Her Asian Billionaire’s Perfect Match

*****

John Masaki settled back against the sofa and watched as his mother increased the speed on the treadmill she was using. It was Saturday afternoon and he had promised her that he would stay home for a change and help her deal with the garden. Plants were her passion and she decided to spend some time planting new bulbs in time for summer. It was the first week of June and she had already started the process by purchasing the seedlings and getting the greenhouse ready for the planting.

He put aside the document he had been perusing trying to get ready for the meeting he had first thing Monday morning. Masaki’s Technology had acquired a new software company and he wanted to know everything there was to know about it before he went into the meeting.

For the past four years, it had been just him and his mother since his father had died from a vehicular crash that had left him in charge of the billion dollar company. The good thing was that ever since he had left college, he had been in training to take over the company.

He had been so lost in thought that he had not heard the machine turn off but looked up as his mother repeated the question she had asked.

“John, were you so wrapped up in work that you did not hear me?” Asami Masaki was a petite woman with very attractive features and a very outgoing personality and her son thought the world of her.

“Sorry mother,” he said with a gentle smile. “I just drifted off a little bit. What was the question?”

“What would you like for lunch?”

*****

Leonie stretched in the bed lazily and used the remote to switch the television on. It was nine o’clock on a Sunday morning and she was planning to go to Simoniel’s house later in the afternoon to have dinner; but for now she was going to have a relaxing morning until she got her bearings together. Sundays were the only time she had for herself except for public holidays and she usually spent it doing what she wanted to do.

She burrowed herself further down on the pillows and turned up the volume on the tube as she absently watched a news broadcast. Her apartment was functional rather than luxurious and she liked the freedom and self sufficiency that it gave her. She had always been comfortable in her own space so she never minded in the least being by herself. When asked if all that matchmaking made her hanker after someone of the opposite s*x she had laughingly said that it makes her appreciate her space even more.

Never one for lying in bed for long, she soon switched off the TV and padded barefoot in the kitchen to fix herself some black coffee and a scone she had picked up from her favorite pastry shop in town. She had the laundry to deal with and some bills to pay and she had brought home some files she needed to deal with before Monday.

She had had a happy childhood. Being an only child she had been relatively spoiled and had been given a lot of attention. She had been daddy’s little girl and had followed him around everywhere and hung on to his every word while she was living at home. He had been a mail man and she had told them both that was what she wanted to do when she grew up. She wanted to be like daddy.

He had sat her down and told her that he wanted her to be her own person. Nothing was wrong with being a mail delivery person but parents tended to want their children to turn out better than they were. Her mother had been a stay at home mom, contented to make a home for them and help her daughter with whatever project there was when she came home from school.

She told her daughter later that she had seen the signs that he was unhappy but had chosen to ignore them. He had been dissatisfied with his life and the way it had turned out and had just left without a word to the wife he had committed his life to and the daughter he had made with her. His being unhappy at the pace of his life was no excuse for him leaving like that. She had felt her complete love for him turn into hatred and then contempt. He was not the man she had thought he was.

It had taken them some time to bounce back and her mother had realized that she had to earn a living as well as help fund her daughter while she was in college and had come up with the idea of the matchmaking company.

Leonie had spent nights upon nights hoping to hear from her father and him telling them that he had made a huge mistake by leaving his family and he wanted to come back.

She had had it out with her mother when she came home one summer for the break. They had been in the kitchen and her mother had been packing some things for her to take to the summer camp where she had signed on as a counselor. “How can you just move on with your life?” she had asked her in an accusatory voice.

“Excuse me?” Leonora had looked up at her daughter startled. The girl had come back from college looking as thin as a dog and she had vowed that she was going to fatten her up before she went back in September.

“You have formed a company and you are behaving as if Daddy was not living in this house!” she slammed her palms down on the kitchen counter, her eyes blazing and her thin body shaking. “How can you move on as if he no longer exists?”

Her mother had put aside the packages of sandwiches she had been putting together and turned to face her angry daughter, her heart going out to her. “Sit down honey,” she had told her quietly.

Leonie had refused at first and then she had sat on one of the stools grudgingly, her hands clenched into tight fists.

“Your father was unhappy for a long time.” She began, taking a seat beside her. “I do not agree with what he did, but I get it. I should have said something to him but I had this thing that maybe if I did not say anything it would be okay. I was wrong and as much as I am suffering because of him leaving us, I am not going to bury myself in mourning for a man who did not have the decency to say anything to us. Life is too precious and I have you to think about and you have you to think about as well. I am not saying this is going to be easy honey but we are going to have to dust ourselves off and continue living because life goes on. It is his loss and we are going to make it. Do you understand what I am saying to you?”

She had nodded sullenly and then had burst into tears right there at the kitchen counter surrounded by sandwiches, some sort of pastry, and her mother’s comforting presence. She had taken her into her arms and comforted her until she had been all cried out and only the hiccups had been left.

That had been the last time she had cried for him. With a determination that had become a part of her she had studied hard to prove to herself and him that she was not going to let his leaving control what happens to her. She was going to make it in spite of him leaving.

And she had.

*****

John sat back on his haunches and used the back of his hand to wipe the beads of sweat off his forehead. It was approaching sun down and they had been working in the greenhouse for the past two hours. He was ready to take a break now. He had humored his mother this weekend and helped her put in some new seedlings and prepared the ground for some more that she was going to be purchasing on Monday.

Typically on Sundays if they did not have a function to attend, they would spend the Sunday’s drinking tea in the gazebo under the shade of the large apple tree and talking about the week that had passed. It had become like a tradition for them and even if he had a young lady he was seeing, he always reserved Sundays for his mother. Now he was not seeing anyone so he was free to spend time with her.