Tokyo Seduction (Book 1 Of The Gaijin Series)

Chapter 11

               Erika threw her hands up in the air. "God you have a brain like a sieve. I can't believe you don't remember me going on and on last summer about how she was dating the Old Man's son, Rinji." Erika looked at Mimi and gave her a wicked grin. "Man, did she ever luck out; he is hot. No, he is more than hot - the man is on fire!" Erika fanned herself with her hand.

Erika pranced over to Mimi's bed, flopping down by her feet, and gave her leg a little reassuring pat. "Tell me, Mimi. Seriously, I know why you teach English at that sorry excuse for a language school. But, why are you still doing the private tutoring if you hate it that much?"

Mimi couldn't fault Erika for her question. She was on a ninety percent scholarship and she could make up the extra with a month's wage at the language school, so Mimi didn't need to take on private jobs.

"Are you kidding? This job is where I make most of my money. The problem is Aki has a huge crush on me and is always trying to cop a feel or look down my top." Mimi shivered when she thought about the amount of times that little pervert tried it. "The kid doesn't even need the lessons, his English is perfect. If it wasn't for the fact that he talked his parents into paying me thirty thousand yen a lesson," Mimi perked up at the thought of all that money, "I would've quit ages ago. Besides, Ritsu got me the job, so there is that as well, and I don't want to let her down."

"No wonder you don't quit! That's close to what I make on a slow night. And here I was thinking you were only getting paid a little more than the six thousand yen an hour you earn at the school."

Mimi laughed, "I sure as hell would not be staying for that amount of money."

Mimi's mobile rang, the dreaded song blaring in the background made her face drop. She reached over look at the caller ID, even though she already knew who it was, and answered it. Two seconds after later, she started viciously scratching at her left wrist and her bottom lip began to tremble. She listened to what the person was saying until he hung up, and then let out a quiet whimper.

Erika placed her hand over Mimi's right hand to get her to stop scratching. "Come on, babe, you have to stop this. Why on Earth do you keep answering that call?"

Mimi looked away as she tried to compose herself. "It will only make things worse if I don't."

"Look at yourself, if you keep all of this bottled up inside, you're going to turn into a basket case. You need to talk about what's going on." Erika held up Mimi's left wrist. "I thought you stopped doing this to yourself. And don't try to lie to me, look at your wrist."

Mimi's wrist was scratched raw and if she continued, she'd break the skin. "I don't want to talk about it. Just drop it already," she said, yanking her arm away from Erika and quickly tucked it by her side.

"If you don't want to talk to me, that's fine. But don't think I'm just going to let you fall back into your old pattern. I will drag your butt back to that group counselling." Erika's tone told Mimi she wasn't joking.

"You know how I feel about all of that pseudoscience," Mimi snapped, trying to get Erika off her back.

As soon as the words left her lips, her father's stern raspy voice echoed those exact words in her head, sending a sickening shiver slithering through her body. She silently choked her repulsion down as she shoved the spectres of her adolescences back in the closet. The same one she shoved all of the repressed feelings and memories she couldn't deal with.

Her left wrist itched with a, growing fire. Mimi ground her teeth, trying to ignore the torment the skin on her left wrist was putting her through. She knew if she scratched it, Erika would start spouting psychobabble at her and Mimi didn't want to deal with the aggravation of Erika playing psychologist.

It wasn't her friend's fault, both her parents were psychiatrists and truth be told Erika had helped her through a lot of shit from her past and been a rock Mimi could always turn to. But when it came to the person who kept calling her, there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell she was going to tell Erika what was going on.

She had to act normal if she wanted to get Erika off her back. Determined to prove she didn't need help Mimi took a deep breath and held it. Through sheer force of will, Mimi shoved the burning itch to the recesses of her mind until it was only a slight tingling sensation.

Mimi's lips lifted into a smile as she looked straight into Ericka's eyes, knowing exactly how to end the conversation. "And how is Ganju doing these days?" What she said was like sticking a knife in her friend's heart but Mimi was too livid to care.

Erika sucked in a sharp breath and recoiled away from her. Mimi's words were like a physical kick to Erika and her bright personality dimmed.

"Don't you dare lash out at me when I'm only trying to help you," Erika hissed back. Erika got up, "Fine! Don't go back to group, but you need to talk to someone," and walked back into the bathroom to finish getting ready, leaving Mimi to read her manga and brood in peace. 

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