Chapter 3

I-it’s ... YOU! OHMYGOD! It’s you!” Suki said, backing up and nearly tripping over the easy chair. She turned and ran into the back bedroom, shutting the door hard. I looked at Mom and Tom trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Neither of them had a clue either, so I told them to sit down and I went back to see what had come over Suki.

“Suki, honey, it’s me. Open the door please,” I said. It wasn’t locked, but I didn’t want to just open it without asking. A few moments later, the door opened a crack and I saw Suki’s eye peeking out.

“Are you alone?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied. She opened the door and I entered it just before she shut it tight again, nearly catching me in it. I walked over and sat next to her on the bed. She was sitting there shaking like a leaf. I put my arm around her and held her.

“What is it Suki? What has you so upset, honey?” I asked her.

“That man ... That man ... is my FATHER!” Suki said.

“WHAT?” I said incredulously. “That’s impossible! It must be some kind of mistake! Are you sure? How can that be?”

Suki opened her purse and brought out an old locket. “My mother gave this to me just before I left for the States. Inside is a picture she told me was her father during the War. Was your stepfather in the Vietnam War?” she asked.

“Well yes, but there were a lot of men in the War back then,” I said.

“Here is a picture of my father. See? Is that your stepfather?” she asked. I looked at the picture. It did indeed look like Tom. But it was an old picture and badly faded. I decided to get to the bottom of this.

“Come with me, Suki. We’ll settle this once and for all,” I said. I took Suki’s hand and we went back into the living room where my folks still sat wondering what was going on.

“Tom this is really bizarre, but Suki here thinks you may somehow be her father. You were in Vietnam weren’t you?” I asked.

“Well I wasn’t in Vietnam itself, I was stationed in Japan. My ship was there for eight months as a support platform for the military operations in Vietnam,” he explained.

“Well, Suki here is from Japan. She says her mother was Japanese and her father was an American,” I said.

“Suki, is it? Suki, who is your mother?” Tom asked her.

“My mother’s name was Matsuni. She was from a little village named Kikoba close to the U.S. naval base at Yakosuka. Here is a picture of her and the man she said was my father,” Suki said, handing him the locket.

Tom took the locket and looked at it. I saw his eyes get big and his hands start shaking now. “Oh my God...” he said, staring at the faded image. He looked up and he had tears running down his cheeks.

“That’s her; that’s my Matsuni. She never told me ... she never told me...” he said, crying as Mom held him.

When Tom had finally composed himself and Suki had gotten her head around this as well we all sat and Tom told us of his time in Japan and then Suki filled in what happened afterwards. Tom was broken up that Suki and her mother had had such a hard time of it and very sad to learn of Matsuni’s passing. We all talked and listened to the various stories for a few hours until it started getting late. With all the pieces finally in place Mom and Tom had to head on back home to Bridgeport Connecticut.

“Suki, I know it may be late in coming and I am sorry, but if you need anything honey – anything at all, you call me, okay. I have done pretty well for myself and now that I have found out I have a daughter, I want to do right by her. So if you need anything – money, a job, or whatever, you call me. Promise?” he said.

“I will. But I’m doing okay here too. I have a good job and my apartment is fine for me,” Suki said.

“I’m glad to hear that. W-would it be okay ... if I gave you a kiss?” he said, awkwardly.

“I would like that,” Suki said, hugging him and he gave her a kiss on the cheek. He handed Mom the car keys, since he was in no shape to drive after this bombshell.

Once Mom and Tom left, I turned to Suki, “I suppose I should probably be taking you home. I doubt you feel like going for a drive now, right?” I said.

“Yeah,” Suki replied sounding a little sad. I took her home – it was a very quiet, very somber drive; neither of us said much. When I got to her apartment, I walked her to the door but a kiss goodbye seemed inappropriate now, so she hugged me and I turned to head on home.

The next few weeks were kind of a fog to me. I went to work, then I went home. That was about all I can say about it. Time passed by where I was at the time. Suki and I still had the work project, but we worked together as business associates now – the fact that her and I were step-siblings took all the excitement and certainly all the sexual intensity out of our working together.

About four weeks or so after the big drama, Mr. Baxter came by the office. Suki wasn’t with him, which kind of bummed me out as I still looked forward to seeing her even after everything that had happened. We were talking about the project when he came right out point blank and asked me,

“What’s happened between you and Suki?” he asked, “You two were doing so well together. Now both of you are moping around like someone just pissed in your sippy cups!”

I began to tell him the whole story about our new-found relationship. He listened carefully to all I had to say.

“Well, that is a very strange tale to be sure. But let me ask you a question; do you still care for Suki?” he asked. I hadn’t really thought about it since that day. I just kind of put that idea away and didn’t consider my feelings for her anymore. After all you aren’t supposed to have romantic feelings for your sister!

“Yes, I suppose I do. But I can’t do anything about it,” I said.

“Well, I happen to know that she still cares for you very much. She won’t admit it, but I see how she is now and I know how she was when you two were going at it strong. I can tell she still wishes you two could be an item,” he said.

“Well, we can’t. My stepfather is her father,” I said.

“So what? Just because your father had a child – a child that he knew nothing about – and then later on in life, he just so happened to find and marry your mother doesn’t mean that you and Suki can’t enjoy each other. You are only step-brother and sister by chance. You aren’t blood relatives. It may be a bit unorthodox, but everything about this seems unorthodox. And let me tell you something, my boy, love is a hard enough thing to find these days as it is – when it comes along you gotta grab it and hang on tight ... unorthodox or not!” he said.

What Mr. Baxter said made a lot of sense. It wasn’t Suki’s or my fault what had happened. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was just random chance. A series of unusual events that put us both together in the same place at the same time. Had any one thing been slightly different, we would have never met.

And it was true that I still had deep feelings for Suki. I missed my beautiful Suki very much, and was glad to hear she missed me as well. We couldn’t let the cruel hand of fate keep us apart from each other like this.

“What can I do though? Suki feels it is wrong for us to be...” I said, letting my voice trail off.

“Let me talk to her. I will see what I can do to convince her that this shouldn’t stop you two,” he said.

“You would do that?” I asked, “Why?”

“Son, I’m a businessman. You and Suki make a good team and we have a good project here. Having the two of you working separate like this is bound to make the job harder and less effective – hence less profitable for everyone. And besides, I don’t need you two walking around moping all day!” he chuckled. “I was young once myself ... I remember what it felt like to have your heart stomped on. You and Suki should be together and damn the opinions of others!”

He left my office after that and I thought about what he had said for the rest of the day and most of the night. I did care very much for Suki – neither of us said the “L” word, but I had a sense that both of us felt it. At least I did and I hoped she did as well.

The next morning, I knew I was to meet with Suki on the work project and I thought about what I would say to her. Mr. Baxter said he was going to talk to her about all this and I wondered if he had had the chance. I decided not to bring it up unless she did just in case he hadn’t spoken to her yet.

Suki arrived right on time for our meeting – she was nothing if not prompt. And we got right into it. I kept glancing at her over the course of our work together that day, and from time to time, I caught her doing likewise. The air between us was tense and charged with a strange electricity. It was as if both of us wanted to say something, but neither knew how to start.