Chapter 6: A Second Encounter.
'Give this lunch to uncle Kazuki.' Sakuno handed the brown bag to Atobe.
Atobe pouted then glanced at the cellphone, he picked it up. "Try calling me!"
Sakuno took the cellphone, 'Go!'
"Try okay?" Atobe nagged.
'Hurry and go!' Sakuno made movements with her hands.
"You need to have sincerity." Said Atobe.
Sakuno pushed him to go.
Atobe tried to struggle, "I want to receive your phone call!" He then hurried and sprint to go give his dad his lunch.
'Come back quickly!' Sakuno silently said with her hands. Sakuno went back to work but then stopped to open the cellphone...she hesitantly looked at the phone for a second then closed it. She sighed.
-at the building-
At his cubicle, Kazuki-san packed up his things. At his desk, you can see racks of time stamps of his clock in and clock out. He had been working for this company with devotion and dedication for years. He always clock in and out on times because he put his time stamps at his desk, so never once has he missed a minute of the company's time. Too bad Ryoma never gave Kazuki-san a chance to defend himself.
Atobe showed up with his lunch. "Lunch is here!" He place the lunch bag in front of his dad.
Kazuki-san just continue to pack his things.
Atobe looked around and was confused, "Why are you packing?"
Kazuki-san stopped what he was doing and sat down with a sighed. He looked around his cubicle sadly, not sure how to tell his son that he got fired.
'Fired!' Sakuno said with shock.
Atobe nodded sadly.
"Please hurry!" A customer said impatiently.
'Sorry.'
"Let me tell you, I can tell that he wasn't happy." Atobe done preparing the order then handed it over to Sakuno.
Sakuno took it and put it in the bag and gave it to the customer. 'Sorry.'
The customer handed Sakuno the money. 'Thank you.' After the customer left she just stood there deep in thought.
'Atobe-kun, let's pack up!' Sakuno said.
"Now?" Atobe questioned her.
'Hai!'
Atobe wasn't sure what Sakuno had in mind, but he still helped Sakuno packed everything up into the van and before he knew what Sakuno wanted to do, they appeared at the building where Kazuki-san and Ryoma are at.
"This is not good, Sakuno-chan, listen to me," Sakuno ignored him, "Seriously, listen to me." Atobe trying to stop Sakuno.
"let's calm down all right?" The begging didn't work so Atobe, without thinking, took a hold of her arm to stop her and block her way from entering the building. "Please calm down!"
Still with an angry face Sakuno stopped.
"Don't you often said 'think before you do something?' that is why we should think clearly about this," Atobe tried to steer Sakuno away from the door, "We should go home and think of a good plan." He calmly said.
Being stubborn as she is, she didn't care and just pull her arm away from his grip and stepped on his foot, receiving a grunt from him. She enter the building alone, leaving a hurt Atobe behind yelling out her name and chasing after her.
Sakuno looked around for a near by security. When she spotted two, she made her way toward them. She tapped one of the security on his shoulder. The security turned around.
'Where is your CEO?'
The security guy sweat dropped, he had no clue what Sakuno wanted. Atobe limply came up beside her. "Sorry, she found the wrong place, let's leave." He grabbed Sakuno away and again, poor Atobe, Sakuno stepped on his foot once more.
He grunted and rubbed his foot then loudly said, "She asked where is your CEO!"
"You are looking for our CEO? Do you have any business with him?" The same security guy asked.
Sakuno was starting to be impatient. 'Where is your CEO?' She emphasized it strongly. 'Ask him!' She looked at Atobe who is now standing next to her.
He sighed, "Just answer her quickly!"
"Who are you people?" Asked the security guy.
At that moment, Ryoma walked out of the elevator with his secretary following behind him and a supervisor who is trying to show his new proposal.
Sakuno's hand moved around in the air with smooth and gracefulness.
"Don't worry about who we are!" Atobe translated for Sakuno. "Just quickly tell your CEO to come out here."
Ryoma teared his golden eyes away from the files and looked up at the mention of his title. Ryoma witnessed Sakuno and Atobe being pushed away from the securities, who are trying to kick them out of the building.
Sakuno was furious. 'What are you doing? Let me go!'
Atobe repeated what Sakuno said.
'If he doesn't come out, he's a coward!' Sakuno insulted Ryoma.
There were people around watching the commotions.
"What do you want with me?" Ryoma spoke up. Once again, Sakuno and Ryoma eyes met.
To her surprise, the CEO was the same guy she accidentally met earlier. Her surprised expression slowly turned to anger. The securities stepped back away as Ryoma close the distance between them.
Atobe took a protective stance close to Sakuno. Ryoma was a little too close for his liking.
"What is the problem?" Ryoma inquired, now standing face to face with Sakuno.
'Why don't you listen to people's explanation before firing them? Don't you have ears?'
Ryoma got startled by her hand movements. He had no clue what she was saying.
"She said, you should listen to others explanation before you fire your workers." Atobe, in a harsh tone, repeated to Ryoma.
How interesting. Ryoma smirked, "So you're just a trouble maker."
Unbelievable. Sakuno couldn't stand Ryoma. She just wanted to whip his chest out to see if he has a heart.
Ryoma turned to the securities, "If you don't get rid of these people under one minute, then you don't need to show up for work tomorrow."
"Hai!"
Ryoma's secretary opened the door for him and he left without glancing back.
Sakuno tried to go after him but got block by the securities. She tried to resist.
"NE! Don't touch her!" Atobe said protectively. "We will definitely find you!" Atobe yelled after Ryoma's disappearing figure.
Ryoma showed no reaction, like an empty vase with no flowers to hold on too.
-The Kazuki's resident-
That night the Kazukis and Sakuno sat in silent.
Feeling upset, Sakuno stood up and went to her room. Atobe and Kazuki-san can tell that Sakuno was not happy about the situation.
"Sakuno-chan!" Atobe was about to go after her when his dad took his arm. Atobe looked at his dad.
"Let me talk to her." Kazuki-san said.
Kazuki-san walked into Sakuno room. Staring at her back, the old man sighed. He walked over to her desk where she is sitting. He patted her back to let her acknowledge his presence.
"Sakuno, don't be mad anymore. Retiring a bit early and enjoying a little bit of peace and quiet is actually not so bad." He tried to cheer Sakuno up.
"So don't make any trouble with those kind of people that don't know how to respect anyone, they're not worth our times."
Sakuno still felt sad and mad for her uncle. He didn't do anything wrong, which made her even more mad at Ryoma.
"Beside, we have other things to worry about," smiling, Kazuki-san showed Sakuno the paper in his hand. Sakuno looked over to see what it is. "Look, there is a famous doctor in Osaka, he specializes in curing for difficult sicknesses, we can go there and try him." He sat down on her bed next to her desk.
Sakuno turned sideways to face him. 'I think that being unable to speak is not so bad, I don't want to go see the doctor.'
"No." Kazuki-san answered with a hint of disappointment. "Uncle will listen to Sakuno about anything, but this one you have to listen to me."
Sakuno silently sighed and gave him her best smiled. 'All right, but I want to wait until I save up enough money.'
"No need." Kazuki-san touched Sakuno's cheek with caring. "They said that in times of need, Kami will help us, so I calculated that I will receive at least 500 thousand dollars for retiring, its just enough to go to Osaka to see the doctor."
'No way, that money is Uncle Kazuki's retirement fund, I can't take it.' Sakuno shook her head 'no'.
Kazuki-san sighed. "Uncle has you, why do I need retirement money? Aren't you going to take care of me?" He teased.
Sakuno silently giggled. 'I'll take care of you for life!'
"That's right, so what is there to be scared of? All right you silly girl, Oyasumi!"
'Oyasumi, Uncle!'
Kazuki-san stood up and left her room. Sakuno continue to sit there at her desk, she was lingering at the paper that Kazuki-san had showed her. She looked out of her window, staring at the stars and the dark sky.
Obaa-san, Uncle Kazuki is so kind to me. How can I ever pay him back for everything he done for me? Once again Sakuno silently sighed.
Author's note:
comments and inputs are welcome ^_^.