Someone Else's Daughter

In early September, Kenji was able to book a lodge an hour and a half north of the city right by a small lake. Since it had a few rooms, he was able to invite Karen, Katherine, Christine, and Katherine's boyfriend to join him. Karen was excited. This would be the first time she could spend some time with Kenji that wasn't just over a meal, or together with her daughter.

If Kenji was honest, he too was looking forward to the outing. It had been a while since he was with a woman, and he was hoping that they would have the opportunity to be intimate over the weekend.

The group left early Friday afternoon in two separate cars. Kenji, Karen, and Christine in one, and Katherine and her boyfriend, Robert, in the other. They arrived while the sun was still out and were able to unpack and get the grill and firepit going before sunset. While it was understood that Karen and Kenji would be sharing a room, and a bed, on this trip, unloading and unpacking were still quite an awkward experience.

Between Kenji's natural reservedness and Karen's relative inexperience the process was almost comical. It didn't help that both Katherine and Robert were ribbing them the whole time.

"So... Karen, did you pack your naughty nighty?" Katherine would ask with a smirk.

"Hey Ken, so tonight's going to be a 'special' night, eh?" Robert would say to Kenji with a sly smile and a nudge with the elbow. By the time it was bedtime, Karen and Kenji were both bundles of nerves.

They stood in front of each other by the bed, their hearts each beating so hard that they both thought the other could hear. Kenji's hands shook as he drew Karen's face to his and gave her a gentle kiss. A warmth bloomed within her as they kissed and it crept up her chest and neck. Kenji could feel himself rise as their lips came together and he could feel the plump softness of her bottom lip against his tongue.

Stepping back, he skinned off his shirt and stepped back as he caressed her shoulders. He looked into Karen's eyes as she nodded her permission. Kenji reached down to unbutton her satin nightshirt, each button revealing creamy soft, pale skin. Kenji's breath became shorter and his heart beat harder as he pushed the satin off Karen's shoulders to reveal her breasts, pert and slightly larger with motherhood, her nipples hard with excitement. Grasping her hands, Kenji gazed at her tight, panty clad, nubile body and his breath hitched in his throat.

Kenji knelt to draw Karen's panties down her shapely legs. He paused to marvel at her shaved pussy lips and the small tuft of blonde hair that she left on her mons, taking a deep breath of her scent, arousing but different from what he had experienced before.

Karen blushed at Kenji's gaze, aware that her body had changed, even if those changes were imperceptible. Pregnancy gave her stretchmarks and wider hips; breastfeeding had taken their toll on her breasts. She may have exaggerated the impacts to her body in her mind but no matter how slight, the changes were still there.

Kenji didn't see any of the imperfections, and if he did, he didn't care. He gently set her down on the bed and lifted her legs so her knees were bent and her feet were on the mattress. He spread her thighs and inhaled deeply again, then lowered his head to her pussy. Kenji's hot breath on her vulva shocked Karen out of her haze and she tried to scoot out of the way while pushing his head aside.

"Ken, don't!" she exclaimed in embarrassment. "It's dirty down there!" Kenji smiled up at her.

"Karen, have you ever had a man in your mouth before?" he asked her.

"I mean... well, yes, I guess...," she admitted. "But that's different. I'm supposed to do that!"

"Did you enjoy it?" he continued.

"Well, kind of, but not really...," she revealed.

"OK then, I won't ask you to do that to me if you don't want to, but I quite enjoy doing this, so please let me?" he urged. Karen worried her lower lip and gave him a concerned look. "I don't think it's dirty at all. I just want to give you some pleasure." She held his gaze and then nodded her head, relaxing and parting her knees for him.

Kenji smiled and lowered his head once more. Karen flinched as he gently touched her clit with the tip of his tongue, teasing it out from under the hood. Once engorged, he sucked the tiny button into his mouth, sending a bolt of pleasure straight to Karen's centre, her nipples springing erect. He teased her vaginal opening with his finger, spreading her quickly flowing juices around her labia. When Karen flowered sufficiently, he gently inserted his finger into her and curved it forward to find her g-spot, stroking it as he continued to feast on her.

Pressure began to build in Karen's gut with Kenji's sustained efforts with his mouth and fingers. Her heart hammered in her chest as her breath became short and her thoughts became clouded. Karen came violently, points of light flashing behind her closed eyelids, her body shuddering, her stomach fluttering, her back arching off the bed, and her legs kicking and flopping about without control. She reached to grab a pillow but it was too far, so she grabbed the comforter just in time to bunch it up and bite on it as she released. Even with the comforter in her mouth a muffled, high-pitched squeal could be heard from the other parts of the cottage, eliciting applause from Katherine and Robert in the other room.

After a few moments, Karen's body sagged back into the mattress, her eyes closed, her breathing deep. She opened her eyes and looked down to where Kenji's eyes were looking into hers. She smiled weakly as she reached her arms between her knees, urging Kenji to come up. He crawled up onto the bed between her legs and her hands immediately drew his face down to hers. After swiping her essence off his face with her palm, they connected for a long, deep kiss.

"Ken, I... that was... oh my goodness... that was amazing!" Karen enthused breathlessly. "I've never felt like that before! I mean, I've had orgasms before, but not like THAT! And definitely not with another person!" Kenji smiled.

"Oh Karen, I have many more of those I can give you," he offered. Karen held his face and looked deep into his eyes with entreaty.

"Kenji, please make love to me," she pleaded. Kenji nodded gently with a small smile. He shucked his boxers and reached over to the nightstand for a condom, which he slipped on. As he slotted the head of his cock into her entrance, his hands felt how wet she was. He began to press forward and was enveloped into her very tight, very wet heat. After pausing for a moment, he began to move slowly, pistoning in short strokes and grinding his pubic bone into her clit.

Having just come off an orgasm, Karen found herself quickly building to another one. Making love to Kenji was very different from Bill fucking her. As he moved, he made sure to pay attention to her expressions and vocalizations. Both of them began to grunt and moan as Kenji's efforts brought them closer to release. Karen encircled Kenji's waist with her legs, locking her ankles above his buttocks and pulling him deeper into her. Kenji began to pump in earnest, looking into her eyes as they both began building to a climax.

Kenji, sensing that were both about to come, slammed his cock deep into her and released. Feeling him swell and pulse within her drove Karen over the edge into her own climax, as explosive as the last. All of a sudden Karen grabbed the back of Kenji's neck and pulled him into another hard, deep kiss as her legs pulled him violently against her. Her squeals of ecstasy muffled against Kenji's lips. Forehead to forehead, they were both breathing heavily, sweat drenching their faces.

"Oh my gosh!" Karen exclaimed after she caught her breath. "I didn't know it could be like that!" Karen flung her arms around Kenji's neck and peppered his face with kisses.

~ ~ ~

KAREN AND KENJI continued to see each other over the next few weeks, making love every chance they could. Kenji had also started becoming friendly with the Fischer sisters' extended social network. It seemed that Kenji was beginning to integrate into the social fabric outside of work. This, however, was not meant to last.

What Katherine had warned her sister about came to pass. Kenji's star truly was on the rise and in October he was recalled to Japan for further management training. Even though Kenji was upset that they would part, he held out hope that he would be transferred back. He took the news stoically, showing only the proper gratitude and resolve.

Meanwhile, Karen was sad that the opportunity to explore where the relationship could have gone was cut short. For a few weeks, she was downcast, but through the constant attention she got, she resumed socializing and dating.

Upon returning to Japan, Kenji threw himself into work, impressing his supervisor and upper management with his determination and commitment to the company. He did take the odd opportunity to casually connect with old classmates to satisfy his needs, but otherwise confined his socializing to company drinking or losing rounds of golf to clients and supervisors.

His parents, particularly his father, had heard through the company grapevine that their son wasn't entirely discreet with his occasional dalliances. What was worse was that his father had heard from his old contacts in Toronto that his son had been enamoured of a gaijin girl, a foreigner, and he was scandalized. Kenji's father determined to use his contacts to arrange a suitable match from a good family for his only son.

Months of omiai, or traditional arranged matchmaking sessions followed, to no avail. Kenji was not a very willing participant, but neither were the matches. Despite their respect for tradition, many of the younger generation had begun to move away from arranged matches and sought out love matches, or no matches at all. After multiple failures, Kenji's parents gave up and projected it through quiet disapproval.

Professionally, Kenji went from strength to strength. As one of the first set of bi-cultural trainees, Kenji was set to make a move, and that happened just over a year after he returned to Japan. Sam's head of client relations had tired of living abroad with his family and desired for his children to grow up Japanese, so took the next opportunity to transfer back. Kenji, having few significant ties to Japan, leapt at the opportunity to return, this time in a senior management position.

~ ~ ~

A WEEK BEFORE Kenji arrived back in Canada, Katherine, Karen, and Christine were driving back home. Katherine glanced over to Karen, who was fiddling with her new cell phone. Looking back to the slushy road she turned the radio down.

"Hey, you know about the vacant corner office on the second floor? You know, the one for the head of client relations?" Katherine asked her sister.

"Yeah, Mr. Sato's office, right?" Karen answered the question, with a question, not looking up from her texting. "He really didn't like it here, did he?"

"Yeah, he didn't want his kids growing up here and his wife really missed home," Katherine elaborated. "Did you hear who's going to replace him?"

"Some hotshot from Japan I heard. It's always some hotshot from Japan, isn't it?"

"Well...," Katherine started, glancing over to gauge how the next thing she said would land, "the hotshot filling the role... is Kenji..." Karen's head shot up, her attention suddenly away from the phone.

"What? When did you hear? When's he arriving?" Karen asked in a rush.

"Slow down Karen! He's arriving next Thursday from Haneda so he'll have the weekend to set up his place before reporting in on Monday," Katherine replied. She looked over at her sister and saw her almost vibrating with excitement, then looked back at the road and shook her head.

~ ~ ~

KENJI WAITED UNTIL most of the passengers shuffled off towards the exit before standing up to get off the plane. Even though he got to fly in business class, given his executive rank, he still felt it would be a waste of energy to cram into the aisle impatiently to rush off the plane, only to have to wait for his luggage. After 12 hours, what was a few minutes more? Walking down the long concourse, his thoughts turned to all the things he needed to get done to settle back in and was happy that the company had assigned someone to give him a hand.

After going through immigration, picking up his bags, and going through customs, Kenji exited Arrivals, and searched the small crowd for a company representative. When he saw the sign with his name on it, he did a double take. He wasn't sure if Karen was even still working for the company, and here she was picking him up at the airport!

He stopped in front of her after walking down the ramp with his cart. Karen executed a very proper bow. After he returned her bow with a shallower one, he looked at her face and on it was plastered a mischievous grin right under a sparkling set of eyes.

"Welcome back to Canada Suzumura-san, I hope you had a good flight," she said teasingly. Kenji half snorted and half chuckled.

"C'mon Karen, let's get going," he got out before breaking out in laughter.

"Do you want to drive or do you want me to drive?" Karen asked as they walked through the parking structure companionably. Kenji looked at her questioningly. Karen shrugged and explained, "Your job comes with a company car, so I drove it down for you to use." Kenji scrunched his nose and shook his head. "OK then, I'll drive. I have the address programmed into the GPS anyway," Karen nodded as she led the way to a dark blue Lexus sedan.

Karen drove along towards Kenji's company-provided condo not too far from the office just north of mid-town. They chatted amicably about inconsequential things as Kenji looked out the window at the cold, grey, wintery scenery. Tokyo never really got like this.

When they arrived at the furnished, luxury condo and unloaded Kenji's bags, Karen handed Kenji a set of keys for his unit and his car.

"OK Ken, we've got your paperwork in for your driver's license and we have three months' worth of health insurance set up until your public health kicks in. The fridge is stocked and the rest of your things should be arriving by this Saturday. Is there anything else you needed?" Karen asked with a smile. Kenji opened his mouth, then closed it, contemplating his next words. He shrugged and decided to go for it.

"If you're not doing anything, would you like to grab coffee with me? Maybe dinner later?" he asked her. Karen beamed and nodded. "OK then, give me a moment to freshen up and we can hit the road."

~ ~ ~

WHEN IT CAME to Karen and Kenji's relationship, it was as if Kenji hadn't left. They slipped back into the casual, but exclusive relationship they had over a year ago. While Kenji concentrated on settling into his new managerial role, Karen helped him reintegrate into Western life.

After a few months Karen and Kenji settled into a comfortable routine. Date nights happened once or twice weekly, with Karen and Christine spending the weekends at Kenji's condo. Before long, Karen began hinting at moving in together with Kenji, but despite the ease of their relationship, it still wasn't public knowledge. For propriety's sake, moving in together with a single mother would have been frowned upon.

Even though Karen and Kenji tried to keep it a secret, Sam still knew what was going on. Sam had now taken over North American operations and spent half the month in their offices in the United States or Mexico, so relied on Kenji to keep things running smoothly in Toronto. Anything that upset the equilibrium of the operations required his intervention.

"My boy, how are things going with the new role?" he asked Kenji one day as they shared numerous drinks.

"Things are going well, shachou," Ken replied, concerned that there were issues he wasn't aware of. "The team has accepted my leadership, and we have been able to increase our client satisfaction over the last month."

"That's good Ken-kun, how are you settling back into Toronto?"

"As well as can be expected, Sakai-san," Kenji equivocated.

"You know that the role will be a longer-term assignment. I was wondering if there was anyone in Japan you were planning to bring over?" Sam asked slyly, already knowing the answer.

"Well, shachou, there's no one in Japan..."

"So, there's someone here?" Sam continued, trying to draw out his protégé.

"You remember the receptionist, the one I was seeing the last time I was here?" Sam nodded at Kenji's question. "Well, it's getting serious, and she wants to move in together, but I've been trying to figure out a way to commit to this relationship while making it socially acceptable."

"Is this a woman you could see as your partner for life?" Sam gently probed.

"Yes shachou, I could. But how do I get my parents to accept my choice? Especially with a daughter. I can't just move in with her," he explained.

"Ken-kun, you let me take care of that," Sam advised, and he did.

~ ~ ~

AS WAS EXPECTED, Kenji's father was not happy with his son's choice of bride, and his mother was in a state of constant bewildered anxiety. Frequent calls ended in ultimatums and silent reproach, but no raised voices or emotional outbursts. Stoicism and saving face were paramount.

As promised, Sam stepped in to help. He met both Karen and her family and convinced them to allow him to be their representative to smooth ruffled feathers. As he was higher up the food-chain than Kenji's father was in the company, Kenji's boss, and technically Kenji's father's boss' boss, his involvement as the matchmaker lent the whole affair an official seal of approval. This allowed the family to save face, smoothed things over corporately, and alleviated the Fischers' concerns that their daughter's indiscretion would doom her to a life of spinsterhood.

After all the back-end manoeuvering, and a quick trip to Waterloo for Kenji to ask Karen's father for her hand, he sprung the question in late spring. At his father's insistence, Kenji and Karen signed a prenup protecting the family's assets in Japan and outlining other stipulations in the event of dissolution. By fall, Kenji and Karen had a small wedding at the family church in Waterloo, attended by many of Karen's close family, Kenji's small family, select friends, and company executives, including Sam, who took a place of honour as the facilitator of the relationship.

At two and a half, Christine acquired a stepfather, and the first constant male influence in her life. At 27, Kenji became a father figure to a toddler. Karen could not have appeared happier. At 21, she was married to an up and coming executive, her daughter was well behaved, her family couldn't shame her anymore, and she was the centre of attention.

~ ~ ~

A FEW MONTHS after the wedding, Karen and Kenji purchased a small house in a suburb north of the office and moved out of the condo. Life settled into a nice routine for the newlyweds. Work for the Kenji, then corporate social obligations.

Karen settled into a life of a housewife and mother since it would have been improper to have one of the senior managers' wives working at reception. Visits to Waterloo on long weekends to see Karen's family, and occasional dinners with Katherine and Robert, who by now was her fiancé, took up the rest of the time.

Karen took the opportunity to get some more college credits when she wasn't doing housework or taking care of Christine. By late spring Karen had convinced Kenji that going back to school would be a better use of her time. Kenji was smitten by his young bride so agreed to her pursuing the remaining two years of her BA in Performing Arts.

Kenji had grown up in a very traditional Japanese home so was not prepared for one where the husband shared in the household tasks, but he fell into it enthusiastically. At first, he found himself completely unprepared to care for a three-year-old girl, frequently calling Katherine, his mother, or his mother-in-law for advice when Karen was in class. Soon, Kenji was as much a contributor to running the household as Karen was.