Ai took a deep breath and walked towards the garden as Akiyo accompanied her in silence. Once she had calmed her nerves down, she slowly turned her head to look at the younger brother of the man she vowed to avoid.
Akiyo Omaru... Jin's younger half-brother and the only friend Ai had in her previous life.
Akiyo has a pair of bright cyan blue eyes and long silky black hair that was tied up in a loose ponytail. His face was expressionless but his eyes were soft and kind, unlike the cold intense eyes of his brother's.
In the previous life, Akiyo was the only person who stood by her in Omaru household and also the only one who believed in her. Even when the whole world was against her and her ownself doubted her credibility, he remained firmly believed in her and stood by her.
Ai had once asked the kind-hearted Akiyo why he was so kind to an evil woman like her. The young man only shook his head with a gentle smile as he muttered softly, "Maybe one day you will find out, Ai."
"Thank you, Akiyo" Ai called out in appreciation, forgetting for a minute that they were yet to acquainted that well in this life. Ai grew red at her slip-up and quickly fumbled to apologise.
"I-I means Second Young Master Omaru!" she stuttered.
Akiyo quietly chuckled at the blushing young girl. She seemed to be about the same age as him or a few years younger, yet she possessed such an alluring beauty that could even rival the most experienced of courtesans.
Akiyo shook his head.
"It's okay, you can call me Akiyo... Ai...", he replied slowly, testing out her name on his tongue.
If he was being completely honest, he would say that he actually loved how casually she had addressed him. It sounds exquisite coming from her and somehow he wondered if it would sound more tempting during a passionate love-making.
Akiyo forcibly shook away his wayward thoughts and focused his mind back to gaze at the beauty that caught his attention. Usually, between the two brothers, women flocked to his brother like bees to honey. And yet, Ai, she had a mortified looks on her face that screamed she absolutely wanted nothing to do with his brother. This sparked his interest so bad that he decided that he must get to know her, by hook or by crook.
"You must be wondering why I'm so afraid of your brother," Ai muttered. She had a distant look on her face that clenched Akiyo's heart badly and he almost wanted to stop her from mentioning what pained her. That was until she continued detachedly, "Do you believe in reincarnation?"
Unsure where this was going, Akiyo nodded and replied, "To some extent, yes."
Akiyo listened silently as Ai recounted her story: from the day she met his brother to the fateful day she died.
For some unknown reasons, Akiyo believed in her story without a doubt. After all, why would she lie? Why would she run away from his brother? There was no benefit in creating such an elaborate plot for no reason unless she was crazy. And he doubted that was the case here.
A thought flitted through his mind: Perhaps it was to gain his sympathy and attention?
But if that's the case, Akiyo doesn't mind. In fact, he even felt giddy with excitement and would very much be delighted to be informed of that!
Even if Ai was as evil as she said so in her previous life, Akiyo still doesn't mind. He was feeling slightly envious towards his older brother and if it was him in his brother's position, Akiyo would have given her his heart. Willingly.
From what Ai described, the previous Akiyo also seemed to be in love with her, even though Ai didn't seem to realised as she was blinded by the love for his brother. Akiyo didn't like the thought of it and he somehow got wanted to compromise her virtue so that she would always be his.
Akiyo forced his heart to hold back the beast that was screaming to get out. Yet he secretly made a vow, in this lifetime, Akiyo will make Ai his and his only, be it she wants to or not.
He will personally make sure his brother can no longer hurt Ai, even if he has to eliminate his blood sibling or any other threats along the way.
Unbeknownst to them, a young man with a blonde exotic hair had been listening to them in silence and his grey eyes stared at the pair with vast emotions. His mind was in a dilemma as he was torn between righteousness and loyalty.
By righteousness, he should not inform his young master of what had transpired since the young lady had a valid reason for staying away from his master. Even though the words that the young lady was saying truly defied the common logic and was somehow absurd, he believed she was telling the truth. Maybe it was her evidently solemn tone or the expression of sadness and pain that she made, but he somewhat couldn't bring himself to think it was a lie.
Due to his family background and occupation, he had always prided himself for being able to differentiate between the lies and the truths, and this time, his instincts were telling him that it was the truth and since that was the case, the two parties in the story should not be together.
But he had sworn a blood oath to his young master and it's his duty to inform what had happened. But his heart was torn. As much as it was his first time seeing the young miss Shizuka, he felt a sense of familiarity and the yearning towards her that he had never experienced before and he was strangely reluctant for her to get involved with his young master. In fact, he even wanted to block the path of his young master and somehow wanted to stay by her.
Kit Koyozoki quickly shook away this hopeless notion of unrealistic emotions. After all, he was just a lowly servant here and even his own family had abandoned him. There was no way in hell he could stand next to such highly-accomplished Miss. Or so he thought...