Salty Coffee

Chapter 4 – Inner Struggles

" I…I am…now working." Yuuki managed to stammer out her reply and quickly walked away. " Chotto!" Soujirou gripped Yuuki's hand tightly and this made her gasped. Yuuki tilted her head a little to the side and noticed Soujirou's unreadable expression. After a short moment of silent, Soujirou released his grip, " Happy working."

" Arigatou." Yuuki said and after what seemed like minutes, but was probably only a few seconds, Yuuki left the café.  Something flashed in Soujirou's mind. Something familiar? Soujirou placed a hand on his head to try to stop it from throbbing. Did I just let her go…again? Soujirou frowned and started cursing himself for his stupidity.

Happy working? Yuuki couldn't stop thinking about Soujirou's last words. What was that supposed to mean? As Yuuki passed by some departmental showcase, she stopped. Yuuki then leaned forward to peer into the mirror that was being displayed inside of the showcases. Happy working huh? Perhaps this is the only sentence he could think of to say to a plain Jane. Yuuki thought as her straight dark eyebrows drew together in a frown and immediately regretted for taking up the night shift. She won't be able to work happily anymore.

" Young lady, don't you think you are taking a little longer time for this short delivery?" The lady boss asked, arching a sarcastic and angered eyebrow. " Gomen nasai!" Yuuki quickly apologized, feeling guilty as charged. She had spent too much time in those unnecessary reminiscing. " Go and help Yuri at the counter." The lady boss passed down her instruction. " Hai!" Yuuki said and hurried on her way to the counter.

~*~*~*~

There was a light rain falling when Soujirou finally stepped out of the café. When his limousine arrived, he didn't have long to wait before a man in a black suit appeared beside him with an opened umbrella. " You might catch a cold, Soujirou-sama." Soujirou looked up and called his chauffeur's name in a questioning voice, " Kenmarou-san, " 

" Hai!"

" Have you ever made a repeated mistake before?" Soujirou asked.  " Ehh…" There was a brief silent for the middle-aged chauffeur was caught off guard by the sudden question. "I always have this tendency to forget where I put my keys…does that counted as a repeated mistake?" He replied, scratching his head. Soujirou let out a bitter smile after sensing that he had probably asked the wrong person.

Give it up…before it is too late. Soujirou's mind just couldn't escape from these words because it was an affirmation to help him in forgetting his cowardice when comes to love, until the day he met Yuuki…

~*~*~*~

Like the rest of the nights, the hallway should be dim and quiet by the time Soujirou was back from his 'night activities'. However, Soujirou wasn't too lucky during this particular night. Shit! They are still awake! How am I going to get to my room without being noticed? Soujirou frowned because his room was exactly four rooms away from his parents'.

With the help of the lights within the room, he could see the shadows of his parents through the translucent patches of their ancient wooden sliding doors.  His mother was kneeling on the floor while his father was busy getting dressed. Obviously, he had reached home only a few minutes earlier than Soujirou. The room was quiet at first, but gradually Soujirou heard something as the voices became louder.

" Of all women in the world, why must you choose her?"

" I can choose whoever I like and it is none of your concern."

" None of my concern?" Soujirou's mother voice momentarily reduced to some inaudible sobbing, but soon everything came out in outbursts. " Didn't you know she happens to be my best friend?" Soujirou paled when he had this terrible realization that who his mother might be referring to. Soujirou didn't sleep a wink during the rest of the night.

" Jirou?" The door slid a little to the side, " Are you awake?" Soujirou turned and saw his mother standing outside. " Yes." Soujirou replied and got up from his bed. Mrs. Nishikado came in; her eyes were still red and puffy from her previous outbursts. " No school today?" Mrs. Nishikado asked casually, trying to strike up a conversation with her son. " We have no lesson in the morning." Soujirou lied; it didn't matter anyway even if there were lessons in the morning. "Can we talk?" Mrs. Nishikado asked, as she took a seat on the edge of his bed. Soujirou just nodded.

" I noticed that you and Sarah are pretty close to each other." Mrs. Nishikado said while Soujirou remained silent. Sensing that Soujirou was waiting for her to go on, Mrs. Nishikado continued, " I know I shouldn't be asking you to do this, but…" Mrs. Nishikado let out a long sigh before she started telling Soujirou what she wanted.

" I cannot do that." Soujirou rejected firmly. " Why?" Mrs. Nishikado cried out. " Kaasan, you are being unreasonable here." Soujirou rejoined, turning his face away from his mother. " Didn't I already tell you the reason? How would you feel if you were in my shoes?" Mrs. Nishikado rebuked in tears. " I would ask for a divorce." Soujirou gave his reply without any hesitation. Immediately, he received a tight slap from his mother. " Fine! Just do anything you like!" Mrs. Nishikado shot a throbbing glare at her son. " Stop behaving like your father." Mrs. Nishikado said coldly. Soujirou's face softened as he watched his mother leaving his room.

…To be continued…