When Mai arrived at work that Friday — the twins had not turned up to give her lift, so she got the bus — ready to collect the car keys so they could visit the hospital again, she found that someone had cancelled the booking.

"I don't understand," she told Louise, "I sorted this last week."

"Well the records say it was cancelled this morning," Louise replied, frowning. "Hang on, let me find who did it…" She tapped away at the keyboard, eyes scanning the screen in search of the information. "I can't…"

"Louise?"

Mai and Louise both looked around to see John.

"Yes?"

"If you're looking for the car booking, Oliver asked me to cancel it," John said. "He didn't give a reason, but he didn't look happy."

Mai frowned.

"Okay, thanks, I'll…" She gave up with the rest of the sentence and headed to Dr Davis' office.

She knocked and let herself in to find him reading at his desk.

"Why did you cancel the car?" she demanded, before realising how rude that might sound to her boss.

"We're not going to the hospital," he replied, without looking up from his book.

"But Cathy is counting on you be—"

"Cathy is dead."

Mai's stomach dropped.

"What?"

"She died, this morning. Gene phoned. You're dismissed."

Mai walked out of the office, the hollow sensation not leaving her body. She made a pot of tea and deposited it on Oliver's desk without waiting for a word of thanks before returning to her own.

She tried to distract with menial tasks. Arranging a meeting. Cancelling a room booking. Politely replying to a few enquiries. But none of them stopped her thinking about the little girl that had died.

In the end, she picked up the phone and dialed Masako's extension.

"Hey Mai, what's up?"

"Um, we were supposed to go to the hospital this morning to visit the kids and… Well one of them died to Dr Davis cancelled it… I don't know what to do. I made him tea but… I don't know."

Mai heard Masako typing at the other end of the line.

"Tea was a good call. I'm afraid this is just stuff that happens in this business. It's why he doesn't like visiting. Cathy wasn't the first kid to die on him."

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew, I have to know. In case of any potential backlash. Fortunately, her parents were glad we were able to extend her life as we did. When she first arrived she had a life expectancy of a month. We gave her almost two years," Masako said, her voice hard. "Remember that, ignoring her treatment, she was a happy little girl."

"Right…" Somehow, this did not really cheer Mai up.

"Look, we're meeting at the twins' flat tomorrow to plan the party, you should come."

"I—" Mai hesitated, was mixing her private and work life such a good idea?

"I'll pick you up about eleven, yeah? Just remember to actually get dressed this time."

"I was totally ready last time," she protested.

"Of course you were," Masako teased. "Just take it easy this morning. The first one is always the hardest."

Masako hung up, leaving Mai feeling just as confused as before. She began to search her to-do list for other things that she could complete with ease when Dr Davis appeared in his doorway.

"I need you to pick up a suit for me," he said. "I'll email you the confirmation details."

"Okay," Mai mumbled.

"I also need you to pick up some lunch for us."

Dr Davis left before Mai could question what he wanted for lunch. Then she realised his choice of words.

"Lunch for us," she repeated. "He wants to eat with me? But why?"

The confirmation email appeared in her inbox. Mai printed it off and gathered her things together. As soon as she reached the reception, she swapped her shoes and hurried out just in case Ayako suddenly appeared.

She walked through the streets with only a vague idea of where she was going. Mai attempted to focus on lunch, what should she get Dr Davis for lunch?

She knew he ate sushi, but that didn't exactly help. He might not want sushi. He might want something else. He fired his last PA for not making tea correctly. What if she got the wrong thing for lunch? She texted Masako for help.

When she arrived at the formal wear shop that Dr Davis had ordered with, Mai pulled out the printed email and stepped inside. An elderly man greeted her and she handed over the piece of paper.

"Ah, yes, let me just find my glasses," he mumbled. His frail hands fumbled for the glasses strung around his neck. Once on his face, he looked again at the piece of paper. "Ah yes, the two suits and the dress…"

Mai frowned, but did not question it. The elderly man tottered to the back of the shop and found the items.

"I have two black male trouser suits with identical measurements here with shirts and ties," he said. "And then the black female dress suit, is this for yourself?"

"Oh no, I'm just the messenger. My boss asked me to pick it up," Mai said.

"It looks to be about your size," he mused. "Ah well, this has been prepaid for so there is no worries there. Let me find you a couple of suit bags for them."

Mai merely smiled as he bagged up the items and handed them over.

"Thank you very much."

"You're welcome, have a good day."

Mai left the shop frowning. Was the dress for her? Perhaps for Masako? She was about the same size. Deciding on the spot not to question it, Mai popped into the nearest coffee shop for a hot chocolate.

As she collected her drink, she found a reply from Masako on her phone.

Masako: There is a chinese near the centre of town that does good food. Go for the seasonal veg in black bean sauce and then fried rice for Oliver. Then pick whatever you want.

Mai: Thank you so much!

Mai sighed in relief that Masako knew her stuff and googled this chinese. She soon found it and started on her way.

"Who knew suits were so cumbersome…?" Mai mumbled as she jostled them on one arm, her hot chocolate in the other.

She sighed and continued on her way.

The restaurant had only just opened up for the lunch rush when Mai arrived. She made her order and waited by the window for the food to be ready.

People bustled about on the streets of the city. There were few children, for which Mai was grateful, but she supposed many of them were still at school. The summer holidays would not start for another week or two.

A summer that Cathy would never enjoy.

Mai looked skyward to prevent tears. She had met the child once. Why was she reacting like this?

"Taniyama!"

Mai jumped up, collected the order and started the walk back to the office. When she arrived, she forewent putting her heels back on. Luckily, Ayako was nowhere in sight and she made it Dr Davis' office without incident.

"Sir, I have the suits and your lunch."

Dr Davis stood up and took the suit bags from Mai. He opened them and inspected the two trouser suits for a moment before slinging the bag on the back of his chair. He then looked at the dress suit and nodded.

"Here."

He tried to hand it back to Mai, who frowned.

"I—"

"It's for the funeral. It'll be on Monday. I need you looking respectable," Dr Davis stated. He glanced down and noticed her footwear. "Where are your stilts?"

"I didn't wear them into town," Mai huffed. She put the carrier bag containing the chinese down and pulled her heels from her handbag. Once she had pulled them on, she straightened back up to find Dr Davis standing a lot closer than she remembered him being.

"You're still significantly shorter than me," he remarked.

"Then bend down if it's such an issue," Mai muttered.

She grabbed the carrier bag and pulled out his half of the lunch to hand to him. But he had returned to his desk. Sighing, Mai placed the food on his desk with some chopsticks and a napkin or two.

Then she turned to leave.

"I said lunch for us," Dr Davis said, causing Mai to stop in her tracks.

"And I got myself some lunch," Mai replied, indicating the lump in the carrier bag.

"Then take a seat."

Mai sat.

They ate in silence for a while, both chomping their chinese down without a care for conversation. Dr Davis finished first and took advantage of this fact.

"I have booked you onto an intensive driving course next week, starting on Tuesday and finishing on Saturday. Normally they run Monday 'til Friday, but they've made an exception for you due to the funeral. In this course, you will complete your theory and practical test. I will be paying you overtime for your time on Saturday. As the centre is just outside of the city, you'll need to book a hotel nearby. Any questions?"

Mai swallowed hard.

"Um, but I—"

"If you are going to give some excuse about doing it yourself, I don't want to hear it. I need you to be able to drive. Do the course or you're fired."

Mai frowned at his sudden harshness.

"Fine."

"Good."

"I've finished eating, may I return to my desk?"

Dr Davis nodded as he chucked his own empty food carton in the bin beside his desk.


That evening, Mai tried on the dress suit that Dr Davis had purchased. It fit perfectly. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and felt tears coming to her eyes.

Shame.

Shame welled up inside her at not being able to dress so smart for her own mother's funeral. At the time, she'd only had some black skinny jeans and a nice-ish t-shirt.

"Look at me now, Mum…"

Would she be proud? Mai wondered.

Shaking her head, Mai began to strip out of the clothing and hung it back up. She pulled on pyjamas and curled up in bed under the duvet.

She plugged her phone in to charge and turned off the light. Mai stared into the darkness and bit her lip.

"Mum… If you're listening somewhere… I like my new job," Mai whispered. "The people there are nice and I'm kind of helping people…"

Mai bit her lip again.

"I'm… I'm going around to my boss' place tomorrow. His brother wants to throw a party, it's sort of for mine and Masako's birthdays, which is nice. Gene and Yasuhara are so cute together as well. I think you'd like them. And Masako has been so helpful! I think we're friends… Or we will be friends? I don't know. At what point do people become friends when they work together? You'd know this… This is why I need you."

A single tear rolled down Mai's cheek.

"And my boss…" She wiped the tear away. "I… I don't know how to react. Sometimes he so cold… But sometimes he behaves like… Like he likes me? But that's inappropriate and everyone says he's awkward so am I just getting it wrong?"

Mai sighed.

"He's paid for me to get driving lessons… Which was nice of him. I mean I do need it for work but still. It'll be fun I guess… I'm sad I sold your car now but I guess one day I might buy my own."

She took a steadying breath.

"I think I'll be okay, Mum..."


Author's note: So for those of you that aren't aware, NaNoWriMo has now started! I have 6032 words so far so I think I'm doing alright! If you want to hear about my NaNo story, send me a review and I'll send you my blurb! It's Mairu and Regency Era but that is all you're getting for now!

Please review :)