Aki went upstairs hurriedly with an irritated mood.
Nora and Noah looked at each other. Nora was about to leave but Noah stopped her, 'Oi! What do you know about this guy?'
'I don't know anything.' Nora tried to deny but he grabbed her collar, 'I know you did a background check on him. Say!'
'He is a professor.' she said.
'That I know. What else? Does he have any criminal record or juvenile report? Or mental illness?' Noah was talking fast.
Nora updated Noah with everything. Re is decent. To the point, he is only seen in and out of his home and office and other associated places.
'No bad habits. Doesn't drink, is not social, animal lover, bookworm and he is 6 years older than you both.' Nora spilled out everything.
Noah let go of her collar in surprise, 'He is older than us?'
'Why!! Why does it always happen to me! I liked him first.' Nora starts to pretend she was crying.
'Shut up! Will you?!' Noah is worried about how Aki will handle it and What are his feelings? He had doubts if something happened while he was at Reiji's home.
Aki felt totally messed up and was regretting coming today. Aki kept feeling irritated all day long. He did not want to think but he did keep thinking about Reiji all day. He wanted to see Ginger so he left the office early.
Joshua was talking with someone. When they saw Aki they stopped talking and Joshua greeted Aki, 'You are early today.'
Aki was hesitant but answered, 'I wasn't feeling well.'
'What happened to you? Fever?' Joshua touched his forehead.
Joshua's body temperature was hot as well
'Thanks for the other day. You really helped out that day.' Aki thanked him as he forgot to mention his gratitude.
'It was nothing.' Joshua wanted to ask something but held back then asked, 'I'm not sure if asking it will be ok but may I?'
Aki was eager to answer, 'Ya sure.. anything...'
'Do you have a lover?' Joshua's question made Aki feel deja vu happening.
Why is everyone asking this today made Aki confused. Aki said with a sad face, 'I used to have a girlfriend. But we broke up recently.'
Again Aki feels an emptiness in his heart.
''Thought so. It felt like your heart was broken. Your aura was different.' Joshua's expression was worried.
Aki was surprised to hear that Joshua sees aura.
Joshua tells Aki that Aki seems calm today. Aki smiled knowing Joshua can really see,
'Oh! I apologized to whom I had to, so I feel less burdened I think.' Aki said.
Joshua smiled, 'You have done well.'
Aki feels so relaxed every time he talks with Joshua. He is almost like Noah. They have the same nature. The train arrives and he leaves.
After getting home he sees Ginger and hugs him tight. Ginger didn't leave his side after that.
The next morning Ginger insists on going along with Aki.
He was unable to leave Ginger's home. This affection is because Aki was not around.
'I know it's my fault to leave you alone. I'm sorry you had a hard time…' Aki stops as he remembers what Reiji said.
'I really say sorry too much.' Aki sighs.
So since that day, he has taken Ginger to the office every day. He took Ginger with him and got out. Ginger didn't want to get inside a cage so he put on a leash on Ginger. He carried him to his car. Ginger was being a good boy and didn't disturb him at all. When he entered the office the whole office screamed in joy seeing a pet. But Ginger didn't like anyone at all and stayed with Aki. After a while Aki heard another commotion in the office, ''What is it now!?'
Ginger chose his favorite spot which was the balcony's chair. He stayed there.
Aki switched off his chamber's glass opacity. Reiji was there so Nora and others were making a fuss to see this handsome. Everyone was interested in why he was here. Everyone thought he must be here to be a model for their magazine. Only Nora knows why he is here.
Reiji saw Aki and smiled. Aki switched on the window's opacity seeing that. Nora saw that too. She calmed down the crowd, 'Guys! He is not a model. He is Re Tsubaki. He is a professor and he is a friend of our boss. He is not available and he has a son.'
Reiji frowned at the last sentence. While escorting Reiji to Aki's room Reiji said, 'So you are the one who had done the background check on me.'
Nora was embarrassed to hear that, 'I have a tendency...I mean to have trust issues.'
'Oh! You mentioned that I have a son. Who told you that? Aki?' Reiji smiles.
Nora became confused and became happy hoping Reiji doesn't have a son, 'Ya...do you not have…'
Reiji didn't wait to answer, 'I do have...in a way…'
Nora pouts, 'What?' Reiji laughed seeing that, and Nora was fascinated with his smile.
They entered his room. Aki was on the balcony. Ginger was still sleeping.
Nora said, 'Akkun! He is here…'
Aki was wearing contact lenses so Reiji could not see his real eye. Reiji smiles at him. Nora leaves them alone.
Reiji starts with a question, 'So I have crossed the line?'
'Yes.' Aki said firmly. Gestures Reiji to sit down.
'May I know the reason why you are avoiding my confession?' Reiji was polite.
Aki wanted to be clear, 'I still have feelings for my love…'
'You are not the first one of mine too.' Aki was dumbfounded to hear Reiji.
'So you have...first love.' Reiji's face darkens.
Aki nodded, 'Yes. those feelings and…'
'Trust me one-sided feelings are destructive. We often get deprived of true love because of those lingering feelings which have no destination.' Reiji's words made Aki astounded.
Reiji was serious.
'What are you talking about?' Aki tried to understand Reiji's meaning behind the comment.
Reiji continues, 'Nothing...what I mean is that I will continue to pursue you.'
Aki said, 'But you said you will understand. I won't have feelings for you. I won't lie.'
Reiji went silent and kept staring at Aki. Aki saw a change in Reiji's eyes. He was disheartened.
'I know you don't. But I cannot sit around, doing nothing, when the person I want to cherish doesn't have any consideration towards me. I will try to change your mind but even after that you seem not to consider me then I will…' Aki interrupted his explanation, 'Move on?'
Reiji smiles wide, 'I will do whatever. I'm not sure. Maybe I will force you or maybe I will let you go, maybe I will make all the reasons disappear that are binding you not to love me.'
Aki finds Reiji's stare unnerving. Aki was scared at what Reiji was saying but surprisingly it also felt strangely reassuring. But he doesn't know why. Reiji was simply talking sitting on a sofa from a fair distance but Aki felt every word piercing into his consciousness, 'So in a word…you won't let me go?'
Reiji keeps his stare on Aki, 'To be precise...I won't let my love for you...to go...I don't know what that will make me do.'
Aki looks down from the balcony. Then lookup. Aki closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Reiji feels the scent. He was taken off guard by the scent. His heart relaxes. He closed his eyes and kept feeling the serenity.
Aki asked about what Reiji's first love was like. Those words broke the illusion. Reiji felt his heart burning. 'That was an unrequited love. Forbidden of sorts.'
Aki asked with confusion, 'What? Like, with the enemy ?'
Reiji smiles, 'No! With a friend of the sort who became forbidden for me on the next day.'
Aki assumed Reiji didn't know while Reiji was being friends with the one he loved. Aki thought they were enemies and still were friends.
"How pathetic would it be." Aki continued to think from his own view.
He doesn't want to ask because that might hurt Reiji.
'Oh! You have a cat here!' when Reiji mentioned it, Aki didn't notice when Ginger went to him. Ginger seems to take a liking to Reiji. He didn't expect Ginger to like him, ''Everyone in the office tried to be friendly with him but he ignored and now he went to someone he doesn't even know?"
'Wow! We have the same breed.'Reiji said with a smile.
'You have a cat too?' that took Aki by surprise.
Mei said Reiji wasn't the type to have patience and Mei seemed right. Reiji is incredibly straightforward with his emotions and expression.
Reiji said with a happy face, 'Ya...My twin and Sora, we had found three litters.'
Reiji told him the story. The kitten's mother died for some reason so they took them. Two of them were hazel-eyed and one was green. 'So Sora told us two to have that twin while Sora took the green-eyed one. Your cat is just like Sora's.'
'Who is Sora?' Reiji's smile disappeared when Aki asked that.
Aki guessed that maybe it was me that was his lover.
'Our elder sister.' Reiji said with a sad smile. Aki felt guilty to have the wrong idea again.
'Oh! It's good to have twin siblings. They sync together. It's so cute. We find them really adorable. I bet Sora finds it adorable too.' Aki tried to ease the situation.
'She.. She is not with us anymore…' Aki went silent after hearing that.
Aki thought she might have died. So he feels sorry.
Aki goes to him sympathetically and sits beside him. 'I'm sorry...I didn't know she died, I thought…'
'Are you crazy!' Reiji bursts out with anger. Aki was shocked. Aki couldn't comprehend what happened. Seeing Aki get startled Reiji realized how he had acted, 'I told you before not to do that.'
Aki thought about Reiji's warning about apologizing, 'But you say sorry when you…'
Reiji became frustrated with Aki being so dense, 'I warned you not to jump to conclusions without knowing.' Aki realized the warning, 'Oh! Sorr…' Aki shuts his mouth with his hand.
Reiji finds that adorable. Suddenly kisses Aki's hand that was covering his lips. Aki springs out from the sofa to the side, 'what the hell are you doing?'
Reiji asked while smiling, 'Do you hate it?'
'Of course, don't get carried out just because I was sympathetic.' Aki emphasized his demand.
Reiji then relaxed a bit and said Sora is not dead. Aki listens to Reiji saying she doesn't live with Reiji's family anymore. She lives alone somewhere else.
'You should have said it that way. You sounded like you can't see each other anymore.' Aki cleared where Reiji was wrong.
Reiji went silent and was thinking, "More than 35 years I haven't seen her. I wish I could go back in time."
Aki noticed Reiji was deep in thoughts, 'What are you thinking about?'
Reiji looked up and smiled, 'You. I came here to treat you. I think the first session is over.'
'Nonsense!' Aki couldn't say anything nor could he believe it.
Aki thinks about the possibility of Sara reaching Reiji but to send him here is out of the question. Aki called Sara immediately.
'Aki! What happened?' Sara answered immediately.
Aki asked while looking at Reiji, 'Mom! Did you ask Dr.Tsubaki…
The response made him silent. She did. She had asked Tsubaki about Aki. She informed him everything about Aki. So he understood that Aki needed consultation outside the medical center. 'Tsubaki had agreed right away.'After Sara was finished, Aki couldn't believe it. He leaned on his table in frustration, 'Of course, he would.'
Aki looked at Reiji. His smile irritated Aki even more.
'Is there any problem? Sara sounded concerned.
'No mom,I will handle it.' He ended the call and said to Reiji,' You tricked me!' Reiji answered carelessly saying he was just doing his job.
'With that, I got my bonus. You!' Reiji smiled.
Aki smirked, 'Do you think you can handle a case like me?' Reiji found it weird to have Aki react like that,
'There is nothing wrong with you, to begin with. You are just unique. One of a million! Don't forget.' Reiji smiled and got up. He opens the door and leaves. Aki was speechless and irritated.
Nora entered. Aki said with an irritated voice, 'Not you now.'
Nora felt offended, 'Akkun! You know you are a big dummy!'
Aki sighs, 'And what else?'
The whole office went head over heels for Reiji and he is for Aki but Aki has no care about that.
Hearing Nora say all that, Aki was surprised, 'Why would I?'
'Didn't he accept you as you are?' Nora's voice became soft.
Aki smiles sadly, 'He hasn't seen the whole me.'
Nora came close, ' At least. He saw a part of you. And he didn't deny it.'
Aki could not say anything after what Nora said.
'That's a big difference. I'm sure he will accept the whole of you. Have trust in yourself. You are a great person.' Nora's expression made Aki uncomfortable, 'Did you eat something wrong today?!'
Nora became irritated, 'I take my words back. You are a bad person. I will take him on behalf of you.'
Aki smiled, 'Stupid!'