All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(63)

Win went to get drinks, and since my shoes were my mother’s and thus a size and a half too tight for my freakish size ten feet, I decided to stay behind. A man across the table from me waved, and I waved back, though I wasn’t sure who he was. He was Asian and in his twenties. He was probably a member of another chocolate family.

He walked around the table and sat next to me. He was very handsome, with longish black hair that kept falling into his eyes. He spoke English with a bit of a British accent though he wasn’t British. ‘You don’t remember me, do you? I met you and your sister when you were children. Your father had a meeting with my father at our country house in Kyoto. I showed you our gardens. You liked my cat.’

‘Snowball,’ I said. ‘And you are Yuji Ono. Of course I remember you.’ Yuji shook my hand. He was missing the pinkie on his right hand, but the rest of his fingers were long and extremely cold. ‘Your hands are like ice.’

‘You know what they say. Cold hands. Warm heart,’ Yuji said. ‘Or is it the reverse?’

The summer before I turned nine, the summer before Daddy died, he had taken us with him on business to Japan. (This was before international travel had become so difficult because of both cost and worries about disease.) Daddy very much believed in the benefits of travel for young people, and he also hadn’t wanted to leave us alone after my mother’s murder. One of the people we visited was Yuji Ono’s father, who was the head of the Ono Sweets Company and the most powerful chocolate dealer in Asia. Incidentally, I had had a huge crush on Yuji Ono though he was seven years older than me. Fifteen at the time; now, I suppose, twenty-three.

‘How is your father?’ I asked.

‘He passed away.’ Yuji lowered his eyes.

‘I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard.’

‘Yes. It was very tragic, though he wasn’t murdered like yours. Brain cancer,’ Yuji said. ‘It seems you don’t follow these things, Anya, so I’ll tell you. I am the head of Ono Sweets now.’

‘Congratulations,’ I said, though I wasn’t at all sure if this was the right thing to say.

‘Yes, it was much for me to learn in a very short time. But I was luckier than you. My father was still alive to teach me.’ Yuji smiled at me. He had a sweet smile. There was the slightest gap between his front two teeth, and it made him look more boyish than he was.

‘You came a long way for a Balanchine family wedding,’ I observed.

‘I had other business, and I am a friend of the bride as well,’ he said, and then he changed the subject. ‘Dance with me, Anya.’

I looked over to the drinks line – Win was about halfway through. ‘I’m here with someone,’ I said.

Yuji laughed. ‘No, I didn’t mean that way. I’m practically married myself, and you’re far too young for me. Forgive me, but I still see you as the little girl you were, and I feel almost paternal towards you, I suppose. I think my father would want me to dance with you. Your boyfriend can’t possibly object to old friends like me.’ He offered me his hand, and I took it.

The band was playing a slow number. Though I didn’t feel in the least romantic towards him, dancing with Yuji was no hardship either. He was a good dancer and I told him so. He said that his father had made him take lessons when he was a kid. ‘When I was a child, it seemed an incredible waste of time,’ he said, ‘but now I’m glad for the skill.’

‘You mean because women like it?’ I asked.

A tap on my shoulder. I expected Win, but it was my cousin Jacks. ‘Do you mind if I cut in?’ he asked Yuji.

‘It’s up to Anya,’ Yuji replied.

Jacks was flushed and his eyes were overly bright. I very much hoped he wasn’t drunk. Still, I decided to consent because it seemed that if I didn’t my cousin would make a scene. ‘Yes, it’s fine,’ I said.

Jacks took my hand, and Yuji left. His palm was damp and a bit greasy even. ‘Do you know who you were dancing with?’ Jacks asked me.

‘Yes, of course,’ I said. ‘Yuji Ono. I’ve known him for years.’

‘Well, then, do you know what they’re saying about him?’ Jacks asked me.

I shrugged.

‘There are people who think he’s the one who orchestrated the contamination of the Balanchine chocolate supply.’

I considered this. ‘What would be his interest in doing that?’

Jacks rolled his eyes. ‘You’re a smart girl, Anya. Figure it out.’

‘You were so keen to cut in on me. Why don’t you just tell me yourself?’

‘The Kid – that’s what they call Yuji Ono Junior, to distinguish him from Yuji Ono Senior – the Kid’s eager to prove himself. Everyone thinks the Balanchine organization is weak. What better way for the Kid to make his mark than by destroying the Balanchine business in North America?’

I nodded. ‘If people think that, why’s he at the wedding then?’

‘He says he didn’t have anything to do with the contamination, of course. His presence is a gesture meant to show that we believe that, too. I’ve got to tell you, Anya. It doesn’t exactly look good for you to be dancing with him, though.’

First, I laughed because I wanted him to know that his opinion didn’t matter to me. Then I asked him, ‘Why?’