Everyone told me that I was the responsible, the perfect one. I was cherished by them. And it always made me think that I was above all. But this certain person had destroyed all of my thoughts by only her personality itself.
Responsible? Perfect? No, that's not me. It's her. When I looked at her, I always found myself thinking that I still had a lot to learn.
However, the only difference was that she wasn't cherished by anyone in particular. She was rather feared. And that was what had always broke my heart when I looked at her.
She was sorrounded by fake people, fake love, fake trust, fake everything that it always made me want to wrap her around with a protective barrier that can never be broken by anyone. But sadly, I was too blind to see that she rarely needed protection from me. She herself was all she needed.
The first time I had met her wasn't something I would be overjoyed with. But it was an event, rather a heartbreaking event, that lead us together - turning us, into the teacher and the student.
**********************************************
!Knock knock!
"Who is it?" I asked loudly, turning the page of the book entitled as 'The little prince'. I was gifted this book by my eldest sister on my last birthday and since I had nothing better to do, I decided to give it a go. I didn't even realize when I had drowned into the story so deeply. But I didn't care because I didn't want to move from my position until I finished reading it - it was that good.
It was a sunny, clear day. The sky blue coloured canvas outside above had cotton like clouds drawn on it as if they were floating. Birds were twittering among themselves on the trees of the garden backyard as usual. And I was sitting on the big window sill with the book I was reading to enjoy this nice environment even for a bit.
"Open the door, you idiot Kazuma! It's me, Kariu!"
At once, my temper began to rise when I heard what she had called me. I pulled the door open, an angry frown on my face as I folded my hands, "What do you want?"
"What do you mean by what do I want?" Kariu asked me back with a playful smile.
Kariu was a girl with beautiful features. She was indeed, Sakagami family's model face. Her beautiful long, lightly curled red hair and the two of her blue eyes were so gradient that those were the first thing that would snatch your eyes away the moment you looked at her.
She looked happy for some reason, so I asked her what was the reason for it.
"I managed to get some money from Dad to go grab ice-cream. Want to come?" She grinned, her perfect white teeth on display.
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, like I am dying to make all the eyes on street to turn on me."
Going outside with Kariu was the last thing I would do ever since I went out with her for the first time of life. Because she was some hot shot so all the people in the town knew about her. It could be because of both her looks and her status. Since all the time, I heard people talking about her visuals as well as mentioning that she was the second daughter of Sakagami family.
And so, as I didn't like too much attention, I avoided going somewhere outside with her at all costs. Getting all the attention from everywhere as I was the only son of Sakagami family was enough for me. But here my sister was, beaming before me only to be rejected.
Well, this was easy.
"Of course," I blurted unintentionally, "Why not?"
While my so called beaming sister beamed even lighter.
**********************************************
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨?
I scolded myself in my mind as some more head turned around to look at the two of us passing by while their usual comments followed.
The one and only Sakagami family was a big, influential family of the town. That influence always boosted because they were the owner of the biggest company named SK and Co. And all of the family's members were outstanding enough to draw attention.
My grandfather had gotten married and had two sons. The elder son is my father, who got married at a young age to hold the family's leash. Both my grandmother and grandfather died just after some days of my father's marriage. Then, my father decided to raise his younger brother since he was just in high school at that time. And so, he created his own family.
Years later, on a day around when my uncle got married, my eldest sister Kira had been born. And then eventually, my other elder sister Kariu was born and so was I. But the age gap between us was pretty big. Kira was twenty six and Kariu was twenty two while I was only fourteen.
While my parents had three children, unfortunately, my uncle and aunt didn't have any children. Even if they were hurt and sad, they later decided to accept reality and to live this life loving each other.
We were raised with love and care beyond imagination. Both my father and mother were young, too. It was like those life in a novel book of royalty.
Everything was going in the best way possible until that time came. And this, was the starting of that time. And little did I know about that.
As we entered the ice-cream parlour, Kariu was still humming the tune of her favourite song. The two of us went up to the counter together. I stood by her side with my hands in the pockets and waited for her to order for the flavours of the two ice-cream we were about to buy.
While Kariu was looking at the flavours and was trying to choose which one she wanted, I studied the appearance of the person who was standing on the other side of the counter. And I was surprised by seeing him working here.
"Yamaguchi Yasuo-san?" My mouth fell open.
The man immediately looked up at me to meet my eyes in surprise.
𝘐𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮!
I asked him quickly, "What are you doing here? Why are you working here?"
But the only response I got crom him was - "Shush!"
I squinted at him to understand if anything shady was going on in here. But he seemed to be looking as good as ever.
I looked over at my sister to see her not ordering for any ice-cream but staring at Yasuo. Was she really blushing or was I seeing things?
I shrugged and poked her on the side as I whispered to her, "Don't you want ice-cream?"
She snapped out of her daze and asked Yasuo for the flavours she chose for us, stuttering a bit over time to time.
Reading her actions, I looked back at Yasuo and then at my sister.
"𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥..." I smacked my forehead as the thought processed in my head.
**********************************************
Kariu went to get ice-cream almost three days a week after that incident and I could barely contain myself any more.
I rejected her all the time saying that I wouldn't go with her but she would drag me there nonetheless.
We would buy some ice-cream and talk to Yasuo. My sister even became friends with him. And slowly after he had trusted us enough, Yasuo told us why he took a job there.
He was the same age as my sister but elder in some months. So his father, that is, Yamaguchi family's current head, is thinking of arranging a marriage for him together with his grandfather and his grandmother. He didn't want to get married yet because he had a lot of dreams he wanted to fulfill and he didn't want to get married to someone he didn't even have feelings for. So he refused to listen to his father. But, his father paid no attention to his words and instead, he gave his son an earful. That's why, he's thinking of making enough money to live off of and then run away from home.
Well, to me, it wasn't a very bad idea. I would do the same. And my sister thought the same as me. And then somehow, we ended up being his mental support.
**********************************************
Some weeks later.
I knocked on Kariu's door, asking for permission to go in.
"Come in!"
I entered the room to see Kariu at her table. Her hair was tied up, she had glasses on and she was holding a pen which she was using to scribble in a notebook while a textbook, a reference book and some other books laid around the table.
"Is your end of year exam starting tomorrow?" I asked her ironically.
She shook her head in denial, "Not end of year, it's my exam of freedom. I'm graduating from university!"
"When you are only twenty two?" I asked in disbelief.
She winked at me. "Remember now my brother, I skipped three years to advance. Yeah, I'm that smart," She smirked.
"Yeah, whatever," I rolled my eyes. I shuffled my weight on the other leg as I hesitated to ask her the question I mainly came here to ask.
"Is there anything you need?" She asked softly, making me feel more at ease.
I nodded, "I wanted to ask you a question."
"Go on."
"Why don't you often go to buy ice-cream like you used to?" I said in one breath.
I could tell that she was surprised by my question but she met my eyes to answer it, "The weather is not that hot anymore."
"I know you have a crush on Yasuo," I blurted out, blushing right afterwards.
She broke out to a laughter. "You noticed a lot of details, huh?" She rubbed my head, not helping the messy hair I had to begin with.
"I had a crush on him," She corrected me, smiling up at me, "I don't see him like that anymore. He's more like my very close friend now."
"Oh," I said.
"Did I tell you?" She asked me suddenly, "He goes to the same university with me now. He's really smart like me, too. I have four friends in the university who I hang out with and he's one of them."
I looked at her agaped, "That's nice!"
"Yeah," She pinched my cheek, "He's doing great so you don't need to worry about him. He asks me about you a lot. He was the one who told me to let you know that he's doing great. And he also found someone he likes now."
"Who is she?" I asked in curiosity.
"One of my other friend in our group," Kariu smiled again.
I realized that day, that things changes without realization. You might think that time is still waiting at that certain moment, but it actually flows away. Waiting for you to get filled in by someone one day and suddenly makes you realize that you're already someone completely out of the group.
**********************************************
I had thought that Kariu was going to lead a quiet romantic life now that she didn't have any crush. But I was so wrong that I end up shivering even when I think about it.
The date of my elder sister Kira's marriage was set off. My father decided to marry her off when she stepped into her twenty seventh year.
We all attended the wedding and such. It was a grand ceremony. After the marriage, my father and mother were sending their eldest daughter off with her newly wedded husband. But I couldn't see Kariu anywhere.
I looked around for her everywhere silently when I didn't notice her with the party who were seeing the couple off. But I couldn't even trace her existence.
I couldn't get her through the phone as well that it worried me. I was wondering if I should tell father about it or not when she finally returned my call.
"Hello? Kariu?" I asked in hurry, "Where are you?"
"Yo, brother," Kariu on the other side greeted. "Can you believe our Kira got married today? I cried so much.."
"Kariu," I tried to avoid the subject that would create long conversation but was cut off by her reminiscing old memories.
"It's as if it were yesterday when all three of us used to fool around together." She went on, "Kazuma, don't leave me, will you? I love you a lot so it will hurt if you leave like this one day, too."
I gulped, "𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧?"
"Don't leave me even if I have done something completely stupid."
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?
"Kariu-"
"Kazuma," Kariu hiccuped as she sobbed, "I got married today as well."
"What?" I startled, "What did you say?"
"I married the man I love," Kariu cried, "But I'm scared. I'm scared to face father."
"Why? When? How?" I asked in shock, "Whom did you even marry? Don't tell me it's a nobody from the street!"
"My friend," Kariu whispered in the phone, "My friend Sanemi Ren. I married him."
**********************************************
In the world of rich and famous, people marry their son or daughter off to another powerful family who can support the family in wealth and status. They can't simply marry the person they love even if they want to. That almost stands as a rule these days.
Whereas, Kariu had made that mistake. The biggest mistake of her life.
"Dad, meet Sanemi Ren," She trembled before him as she introduced the tall, young, good looking man beside her, "My husband."
!Slap!
"Kariu!" I ran to her as her husband quickly held her hand tightly to support her falling from that strong slap.
"How dare you show me your filthy face!" Father shouted, "How dare you!" He shouted on top of his lungs.
"I," Tears fell from her eyes as she tried to reply, looking down, "I got married after Kira as you wished, dad. And we have feelings for each other."
"What did you say?!" He raised his hand to slap Kariu again but stopped midway. "I told you that you were the next in line to be married off. Is that why you did this? I was planning to marry you off to a good family with great wealth and status and this is how you act?! You have feelings for each other?! What can he give you?" He screamed.
"Dad," Suddenly Kariu spoke as if she was getting heated up, "You have loved me the most all these years but you never understood my heart! I don't want wealth, I don't need status! I want to be with someone who'll love me just as much as I love him! And this is my life! I make my decisions! And he's from a good and wealthy family, too. Don't insult him."
"Then tell me!" He shouted, catching her word, "Tell me what love is!"
A silence fell in the room. Kira had come back straight to home with her husband as soon as she heard this news. My mom was standing in a distance with her and the new male member of the family.
My father smirked in victory when Kariu couldn't say anything in reply, "So you can't explain me what it is but you keep on going about 'love'. I was going to plant you in my place with a strong family supporting you from the back. And look at you now. Don't you have any interest in carrying out my prosperity?"
"I had never have any intentions of carrying out your prosperity, dad," Kariu answered curtly, rage taking the best of her. "I wasn't born to do that. I was born to gain prosperity of my own. Not carry out someone else's. That's not called prosperity at all."
"You dare to talk like that to me?" father gritted his teeth.
Our mother quickly urged Kariu to beg for father's forgiveness which she didn't do.
Instead, she held her hand up, holding Ren's hand tightly, "We'll gain prosperity of ours. And I know he'll give me more than the support that I could ever ask for. So father, please accept us. Just like you accepted Kira and her husband." Both Ren and Kariu bowed before father.
"Get out of my eyesight."
I snapped my had back at him to see his dark face. The darkness had a lot of emotions mixed in it. Sadness, anger, disappointment were some of the examples.
"𝘕𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨," My eyes widened in fear of what's about to happen.
"𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘶, 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦!"
The thing that I regretted most was that I should've told her those words, that I thought of, sooner
My father and his second daughter were like best friends. Their love each other was out of this world. But the most confusing thing is that even if the they loved each other dearly, they never really knew about each other's feelings. The feelings they had buried, deep inside their hearts. Just like what any other father and daughter does. Not mentioning how much you love or how much you are thankful, just saying that you are. It didn't make the moments feel special and emotional at all. And at last, to converse without knowing what the other might feel after you say it, never crossed their mind.
"If you are that confident," Father rumbled, "You should gain your own prosperity. Go live your own life. And never come face me again. From this moment on, you are no longer a part of Sakagami family and the same banishment goes for all of your descendants! I order you to leave this family with your husband at once!"
"Dad, no!" Both I and my eldest sister Kira yelled out while my mother howled - "No, please forgive her! She didn't mean anything she said! Please, I beg you!"
"Didn't you hear what I said?" He looked down at his once the most beloved daughter who now stood before him, with tears in her swollen eyes from crying too much, her husband standing next to her, holding her hand as he glared at his father-in-law.
The father said one last time as his voice quivered but his tone not getting any softer, "Get lost and never come back."
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