An idea occurs to me then. “His name is Hayato Nakamura,” I say, turning the pad around so that Jae-Hyun can see it better. “Do you know him?”
Jae-Hyun frowns at the drawing and says, “No, I do not know that man. But he does not seem out of your league to me, daughter. I think he would be lucky to have your true love.”
My heart melts with appreciation for Jae-Hyun’s sentiment, but then immediately re-sinks with guilt and confusion. Hayato says he doesn’t know Jae-Hyun, and Jae-Hyun says he doesn’t know Hayato. So why did Santa’s gift, which was only supposed to apply to loved ones, make me draw a picture of Jae-Hyun for Hayato?
The door’s buzzer interrupts my jumbled thoughts.
“Did you order dinner?” I ask Jae-Hyun, just as the melancholy intro for “The Warmth of the Sun” comes ah-ahhh-ah-ah-ah-ah-ing across the record player.
“No…” Jae-Hyun’s face has gone tight again. He doesn’t like strangers at his door. He’d given me a key to the apartment almost laughably early into my mentorship, just so he wouldn’t have to answer it.
“I’ll get it,” I offer, hope suddenly filling my chest.
If Jae-Hyun isn’t expecting someone after comic shop hours, maybe that means Hayato has finally come to his senses! I rush down the box hallway to open the door. But when I do, my heart sinks.
It’s not Hayato, but a man I vaguely recognize from that strange eleventh day of Christmas night. The silent male driver who ferried us from the restaurant to the hotel. He has a linen bag with The Tourmaline San Francisco stamped across it, hanging off one beefy arm.
“Hi,” I say, glancing in both directions to see if his boss is anywhere in the vicinity.
“Hey, Mr. Nakamura sent me to find you,” he answers, revealing a run-of-the-mill American accent. “I went to that Pier 22 looking for you first. But I ran into this woman, who I guess is your cousin, but was dressed in a bird suit, along with her husband, and a bunch of other people. And they were all kissing for some reason.”
“Yeah, that would be Krista,” I tell him, easily filling in the gaps. “She does a 12 Days of Christmas panoply every year. And this year, she did Two Lovey Doves as her second-day display.”
“What’s a panoply?”
“Kind of like a collection of things—it’s hard to explain, but that’s what she calls it.”
Hayato’s driver scrunches his face, obviously still confused. But since I doubt there’s anything I could say to make him less baffled by my wacky cousin's annual display, I move on to the next question. “You said Hayato’s trying to find me? Is he here with you now, waiting in the car downstairs maybe?” I ask, hope surging once again. I mean, surely Hayato would be willing to come up for a minute or two if he was right outside.
“Nah, he’s still back at the hotel. Business, you know. But I guess you left your drawing pad in his messenger bag, and he wanted me to give it back to you.”
“What?” I quirk my head, totally thrown off by this new development. “No, I didn’t leave my drawing pad in his messenger bag. I’d never—”
I cut off when the driver pulls the special pad I use to draw all my soon-to-be-departed portraits out of the Tourmaline bag. It’s already flipped open to the brown cover, where I can see the words written in my own hand:
“Hi! This pad belongs to Kristal Kringle, and it MUST be returned to her at Pier 22. As you know, Santa sees you when you are sleeping or awake, and he can hunt you down, but he is a terribly busy man, so please don’t make him do that. Be a good citizen and return this pad as soon as possible to its True and Only Owner.” Happy Holidays, Kristal
My cheeks heat. Because yes…yes, that is definitely my soon-to-be departed pad. I’d assumed it had been in my backpack the whole time I’d been over here receiving my after closing hours drawing lesson from Jae-Hyun. You know, where it always is because I only ever take it out to draw pictures of soon-to-be-dead people.
So how had it ended up in Hayato’s bag?
The answer comes sure and swift. Santa. The man, who’d quietly listened this morning, as the other elves quizzed me up and down about the human Krista had matched me with at breakfast.
I should have known his silence was too good to be true. Santa is a ridiculous romantic with a total soft spot for my matchmaking cousin, who hooked him up with his own true love last Christmas. He’s never seen anything wrong with going totally Parent Trap on any of the reluctant couples who don’t jump right into each other’s arms after Krista declares them a true love match. I still couldn’t believe how many tricks he pulled on Krista’s former non-believer husband, Hugh, to get him to come around to being in True Love with an elf.
Obviously, Santa’s up to his old tricks.
“Sorry,” I mumble to Hayato’s driver, reaching out to take my pad. “This has been a huge misunderstanding…”
But the rest of that sentence dies in my throat when the urge to draw overtakes me as soon as I touch the pad.
Which is how, less than twenty-four hours after declaring I wanted nothing more to do with Hayato Nakamura, I ended up at his hotel door with his driver, Declan, standing beside me.
13
Shut Down Pt. 2
A smug look comes over Hayato’s face as soon as he sees me as if he’d been expecting me all along.
But then, without any preamble, I say, “Long story. Declan and I need to borrow your plane.”
The only good thing about my request is that it makes that smug look disappear.
“You need to borrow my plane,” he says carefully.
“Just for a couple of days, sir,” Declan answers gruffly. His eyes are still red-rimmed from crying. “It’s my mom. I’ve got to go see her.”
“You must go see her,” Hayato repeats, his eyes swing from his close-to-tears guard back to me. “With Kristal.”
I hunch my shoulders sheepishly. “Like I said, it’s a long story.”
Declan clasps his beefy hands in front of his chest, pleading, “Please, sir, I know this isn’t professional, but this is the only way to get me and Kristal cross country quick. So if you could find it in your heart to lend me your plane.”
We both wait. Declan with his hands folded. Me wishing I could disappear into my elf hat as Hayato regards us with a cool expression.
Then he says, “I would like to hear this long story from Kristal. Declan, you can wait in your room. I’ll be in touch.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’m the one who should…”
My protest is drowned out by Declan, saying, “Thank you, sir. Thank you for even considering it. I’ll be waiting for your answer in my room.”
Then, just like that, Declan abandons me. Rushing away like a reindeer who’s been commanded by Santa himself.
And as for Hayato…he opens the door wider, inviting me in without a word.
It’s an invitation I have to take, I guess. But man, does it feel like racketing up to the top of a roller coaster as I walk into his hotel room. I have the same butterflies in my stomach as a year ago, even though this situation isn’t the same. Like, not even remotely.