My name is Nguyet. I'm a Vietnamese girl working for a French company in Hanoi. It's a great job, looking after business development primarily in Vietnam but also in the surrounding Indochina region. My work-life balance is in a pleasant state of equilibrium where I get enough time with my children and my parents. The pay and benefits are good. My colleagues are wonderful people; all of them, except one, are Vietnamese.
I'm well into my '30s but I don't really look my age. My height is average for an oriental, about 5'2"; I don't have a shape to match the conventional western sex bomb but with a 34C bra size, a 24" waist, and hips of 34" I think I cut a decent figure. I wear my dark black hair short to about shoulder length. I also wear glasses but I haven't had my eyes checked in many years so I suspect I need some visual correction.
My skin is smooth and I love my complexion which has a golden hue when seen in sunlight, and a light tan in the shade. I have a wide forehead and an oval shaped face that looks flat, like many east asians. My body is firm at all the right places and the skin is still taut; I have no sag either on my breasts or my buttocks.
Back at office, like I said before, my boss is a foreigner. He's French and his name is Hjjer. Technically, he's my boss' boss, but since our former GM resigned a few months ago, Hjjer - who heads our Regional Office in Delhi, India - has relocated to Hanoi to double as the Country Head. I don't know if he or anyone in our Head Office is looking for a Vietnam Country Head; we haven't heard anything. So it looks like Hjjer is going to be around for a while.
Hjjer and I have a good working relationship. A few months ago his secretary left the organisation, putting him in a rather difficult situation. Thinking it would be temporary, I offered to help him, and so took over running the GM's office in a role somewhat like a Chief of Staff. Of course, I continue to handle my own department as Head of Business Development. It's time consuming and hectic, but Hjjer is under a lot of pressure too so it's Ok; I don't mind.
Some weeks ago, after we'd had a rather successful month closing two deals - one in Korea and another in Vietnam - the office had decided to party. We rather surprised Hjjer, having organized a drinks-and-dinner thing at a rooftop restaurant and then buttonholed him into joining us. He was really tired that evening but showed up like a good sport. That was the first evening I'd really spent any social time with him.
He was marvelous company, although I remember waiting till the throng of colleagues finally left him alone before I even approached him. He got me a glass of wine from the bar, we talked, he escorted me down to lobby and offered to drop me home. In fact he was quite insistent but I turned down the offer and took a cab instead.
The following week he went off on a business trip; I can't recall where but I think it was either Singapore or Tokyo. Or maybe both. But when he got back it was a weekend, and as is his wont, he called all of his Department Heads to get a briefing in the evening. I remember his call to me was rather late and I was still at the office. We talked about office work for about half an hour, and then somewhere along the line the conversation veered away from work.
And then he invited me to his home. I was caught completely off guard. First I was flustered, then I was nervous. And finally I was panicked. I'm not sure why those were my reactions; I never subsequently bothered to analyze my state of mind when he said "Why don't you come over?"
In any case, I agreed and told him I'd be at his house in about half an hour. I thought I knew the location of the house because Hjjer had pin pointed it to us on a large map of Hanoi that hung on one wall in the office. I got into a cab and the driver understood fairly clearly which road I wanted to get on to. But every minute of the drive saw an increasing level of panic rise in my gut, and then in my throat. I was nervous as hell, but deflected that by not dwelling on the subject.
When I got to the road that skirted the lakefront of Tay Ho where he lived, and I figured it would be about 500 metres away, the anxiety and trepidation really set in. In desperation I called Hjjer to tell him I was turning back and I'd come some other day. I dialed his number on my cell and waited anxiously for him to pick up while the connection was being made. He did in barely a second, not giving me enough time to compose my cowardly retreat.
The second I heard his beautiful, deep baritone, I said "Hjjer, I'm going back, I can't find your house." There was silence at the other end; it lasted what seemed like a long time but probably wasn't more than three or four seconds. Then the voice came back. It was controlled but with a certain edge to it that I couldn't decipher at that moment. "Wait! Where are you?" he asked.
"I don't know", I said.
Soothing baritone responded, in complete control, "Look out of the window and read out any signboard that you see." I was sitting at the back of the taxi, on the passenger side and so my window faced the curb and not the lake. I peered out and saw a sign that said 'Nguyen Vic Apartments' so I spoke that out into the phone.
"Ok. Tell the cabbie to slow down, you're barely 100 metres away. Are you in a green cab?" I heard him ask. I was mesmerized with the sudden control his voice had over me. I told the cab to slow down and keep driving. Then I replied into the phone, "Yes, a green Mai Lin taxi."
"I can see you" I heard Hjjer's voice just as we took a bend in the road, "You're 5 houses away." And a few seconds later I heard him say "Stop! Stop!" I repeated that to the driver and he stopped. I didn't look out of the window, having complete trust in the voice in my ear. I didn't dare switch off the phone as I paid the taxi fare to the driver. Then I opened the door and carefully stepped out, the phone still close to my ear.