Hello my old heart,
it's been so long
since I've given you away.
And every day
I add another stone
to the walls I built around you
to keep you safe.
- Hello My Old Heart (Oh Hellos, 2011)
Kyoko arrived in Narita Airport around two in the afternoon, she's wearing a designer's hat, and glasses, to cover her face. After her operation in the States, she can't believe what she saw in the mirror afterwards, she looks so beautiful. When the doctor gave her an okay to go home, she used the other passport that Sho gave beforehand. Her eyes widened, the picture was her new face, but the name was different - It's Kimiko Hizuri. Kyoko recognized the family name, it's one of the elite families in Japan and America.
Her thoughts were back to the present when she spotted Sho waiting in his car. She immediately went to him before anyone can recognized her new face.
"Welcome back." Sho greeted when they already settled in his car.
"Thanks." She whispered.
Sho smirked at her new appearance. "He did a good job, not even he can notice the difference."
Kyoko fidgets on her seat and the drive was silent, after an hour or so, Sho parked the car in front of a huge house. He honked and the maids opened the gate to let him enter.
"Come on, there's someone I wanted you to meet." Sho said as he get out from his car and Kyoko followed. The maids bowed at them as they entered the house, and there, sitting in a gaudy living room, wearing a red dress, and drinking a wine, Kyoko gasped in horror when she saw the woman with the same face as hers!
"Mogami-san, I wanted you meet Kimiko." She stood up from the couch, swaying her hips than usual, and slowly approaching her, smirking.
"Wh-What's this?" Kyoko asked in disbelief. "Why did you make my face the same as hers?" She asked Sho, but he only smirked at her.
"It's because, I want you to take her place."
"What?!"
He wrapped his hands on Kimiko's waist. "Reymonds told me that he didn't do any major changes since you already have the same face structure as her. The first time I saw you, I already noticed your similarities with her to be her replacement."
"R-Replacement?"
"Kimiko and I wanted to have a vacation, touring throughout Europe, but she's scared of her husband." Sho explained. "Until we said so, I want you to be Kuon's wife on her place."
Kyoko felt a cold water poured down on her. "T-T-To be someone's w-w-wife?" She stuttered.
Kimiko waved her hand "Oh please, stop stuttering! It doesn't suit my face."
"But what if he will notice it?"
"He won't." The girl assured her. "Kuon is busy with work, he will leave the house early, and he will come home late." Kimiko said, rolling her eyes. "His attention was always on work, and Maria, our daughter."
"Daughter!" Kyoko exclaimed. "I will not be just a wife, but a mother too?!"
"Yes, dear." Kimiko purred. "But you should be careful, Kuon will never have a second thought of hurting you if something will happen to his precious child." She threatened.
The room filled with silence, before Kimiko's phone gone off. She cursed when she saw who the caller was.
"Damn, it's Kuon!"
"Hand it to her." Sho said.
"Here." Kimiko handed her phone to Kyoko. "Your job starts now. Let's see how you can handle him as me." The girl smirked at the scared lady before her. "I told him that I went out with Ruriko."
Kyoko took the phone, that won't stop ringing, and reluctantly answered it. "H-Hello?"
"Kimi where are you?" Kyoko flinched at the tone of the man on the other line. She glance at the couple who looks like enjoying a show.
"I'm with Ruriko-chan, I told you about it remember?"
Kuon took a while to answer. "Ruriko...chan? Since when did you start calling her that?"
Kyoko bit her lip from her mistake, and she saw Kimiko and Sho stifling a laughter. "Just now... for a change." She tried to sound cute.
"Whatever." Kuon deadpanned "I just call to remind you that you promised Maria that you will pick her up from school."
"Of course! I won't forget!"
"Alright." Kyoko blinked when he already dropped the call.
"Hahah! Ruriko-chan! Hahah!" Kimiko was clutching her stomach from laughing.
"Mogami-san, your new life as Kimiko Hizuri will start today. Always have your phone on you with you, we might call you often." Sho instructed.
Kyoko gulped, she never thought that it will turned out into this. To become someone's wife and mother, in a blink of an eye.
"Think about your mother Mogami-san." The doctor reminded her, and Kyoko stiffened.
She closed her eyes, and think about it. For mother... She thought. She opened her eyes and looked at the two.
"Alright."
"Come here, I'll give you a briefing about my life." The sat on the couch and Kimiko went to her phone's gallery. Kyoko's eyes widened when she saw the guy that she met on the elevator.
She can't forget those green eyes and sparkling blond hair.
Don't tell me he's...
"This is my husband, Kuon."
Kyoko mentally groaned. Great! He's her husband.
"As I told you earlier, he's workaholic. He only cares about his work and Maria." Kimiko scrolled down. "This is our daughter, Maria."
"She's cute~~" Kyoko chimed. "She has your husband's hair, but she has your eyes."
Kimiko hummed. "You like kids?"
Kyoko nodded, smiling at her. "Yes, since I'm an only child, I am very fond of them."
"Kuon spoiled our daughter too much." Kimiko mumbled, then she swiped to another picture. "Kijima Hidehito, I addressed him as Hide, Kuon's cousin. And we are close." Kimiko smirked at her.
Kyoko blushed, understanding how 'close' they are. "Err... you do it even with your husband's cousin?"
"Nah, only if Sho's not available." Kimiko go on and introduced her family to her from her in-laws, to her best friend Ruriko. "This is Mimori, Kuon's little sister but they are not related by blood. After his parent's got divorce, his father adopted her, and he acknowledged her as his little sister."
"Oh... She's cute..."
"But you need to be careful around her, she has a thing on him. She's the one who was feeding my husband about my infidelity, she wanted to separate us so she can have him. And lastly," Kimiko showed her a picture of a couple. "Koga Hiromune and Kana-san, Kuon secretaries but the two almost like a family to him since the three of them are classmates since middle school years. And I had a one night stand with Koga before my wedding with Kuon."
"EH?!" Kyoko exclaimed. "Then there's a possibly that he's Maria's father."
"No, Maria is Kuon's. I secretly took a DNA test of the two of them."
Kyoko sighed. "That's a relief."
"Kana... is like Mimori, she has a thing on Kuon too, but unlike the airhead Mimori, Kana is a cunning woman. She's smart and sharp, but you never gonna see her often since she's a liaison to Kuon's business outlet in the states, so she spent more of her time abroad than in Japan."
Kyoko nodded, she memorized every key person and their roles in her life. Kyoko glanced at Kimiko, she already have the life that most of women wanted - wealth, good looking husband, and a lovely daughter.
"Can I ask you something... personal?"
"What is it?"
"Why... did you chose to cheat on him? Are you not... happy?"
Kimiko made a long pause before she sighed. "I came from a poor family, I grew in the slums and my only asset is my beautiful face. When both of my parents died in a fire, I went to the city to find a job, and at the same time, looking for some rich guy to marry. Then I met Kuon, I thought I hit jackpot, but when I already married to him, I got bored with my usual lifestyle cycle - staying at home, shopping, meeting with friends, and then come home. It wasn't that bad, I can still tolerate it, but when I get pregnant with Maria, I feel like I'm caged in the house. I can't go shopping anymore or go to the places I want since I already have a kid to take care of. And Kuon starts becoming a workaholic, he starts ignoring my existence. Then I met Sho when I badly needed my husband."
"If you are not happy anymore, why bother staying married?"
"I signed a pre-nuptial agreement. His mother forced me to sign one. One of it says that I will get nothing if we get divorce due to my infidelity. I can't have that." Kimiko shook her. "What I want is a temporary freedom for a while."
"I... see."
Kimiko smiled at her. "Thank you, Kyoko-san."
Kyoko was nervous as she waited for the students to come out, she looked at the picture of Maria on Kimiko's phone. She left her phone with her, so Kuon won't asked about her, changing number. She immediately spotted the curly-brown kid among the students.
"Baby!" She hugged her. "How's school?" She asked, smiling at her.
Maria only frown at her. "You don't need to act as if you care, dad is not here to watch you." She walked past her and went to their car. Kyoko was taken aback at her attitude towards her. Kimiko already told her about it, but she was still shock, how can this kid treat her own mother like that!
Kyoko was silent on their way home. The car was suffocating with tense atmosphere, no one dared to start a conversation. When they entered the gate, the driver speaks up.
"Madam, it seems that Kuon-sama is already here."
Kyoko immediately straightened from her seat. Her heart was pounding fast, her hands were cold, there's no doubt that she's nervous. When their driver turned off the engine, she helped Maria out from the car. She held her hand as they entered the huge mansion.
"Kuon-sama, they've already arrived." Their maid, Momose Itsumi, informed the house's master.
Kyoko's heart was beating hard as she heard footsteps and saw the man, her supposedly husband, came out to greet them in the living room.
Blond hair.
Green eyes.
It is really him. Kyoko can even heard her heart pounding on her chest.
"Daddy!"
"Hey baby, how's your first day of school?" He asked cheerfully.
"It was fine! I made lots, lots, of friends."
Kuon patted her head. "That's great." He smiled at her. Shoko took Maria upstairs to get change. When they are gone, that's when Kuon turned his attention at her.
"Hey." Kuon greeted, she blushed when he suddenly kissed her cheeks. "Are you alright?" He asked worriedly when he saw her face beet-red.
"Ah yes, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about" She smiled at him. "I need to change too." She rushed upstairs, to (what she assumed) their bedroom.
Get it together, Kyoko! You are his wife. His wife. She reminded herself. It's normal for him to kiss you! And touch you, and...
Kyoko almost fainted in embarrassment when she realized that he has all the legal rights to have sex with her as her 'husband'.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!
Kyoko mentally screamed.
Kimiko buried her face on Sho's chest, she looked up to him when she realized something. "Babe... that girl Kyoko... is she still a virgin?"
"Hm? I don't know. Why?"
"Kuon will know that it's not me if he decided to have sex with her."
Sho slightly widened his eyes before he kissed her forehead. "That's nothing to worry about, it's easy. You want me to take care of it?"
Kimiko glared at him. Sho chuckled. "Come on, it's not like I have feelings towards her or something, I just need to break her hymen and lose her a little, so Kuon won't be suspicious."
"Fine." Kimiko huffed. "But only once... okay?"
"You got it."
Kuon raised his eyebrow when he saw his wife sleeping soundly in the guest room on her pyjamas.
"Kimi." He shook her awake. "Kimi." Still she didn't budged. "Kimiko." He called sternly.
Kyoko immediately shot up from her bed, her name is now 'Kimiko' and she must get used to it as soon as possible.
"What is it?"
" I got worried, you took so long to change your clothes." He said. "Come down, it's time for dinner."
Kyoko shook her head and went back under the covers. "I'm not hungry, and I'm sleepy." She mumbled. She's tired from her long flight earlier, but she couldn't say it.
"And why are sleeping here in the guest room?"
She shot her eyes open. Guest room... This is a guest room?! She mentally exclaimed. "I thought you wouldn't notice." She smirked at him. "I'm just testing you if you will find me." She said while striding to the door. "I'm going back to our room now. Have dinner without me, in return, I'll prepare your breakfast tomorrow. Good night."
She slammed the door shut and release a long, tired, sigh.
This is exhausting!