Sickened in the sun
You dare tell me you love me
But you held me down and screamed you wanted me to die.
- The Last Song I'm Wasting On You (Evanescence, 2006)
Kuon sighed when he couldn't contact his wife the whole day, she even promised to attend their daughter's graduation but the ceremony was about to end, still no Kimiko arrived in the gymnasium.
"Dad, where's mom?" His ten-year old daughter, Maria, asked with a teary eyes. "She promised to attend my graduation if I will get the highest mark in my class, and I did!" She exclaimed, showing him her medals.
"I think she's on her way baby, 'cause she's not answering my calls. Maybe she's driving?" Kuon said to put her mind at ease, by giving her a false hope, a pang of guilt washed thru him when he saw the hopeful look on her eyes. "But on a second thought, are you hungry? Maybe we can grab something to eat, and wait for your mom, okay?" Maria nodded in response.
In the restaurant, Kuon almost yelled on his phone when his wife finally answered with a groggy voice.
"Yeaah?"
"Don't give me that crap, Kimi!" He hissed softly, he's in the comfort room making the call so Maria won't hear anything. "Where the hell are you?! Maria is waiting! You promised her that you will come in her graduation!"
"I fell asleep, sorry. And I'm too tired to move, I had a bad hangover." She groaned. "Just tell her I'll be waiting for her at home."
Kuon cursed when he heard a dial tone. He composed his self before going back to their table.
"Dad, is mom going to come?" Maria asked in concern.
"Sorry baby, but she got colds. But she said, she will wait for us at home." He smiled at her, but Maria's good mood already washed away.
"It's not the first time she broke a promise." She mumbled, obviously disheartened from what her own mother did.
"But I'm here." He patted her head. "Let's enjoy your graduation 'cause I'm so proud of my baby girl!"
"Really dad?" She asked reluctantly. When Kuon gave her a kiss in the head, she hugged him. "Even if mom is not here with us, with you, I'm still happy."
He patted her back, as he narrowed his eyes in anger thinking about her wife.
"Hi baby! I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your graduation, mommy was sick." Kimiko immediately greeted the two on the doorway, and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek, but Maria just stood there with a frown. She gave her husband a kiss too, but Kuon turned his head away.
Kimiko frowned at him, wondering what's wrong.
"Kuon..."
"Shoko-san, please take Maria to her room." The man called Maria's nanny, who noticed the tension between the married couple, immediately took the child away and went upstairs. When they are nowhere in sight, he immediately grabbed his wife's arm and dragged her outside.
"Where have you been?!"
Kimiko yelped in pain. "I told you, I fell asleep –"
"Do you think I'm stupid?!" He yelled, but not loud enough for their child to hear upstairs.
"Kuon it hurts!" Kimiko tried to free from his grip, but failed.
"Listen Kimiko, you promised to Maria that you will attend her graduation if she get the highest marks. And she did! She worked hard for you to pay attention on her, but what? You fell asleep?!" He gripped her arms tightly. "Bullshit!"
"It's true! You can ask Shoko if you want!" She yelled.
Kuon gritted his teeth, and forcedly let her go. "Do you think I'm oblivious about your affair?" He narrowed his eyes at her "If I will caught you on act, I swear to God, I will throw you out myself!" He warned before going back inside the house.
Kimiko hissed in pain, and saw a hand mark on her arm.
"Damn that kid! I shouldn't have gave birth to her in the first place!"
"How long are you going to endure that husband of yours?" Ruriko, one of her friends, asked. They are having lunch in a high-end restaurant, so Kimiko can rant about her frustrations.
"Forever!" She exclaimed. "Leaving Kuon is like kissing the luxury life goodbye."
"But you already have Sho, and he's quite wealthy, being a doctor and everything. And there's Hide, your reserved guy if Sho is not available."
"Ugh!" Kimiko groaned and dropped her head "I need more money for me live a life like this forever!"
Ruriko shrugged and continue eating her lunch. "But what if, Kuon will find someone new?" She asked all of a sudden. "Someone who's better than you."
"Impossible." She smirked. "Kuon values family above all else, he don't want his own family to be broken, he don't want Maria to feel what he felt when his parents divorced at such young age."
"So you used that to your advantage?" Ruriko grinned.
"Correct~"
"Look at you, the scheming housewife."
"Of course! How do you think I managed to seduce such hot stud to begin with?"
Both friends chuckled.
Kyoko worked as a waitress in Daruma-ya, she worked four jobs to pay for her mother's hospital bill. Her mom has a heart disease, and she needed a heart donor to live longer. Being an only child, and without knowing her father, she shouldered all the responsibilities for her only relative left.
She was startled when her phone start ringing, she got worried when it was the hospital who called.
"Hello?"
"Miss Mogami Kyoko?"
"Yes?"
"Please come to the hospital immediately."
Kyoko immediately excused herself and asked for the owner for an early leave, thankful that the couple were understanding about her situation. She called for a cab and went to the hospital.
She was panting when she arrived at her mother's ward. A blond doctor who was assigned to her mom, looked at her curiously.
"Are you the daughter of Mogami Saena?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"I am Fuwa Sho, your mother's surgeon."
Kyoko tilted her head in confusion "Surgeon?"
"Yes, we already have a donor for her, and we will proceed the surgery immediately."
"Th-That's great!" She breathed. Finally, her mom can live longer.
"But you need to deposit amounting of two-hundred thousand yen."
Kyoko choked on her own saliva. "T-T-T-Two-hundred T-T-T-T-Thousand yen?!" She exclaimed. "B-B-B-But I don't have that huge sum of money!" She cried. "C-c-c-c-can I make a promissory note?"
"I'm sorry ma'am, but this is a private hospital, we don't accept promissory notes."
Kyoko's slumped her shoulders. "What should I do?"
"Proceed the operation." Kyoko and the two nurses whipped their heads to the doctor.
"Doc? Proceed the operation doc?"
"I will cover the bill."
Kyoko gasped in shocked and surprise, unknowingly, her a tear dropped over her face. "Th-Thank you so much, Dr. Fuwa! I swear, I will work hard to pay you!"
Sho smiled at her. "Alright then." He looked at his nurses and gave them instructions for the surgery, he called an anesthesiologist and one other surgeon to help him.
Kyoko was pacing back and forth in front of the operating room, the red light still on, indicating the still ongoing surgery. After more or less four hours, the red light was turned off, and Sho came out from the door.
"It was successful, we will transfer her to a vacant private room available."
"Th-Th-Thank you so much." Kyoko sobbed. "My mom is the only left with me."
"Ah by the way, meet me at my office, I have to tell you something about your payment."
Kyoko blinked at him, without giving it any second thought, she nodded.
Sho swiveled on his chair. "I think I just found a solution to our problem, babe." He said on the phone.
"Really?!" The person the other hand squealed.
"Yes." He nodded "We can be together now without getting scared that Kuon might caught us. Just wait and relax."
"Sure. Sure!" He heard a rustled sound in the background "Kuon is here, I gotta go."
"Take care."
Sho sighed in relief, before he heard a knock on his door. Kyoko was nervous when she entered his office, Sho observed the lady standing before him.
She has the same height as Kimiko, same body features, somewhat same voice, just a little surgery on her face then she's perfect – perfect to be her substitute.
"Mogami-san, I want you to have a cosmetic surgery in the States."
"E-E-E-Excuse me?!" She shrieked. She didn't expect to hear something like that from him. "Why?!"
"Because I want to. I will tell you the details after the surgery was made. Is that clear?"
"But my mom –"
"We will make sure to take care of her." He gave her an assurance smile. "Remember who paid your mother's operation." He reminded her, glaring at her when he notice her uncertainty.
Kyoko lowered down her head and looked at her shoes. "Yes."
"Do you have a passport?" Sho sighed when she shook her head. "We will rush your passport so you can leave as soon as possible."
"Yes doc." She whispered.
"Prepare your documents and wait for my call. You may leave." Kyoko politely bowed at him before turning away.
In her hospital room, Kyoko slowly brushed her mother's hair. "Mom, I don't know what Dr. Fuwa wants for him to suggest a cosmetic surgery, but I promise, I will be back. So please, don't worry about me, I'm doing this for you."
Kyoko was startled when the door suddenly opened. She saw her bestfriends, Kanae and Chiori, catching her breath, with Kanae's boyfriend, Yashiro, behind her.
"So it's true!" Kanae exclaimed, and hugged her bestfriend when she saw Kyoko's mom, being on a stable condition. "What did you do? Where did you get the money for the operation?" Kanae immediately asked, but she frown when she noticed her supposedly happy bestfriend, was crying.
"What happen?"
Kyoko explained that the surgeon paid everything. "What's the catch?" Chiori suspiciously asked. "No doctor will help someone without asking anything in return."
The girl was fidgeting on her fingers "H-He wanted me to be a maid on his friend's house." She lied. She don't want them to know, since her herself don't know what Sho really wants.
"Is that all?" Kanae asked. Kyoko softly nodded.
"That's why, Moko-san, Chiori-san please, can you look after my mom while I'm gone? I will give you your expenses if I already have my work."
The two hugged the girl "Of course! You can count on us!"
"Thank you."
Kyoko was nervous, her heart was beating faster, gripping the bag on her hand, and her passport and ticket on the other. Sho instructed her that he already arranged everything, and gave her the address to his friend's hospital.
She heaved a sigh when she heard her flight being called.
"There's no turning back."
She slept in the whole duration of the trip, when arrived in LAX, she immediately called for a taxi. Thankful that she's paid attention on her English class when she was in High School, she can understand and speak their language. She showed the address to the driver and he nodded. After an hour or two, he dropped her on a huge hospital, she paid the cab before going out. Her legs were trembling as she entered in the building, she wanted to back out, but for her mother, she kept on muttering that everything is for her mother.
"Yes ma'am?" The information desk receptionist asked, with a smile.
"I-I-" She cleared her throat composing herself. "I'm here to see Dr. Reymonds, please. Dr. Fuwa from Japan already made an appointment."
The receptionist nodded and immediately made a call, after a few minutes, she turned her attention back to her. "Tenth floor ma'am, third door to the right."
"Thank you."
The elevator stopped on the third floor, when it opened, she gasped at the beautiful man she ever saw. Blond hair, and green eyes, get inside and stand beside her.
He pressed the number twelve and went back to his phone, he's calling someone.
"Yes baby, I will never forget to buy you a souvenir." Kyoko glanced at the man.
Japanese? She thought.
The man kept talking on the phone, sensing her stare on him, he asked. "Yes? Do you want something from me?" He asked in English.
The girl snapped from her thoughts and blushed in embarrassment. "Ah, no." She waved her hands, and then pointing at herself "I'm also a Japanese." She said. She blushed deeper when the man only gave her a look that says 'So what?'
Kyoko felt her face getting hotter "Oh! Uhmm... err... I... was just... uhmm... surprise to hear someone speak in Japanese... In this foreign country..." She frantically explained.
The man blinked at her, he snorted. "I get it."
The girl sheepishly smile at him, the elevator dinged as the door opened. Kyoko stepped out and giving the man a polite bow, as her way of saying goodbye, the man smiled in return.
Kyoko immediately found the office of the man that she's been looking for. She knocked three times, after she heard him said 'enter', she opened the door. A man on his late forties, sitting on a large swivel chair greeted her.
"You must be Kyoko Mogami. Sho already told me about you." He stood up and examining her.
"Y-Yes."
"When do you want the start the operation?"
"I want it as soon as possible doc, so I can go home immediately."
"Hm." The foreign doctor nodded. "We will do it at three in the afternoon then."
He guided her to one of the private rooms. "Take a rest before the operation." Kyoko nodded, when the doctor closed the door. She let her feelings go, scared and nervous.
But for my mom. She reminded herself. She took a deep breath to calm herself.
Three in the afternoon arrived, Kyoko was sent to the operating room that will change her life forever once she will get out.