When Aki returned to them intending to bid his final farewell, he stopped by his brother's side and whispered, "I am glad you stopped me when you did. Haruki has changed so much."
Haruki raised his head and met the doctor's gaze. His brow furrowed slightly confused at the meaning behind the gaze. It had him wondering what Aki had said but he brushed it off and left after Aki and his girlfriend did.
***
"I cannot get married to the person my mother wants," Miyoko voiced her complaint with a deep furrow of her brow and a slight pout of her lips.
"I told you to tell him as bluntly as possible to prevent misunderstanding."
"I made it clear to him. He is a bit of a psycho. When I told my mother that I liked him, I thought I was into men like that but I like men like you, gentle and accommodating."
"I wish I could help you out but . . ."
"You can help me out," Miyoko stopped him before he could complete his sentence as though she had been waiting for him to say it.
"How?" Hiroshi asked dreading what she would say when he noticed the glint in her eyes as she met his gaze.
"Pretend to be my boyfriend?" she asked him. When he parted his lips to speak, she leaned forward and raised her hand to stop him. "Don't reject me, please. I told him I was in a relationship and he told me he wanted to meet my boyfriend."
"A boyfriend would be more than willing to meet the person disturbing his lover that is why I could not reject him. So, please help me out. I am scared of him so I could not reject him as bluntly as you rejected me."
Seeing her downcast gaze, Hiroshi felt the need to help. He knew the person who could make someone as smart and fearless as Miyoko scared had to be someone powerful. Helping her could get him in trouble but he knew he had the backing of Haruki's family.
Since he had the right backing to help her out, he found himself nodding after all they were friends.
"Oh, really? You are not going to back out later, right?" she asked him hopefully.
"I won't back out," he assured her.
Her smile deepened as she sighed in relief. "Thank you," she appreciated.
"Tell me when so that I can clear my schedule to meet with him. I think you should just introduce me as your boyfriend and we can leave immediately or he might notice something's wrong."
"He wants us to have dinner with him. I think we can pretend to be in a relationship for an hour, right?"
Seeing another plea in her gaze, he pressed his lips tightly together before nodding helplessly.
"Thank you!"
***
Hiroshi cleared his schedule and when his father asked out of curiosity, he told him he was going on a date with a friend. He could see the hope in his father's eyes but he escaped his father's office before his father could ask him questions related to the bright curiosity he could see in the old man's eyes.
They decided to take Miyoko's car. He drove them following the navigator in her electric car. She told him the dinner was to start at six but when they arrived, she remained in the car.
"Aren't we supposed to go in?" he asked her.
"Wait a minute. I don't want to arrive on time." She was barely done with her statements when her phone rang. She pulled it out of her bag to see a strange number on the screen.
Hiroshi watched her pick up the call and say, "I am on my way."
Hiroshi being someone disciplined, stepped out of the car. He walked over to her door and opened the door. She was done with the conversation and hung up. She raised her head to meet his gaze questioning his actions.
"I don't think we should be late," he told her firmly.
"His call makes me not want to go at all."
Hiroshi stopped and asked, "What did he say?"
"He said I shouldn't forget our plans to meet. It sounded a bit threatening. I am scared this might not work out."
Hiroshi sighed tiredly. "I will work out," he assured her. "We have to go early though," he told her firmly. At this point, he felt a bit irritated. It occurred to him as he stepped into the building that he had never felt this way towards Haruki.
It was a fake date but he felt irritated by the lady beside perhaps he would never be able to move on from Haruki like he hoped or he might begin a journey of dating more people to find the person he was more than willing to be patient with.
Remembering that he had never fallen in love with anyone in the past, he might have given up that thought already.
His brother said Haruki changed, his brother might have fallen in love with Haruki in the past before he became the chairman but he fell in love with the cold detached Haruki who could also show vulnerability in pain.
"Are you okay?" Miyoko's voice came from beside him.
"Yes, I am." With a nod, he walked into the restaurant. It was empty even during a busy dinner time. He felt the person must be in love with Miyoko to go out of his way to preserve the whole restaurant for them. Either that or the person was in the mood to flaunt their wealth.
A waiter attended to them and directed them to a table after telling them that their company would join them shortly.
"He must have given up," Miyoko murmured. "He used to come very early."
She was barely done speaking when Haruki walked in followed by two guards and his assistant. As he approached, it was hard to disregard Haruki's overwhelming presence among his guards and assistant.
The handsome gaze his obsidian eyes carried was cold and calm like the king of the jungle. Hiroshi's gaze moved down those beautiful eyes to Haruki's lips enticingly pink. Without any conscious actions done by Haruki, he felt trapped.
He felt like a fool remembering his wishful thought of getting over Haruki and finding a daughter-in-law for his father.
He felt like a slave before a king, with the strong urge to go on his knees before the man, to let the man run his fingers through his hair, it would be even more pleasurable if the grip on his hair tightened to force him to upward to meet Haruki's gaze.
He lost control of his body as his body froze just like it did when he saw Haruki in the airport. He missed Haruki so much.