Chapter 5
Dr Kathryn was an unnerving woman. In her fifties; long and thin with magnificent bronze and pepper hair pulled loosely into a bun. She took her mother’s first name as her last name right after graduating high school. Wearing a slightly oversized grey sweater with black slim jeans and sneakers, she held a stony pale face and eyes so dark they were almost black. Her face was youthful but mature, and it didn’t look like someone could mess with her if they tried.
I liked that.
“I’m sure you’re a smart woman, Lilith Mendez.” She started off firmly, but gentle. With a tablet in hand and fingers poised to type, she gave me a long and calculating look. “You’re here because you’re ready to be helped, yes?”
“It took me a lot of thinking and coaxing.” I admitted. “It’s possible I might backtrack every now and then since I’m not used to…to like…being helped. It’s rare.”
“To be helped?”
“In the emotional sense, yes.”
“All right.” She nodded. “Well, I need you to know that helping you is my primary goal here, but it needs to be yours, too. If we’re going to reach certain milestones, we need to be working together on it equally.”
“I agree.”
She took a moment to pause and type things out on her tablet.
An hour later, Lyra was outside the office with my car ready to drive me home. She was curious and didn’t miss a beat. “How did it go?”
“She took a general screening.” I explained and took a sip from the coffee I was handed. “I asked her opinion and she suspected depression, anxiety, and PTSD on the surface. It could get worse as the therapy gets confrontational.”
“It must be intimidating.”
“She doesn’t sugar coat anything so it’s all right.” I sigh. “Sounded like she knew what she was doing.”
“As long as you’re comfortable.” Lyra smiled at me softly. “So, are you ready for this evening?”
“It’s like any other work day, honestly.”
“I know.” Lyra put her hand up as she started driving off. “But this is special, you know? You’re a celebrity now. You’ll only have 2 more episodes to shoot for the month after this and then you’re good to go.”
“How’s the first one faring so far?”
“Take a look yourself.” She handed me her phone with the company’s Instagram open. I look through the tagged posts on the TV show’s account. The first episode was all about introductions and how we worked, with a segment on client interview and assessment. I’d seen the episode last night when it aired. Hugo had a very…unconventional way of working with people. Unlike talking to the parties involved, he observed them from afar before doing an interview later in the week. Claimed it gave him a more realistic insight into the people he would work with. I remembered feeling that it was kind of stalkerish, but it did bear good results.
The polls were in.
“They liked me more,” I stated, a little taken back.
“Of course they did.” Lyra chuckled. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed. “It’s just…you know how the past few months have been.”
“And look how it all worked out in your favor.”
“You’re right.” I nodded, but it sounded like I was trying to convince myself. Honestly, this was putting a new kind of pressure on me. I rarely mess up on the job, but if I did then it was private and something I dealt with immediately. But this? The whole world would see it, and it could impact so many people.
Was I ready to handle this new lifestyle? And that too without…Cristo in the picture?
I turned the phone off and put it away as tears sprung into my eyes. My chest felt weird, like it was twisting inside into itself. Truth be told, I missed Cristo a lot and I’d been denying it for a while now. I felt…resentment towards him for leaving the morning after.
I wish he’d stayed.
It seemed like I was the one that kept letting people go.
It was a quick trip to the Nakamura mansion. A gorgeous, minimalist mansion that surprisingly did not feel empty. With muted Japanese art placed strategically, it was modern, with the air of traditionality that felt so present and welcoming. The weird but stunning thing that stood out about the place was that it was literally split to accommodate gardens between certain rooms and levels. The atmosphere was different in each room that I walked into through those gardens, and it was clear each was catered to a particular person in the house.
Then came the central hall where the party was being hosted. A large, rounded space with a shallow stream winding around the place with the path aided occasionally by small bridges or stepping stones. The ceiling was open to the darkening sky, and we would soon be under the glittering stars.
I needed to be ready before the moon got any higher in the sky.
“Lilith Mendez?” a timid voice asked from behind me. I turned to see a small Japanese lady, aged and smiling. She stood straight with her hands clasped delicately, donned in a beautiful teal and sakura pink kimono. “You’re the matchmaker, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” I nodded and quickly turned to bow as I had reviewed previously in my handbook. “How do you do?”
“Oh,” she chuckled, “you’re rather lovely and so respectful. Come, I’d like to escort you to your room.”
“Of course.” I gave her a soft smile and followed. Lyra and the camera woman followed behind, and we soon found ourselves in a quaint room with dark wooden floors and warm lighting. The walls were off-white and decorated with tapestries that looked so carefully crafted that I didn’t dare touch them.
“Your stylists will be here shortly.” The Japanese woman said. “There’s refreshments on the table behind the dividers. Do help yourselves.”
I looked at Lyra to give me the rundown as I picked up a fluffy club sandwich.
“Last week you interviewed the Nakamura family and their daughter, Rinka, who was very willing to go ahead with this arrangement. For the first phase, we’ll be looking into a randomized list of people that cater mostly to their daughter’s taste. Next will come an on-camera assessment of each suitor so you need to remember to be brief and focus on positive points. Negative points are a no-go since this will air on TV, just like last time.”
“Will anyone in the list be missing?”
“Ethan Kobayashi,” she said distractedly from her clipboard. “No given reason but his parents couldn’t persuade him to come.”
“Isn’t he Rinka’s best friend?”
Lyra looked at me in panic. It was enough to make me pull up my list of Rinka’s preferences. Oh boy…
“We’ve already failed, haven’t we?” she sighed.
“I asked her to be honest with me,” I grunted and tossed my phone onto the couch in front of me, frustrated and angry. Of course, this wasn’t about winning or losing against Hugo. I was concerned for this girl. She was in love with her best friend and she’d refused to share it with us. This could affect her clarity of mind in the process.
Worse still, the guy knew. No one besides Lyra had seen the list and yet he knew what was going to happen. There was a lot of history to unpack. And it pissed me off because this was the side of matchmaking that needed to be shown to the world but couldn’t be. The script had asked us to be pretty rigid and upfront in the process, but it wasn’t as simple as the writers made it out to be.
Matchmaking wasn’t a straightforward business.
This needed to be called off, I couldn’t have her lie for her parents and marry someone she wouldn’t even look at. Her heart was set on Ethan and that’s all that mattered to the woman.
“This isn’t good for the show.” I huffed and held the bridge of my nose. “I need to think but I can’t.”
“Should I contact Ethan’s parents?” she asked carefully. “I’ll convince him to just be there for the appearances.”
“Cut him from the personal interview segments?”
“I won’t bring it up right away, obviously.”
“Lyra…” I groaned as the guilt tugged at me, “we normally would’ve called off the whole thing in this situation. Do we really have to go on?”
“I understand this is messy, but it’s nothing we can’t work out behind the scenes. Was the camera rolling, Owen? Don’t let this get out, please.”
My eyes studied Lyra carefully, suddenly feeling like she was a stranger. What was going on here? She’d never asked me to compromise on the way I did things before. Whilst I understood our circumstances were much different now, I didn’t think she would change so quickly.
Something was definitely amiss.
Before I could say anything, Lyra had already turned around and walked out of the room with her phone in her hand. I only sighed and found the vanity to stare at my reflection, feeling like perhaps I couldn’t recognize myself either.
The feeling of impending disaster was imminent and I could only stand and stare as the fiasco unfolded.
My thoughts were interrupted by a stream of people coming into the room, a few boxes in hand. Someone dragged a large container on wheels towards the vanity and asked me to sit. Understanding the stylists had arrived to start their work, I took off my coat and let them get to it.
It took an hour to get my hair and make-up ready, and I found myself in a dark blue shimmering dress in no time. A slit ran down from my mid-thigh, and the bodice hugged my torso so well it threw me off. It was as if the dress had been made specifically for me. Did Lyra arrange for this?
“Look up,” the stylist instructed. I did as she said and felt a cold metal clamp around my throat. I looked into the mirror to see a thick silver choker around my neck and a glamorous teardrop sapphire embedded into it. With matching earrings and bracelets to finish off the look, I was ready for the party.
“My hair…” I said slowly, “I usually put it up.”
“But it looks wonderful like this,” the stylist said as she took my dark locks and brought some over my shoulder, letting the loose curls on the end bounce around my collarbone. My hair was parted from the middle with a few shorter strands framing my face delicately.
Wait…did they give me highlights? How did I not notice?
“You’re a beautiful woman, Lilith.” She insisted. “Embrace it. You need a change, it’s about time.”
I looked at myself carefully, trying to inhale as deeply as I could to fill the nervous empty pit in my stomach. This person in the mirror was going to be on TV. At a party where Cristo wouldn’t be in attendance for the first time since I met him.
Oh no… A dreadful realization dawned on me, Is Hugo going to be here?
Of course, he would be. He was a part of this show too and I’m sure he had his own targets here. Although we hadn’t had the best meet up yesterday, I was sure I could be civil with him today.
I was wrong.
“Looks like you’re trying to find a match for yourself.” Hugo came slinking up beside me with a teasing smirk. “You scrub up well, though.”
“It’s called trying to blend in,” I snapped, trying not to blush. This was perhaps the first time he had ever said anything nice about me. I gave him a glance. He was quite literally in faded jeans and a Hawaiian shirt. Unbelievable! But for some ridiculous reason that was beyond my own understanding, it suited him. He strangely looked nice, albeit a bit out of place. His dark hair, although gelled, was a bit out of place. Stray locks fell over his forehead, getting into his green eyes. It didn't seem to bother him, but I had the sudden urge to reach up and brush it away from his face. Was he always so tall? Taller than Cristo even, but lanky. His face was clean shaven for the day, exposing his sharp jaw and an even sharper set of teeth between his lips.
Honestly, he looked dangerous. But not in a bad way.
It was at this moment that I felt a sickening feeling that I wished to never feel again. I hated myself for it. The familiar feeling of guilt returned from all those years ago, but the reasons were different this time.
Hugo was toxic, and that was a familiar feeling that I found myself becoming attracted by. He wasn’t good for me, I knew that, and yet it was the closest thing I had to understanding anybody outside myself in the truest sense. It was recognizable and easy to understand and work with.
I really hadn’t healed from Mark at all and was stuck in a cycle of being drawn to the worst sort of men.
“Why on earth are you dressed like that?” I demanded.
“You need to come off as easy going as possible to get all the secrets, Lily.”
“Lilith,” I hissed.
“Your hellfire’s lukewarm today.”
“Oh my God!” I rolled my eyes and turned away from him, trying to spot my targets in the crowd to get the job started already. Normally I wouldn’t be so annoyed by anyone, but Hugo had a way of riling me up that most people didn’t. Suddenly, I was desperate to get better ratings than him for this week’s episode. No way on Earth would I let this man steal my thunder on public television.
This wasn’t going to be easy, though. There was a catch. Each of us were given clients of the same sex, so the suitors that we had to deal with were of the opposite sex and a lot of things could go wrong if they got the wrong idea. And since this was on live television it was riskier and all the more dramatic. I felt like the writers of the show knew exactly what they were doing when they made these arrangements. Whilst I understood that TV was about drama and getting viewers curious and excited about situations, this seemed a bit of an overkill. A lot of clients in the industry specifically ask for matchmakers that were of the same sex as the suitors are so that communication and relationships were easier to foster without any misunderstandings that could be of an inappropriate nature.
“There she is!” Hugo pointed out a young, dark-haired woman to me. “Gwendolyn Hitachi. I’ll be going over now. Watch and learn.”
He stepped away. I watched in amazement as he strutted over to her with hands in his pockets, head held high, and a sparkle in his eye. I really wasn’t expecting much of a turn out, but he’d struck up a seemingly casual conversation with Gwendolyn instantly and easily. She was smiling, laughing, and absolutely captivated by him. Why did I feel like he was messing up already?
I wondered if getting closer to hear better would be a good idea until I caught a cameraman all the way across the floor. Standing still in my spot, I reminded myself that this was not real life. This was for a TV show, and I was being watched every single step of the way. It was very frustrating.
Hugo was done shortly after, with a glass of wine in hand and his phone in the other. The smirk on his face could tell a hundred stories, but I wouldn’t know which one was true. The lies between his suspiciously perfect teeth waited to catch me off guard.
“Jackpot.” He grinned. I raised a brow at him and crossed my arm, waiting for an explanation. “She’s quite the traditionalist.”
“Even I could’ve told you that.” I rolled my eyes. “Did you not read her profiling from the other matchmaker’s in the area?”
“Nope. Bad.” He wagged a loose finger at me with a sip of his wine. He seemed a little…drunk, to be honest.
“Why?”
“Biases due to preconceived notions can get in the way of new information that may pro–”
“Prove to be inhibiting in acquiring a deeper understanding of the target yada yada.” I finished for him with a sneer on my face. “Teacher’s pet.”
“You were always jealous of me, admit it.” He nudged my arm. My hand slapped his shoulder almost on reflex, and I froze upon realizing I’d hit him. It was a habit once upon a time, to smack his shoulder when he ticked me off. But that was long ago and in no way appropriate.
I was ruining my image!
Surprisingly, he laughed. Hugo was laughing and I looked at him in surprise, wondering how he wasn’t mad at me for it.
“You really haven’t changed, have you?” he wiped a tear from his eye, looking at me with the most genuine smile I’d ever seen from him. And it made me falter for a moment. His gaze was lively, soft, and nostalgic.
I turned around and walked away from him. He was nothing but trouble and I knew what was going on. He was distracting me from my job and cutting my time short, and I wouldn’t let that happen.