Chapter 23
Hatred IV
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"Young lady," says Aoshi, switching off the television. "Where do you think you're going?" he asks, walking towards me.
"Ummm…work?" I say.
"Eat," he says, pointing towards the kitchen.
"Aoshi!" I whined, stamping my foot. "I'm going to be late!"
"So?" he asks, propelling me towards the kitchen. "You still have to eat your breakfast. I can't have my little sister feeling weak and tired when she works."
"But, Aoshi, I'm feeling pretty hyper today!"
"No excuses," he says, tapping me lightly on the head.
As I sat down at the table to eat some French toast, I noticed Soujiro and Akira's empty seats, and gave an audible sigh.
"What's wrong?" asks Aoshi.
"I miss Sou-chan and Akira!" I say, pouting.
"I miss them too, Kao-chan," he says glumly, propping up one elbow on the table to support his chin. "Maybe I shouldn't have sent them all the way to the States to sign the deal. I should've picked someone else."
"Don't worry too much. I'm sure they're having loads of fun there," I say, reaching over to pinch his cheeks, but he pinched me first.
"When are they going to be back, anyway?"
"This coming Friday," he says, brightening up a little. "That's only about four days from now, isn't it?"
"Yup!" I say happily, taking a sip of orange juice. "They'll be back in no time!"
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"Come in," says Kenshin, after a few knocks.
"Good morning, Kenshin," says Tomoe, smiling brightly at him.
"Oh, Tomoe," he says, motioning for her to sit down. "Good morning."
"You look well, Kenshin."
"You don't look too bad either, Tomoe. You seem very...together."
"Yeah, well, I'm coping, I guess," she says, looking up at him. "Is that a couple ring?" she asks, catching sight of the silver band on his finger.
"Oh, yeah, it is," he says, laughing a little and twirling the ring on his finger.
"Things must be going well between the both of you, huh? You never bought me a couple ring when we were together," she says bitterly. "But it's all right. That's all in the past now," she says, giving him a small smile.
"Did you want to see me about something, Tomoe?" he asks, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
"Oh, right. That reminds me. There are some documents that you need to sign," she says, putting several files on his table. "You can take your time to go through them. Just hand it back to me before lunch, okay?"
"Sure. Thanks, Tomoe," he says, after a slight pause.
"No problem, Kenshin. Friends?" she asks, extending her hand.
"…Friends," he hesitantly replied, taking her hand in his and shaking it.
As Tomoe let herself out of his room, she smiled to herself. Just you wait, Himura Kenshin. Just you wait. After reading that file, I don't think you and Kaoru will even be on talking terms anymore. Friends? Hah! You're going to be mine again. You should know, Kenshin...I always get what I want.
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Kenshin put his pen down on the table, took off his spectacles and pinched the bridge of his nose a few times. He poured himself a glass of water, and then sat back down at his table. Feeling that he needed a small break from reading documents, he picked up his phone and dialed Kaoru's number.
"Hello, good morning. I'm Kamiya Kaoru of Himura Corporations. How may I help you?" came her voice over the receiver.
"Good morning," says Kenshin, trying to change his voice a little so that she wouldn't recognize that it was him. "Well, yes, could I place an order for six toilet bowls to be fixed in my new home?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but could you please repeat that?"
"I would like to place an order for six toilet bowls to be fixed in my new home. Would that be possible?"
"I think you must be mistaken, sir. We don't provide services for…installing toilet bowls."
"Well, then," says Kenshin, trying his hardest not to laugh. "What about basins? I'm sure you do basins?"
"I'm sorry, but we don't do basins either."
"You don't? Well, what do you offer then?
"Ummm…we have a range of sportswear, dr—"
"Sportswear! You must do undergarments too then!" says Kenshin. "My wife…needs…new…" he says, laughing out loud.
"KENSHIN!" she yelled.
"Hello, Kaoru-san. How're you doing?" he says, still laughing.
"Fine," she mumbled. "I can't believe you played such a rotten trick on me!"
"I'm sorry. I was feeling bored!" says Kenshin, twirling his pen with his fingers. "Tell you what, how about I make it up to you by treating you to lunch?"
"Mou! Who wants to have lunch with you?" she teased.
"You do," he says. "I'll wait for you outside the building at 12.30, okay?"
"Okay!"
After they had both hung up, he leaned back in his chair and smiled to himself. Just then, he caught sight of the stack of files that Tomoe needed signed before lunch. Heaving a sigh, he put his spectacles back on, grabbed the first file off the stack, opened it and began to read.
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Kenshin lifted the sleeve of his shirt to take a look at his watch and he groaned when he saw that he still had half an hour to lunch. Why does time seem to be moving so slowly today, he wondered. He reached for the last file, which Tomoe had sent him earlier and opened it.
His forehead wrinkled a little when he saw a little clipped picture of Kaoru at the top right corner of the paper. His eyes scanned down the entire page, surprised that Tomoe had mistakenly sent him the file of Kaoru's profile, which all employees had. Just as he was about to close it, he noticed another sheet of paper sticking out from underneath the first paper. Curious, he pulled it out and read what was written on it, his eyes becoming wider and wider with disbelief with each passing second.
Kamiya (Shinomori) Kaoru
- born on the 16th of April, 1986 at the Kyoto Hospital
- daughter of the successful Shinomori Hinaku and Kamiya Koshijiro who died in a car accident
- younger sister of Shinomori (Kamiya) Aoshi who has headed Kamiya Corporations at 18 years old
- studied at Tokyo High
- graduated from Tokyo University with first class honours in Business and Marketing
- lives on Edo Street with her brother, her cousin, Kiyosato Akira and her best friend, Seta Soujiro
- shares an estimated wealth of 65 million with her brother
Several newspaper clippings and magazine articles were attached behind the paper. With shaking hands, he sifted through them one by one, only reading the headlines of every article.
Shinomori Hinaku and Kamiya Koshijiro's Fatal Accident
Many Condolences and Best Wishes to Kamiya Aoshi and Kamiya Kaoru
Kamiya Aoshi to Head Kamiya Corporations at 18, name changed to Shinomori Aoshi
Aoshi and Kaoru Does Their Parents Proud
Kamiya Corporations to Donate 100,000 to Charity
Kamiya Corporations Rated the 3rd Most Successful Company
50 in Richest Bachelors Japan
His eyes roamed down to number eight, which was circled in black marker.
Number 8
Name : Shinomori (Kamiya) Aoshi
Age : 27
Estimated wealth : 65 million
Position : President of Kamiya Corporations
Siblings : One younger sister, Kamiya Kaoru
Status : Lives in Edo Street; currently single
Unable to continue reading any longer, he slammed the file down on the table and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and massaging his temples. Just then, he heard a loud knock on his door. Before he could say anything, the door was flung open and Tomoe rushed in.
"Hey, Kenshin," she says, flustered. "I left a very important file in here which you don't…need…to…sign…" she trailed off, catching sight of the open file on the table.
"Oh…"
"This?" he asks, lifting it up with one hand.
"Ummm…" she says, fidgeting a little.
There was an awkward silence before Kenshin spoke.
"Call Kamiya up," he says, his voice cold and hard.
When Tomoe did not move a muscle, he repeated it again, this time even more colder than before, if that was even possible. "Call Kamiya up, now."
"Yes, Kenshin," she says, bowing slightly before exiting the room, smiling sinisterly to herself.
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"Kenshin?" I say, poking my head in, catching sight of his back as he stood, staring out the large window, down at the busy streets of Seoul below. "Tomoe said you wanted to see me about something."
It was only after a while that he turned around to face me and gave me a penetrating gaze.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
"What?" I ask, raising my eyebrows in confusion.
"Are you hiding something from me?" he repeated, his eyes hard.
"Kenshin, what a—"
"JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!" he yelled.
"N-no…none that I can think of," I stuttered, fear washing over me.
"Oh really?" he asks, glaring at me. "Then what do you have to say about these?" he asks, chucking the file at my feet.
I bent down to retrieve the file and flipped it open immediately. "Kenshin, this is my emplo—"
"Turn the page."
I looked up at him, and then turned the page over. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped open as I read the second sheet of paper. I didn't need to look through all the newspaper clippings and magazine articles to know what it contained. I raised my head and looked pleadingly at Kenshin.
"Kenshin, I'm sorry. It's just that I di—"
"You don't have to apologize to me," he says, and I flinched at the tone of his voice. "I mean, I didn't ask you who you really were after all. I always assumed that you would never hide your identity."
"Kenshin, do—"
"But I guess I was wrong, huh? And even after we got together, you never bothered to tell me. What a fool I must have looked like in front of all those people. Himura Kenshin, dating Kamiya Kaoru, whom he thought was just a normal person, just like everybody else, but who was, actually, the daughter of Kamiya Koshijiro, founder of Kamiya Corporations."
"Just he—"
"When exactly were you planning to tell me this, Kaoru?" he cut me off.
I closed my eyes tightly, wishing that the floor would just open up and swallow me whole. I reopened my eyes again, only to find Kenshin staring straight at me, his eyes piercing me.
"Trust obviously never entered our relationship even once."
"No, Kenshin," I say, tears beginning to well up in my eyes. "I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you. All I wanted to do was to prove to everyone that I could be successful on my own, without people knowing my true identity...that things didn't come handed to me on a silver platter. I really didn't mean for things to get this far."
The betrayal and hurt that Kenshin felt deafened him to my pleas. It killed him to know that I didn't trust him enough to tell him who she really was in the beginning. Not able to face me any longer, he turned his back on me.
"Maybe it's best we both take a little break," he says quietly, breaking the silence.
It took me a while to answer him.
"Yeah, I think that would be best," I argreed shaking, before turning on her heel and letting herself out the door.
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Next Chappie: a little mellow, but preparation for the big bang classical drama. The biggest drama is about to be here. Even I'm a little excited.
A/N: I'm sorry I left for a while… the whole college thing is just frustrating. I'll really try to keep up from on.