Chapter 11
The young woman gathered her knees closer to her chest as a defense against the cold coming from the winds of the sea... She had much to think about... The past month and a half had been such a whirlwind, she had to catch her breath and sort out her confused thoughts.
When Soujirou declared that the game was on, she hadn't expected – all that... For the past month and a half, she'd been wooed, courted, cajoled, tantalized, and whatever other adjective you could think of. Now she knew what his past women must have felt like. Blown away. The sheer force of his charm – the way he turned those devastating eyes on hers, the way he looked when he was listening to something she said – as if she was the only person in the world and he was engraving her words in stone... the way he would oh so gently place his hand on her back to usher her places – it was enough to make every woman forget about herself.
Almost.
Yuki was here because she knew she wasn't every woman... She was here because she wanted to remind herself that this was the Soujirou she detested. She didn't want the carefully orchestrated seduction routine. She didn't want any of the gifts or sappy love letters... She didn't want to be wined and dined...
She sighed and buried her face in her knees. She wanted the real Soujirou... But she was confused... She wasn't sure if she knew who the real Soujirou was anymore – they'd been apart for four years, and whenever Tsukushi or Akira started to mention him, she'd stop them. Little wonder she was so confused now.
When she was growing up, Soujirou had been the embodiment of all her romantic dreams. He was her fairy tale prince... Not so much because he was like all the Prince Charmings in books who saved all those damsels in distress, but because she felt she could save him as well.
Now this. All the attention he was showering on her was turning her head. She knew she could fall in love with him again if she just let herself... No... she should be honest with herself at least... She was here because she was terrified she may already have fallen. Again.
Yuki kicked out her legs and let out a little unladylike grunt. Ugh! How did this happen? She had told herself she was over him. She had made a new life for herself. She was such a fool... Was she forever destined to fall for a man who is all wrong for her?
Yuki was in despair...
She was terrified..
That she was going to gamble all her emotions on Soujirou again, when she wasn't sure if he could do the same with her.
She was terrified..
That last time she was still able to gather her strength to move away from him but that this time, there might not be enough of her to salvage. Even her pride.
And lastly, she was terrified that he was just doing this because she had kept herself away from him. That to him, she was a challenge because she was unattainable. But that the moment she caved, he would make up some excuse and run.
Yuki wasn't sure if coming here was the right thing to do now. All she was doing was succeeding in scaring herself even more. She needed a voice of reason... She needed...
"Yuki-chan? Is that you?" A voice called out into the darkness.
Yuki's head whirled.
"Akira-kun?" She squinted her eyes against the brightness of the light he was holding. "What are you doing here?"
"Me? I could ask you the same thing..." he said wryly.
"I asked you first", Yuki said childishly. She bit her lip, what should she say to Akira?
Akira's eyes smiled. He knew exactly what she was up to, but he wasn't going to call her in on it. He can wait. "Looking for you", he answered smoothly, joining her on the sand.
"Why?" she cried with alarm. "Does anybody else know I'm here?" she asked. What she really meant to say was – Does Soujirou know I'm here?
"No."
Yuki let out a little sigh of relief. She didn't want to see Jiro until she got her feelings and misgivings under control. She wanted to lead with her head this time. Not her heart.
"He went to Spain with his father. He'll be gone for two weeks or more... I imagine you would have gotten twenty text messages from him by now, if you hid out here before he left."
Yuki felt a little guilty. She took her phone out of her pocket. She'd turned it off when she'd decided to take a little breather. As Akira had predicted, there were around 15 or so messages. Almost all were from Soujirou, with 3 from Tsukushi.
The first few messages from Soujirou were all the same, "Where are you, Yuki-chan? I'm about to leave for Spain. Will you miss me?"
When she had not replied, the tone of his messages changed. "Yuki! Where are you? You're worrying me! Answer the phone please!"
And then, "Damn it, woman! Answer the phone! I'm almost out of my mind with worry..."
And the last message read, "I guess you don't want to talk... Dream of me while I'm gone... I'll be dreaming of you..."
Yuki felt a guilty tug in her heart. She immediately texted a reply telling him not to worry – and made up some excuse about not answering the phone.
"So... is there anything you want to talk about?"
"Hmmm, me? No... what makes you think that?" Yuki looked up from her cellphone with a start.
"Well.. you're here... You forget, I've gotten to know you fairly well for the last four years... When you disappeared, I figured you'd find somewhere to go to be alone... Far enough away to think, but not far enough to worry anybody... So..." Akira gestured toward the sand before them.
"Okay, you caught me", Yuki smiled sheepishly at him. Akira looked out into the waters and just waited for her to start. Yuki was determined to wait him out, but she was so desperate to talk to him about the things she'd been thinking about that she gave in.
"What do you think Soujirou's been doing??? What's the meaning of everything he'd been doing to me this past month! Is he trying to drive me crazy? Because he's succeeding! I don't know what he means by all this! What does he want? Whatever it is, I can't give it to him because he'll just hurt me like he did before and I can't let him do that to me again. And he seems different, he's never done this to me before, I don't know what I'm going to do, but if he does the same thing with all his women, I don't think I can bear it! He gives me things things and more things! If he gives me anymore, I think I'll scream!!!"
Hrmmm, Akira cleared his throat. "You are screaming..." he pointed out gently. "Do you want to know my honest opinion or do you just want me to tell you the things that you want to hear?" He turned to look directly into her eyes.
"The truth, of course!" Yuki declared quickly.
"The truth is.. I've never seen Soujirou act this way around any of his conquests... In the past, he wouldn't take the time to buy any of them any gifts... He'd treat them out to dinner and give them flowers of course, but he would never have taken the time to pick out something for them... Whenever one of them would make noises about wanting something, he'd just give them cash and tell them to buy themselves whatever they wanted..." Akira murmured thoughtfully.
Yuki looked stunned at this... Could it be true? Why would Akira lie? She made a little sound at the back of her throat.
Akira turned sideways to look intently into her eyes, making sure she understood exactly what he was saying.
"Are you ready to hear more?"
*****
What else does Akira have to say? What will he reveal? Why hasn't he said anything before now? Watch out for the next chappie! Comments and feedback are welcome :) Hope you liked this chapter!
