Programmed Lives – Third Stage

Chapter Eight

While he waited for one of the doctors from the emergency services to come out of the examination rooms, Keisuke saw Akiko running towards him.

'I've just heard…' she said trying to catch up her breath.

'Akiko, I don't know what happened…one minute she was fine then…' Keisuke started explaining running his fingers nervously though his spiky hair as he paced up and down the waiting area.

Akiko was going to say something when Doctor Yamaguchi joined them.

'What did you do?' the usually calm doctor said pointing a finger at Keisuke angrily.

'Megumi?' Akiko said looking at her colleague with a confused expression.

'Akiko, unfortunately, I can't tell you anything,' Doctor Yamaguchi said even though she looked as though as she was dying to do so. Akiko then, understanding that her colleague was bound by the confidentiality agreement, turned her gaze towards Keisuke and said:

'Alright, can you tell me what's going on?'

'The baby's a girl,' Keisuke finally said while collapsing on one of the chairs, 'and I didn't take it too well.'

'Yes, he was a lot less than enthusiastic about the idea,' Doctor Yamaguchi spurted and Akiko was shocked to hear how angry she sounded. If there was an award for the most patient, kindest doctor in the hospital, Akiko would have given it to Megumi Yamaguchi, 'and you gave her a hard time because of it, didn't you? After you left my office.' Doctor Yamaguchi continued.

Hearing these words, and seeing that Keisuke wasn't denying any of the accusations, triggered something within Akiko's mind and, without any previous warning, she walked towards Keisuke grabbing him by the front of his t-shirt making him stand up.

'What did you tell her?' Akiko said trembling with fury.

'I…just…' Keisuke started looking positively terrified seeing the rage burning in his sister-in-law's eyes.

'YOU WHAT?' she shouted, too angry to bother about the hospital's regulations.

'I…' Keisuke tried again while looking at Doctor Yamaguchi who, she too, was starting to get scared of Akiko's reaction.

Then Akiko did it, with all the strength she could muster in her small body, she raised her hand and slapped Keisuke extremely hard on his left cheek.

'You, of all people, should know better than that! Don't you remember what my father did to my mother? Didn't you see what he did to me? I didn't think you could be such an insensitive pig Keisuke!' Akiko said so angry she was wheezing instead of talking.

'Akiko…' Doctor Yamaguchi said putting her hand on her very angry colleague's shoulder. Turning round, she saw that standing nearby there was one of the other doctors who looked positively freaked out.

'Doctor Takahashi, er…'

'Doctor Matsuyama, I'm sorry…' Akiko said fighting to regain her composure.

'Takahashi-san,' Doctor Matsuyama said talking to Keisuke, 'your wife is fine: she had just a minor contraction, probably caused by stress. We're going to keep her in observation for twenty four hours, just to be sure everything is going as it should, however, I recommend she gets plenty of rest after that…'

Keisuke just nodded to that.

'Thank you Doctor Matsuyama,' Akiko said and then, taking the chance that the emergency services doctor was leaving them alone again, Doctor Yamaguchi left with him too, Akiko made a mental note to go and speak to her colleague later on. She then turned to face Keisuke and said:

'Now, you go in there and make sure you apologise in every way you know for, unless she forgives you in the most absolute way, you are not going to set foot in our house ever again, understood?'

Keisuke nodded once more too afraid to do anything that may set her off again. Apparently satisfied by this, Akiko turned round and left him in the waiting room.

He then let out the breath he'd been holding and walked into the room Doctor Matsuyama had indicated earlier on.

Kyoko turned her head towards the door as he stepped into the room an ugly frown appearing on her beautiful face as she saw her husband. Before Keisuke had the time to say anything, Kyoko said:

'What happened to your face?'

Keisuke put his hand on his cheek and frowning, he said:

'You really don't want to piss Akiko off…'

'She did that?' Kyoko asked in disbelief.

'You know, it really is a good thing Akiko rarely gets angry because when she does, I swear, she would scare the pants off a yakuza gangster.'

Kyoko bit her lip at the same time a small smile appeared on her face, replacing the frown.

'What did you do to her?' she asked.

'Well, she found out I wasn't entirely thrilled about the baby's gender and she went completely ballistic.'

'Well, she wouldn't, wouldn't she? After what she went through herself,' Kyoko said the smile disappearing as quickly as it had formed.

'I know. Look, Kyoko, I can't lie to you: I would have preferred a boy because I've always had this dream of having a son I could teach to drive, a bit like Bunta did with Takumi.'

'Hey, you can teach her to drive too, you know? I may not look like it right now but I am a street racer who, by the way, almost beat you in our one and only battle.'

'That's true,' Keisuke said.

'And let's not forget Mako-san, who happens to be faster than most guys, including her own husband.'

'Too true,' Keisuke agreed.

'Then, what's the problem if the baby is a girl?'

'Well, it's that if she's half as beautiful as you are, and I'm sure she will be, I won't have a moment of peace ever again,' Keisuke said with such a childish face that made Kyoko smile again.

'Keisuke, you don't need to be afraid of that, if she finds a guy half as good as her father is, I'll be happy,' Kyoko said making Keisuke pout even more.

'If a guy like me goes anywhere near her, I'll kill him,' Keisuke said making Kyoko laugh, then seeing that, he said, 'Kyoko, can you please forgive me?'

Kyoko looked at him and, after a while, she said:

'Yeah, I can. I'm getting pretty good at forgiving you anyway.'

Keisuke smiled and said:

'Can you please tell Akiko you've forgiven me? Otherwise I'm not going to be allowed back into the house.'

'Don't worry, I'll talk to her,' Kyoko said smiling and, although she felt grateful she had such a good friend in Akiko who always seemed to defend her, she made a mental note to ask Akiko not to terrify Keisuke like that again.

Three days later, the Takahashi welcomed Takumi and Minami to their home for a family barbeque to celebrate that Kyoko was having a girl.

'It will be a nice change, having a baby girl in the family,' Akiko commented and both Minami and Kyoko agreed with her.

'Yes, well, it's not my fault you've had two boys,' Keisuke said for his ego hadn't quite recovered from the slap she'd given him.

'No, that's your brother's,' she said with nonchalance.

'She's right,' Ryosuke said smiling in a way that made Keisuke turn round and mumble:

'I'll go and get the meat.'

They all laughed at that and then Minami, talking to Kyoko, said:

'Can you imagine if mine's a girl too?'

'Yeah, they could become best friends and form a street racing duo like Mako and Sayuki!' Kyoko said happily.

'Er…' Takumi started and both Minami and Kyoko glared at him daring him to say anything against that idea.

'Takumi, let's go and help Keisuke with the meat,' Ryosuke suggested.

'Yeah, let's do that,' he agreed following his boss into the kitchen.

'Pregnant women are scary,' Takumi commented once the three men were in the kitchen, more to seek refuge than to actually help with the barbeque. Keisuke nodded to that while Ryosuke just laughed.

'You laugh but your wife is the scariest of the three,' Keisuke said to him.

'I know, but being the smart guy I am, I always do what she says, or at least pretend I do, so I keep her happy,' Ryosuke said taking a platter and leaving the kitchen.

'You can't beat that reasoning,' Takumi said copying his Team Manager.

'I'm surrounded by smartasses,' Keisuke said to himself as he too, took a platter of raw meat and went to the house's garden.

'I'm so sad guys,' Minami said as they were all finally sitting down at the garden's table enjoying their meal.

'Why is that?' Takumi asked worriedly.

'Mariko's leaving today, didn't I tell you?' Minami said.

'Really? I thought she wasn't leaving until next week,' Takumi said trying to keep his tone of voice normal even though he was beginning to panic.

'No, no, she's getting the evening flight to New York, we said our goodbyes to each other yesterday because she doesn't want anybody to see her off at the airport,' Minami explained.

'Ah, right…' Takumi said and then, hoping it wouldn't sound too strange, he said, 'I'm going to the bathroom.'

'Alright, you know where it is,' Akiko said.

Takumi want back inside the house as quickly as he could and taking his phone out of his trousers' pocket, he dialled a number.

'Itsuki here,' his best friend said answering the phone.

Takumi quickly explained to Itsuki what Minami had just said.

'Got it, thanks Takumi, you're my best friend,' Itsuki said before finishing the conversation. Takumi wished his friend would make it on time for, having heard from Itsuki what Mariko had told him, Takumi believed that the two should really get back together.

Shortly after that, Takumi went back to the garden while, not too far away, at Shibukawa, Itsuki ran out of the office he shared with Iketani and Kenji to find the two friends outside their garage.

'Iketani, I need to leave for…'

'Personal reasons, we know,' Iketani said.

'How do you know?' Itsuki asked frowning.

'When you leave your workplace in such a rush it's always because of personal reasons…so, who's the girl this time?' Kenji explained looking amused.

'Mariko-chan,' Itsuki replied before running to his Levin leaving both Iketani and Kenji standing there open-mouthed.

Itsuki drove as fast as he could to Tokyo's International Airport in Narita hoping he wouldn't find too much traffic as he neared the capital's main motorway hub. He didn't' but when he finally arrived at the airport, and after leaving his car at the short-stay car park, he started wondering whether he would be able to find his ex-girlfriend among all the people that he'd surely find in the terminal.

'Too late for that,' Itsuki said to himself as he started running towards the International Departures section of the Narita Airport.

The first thing he did was check on the board for the departure time of the flight to New York and, with dismay, he saw that there were more than one flight to the American city.

Now what? Itsuki thought disconsolately. Then it occurred to him that Mariko probably had her phone with her so he tried dialling her number.

No answer. The freaking thing was already turned off or, more likely, disconnected. After all, she was leaving the country.

Refusing to give up, Itsuki started searching among the passengers that were busy with the check in procedures hoping he would be able to spot the model's beautiful, shiny black mane in the middle of the crowd.

He couldn't and, after more than fifteen minutes searching and as Itsuki started to believe that it would be mission impossible to find her, he heard someone calling his name.

Turning round, very slowly, he saw Mariko standing right in front of him.

'Mariko!' he shouted and, he was so happy to see her that had to make a superhuman effort to refrain himself from jumping on her.

'What are you doing here?' the model asked.

Itsuki was ecstatic to see that, even though she tried to appear as though as she was angry, Mariko was actually pleased to see him there.

'I couldn't let you go like this,' Itsuki said.

'Itsuki…' she said frowning.

'I know, I know…it's too late, isn't it?' Itsuki said frowning too.

'Yeah, I've already signed the contract,' Mariko said now looking miserable.

Itsuki looked down at the floor between his feet, then, taking a deep breath, he looked back up at her.

'I'll wait for you.'

'Itsuki…'

'No, look, I've been thinking and, even though I still think you deserve so much better than me, I really want to be with you.'

'But I'm going to the U.S. now,' Mariko said.

'I know. Look, I've always believed in destiny, now you're off to New York but, if by the time you come back to Japan, you're still single and you're still interested, let me know. We'll give ourselves another chance, alright?'

Itsuki couldn't believe he'd been so bolt but occasion more than called for such desperate measures.

'Alright,' she said and Itsuki had to look at her in the eye just to make sure she was for real.

'Good,' Itsuki said crossing his arms on his chest and, as usual, wishing he was a lot taller.

'I've got to go now but I'll send you my address in New York as soon as I have it.' Mariko said then, seeing Itsuki's confused face, she explained, 'I'd like you to keep in touch with me.'

'I get it. Have a safe flight and take care, alright?' Itsuki said, then Mariko bent down to kiss him and, not thinking twice, Itsuki hugged her while returning the kiss.

When she finally left, Itsuki felt two tears crossing his cheeks. It was the story of his life: the women he cared about always seemed to leave him.

To be continued…