rock Band. You and Dahlia can have a sing-off to see who the better singer is while Carol beats the drums, and I play guitar.”

“How can a game tell who is the better singer? It is not like you push buttons while you sing,” asks Carol.

“You sing into a microphone, and the game system measures the frequency at which you sing so it can tell if you are hitting the note or not. One of the cool things about the game is you don’t all have to play at the same level. You and Dahlia can sing on expert while I play on hard, and Kevin plays on easy.”

Carol states, “Now that sounds like fun we can all have.”

“Maybe we should invent it early. I kind of want to play.”

“These games aren’t all bad. I hear they have a new race game that is supposed to be extremely realistic,” offers Carol.

“I’m sorry, but there isn’t even a remotely realistic race game until the late 2020s. The problem is, you can’t feel the car, and that is most of what driving is.”

“How would you know,” Carol complains.

“That is it. For Valentine’s, you will do a couple of laps on Western Speedway in the kart that Gilles Villeneuve rode in Formula Atlantic.”

Carol scoffs, “Not even you could arrange that.”

“My Uncle, Sam’s brother, bought it off of him. The kart is currently in the museum at the Western Speedway. Granted, the track isn’t big enough or properly groomed for such a car, but it will let you get a feel.”

Carol gets all excited, asking, “Where is your Uncle? Can I meet him.”

“He died. To give you an idea of what the family used to be like, Gilles Villeneuve, AJ Foyt, Micheal Andretti, Mario Andretti and a few other guys like that were at his funeral.”

Moira has stopped paying attention to the conversation and is moulded into my side as we walk.

“No way!!! Can I meet any of them?”

“It is too late for that, but if you wait a few years, I have a cousin from Dad’s side of the family that will win a few trophies for fastest pit chief in the west for CASCAR. There was a time where he offered me his lead car.”

“No way!!!”

“You need to expand your vocabulary. You aren’t sounding too intelligent right now.”

Moira giggles as Carol punches me in the arm, saying, “Hey, that’s not fair.”

“I know. Mentioning Mario has you all hot, and you can’t think straight. You do know that he is old enough to be your grandfather?”

I figure that it is time to settle down as we enter the arcade. I miss arcades. It isn’t often that you see them in the future. Home gaming systems were too easy to come by. There was no need for arcades.

The entire time we are there, Moira acts as my arm candy. We convince her to play pinball, but that is it. For the most part, it is Carol and I competing. All too soon, Moira points out, “It is time to go.”

I have no clue where we are going or what we are doing. My girlfriends insisted on planning our New Year’s party. Gun is waiting for us, outside the arcade, with an SUV. For security reasons, the back windows are tinted in the extreme. That way, nobody can see who is inside. That also means, at night, you can’t see out. The girls keep me distracted, so I don’t see out the front window from the back seat.

When we stop, and I get out, I notice that we are at Mr. Mike’s. The parking lot is only about two thirds full, and I recognize almost all of the vehicles.

Moira states, “We know how much you dislike large crowds, so we only wanted a small one.”

Carol adds, “We are using both banquet rooms but keeping them separated, so the parents have their party with alcohol and us teens have our party.

Moira continues, “We also thought it would be a good time to get some of the girls at school into a more intimate setting where they can feel safe, knowing that our bodyguards and their parents are here to protect them.”

I pull Moira in for a kiss, say, “This is perfect,” and then kiss Carol. “It is precisely the kind of thing I would have done, thank you.

Dahlia sees us enter the banquet room and bounces over in excitement, saying, “You’re here, perfect ... Wait a minute. Where is Kim?”

I am a bit angered and disappointed in Kim. Dahlia asking that means that Kim hasn’t talked to them yet. She knew they would ask me when they noticed her missing the party. Kim is trying to get me to do her dirty work. I decide the best thing to do is tell a half-truth, “She told me two days ago that something came up and she would have to spend the evening with family. She was supposed to tell all of you.”

The girls are confused as Kim hadn’t talked to any of them since she left my office, the day after I caught her cheating.

People aren’t split off into couples on the dance floor as much as in a typical dance. Instead, there are groups of people dancing together, only one of which is an all-girl group. It is nice to see the victims starting to mingle a little more with the boys that are not predatorial.

As soon as I can get away unnoticed, I sneak off to the office to make a call.

“Hewoe.”

I assume it is Kim’s Grandma who is living with her that answers the phone. She and I rarely say more than two words to each other.

“Hello, Mrs. Huang. Can I speak to Kim, please?”

She gets mad as soon as she hears my voice and starts going off, “What you do Kim? She nice girl. You mean. What you do?”

I can hear a struggle for the phone and Mr. Huang speaking in Chinese before saying into the phone, “Hello.”

“Hi, Mr. Huang. I was wondering if I could talk to Kim, please.”

“I am so sorry for what she did to you. I know that you had an interesting relationship, but she still knew better.”

“It is ok, Mr. H. I am not mad. Kim still has a job. I only told her to stay at home until she is well. The boy she was with was unclean, and we can’t have that in the office. We are still friends, and I still have great respect for your family.”

Like Canada, China is a big place and has many different cultures. Mr. Huang’s culture has him thinking that his daughter’s actions will reflect poorly on his family. In the west, we pretend that the sins of the father are not the sins of the child and vice versa. The reality is most people in the west judge unjustly, condemning a family for the actions of an individual. Many places in the Orient they are open about doing this.