The next day both Katsuki and Momo slept in until a bit later, thankfully their meeting wasn't until about 10 in the morning, so they had at least some more time to sleep and relax.
Katsuki really wanted to have breakfast with Eiji, but with how exhausted he was from the previous night, he slept in until pretty late and had just about enough time to get ready.
Eiji made some really delicious food as always in the bento boxes for him and Momo. Since the redhead has been with them for the entire trip, he really has been a huge help and support for both him and Momo.
"Katsuki sweetie? Since we will be leaving the day after tomorrow, I could start packing a few things today?"
"Huh? ...Yeah sure, that's a good idea. If you get the time, you can pack my stuff I bought yesterday, the rest I will take care of myself today."
"I'll do that."
"Alright, see you later."
He waved Eiji goodbye and left off.
The meeting wasn't so bad either. Another day to get it over with and close to their goal. They only have one more day tomorrow in LA, another dinner with all the colleagues in the evening and the day after tomorrow, they will be off to their last destination, which is San Francisco. He can't wait for the schedule to be more lenient and free. Once they are done in San Francisco and the entire trip, he can take off at least a month or two, which will be heavenly to not worry about work.
After the meeting, as he was on his way in a limo back to the hotel, and he was about to message Eiji, he noticed when looking through the window, it was none other than the redhead sitting in a restaurant terrace with what seemed to be the one person that he could not stand. He thought he didn't see it correctly, asked the driver to turn around to look and no...his eyes did not deceive him.
Eiji was really hanging around none other than Hawks.
What the fuck is that shithead doing with Eiji? They were both laughing and they looked like they were enjoying each other's company.
Scratch that, he won't send the redhead any message. Who the fuck knows what they have been doing. Has he met Hawks more times?
Hold on. That time when they had dinner the second time with all the colleagues and other visitors, Hawks immediately came up to Eiji and stuck to him like they have been together for a long time. Eiji messaged Katsuki a lot each day about what he was up to, and he also messaged that he was spending time with a lot of the people from the dinner, which Eiji was approached by them immediately as well. This means, Hawks was there all the time too. Why the fuck has Hawks have to snoop around everywhere? Who knows how many times they have been alone?
He was so incredibly furious that he just came back to the hotel, ordered the most expensive alcohol on the room service menu and just drank away, sitting on the big couch in the living room. He was already quite tipsy after a few sips, but not enough to loosen up. Just as he was about to take another sip from the wine, he heard the door opening up.
Of course, the man slowly approaching the living room was none other than the tall redhead himself.
"Katsuki? What are you doing here? I thought your meetings weren't done until about 5PM? Why didn't you message me?"
Katsuki completely ignored all of his questions.
"What, were you having fun with that asshole called Hawks?"
Eiji looked completely shocked from that comment.
"Wait...what are you talking about?"
"Don't play stupid, you know exactly what I am talking about."
"Hold on...you don't think that I am sleeping with him or what? Katsuki, we only were spending time together for lunch, nothing else."
"Yeah, right. Don't fuck with me, you have been with him many times."
"Yes, but that was really with the group of people from the dinners I attended. Hawks just joined in as well. I couldn't just turn him down, you know? He is after all the brother of one of your designers, I spent time with him also, because he was part of the group and it was the professional thing to do, no?"
"Stop giving me all these excuses. I don't believe you."
Eiji looked completely horrified from his comments. He walked up to the couch to sit next to Katsuki while holding his hand, looking directly in his eyes.
"Katsuki sweetie, I swear there is nothing between me and Hawks. That first night I was with you at the Peninsula in Tokyo, I… have fallen in love with you."
Katsuki could not process any of Eiji's words. It's all just lies. Nothing else.
"Love? You must be joking."
"Wha-...sweetie, I am not jo-"
Katsuki just ripped off his hand from Eiji's.
"You and me? Seriously?" He laughed. Katsuki wouldn't even let the redhead talk before he continues to speak more.
"You really think I would ever be together with you? With an overly clingy and dumb stripper like you? So what made you do a job like that after working in a restaurant? Were you so stupid that you didn't even finish school or what? Now listen, big guy." Katsuki tugged on Eiji's shirt. "You are here only to please me, nothing else. That's what I am paying you for. Once this trip is over, we won't see each other again."
Eiji just became absolutely speechless and did not say even one word. Katsuki was still holding onto his shirt. Eiji then with a trembling hand grabbed onto Katsuki's wrist to let go of his shirt, stood up and stormed off the suite.
"Hey, where are you going, I am not done with you!"
The redhead was already gone. Pfft, just let him go. If the redhead wants the money he promised him, he has to come back. Of course he will. Every last one of them have been interested in nothing but money.
Katsuki gulped another glass of the expensive wine he bought just like that. That taught the redhead to not mess with him. His thoughts were all over the place.
He would have loved a blowjob right at that moment. However, of course, the taller man had to be difficult again. He was thinking to himself whether it was a good idea to let him tag along after all.
He finished the entire wine by himself and opened up another.
Katsuki just thought that things would be so much easier and less annoying, but no, it made things even more complicated. He should have just stuck to what he has always done, take the next attractive man to bed for one night and things would be like they always were. No feelings, just pleasure. Always being alone by himself.
He did not remember how much he had drunk, how long he had been sitting there on the couch, and when he fell asleep on it. All he knew was that he woke up with another hangover, felt like he was puking his guts out for who knows how long, and when he had nothing left, he checked his phone, which was showing 3:15 in the morning. Great, he still has some time left before he prepares for the last day here in LA, the last few meetings today and he would be done. His head was pounding, so he went into the bedroom to take out the pills in the drawer of his night table that Eiji put for him in case of any other headaches or something else and lie down for a bit.
Eiji was not in bed, and he didn't seem to be anywhere else in the suite. Who knows where he is. Maybe he went to Hawks. Anyway, they will meet sooner or later, they still have to go to San Francisco for one week the day after tomorrow.
He napped for a few hours, which helped his headache go away. It was already after six, so he stood up to go to the bathroom to take a shower. As he was looking at himself all naked in front of the mirror, all he could notice were all the marks and hickeys that the redhead left all over his body. The more he looked, the more his stomach was in knots. The more he looked, the more he felt anxiety building up inside his body.
After a while, he shook his head, turned on the tap in front of the mirror to splash freezing water on his face to wake up. He looked directly at himself, one last glance, before completely ignoring the mirror for the rest of the morning.
"It's not real."
He took a warm shower, got ready for the last few meetings and agreements for today. He really didn't feel like eating anything, so he just left the suite to walk to Momo's door. While on his way to her, he messaged Hawks. It was Hawks years back that was nosy and wanted to get Katsuki's phone number the first time they met. After a lot of fussing from Hawks, he gave it to him just to make him stop.
"Hey, tell Eiji to come back once I am done with today. He knows my schedule. I need to talk to him."
He thought he wouldn't even get an answer right away, but just as soon as he sent the message, the three dots indicated on the conversation showed that Hawks was typing up a message.
"I don't know what you are talking about. He is not with me."
Katsuki was a bit surprised at the message. No way Eiji wasn't with Hawks.
"Don't fuck with me, of course he is with you. He has been gone the entire night."
Another message was being typed up.
"I told you, he is not with me. I don't know where he is currently."
This made Katsuki restless. If Hawks is really telling the truth, where is he?
Hawks was sending a few other messages, which Katsuki ignored.
He started to run up to Momo's door, knocking. She must know where he is, right? She always knows everything.
Momo opened up the door for him immediately. Katsuki just let himself in, the door closing by itself.
"Momo, do you know where Eiji is? I haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon."
She didn't even look at him. She wasn't even dressed for today either, only some casual clothing. All of her baggage was also packed near the door he entered. Why was she packing? They didn't go to San Francisco until tomorrow. Why wasn't she ready for today? She then started talking while going through her small suitcase.
"I sent Eiji-san back home to Tokyo."
Hold on. He didn't hear that correctly, right? Was she serious? She sent him back home? Eiji's stuff was still in their suite...or could it be that he didn't notice a lot of his stuff wasn't there? Her words made him surprised and then furious.
"...You did WHAT???"
Before he could even say anything else, he felt immediate burning pain on his left cheek. That shut him down immediately. It doesn't seem like it, but Momo is physically strong and her slaps hurt a lot. She did it to him before, this wasn't the first time she has done that.
"You heard me!! Do you have ANY idea what I had to go through yesterday, huh, KATSUKI??? Eiji went to me with a full-blown panic attack. He sat around without even being able to communicate to me. He was completely disconnected from his surroundings. I literally felt helpless around him!!"
Katsuki just stood there. He was completely speechless. Did he go too far? Whenever Momo called him by his first name, things always got serious and nasty. She then continued to talk.
"When he finally started speaking a little, he begged me in tears wanting to go home. Hawks took him to Tokyo in his private jet before midnight."
She sent him with HAWKS??? How dare she send Eiji off with that asshole???
After what felt like her voice seemed to go lower as she talked more, she just grabbed the nearest vase, smashed it against the wall and yelled at Katsuki even more with tears then coming out of her eyes.
"So when you were completely drunk out of your mind during the last dinner with the others, what you said to Eiji was true. That he was just a toy to you. Eiji ignored the message, thinking you were just drunk, out of it, and weren't serious. How could you do this to him?? He LOVES you!!"
Katsuki couldn't even properly comprehend what was happening. Is that really what he said? He didn't feel like things would go this bad. He didn't even look Momo in the eyes, she was already scary enough.
"That is none of your business. He doesn't love me. Even if he did, it would have not worked out."
"It IS my business as well!!!! Eiji-san is my friend, and I am in love with his best friend!!! How do you think it makes me look?? Not to mention how disrespectful you are acting towards Hawks, for some reason you were jealous, for what??? Is it because Eiji and Hawks spent time together??? You know very well Hawks already has a husband!! Katsuki, Eiji is NOT Akito. Why do you still dwell on the past???"
Momo went a bit too far on this one. He absolutely hates even a mention of that person's name.
"Don't bring Akito into this!!! You know I hate it when you mention him!!!"
"Yeah, but solving your grief with sleeping around with other men is not the solution. For once, I felt you got your life together when you brought Eiji around. Not every man is around for your money, especially not Eiji."
"You don't know that!!" His emotions were building up and spinning out of control inside him. The amounts of anxiety and stress his body felt at this moment could not be described by words.
"You know what? Sleeping around with men, and then just screwing Eiji over is one thing, but the fact that you are so selfish and accuse everybody of hating you...well, guess what, people really do not like you. Why do you think we got things done, why do you think anybody would want to work with us? It's because many times, I had to beg, plead, and clean up your mess. You are an awful person to be working around with. No wonder people call you a tyrant king."
That really really fucking hurt. He did everything to make ends meet. He did everything in his work to be successful. As a CEO, you have the say in what works and what doesn't. You have a say in every decision-making stage, making sure things go as planned. Colleagues and workers are there under him to get shit done. His hands were shaking from frustration.
"That is not true!! This company would NOT work without me!"
"Oh yeah? Well, then…"
She shoved all the papers and documents into his hands.
"Then how about YOU take care of things by YOURSELF from now on. I am going back to Japan as well. You do what you want...oh and…"
She took the nearest opened wine bottle that was half full and shoved it to him.
"How about when you go back, you take a nice glass of wine afterwards at dinner with the others? Embarrassing me a bit more? Nevermind that, you always say you have your alcohol consumption in control and I am just nagging, right? It's not like I care about you as a person and I care about your well-being. I am done."
She packed her last few things and just grabbed all of her stuff, wanting to leave her hotel room. Katsuki couldn't comprehend all of this happening. Everything was just going by a flash. How could things go this horrible right now? No, he NEEDS Momo. He can get work done by himself, but all of it wouldn't be possible if she wasn't there. Making Momo leave is one of the things he doesn't want happening. Just as Momo was about to open the door while holding her luggage, he grabbed her by the wrist.
"Momo….I can't do this without you. Please don't leave."
She turned around to face him, ripping her arm from his grip and giving him a deathly glare.
"Fuck you."
Then she left. Leaving Katsuki completely alone. After a short pause, he looked at the wine bottle and slammed it on the floor, screaming his lungs out. He was angry, frustrated, his emotions running high.
After a while from cursing under his breath, he sat down, threw the big pile of papers next to him and leaned on the door of the hotel room to calm himself down, what he was supposed to do. It's just a few meetings today right? He can handle that himself.
His hands were still shaking from this entire ordeal. If Eiji was there, he would have come up to him, embrace him and calm him down. Eiji is so good at it. However...Eiji is gone.
He realized that he has probably made a huge mistake and insulted the redhead very badly. Then Eiji's words from yesterday were echoing in his head.
"I have fallen in love with you."
...No he didn't. It's all just a charade, just like Akito, who mooched every little penny out of him, while pretending and telling Katsuki how much he loves him, cheating on him, then forcing him into situations he didn't want to be in. Everything that happened around Akito was just lies, and nothing else. Then he could remember Momo's words just not long ago.
"He LOVES you...he is not Akito...why do you still dwell on the past?"
...Maybe...just maybe, Eiji really meant it? He still can't believe it. Not like he can change it now, because Eiji is not here. He is all by himself.
He seemed to collect himself after a while and he really needed to get the last things done. Just a few more days. He can do this, even if Momo is not there.
He opened the door of the hotel room and left.