Chapter Forty-Eight

Over the course of the next five days as Sunday approached, I was faced with my mother's objections. These objections ranged from not speaking to me at all, to being overbearingly outright with her thoughts. My blank mind had remained intact. Kotoko was scarcely seen and even she hadn't been saying much to me.

And although my mother was totally against it, she stood alongside me in the elevator of a fancy garden reserve building, on the way to meet a girl who was "my type".

On the fourth floor, a man waited outside the elevator doors to escort us to the room.

"Naoki Irie?" He asked.

"Yes."

"This way please." He walked on ahead of us in the lead.

"Of course." My mother said. The impish grin spread across her face was befitting of her and I could imagine she had something up her sleeve.

We came to a spacious room with large windows and a single table with four chairs surrounding it. The man that had led us here left and Chairman Oizumi stood from the chair he occupied.

"Naoki, Mrs. Irie… I've been waiting for you." He said.

"Sorry for making you wait." My mother said, the grin never leaving.

"Please sit. My granddaughter should be here in a moment," The Chairman said as my mother and I both took places at the table, "Sorry for doing this with President Irie still in the hospital. We shall do a formal meeting with the parents when he is better."

Not even with the mention of this did my mother's eerie grin falter, "Oh, but I wonder if that day will ever come." She said with a slight giggle. I could see what she was doing now. She wanted to seem like a nightmare so the Chairman didn't want his granddaughter involved with us.

"Mom…" I warned in a low whisper. She answered with a quick glance my way and a look that said 'try to stop me'. She couldn't just make this easy, could she? She had to make this harder on me.

I felt a sharp chill in the back of my mind for a mere second, reminding me of everything I was giving up, just as it had been doing every so often for the last week. And just as I had, every time this happened in the last week, I pretended I hadn't felt it.

"I'm sure my father will look forward to it." I said. My mother shot me another glance, this one more piqued than the last.

The door opened and I turned my attention to an attractive girl in a pink kimono.

"Sorry I'm late." She said in a soft voice. Right away I could tell that she was polar opposites with Kotoko.

"There you are," The Chairman said, "Come sit." He gestured to the chair beside his own, "This is my granddaughter, Sohoko."

"Nice to meet you." Sahoko bowed and sat beside Chairman Oizumi.

"This is Naoki Irie and his mother." The Chairman introduced.

Although everything seemed generally friendly, my mother's eyes had narrowed to slits, obviously threatened. Sahoko didn't appear to have picked up on this, though.

Before my mother could rail on this girl, I began, "So, Sahoko-san, what are your hobbies?"

"Nothing special. Just cooking, sewing, and crafting," She said quietly, "Very boring, ordinary things."

My mother took her opportunity, "Indeed they are. Boring." She pursed her lips and looked through Sahoko. I grinded my teeth.

"If you couldn't already tell, Sahoko is quiet. A perfect lady, like a modern version of an old traditional Japanese woman." The Chairman boasted. Sahoko's cheeks reddened.

"I like quiet women." I said before my mind could think to oppose it.

"An old Japanese woman! I was wondering what you reminded me of," My mother went on, "No wonder you seem like you're wasting your youth away." She sniggered.

The room silenced, as no one had anything to say to that remark. Awkwardly, Sahoko restarted conversation, "Um… what do you like to do, Naoki-san?"

"I play tennis and read books." I answered.

"That's right," The Chairman said, "I heard you've won many tennis competitions."

"That's amazing!" Sahoko maintained a dull smile.

"I can teach you sometime if you'd like." I offered, attempting to try to be interested in her. But the truth was exactly as my mother had spoken it. Sahoko was boring. Or maybe not boring, but certainly not very lively either.

Briefly, a voice called out in my head to leave this meeting without another word. Quit it and find another way to secure the merger. I hushed it.

"I'd love to. But I've never played before, so I'm probably really bad at it. You'd get fed up with me." Sahoko said. Of all things to choose to say, my mother would have the best time with this one.

"Of course he would..." My mother said in a gossipy way, her brows lifted wickedly.

"Mom…"

"Naoki is very mean, actually. He looks down on people who can't get something right after teaching it to them the first time."

Memories flooded in, and I held them at bay. But while my mother was partially right, I was hardly as bad about it now as I had been before Kotoko.

My mother smirked.

Chairman Oizumi went onto a different subject, one that was possibly worse than the one before it, "Naoki, you excel in academics and sports and you're quite a good looking young man. Surely you are popular with women?"

Mom, please don't…

"Not really." I lied again. This was something I'd found myself doing so often lately that lies could just slide off my tongue without thinking about it anymore.

"Oh, Naoki is popular. But no need to worry about it. He's not very fond of relationships. He even rejected a love letter once. It took all her courage and he turned her down in front of everyone." My mother tittered.

You know what? I thought, Do your worst. Whatever reluctant thoughts I'd been avoiding resurfaced. Maybe just this once, my mother could actually do me a favor, and get me out of this. Then at least I could say I'd tried.

I wasn't prepared for Sahoko's response.

"But that's better than a man who pretends to be nice. I think cold men are a little more attractive." Sahoko said, and I could tell she was sincere. I drowned out my reluctance once more.

The Chairman laughed, "And it means you'd never have to worry about cheating."

"But that doesn't mean he never has girls around," My mother made sure to add, "He's lived in the same house with a girl his age for three years now."

"That's enough." I snapped at her.

"And I can't guarantee that nothing has happened between them." My mother's manic laugh was enough to send me through the door. But not alone. I was content with trying to like Sahoko. I owed my father as much.

"Sahoko-san, would you like to come outside with me? It might be easier to talk if we're alone." I said, already on my feet.

"Right. We'll let you two be alone." The Chairman said. My mother reluctantly backed down and Sahoko and I were left to our own devices. We used the elevator to the first floor and found the sliding glass doors to the massive garden outside.

I gave her the benefit of the doubt, that perhaps she was so shy because she was around so many people, and began with, "I'm sorry my mother was so rude to you." We came to the winding garden path.

"It's okay. I can tell your mother likes her… the woman who lives with you."

I fell downcast, but only for the short half-second in between her response and mine, "She's the daughter of my father's best friend. Our families are just good friends. My mother wishes it was more than that, but that's just her." Another lie fell out of my mouth at the speed of light, so quickly it almost scared me how easy it was for me to say.

"I hope your mother can come to like me as well. But before that, I hope you like me, Naoki-san." Sahoko said.

"Does that mean you like me?" I asked.

"Well…" Sahoko fidgeted, "yes."

"Good thing. It's the same for me." I was at a loss for explanation of how awful I felt in the utterance of that statement.

And then I could've sworn on everything that I heard a familiar voice cry, "No!" But it was very faint. I must've imagined it.

"Oh my." Sahoko said, a genuine smile taking shape.

Continuing down the path, we came to an open grass field and there I spotted two gardeners. I couldn't see their faces, what with the scarves they wore over their heads, but their voices were not to be mistaken for anyone else.

Since when had Kotoko become friends with Yuuko? More importantly, what were they doing here? It was good to know Kotoko was back to her old self at spying on my dates, but she shouldn't have been here. It was hard enough trying to forget about her when she wasn't there.

I watched them from the distance as they fiddled with something and Sahoko and I travelled past the field and into the more extensive gardens.

"I've heard the oldest Bonsai tree here is over five hundred years old." I said, feigning interest in this conversation.

"I know. I've studied the gardens here in Tokyo a lot. I've always loved observing nature." Sahoko admired a patch of flowers just off the path.

"That's a nice hobby to have."

Behind us, the sprinklers went off, drenching the two gardeners whose high shrieks could have been heard through sound proof walls.

Sahoko turned back, "What's going on over there, do you suppose?"

Oh, I knew what was going on… Kotoko and Yuuko stupidly trying to set the sprinklers on Sahoko and I to ruin the walk. But I couldn't exactly say that.

"Must be just a sprinkler malfunction."

Kotoko let out another good screech and fell backward. At this, I chuckled, unable to hold it in.

The smile was wiped right from my face as I remembered what I was doing here. Ice swept through my veins. I'd given up, I had to remember. There was no more her.

Sahoko and I continued our colorless smalltalk.

Near the end of the walk, a caterpillar was thrown out onto the path in front of us. Another tactic by Kotoko and Yuuko.

"Oh!" Sahoko screamed. She cowered from it.

I bent over and threw the caterpillar back where it had come from. Not a moment later, more screams came from behind the bushes, and then a splash as those two fell into the garden's pond.

"Oh dear, it seems someone's fallen into the pond." Sahoko said, stopping to observe.

"They must just be cleaning the pond. Come on. Let's go back now." I said with a face of stone. She nodded.

We found ourselves back at the glass doors and my mother and the Chairman waiting beyond them.

"I had fun talking to you. I hope we can see each other again soon." Sahoko said.

"Me too. I look forward to seeing you again."

Past the glass doors, my mother and I said our goodbyes to the Chairman and we were on our way.

Kotoko didn't get home until later. With her hair and clothes still wet, I supposed she'd gotten what she deserved for trying to interfere.

My mother ran her up a warm bath and I swapped out my suit for more comfortable clothes.

Kotoko had just sneezed and shivered for the umpteenth time when the phone rang. I answered without hesitation, awaiting a call from Chairman Oizumi about his thoughts on how the meeting went and an answer from Sohoko.

"Naoki Irie?" The Chairman said from the other line.

"Yes. I am so sorry for the way my mother acted today." I said.

"It's quite alright. Listen… the meeting went well, I think. Sahoko likes you and she'd like to make another date. Is that alright with you?"

"That's fine with me."

"Great!" Chairman Oizumi approved, "It's alright if I give her your number so she can call you herself, then?"

"Yes, please." I agreed.

"Alright. Expect a call from her sometime soon. Have a nice night." He said and the call ended.

That was when I found two spies at my door listening in. My mother busted in.

"Did they refuse to let you marry that girl?" She said, waiting for things to go her way since they always seemed to. Kotoko listened patiently behind her.

"No. The Chairman said Sahoko-san likes me and wants to move forward." I set the phone down.

"What?" My mother was shocked. Kotoko was speechless, her disappointment prominent.

"And I agreed."

"But Naoki!" My mother argued, but I wasn't about to be putting up with all this.

"I like her, what do you want me to do about it?" That shut them both up, "So, don't either of you try those stunts again." I glared Kotoko down in particular.

"What?" She tried to pretend.

"Did you think I wouldn't realize it was you?" I asked.

"I'm…" Kotoko mumbled, "I'm sorry." She left my doorway and my mother went after her.

I tried to feel relieved that the meeting had been a success, feel better maybe. But such attempts were a waste when the only voice in my head had to be silent to keep me from being unhappy about this, because I was drowning it out. Or rather 'her', to be exact.