CHAPTER 1: STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU
Summary:
Years after Lillian, Yumi grew up to be a mature confident young woman, who is out to break men's hearts. Meanwhile Sachiko is a successful business executive in her family's conglomerate. Despite years of being apart, their hearts still long for each other.
Yumi
Yumi gently sipped her martini, letting the person across from her tire out from talking. The man has been at it for quite some time, making Yumi regret deciding to meet him instead of just breaking up with him through a phone call.
She pushed back the urge to sigh, letting him talk and talk until he realizes that it's useless, as once she has reached the decision to end things, there is nothing that would change her mind.
"Please Yumi-san, just give me another chance" he pleaded again.
Yumi shook her head.
The man reached out to touch her hand, but she pulled away instantly.
"I love you" he said again, "just let me know what I need to do for you to forgive me and give us another chance."
Yumi, unable to hold back her irritation any longer lifted her head and looked him square in the eyes and with all the contempt she could muster, she said "No Leo-san. There is no more us and there will be no more us." And with that, she put some bills on the table – not wanting to owe him anything until the very end – stood up, and left.
Thankfully, he did not rush to follow her. He is one of the few guys she's broken up with that did not come running after her even after she made it clear that their relationship is over.
xxx
Yumi soon found herself on the doorsteps of Yoshino. She didn't care if it was late in the evening, Yoshino for sure is still awake to finish her unending deadlines.
"Yumi-san" Yoshino say by way of greetings upon opening the door to her apartment. "Why am I not surprised to see you" she sighed.
"You knew I was breaking up with Leo-san tonight, of course you knew I would be coming" Yumi smiled and entered. She sat down on the sofa, making sure not to sit on any of the papers littered around Yoshino's small sitting room.
"Did he say to give him another chance to make things right?" Yoshino asked as she walked to the dining room to get some coffee for Yumi.
"Not exactly, but yes"
"Did he tell you that he loves you with tears in his eyes"
Yumi laughed, "He did not have tears in his eyes"
"Did he ran after you?"
"No"
"Wow, that's rare" Yoshino said, handing Yumi a cup.
"Not really, there were a few who didn't either"
Yoshino sat down on the floor and gathered her things, shaking her head in disbelief that her best friend has broken another poor guy's heart.
Yumi has indeed changed from their time in high school. Gone was the shy little girl in pigtails, replaced by a very confident and beautiful young lady who trampled guys' hearts with either high heels or running shoes (depending on her mood). It seems tonight has been a formal "break up" dinner seeing as her friend's body was adorned by a form fitting red dress, with matching red stilettoes and gold accessories.
Yumi may still be the very sweet and joyful person that Yoshino became friends with. She has kept her hair long, not anymore held in pigtails but instead cascaded down her back and framed her innocent face and gentle brown eyes. Her body however has developed making her what guys would call "hot". Since becoming Rosa Chinensis, she became more confident and sure of herself which only added to her charisma.
"It seems as if you are not bothered by this break-up" Yoshino stated.
Yumi sipped her black coffee, relishing the warmth and bitterness in her mouth before feigning a look of hurt, "that was harsh, I was hurt. No matter how it looks, breaking up is still emotionally draining. We have been together for six months, I thought…"
"…he was the one that would mend your broken heart?" Yoshino said with a smirk.
"Whatever do you mean? I was going to say, I thought he was going to last longer than that" Yumi took a sip of her black coffee. "What did you mean by mend my broken heart? If you remember correctly my friend, I was the one who broke up with them" Yumi continued.
Yoshino just proceeded in organizing her things. Of course Yumi will not admit it, but her heart remains broken even if so many years have already passed. And that no one will ever replace the gaping hole Sachiko left when they separated. Not that Yoshino has the courage to say her thoughts out loud. This same conversation has caused their friendship to almost end when she once had the gall to tell this to Yumi.
"Nothing. Anyway, what do you want to do? I have a deadline to finish because my manager will be bugging me tomorrow for my report." Yoshino grumbled.
"You mean you haven't finished it yet? I haven't visited you since last week to give you time to finish it without any distractions" Yumi said.
"Well, I will have you know that you are not the only person who barges into my apartment in the middle of the night." Yoshino huffed.
"Rei-sama has been here?"
"Of course. Unlike you my friend, I am monogamous."
Yumi picked up a book and gently tapped it on Yoshino's head. "I am monogamous. I never had more than one boyfriend at the same time"
"No you didn't, but you change your boyfriends every few months. And usually, you start dating only a week after your last break up."
"Hey! I did not break up with them just because I wanted to. I will have you know that they were the ones who did something wrong!" Yumi reasoned.
"Yeah? What did this last boyfriend do?"
"Well, he forgot to tell me has a business trip to Kyoto. He has been too busy that he missed our monthsary"
"And how many monthsaries have you forgotten during the six months of your relationship?"
Yumi thought for a moment, "It doesn't matter"
Yoshino smiled and looked triumphant, which irritated Yumi. "It doesn't matter because I've broken up with him. Anyway, I will be leaving you to your deadlines.'
With one final good night, she left. But instead of going home, she decided to stop by a bar and have some more drinks.
She drove herself to Taki's, which is one of her favourites. Taki-san is the owner's son and works part time as a bar tender. They have dated of course, but it didn't last. She ended things before it gets too complicated because she didn't want to go through the trouble of finding another hang out place if they ever break up (which is sure to happen given her history). But it seems like the guy never got over her, because for some reason, no guy has approached her as long as she sits by the bar near Taki himself. The guy also knew of Yumi's moods so well, that he knew when to talk to her or just leave her alone. Other than Yoshino-san, he was the only person whose company she doesn't find annoying on nights like tonight.
"Welcome back Yumi-san, the usual?" Taki-san greeted.
"No, give me something stronger" Yumi said as she sat in front of the man.
Taki-san gave her a long look before turning back to get her a tequila.
Yumi smiled as the man handed her a drink and left. Yumi knew her limits – knew that with a few shots of this strong tequila, she will be tipsy and it will be difficult to drive herself home. But not tonight. Because this night, she didn't care. She downed her liquor in one go, letting the alcohol burn her throat. Before putting the shot glass down (ignoring the salt and lemon also left in front of her) and signaling Taki-san to give her another.
Taki-san refilled her glass and left her a half-filled bottle of tequila. "Just don't pass out like the last time, okay? You are quite heavy" he said with a smile.
"Don't worry, I will not drink myself to death"
"Not to death, but until you are unconscious. Anyway, just keep it together" Taki-san said before walking away.
Yumi drank in silence, unhearing the soft thump of the music and the hushed voices of the other customers. Unseeing Taki giving her a sad look or the lustful stares of some of the guys attempting to approach her but cannot because of the warning look Taki is giving them.
She drank slowly, but soon enough she felt the alcohol going to her head. She welcomed the light-headedness it brought and allowed herself to sink deeper in to her own sad world.
Yumi took one last swig from her glass, feeling that she should soon stop. She closed her eyes to savour its warmth while feeling tears attempting to fall. She tilted her head back, willing the tears stop but they did fall anyway. She gently opened her eyes as tears cascaded down her face. "Happy anniversary Sachiko" she whispered into the air.
Sachiko
Sachiko slammed the bound documents on her desk. The sound reverberating in one of the Ogasawara Conglomerate's many conference rooms. "What is this garbage?" she said with an icy tone. The men and women around her froze in fear. It was not uncommon that the young executive is this harsh, but it still shook them to the core every time she is enraged.
"It was a simple task. And you call yourself a senior vice president?" Sachiko said with a tone of indifference.
The poor man kept his head bowed down, muttering his apologies.
"I do not need apologies, I need results. Look at me and answer me." Sachiko said.
"I will do a better report next time Ogasawara-san. Can you please let me know what specific part was not…"
He was unable to finish his statement, "Everything. Each part of it was garbage, but more specifically the proposed budget. The return on investment is well below what we originally agreed and the payback period is too short compared to what you promised. This being the case, what need is there for the company to invest in such measly project? Does it mean your initial estimates were wrong?"
The man shook his head, unable to say anything.
"Do you take me for a fool?" Sachiko shot the man an icy glare, not caring that there were at least a dozen more people listening to this verbal lashing.
The man still did not reply.
"Do I need to repeat my question?"
The man snapped back, upon hearing the threat in her tone. "No ma'am. We will go back to the drawing board and reassess our Capital Expenditures. The actual quotations of the suppliers were higher than we initially discussed. Some of the equipment parts need to be imported from Germany and the assembly done in Indonesia. We are meeting with them again to review the plans especially for the major product line machineries."
"Then perhaps your purchasing team is not good enough or you are not competent enough to deal with this major project? You should have done all these negotiations and adjustments before making this presentation." Sachiko was at her limit now. She hated being this angry, but today was not the best of days to have meetings like this. She stood up, "Two weeks. I am giving you two weeks to sort this out. I will see the project forecast on my desk not a day late otherwise we scrap this project" and she strode off. The group stood up and bowed as she exited.
She walked to her office, knowing that her face was once again a mask. The lines of anger gone. She stopped in front of her secretary's desk and asked for the documents for the next morning's meeting.
"Ms. Sachiko, your husband is inside waiting for your" Keiko said. Sachiko's eyebrow twitched and Keiko stuttered to correct herself, "I mean, Mr. Suguru. I was referring to Mr. Suguru." Keiko forgot that her boss hated referring to Suguru-sama as her 'husband'.
"Yes Keiko, I heard you the first time" Sachiko said and went inside her office.
Sachiko went straight to her desk. Ignoring the man in a crisp suit currently seated on the sofa in front of her executive desk. She started skimming through the paper works, striking out and encircling words that she found questionable or just plain wrong.
"How was your meeting?" he asked.
"Dreadful"
"Did the poor man wet himself from fear?"
"I think not"
"Did he say he will do a better job and to give him a chance to revise his proposal?"
"Yes he did" she responded nonchalantly.
"Did you stand up to leave and gave him time – I would guess two weeks - to redo his project study?"
Sachiko closed the folder and finally gave her attention to Suguru-san, "It seems you were there in the meeting to have known these details"
Suguru stood up and approached Sachiko, "I don't have to be there to know Saa-chan. It's always the same every time – every year."
"What you mean?" Sachiko narrowed her eyes.
Suguru knew. He knew that on this day many years ago, Sachiko and Yumi-chan broke up. The last day they saw each other. But he never had the heart to say this out loud. No matter how blunt he is when expressing himself to Sachiko, this is the one thing he was afraid of bringing up. He was not afraid that his wife will start shouting or give him an icy glare, he was used to that by now. It was the fear that Sachiko will close her heart and build a wall around herself once more. Walls that he himself took years to slowly breakdown.
"Nothing. Let's go home" he just said.
"I will be right out. Tell Keiko that she can leave. I will meet you in the car."
Suguru nodded yes and left.
As soon as the door closed, her shoulders sagged and she released a sigh. She leaned her head on her interlaced fingers and closed her eyes. She can feel the exhaustion of a whole day's meetings, the hunger for she have not eaten since this morning, but the most pervasive feeling was sadness. Memories of her beloved rushed to her head, making her eyes wet. Suguru have known how special and unforgettably heart-breaking this day was for her, and she was glad he held back from saying anything. But not only this day is unforgotten, everything about her remains in her head and in her heart.
"Yumi" she whispered softly, letting her weakness embrace her as tears start to fall.
A/N: Another sad story from me, but thanks for reading anyway. Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks imoshen88 for your proposed improvements *_*