Dolphin-san: Here's the next part of the drama for all those who wait so patiently.

Chapter 31

'Florence, hi. Is Ray there with you? Any chance of a word?'

Immediately recognising the voice on the other end of the line, Florence said cheerfully, 'I'm so sorry, Ray can't come to the phone right now, he's unconscious in the garden.'

'Blimey.' Kai Hiwatari sounded impressed. 'All your own work, or did you get Lenox Lewis round to knock him out?'

'Cheaper than that. Two bottles of Moet,' said Florence, 'and one not terribly pleasant surprise.'

'Will he be alright?'

'Oh, fine. His friend Bev's out there now, covering him with Factor 15. So he's well oiled in every sense, ha! And Takao's arranged for the restaurant to deliver the food here as soon as Ray wakes up. You could come over too,' Florence said brightly. 'I'm sure Ray will be pleased to see you . . . poor darling, so far it hasn't been the happiest of birthday's!'

Kai hadn't even realised that today was Ray's birthday. Furthermore, he was struck by the difference between what Florence appeared to be saying and the tone of her voice. She was sounding distinctly jaunty.

'Hang on.' He frowned, mentally pressing Rewind. 'What kind of unpleasant surprise?'

Oh dear, doing it again, thought Florence, and nobody likes a Told-you-so. Before Ray woke up she really must practice being more sympathetic and less smug.

'Mr Right.' She glanced happily in the mirror at her chic new hairdo. 'Seems he isn't so fantastic afterall.'

'Really?'

Kai, she sensed, was being careful to keep his own voice neutral.

'I know, isn't it fabulous?' Sod diplomacy; if there was one thing Florence knew, for sure, it was that Kai was on her side. Gleefully she continued, 'Turns out he was Mr Total Disaster all along.'

Uuurrgh.

Ray, with enormous difficulty, peeled his eyelids open.

Uh oh, hangover. Now how had that happened?

More to the point, what on earth had been going on while he had been er . . . resting his eyes?

Oh dear, as if waking up from a drunken stupor wasn't a bewildering enough experience on its own. Ray, struggling into a half-sitting position, found himself in a far corner of the garden. The next moment he flinched as Kai Hiwatari appeared beside him, holding out a packet of paracetamol and a pint mug of orange juice.

'Saw you waking up.' Kai grinned down at Ray over the top of his sunglasses. 'Thought you might need these. Want me to pop the pills out of the foil for you?'

'I don't understand.' Moaning gently, Ray shielded his own eyes from the sun. He had a pounding hammer-drill of a headache and – mysteriously – the most disgusting taste ever in his mouth. 'The 

last thing I remember, I was sitting at that table over there, you weren't here and Florence had long hair. The next minute,' he frowned and held up his glistening arms, 'I'm waking up on a sun-lounger with gloopy suncream all over me and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.'

'And a knotted handkerchief on your head,' Kai said helpfully. 'Don't forget the knotted handky.'

'Oh God.' Ray whipped it off.

He peered suspiciously at Kai.

'Did you put that there?'

'I did not.' He sounded amused. 'According to Florence, you smoked eleven black Sobranies in seventy-five minutes.'

Oh well, that explained the diabolical taste in his mouth. Hmm, thought Ray, won't be trying that again in a hurry.

'Two at a time, at one stage.'

'Okay, okay.' Ray flapped a feeble arm at Kai to give him a break. 'It's my birthday. You're supposed to be nice to me.'

'This is nice. This is me being extra-nice on your birthday.'

Ray swallowed two of the paracetamol, sloshed down with orange juice and eyed Kai with suspicion.

'What are you doing here anyway? I didn't tell you it was my birthday.'



'I know. I rang to fix up a date for filming in the salon.' Kai sat down on the grass next to the sun-lounger. 'Florence happened to mention it.' He hesitated, his expression masked by his dark glasses. 'She also told me about the . . . Hiro thing.'

Oh God, the Hiro thing.

'Why am I not surprised?' Ray said flatly. He gritted his teeth, making a mental note to tell Florence that, actually, he'd prefer if the details of his private life weren't blurted out to all and sundry the minute he sank into a drunken stupor.

'I'm sorry,' said Kai.

Ray closed his eyes as the horrible details, like stampeding wildebeest, came thundering back over the horizon to haunt him all over again.

'Well, there you go, another one bites the dust.' His voice was brittle. 'Wouldn't it be great if it was an Olympic sport?'

'What – getting plastered, smoking a million fags and falling asleep with a hanky on your head?'

Ray smiled briefly, because Kai knew that wasn't what he meant. He was just trying to cheer him up, make him laugh.

'Getting it wrong. Getting it completely wrong every bloody time. Honestly, I'm better at it than anyone else I know.'

'Come on, that's not –'

'True? Of course it's true,' Ray wailed. 'Look at you, I was convinced you were married and you weren't. Then with Hiro it didn't occur to me for one second that he might be married, and he is. So how clever does that make me?'

Since there was no real answer to that, Kai rose to his feet.

'Look, come on over and join in the rest of your party.' He held out his hands. 'Hang on to me and I'll pull you up.'

'Ouch,' Ray grumbled as Kai hauled him, in turn, efficiently to his feet. Ray's arms, slippery with Ambre Solaire, had required a firm grip. 'What time is it?'

'Four o'clock.'

'Already? Oh God, and Hiro's coming round to collect me at six.' Felling fragile, Ray allowed Kai to guide him across the daisy-studded lawn.

Kai cocked an eyebrow at him.

'Cancel.'

'No way! I want to tell him what I think of him,' Ray said bitterly. 'Then I have to tear him limb from limb. And when that's all done, I'll finish with him.'

Florence beamed; this was celestial music to her ears.

'Darling, back with us at last.' Reaching up, she patted Ray's shoulder. 'Feeling better now?'

'Oh yes, tons.' Ray collapsed on to the wrought-iron chair next to her. 'Two hours to blast-off. If my head wasn't pounding so much, I'd be brushing up on my martial arts.'

Kai, sitting back down next to Max, took off his sunglasses.

'We've been working out the best methods of revenge. Max thinks you should let her answer the door.'

'Like in one of those creepy movies,' Max explained, 'where I say, "Ray? Ray who? I'm sorry, there's nobody by that name living here, this is my house."'

'Gaslight.' Florence clasped her hands with relish. 'Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. Such a good film.'

'Who cut your hair?' said Ray, momentarily distracted.

'Darling, what a question! You did of course, just before you passed out.'

'What? My God, did I really?'

Florence barked with laughter. 'While you were nineteen sheets to the wind? What do you think I am, completely loopy? Takao did it.'

Oh yes, Ray vaguely remembered that happening now. He must have passed out before the end.

'It's great. Suits you.'

Florence preened; she already knew that.

'Anyway, we're not so sure Hiro will actually believe he's going round the twist,' Max told Ray, 'but Kai's come up with another brilliant idea –'

'Look, don't you think you're all being a bit mean?'

Every head abruptly swivelled in Bev's direction. There was a brief, astonished silence.

'Don't look at me like that.' Bev's tone was defiant. 'I'm just saying it doesn't seem very fair. You're ganging up on him because he didn't tell Ray he was married, but Ray didn't tell me he was seeing Hiro, did he?'

Ray stared at her. Was Bev seriously leaping to Hiro's defence?

'That was because I didn't want to hurt your feelings!'

'So?' Bev retaliated. Maybe he didn't want to hurt yours.'

'He's asked me to move in with him! Don't you think it's about time he took the risk?'

'Don't squeal at me.' Bev sounded cross. 'I'm just saying, you liked him a lot. Up until this morning you were ready to move in with him!'

'And?' said Ray.

'I think you should give him one last chance to tell you, that's all. He might be gearing himself up for it. Teetering on the brink, that kind of thing.'

'Shame he couldn't teeter on the edge of a high building,' Max heard Kai, next to him, murmur under his breath.

Dolphin-san: Aww, isn't Kai adorable? He really cares, shame no one seems to get it . . .