Madd the sane: Ryo and Rika do not know each other (yet) in this fanfic.

Stubborn Love
Squit Ayumin

Chapter 3

"Arisa, you're my life," Ryo muttered thankfully, taking the coffee from his assistant's hands. He took a sip and held back a sigh of relief. The bad thing about his sleeping pills was the fact that he was supposed to have at least eight hours of sleep with them. Last night, he had approximately five, which was actually more than his usual four.

Anyway, this meant he needed at least two cups of coffee before he could actually function in the mornings.

Arisa set down a massive stack of folders in front of him. "Sir, I'm sorry to rush you, but you have an audition scheduled in twenty minutes. You were supposed to be down there ten minutes ago."

Ryo looked up.

Audition? What audition? Since when did he run auditions?

Too embarrassed he had forgotten, he just stared at Arisa. She understood.

"It's the spokesperson audition?"

Oh, that audition. He and Mayuko had made an elaborate plan to boost her modelling career, but she had broken up with him before it went into effect. He had made Arisa call her to remind her of it—he certainly wasn't going to let a break-up ruin Mayuko's contract—but she cancelled and he had to find another person immediately.

It was actually pretty unbelievable. It was a killer amount of work, and he had to practically beg his father to agree to let him merely shouted and refused. So he was now stuck with a stupid plan he never really wanted to do.

"Oh, that," he muttered, picking up a leather-bound folder and opening it to see a fuzzy piece of paper with black scribbles, a small photo of a fuzzy person and bigger fuzzier pictures.

He needed more coffee. His eyes weren't working properly.

"Arisa, don't you think there's someone more qualified than me to do this?" he asked, taking a large gulp of coffee.

"You'll still have to be there for the final approval." Arisa raised her eyebrow. "Of course, we have established a board for the project, and we'll be collaborating with Osamu Agencies once we've finalised our part of the contract, but…"

As Arisa continued to drone on about the plan for what seemed to be the millionth time, Ryo irritably picked at a tip of his desk. This is what he got for asking a stupid question she had already explained—several times.

"Furthermore, I may remind you that it was your idea. And you insisted that you should be in charge. Your father…"

Ryo brought the coffee cup to his lips and rolled his eyes subtly. His father. To hell what his father wanted. He was bloody in Kyushu.

"Anyway, they're all waiting in the conference room." Arisa's firm face wrinkled into a warm smile. "I'll just wait for you outside."

"Yes, that's good. I'll be out in a few seconds," he said, taking another swig of coffee.

Once she left, he picked up his office phone and dialled his vice president. He knew she fancied him—as weird as that was—so she wouldn't refuse a tempting offer such as taking his place.

Forty minutes later, Ryo was sitting in his chair, hand holding the same phone to his ear. A single ring later, he slammed it back onto his desk for what seemed to be the umpteenth time.

He sat there for a second, mentally kicking himself for being such a cowardly idiot and picked the phone up once again. A single ring later, it was put back into its crib.

"This is stupid," he muttered to himself. He hit redial, put the phone on speakerphone and pushed his chair back against the wall to stop himself from chickening out.

Three rings later, she answered.

"Hello?"

He couldn't breathe. Two months without hearing her voice was far too long; he had almost forgotten just how beautiful it was.

"Hello? Aoki residence," she repeated, louder.

"Hey," he said finally.

"Hello…" she replied unsurely. "I'm sorry, but may I ask who this is?"

"It's me."

Silence.

"Erm, it's Ryo," he tried again.

"Hey Ryo," she said at the same time.

"Hi," he repeated, semi-delighted she remembered him.

A long, awkward pause followed.

"How are you?" he quickly asked.

"I'm all right," she answered, clearly uncomfortable. "You?"

"I'm okay," he lied.

Another long pause.

"Is there… a reason you called?"

"Oh, right, I almost forgot." He cleared his throat. "It's about that project we were going to work on. I was just checking to see if you might still want to do it. I mean, it was made for you, so I thought I'd be fair about it."

"I already told Arisa that I wouldn't do it anymore, Ryo."

"Oh, right." He cleared his throat again. "I was just… checking. Ha-ha, you know me. I need to check everything myself."

She didn't respond.

Now he felt rather stupid.

"Ryo?" she said finally.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry to ask this of you, but could you not call me anymore?"

He froze. Rather than try to analyse what she had just said to him, he picked up his cup, examining its pattern.

She continued, "I'm sorry, it's just too awkward…"

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it." He chuckled, swishing the cup so several splashes of coffee splattered the floor. "Sorry, I guess I'm just thick."

"Don't be sorry, Ryo. You didn't do anything wrong. It's me."

"Ha-ha, no, really, I'm sorry." He set the cup back on the desk, realising what he had done. "I was just checking up on you."

He heard soft sniffling from the other end. She was crying.

And knowing her, she would much rather him not know.

"Ryo, I'm going to go," she said, attempting to hide her crying. "Thanks for thinking of me."

"Oh, okay," he said, blankly. "I'll see you la—er, I mean I'll—I hope you'll be well."

"Thanks Ryo. You too."

She hung up first.

He sat there for a minute.

What had he expected? For her to be ecstatic that her ex-fiancé contacted her for the first time in two months? For her to suddenly agree to this deal when she couldn't even stand talking to him on the phone?

Why was he such an idiot?

He reached over to put the phone back in its receiver.

He would maintain his cool. He would remain perfectly okay until work ended.

Several hours of miscellaneous procrastination tactics later, he hadn't finished, or started, a thing. His fashion reviews stood high on his desk, waiting his unprofessional, inexperienced revision. He had attended a meeting already, only to have sat there picking at his Styrofoam cup until it chipped. And now he was in his office again, staring at Solitaire.

Without warning, his vice president, Chikako Suzuki, walked into the office. He quickly exited his game and pulled up a random Excel spreadsheet.

"Yes?" he answered.

"President Akiyama, I'm sorry but—"

"Let me in!" he heard from behind her. "Get your hands off me!"

"I'm sorry, but you can't go in just yet," came Arisa's calm voice.

"Who does this guy think he is? The Prime Mini—I said don't touch me! I demand I be let in!"

"What's wrong?" he asked, standing up, looking at Suzuki for answers.

Before she could open her mouth, a redheaded girl barged into the room, Arisa flopping on her arm.

"You," the girl said, glaring accusingly at him.

He looked at her questioningly for a second before his eyes widened. It was the model girl from the night before—the Mayuko look-alike.

What the hell was she doing here?

"Yes?" he asked coolly, feigning ignorance.

Oh God, he had whistled at her.

He had whistled at her.

She was going to realise who he was and blurt it out. There were very few things that could match the embarrassment he currently felt.

"What sort of a skewed establishment are you running here?" she demanded, jerking the tiny Arisa off her arm.

"Is there a problem?" he asked, remaining refined. To hide his fear, he sat back down in his seat and put his trembling hands on his legs.

"Please calm down," Suzuki said, taking her arm.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, throwing Suzuki off as well. She marched up to him. "No, there's no problem. I just feel like wasting my time talking to you for no reason."

He felt a twang of annoyance. "Well, if that's the case, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

She gave him a glare. "Don't taunt me."

"You taunted me first."

He shouldn't be doing this, mocking her like this. If she remembered him and even muttered a single word that he had drunkenly hit on her, he was finished. Arisa would tell his father; his father would kill him.

"Should I call security?" Suzuki asked.

"Security?" the girl snapped, glaring angrily at Suzuki for a split second before turning back to him. "I'll sue your employees for harassing me if you call security."

"That won't be necessary, Suzuki. Could you and Arisa give us a moment?" When they left, he looked at the girl in front of him. "So what's your dilemma?"

She threw a packet on his desk.

"It's a contract," he said when she merely continued to glare.

"Yes, it is. I demand that you cancel it," she ordered.

He looked up at her. "I don't even know what this is. You can't just come in here—which you weren't allowed to do, by the way—threaten my employees, and tell me to—"

"You can't just randomly sign me for your stupid contract without my permission." She picked the packet and threw it at his chest. "I'm 22 years old. My mum doesn't have control over me."

He picked the papers up. It was the modelling contract he had made for Mayuko. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Just cancel the contract," she demanded.

"I really haven't a clue what you're saying to me. Perhaps if you just calmed down and expl—"

"Don't tell me to calm down. I don't need to calm down."

Ryo took a deep breath to calm his frustration, not caring if she noticed or not. "Fine, don't calm down. Could you then just explain what you're talking ab—"

"Apparently, somebody signed me to this contract without my permission," she interrupted. "I don't do advertising, first of all."

"Who signed you?"

"I don't know. I wasn't there."

"Well then, how did anyone sign you?" He flipped to the last page. "Rumiko?"

"No, that would be my mother." She seized the papers. "Cancel the contract."

"Somebody here let your mother sign you up for the deal?" he asked. He looked at her closely for the first time rather than glancing, and he noticed that he had mistaken the night before. She looked nothing like Mayuko.

"Yes, that's what I said," she said rather rudely.

He took the papers from her hand and put them aside. "Fine, it's cancelled."

She looked mildly surprised. "That's it?"

He looked up. "Yes, is there anything else?"

Her eyes narrowed, full of suspicion. "You aren't trying to trick me, are you?"

He turned away from her face and looked back at his computer. "Why would I do something like that? To be completely frank, I wouldn't want to work with someone with your immaturity in the first place."

"Immaturity?" she shrieked. "You rude—"

"Arisa, call security to remove this woman from my office at once," he said, turning his speakerphone on. He looked at her once again. "Is there anything else you need, ma'am?"

"Yes. Kindly throw yourself out of that window, you jackass. I can kick myself out." She stormed out of the room.

Ryo took the contract and threw it into the rubbish bin.

He couldn't deal with people like her.

The worst part of each day for Ryo was getting off work, precisely for the reason everybody else loved it: no more work.

Without work to distract him, he felt himself fall into depression—the same sort of angst that he used to see with teenage students back in school. It was humiliating.

"There you go, love." The waitress set a glass in front of Ryo, smiling warmly at him. "Girl got you down?"

Ryo thanked her and took a sip of the drink, ignoring her question.

"Don't worry. You're still young and handsome." She gave him an affectionate pat on his shoulder. "If it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be."

"Actually, I'm just here for dinner," he responded finally. As nice as she was, who was she to assume such things? Even if she was right, it was still annoying.

She smiled knowingly. "Ready to order then, sweetheart?"

He looked at the menu. He hadn't eaten since last night's after party. Still, he had no appetite, especially when having to choose between the pub's dodgy choices.

"Need a few minutes?"

"Er, no, I'll just have…" His eyes fell to the first thing on the menu, "p…pork scratchings."

"That all for you?"

"No, I'll also have…" He randomly chose another one, as the first hardly sounded appetising, "a toad in the hole?"

"What would like in it?"

"Um, what could I have?"

"Sausage, beans, soup, stew—"

"It doesn't matter," he interrupted. "Whichever tastes the best."

"Out in a few, hon." She walked away, as Ryo sipped his drink nervously.

Pork scratchings were foul to even imagine to eat, and he had never eaten a toad in the hole before, though that hardly sounded appetising either.

He looked around. Besides a scruffy man in a large coat, he was the only other person in the pub.

The quiet environment was soothing, temporarily allowing Ryo to worry more about his future dinner than his past relationship.

It was interrupted, however, as the door swung open, cool air and rain rushing in.

"Welcome to Lunasa!" greeted the waitress that had just taken Ryo's order.

"Good evening," came a male's voice.

Out of common courtesy, Ryo didn't turn around to look at them. The old man in the corner did for a second before losing interest and turning back to the game on the telly.

"You brought me to a pub?" came a female's voice.

"It's my favourite pub."

"A real catch, you are."

"Come on, babe. You'll love it."

"I can't believe I let you drag me out of home in this weather to go to a pub."

"I didn't drag you out."

"I didn't want to come."

"Give it a chance."

"I'm still here, aren't I?"

Ryo heard chuckling.

"Could we get some menus over here?"

So much for a quiet night, Ryo thought to himself. He took his drink and sipped it again.

"What do you want?"

"I've told you a hundred times that I hate pubs. I don't want anything."

The waitress came back out with Ryo's bowl of pork scratchings. "There you go. Japan's finest."

He gave a weak smile, wondering if she was joking or not. "Thanks." He raised his glass. "Er, could I have another one of these?"

"Of course, love. Your toad will be out in a second."

He picked at the crisps, wondering if he should try one.

"Come on, you have to order something."

"I don't want anything."

"Well, I took you out so order something."

"You order something. I'm not hungry."

"Order something!"

"What don't you understand about this simple concept? Are you really that simple-minded?"

"God, damn it. Will you just order something?"

"I don't want anything!"

Getting annoyed at the obnoxious couple, Ryo stirred his drink and took a long sip. That's what he got for coming to a pub instead of a restaurant. He just thought it'd be less awkward to see a guy eating by himself at a pub than a restaurant.

Ryo put a scratching in his mouth out of curiosity, only to spit it out a nanosecond later, coughing.

It was the single most repulsive thing he had ever tasted in his life.

He continued coughing softly, taking sips of his drink to get rid of the offending taste on his tongue.

"Are you okay, mate?" asked the man with the girl.

"Oh, I'm fi—" He had turned around to look at them, only to turn around as soon as he saw them.

It was the lunatic who had harassed him at his office.

She was there with who he assumed was her boyfriend, sitting merely two tables away from him.

Luckily, she hadn't seen him, far more interested in the menu.

"I'm fine," he repeated, lowering his voice a notch.

"What the hell is a toad in the hole?" the girl asked.

"Yorkshire pudding with shit," her companion answered. "It's not that great."

"This is all disgusting. I don't want any of it."

The waitress walked back out, giving Ryo his meal and drink before walking to the couple. "Could I get you some drinks?"

"Hey, that guy just got a toad in the hole! Hey, mate! Is that any good?"

Ryo lowered his head. "Er, yeah! It's great."

"Stop harassing him!"

"I'm not harassing him."

"Yes, you are! He doesn't want to talk to you."

Why? Why did they have to keep addressing his presence? Why couldn't they be like normal couples and talk amongst themselves?

"Fine, just order a drink."

"I already said I don't want anything."

"Bloody hell Rika, stop yelling at me and order a drink."

Rika. So that was her name.

"I don't want a drink. I don't want to be here. I'm leaving."

"Oh, come on!" Sounds of chairs moving. "It's raining. You'll catch pneumonia."

Tempted to turn around, Ryo just took a large gulp of his drink, stirring his food with a scratching.

"Good, then you won't try to force me into eating dodgy pub food."

"Honestly, do you have to act like a four-year-old in public? People can hear you."

Rustling sounds.

"Rika, seriously, it's raining."

"I happen to like a rain."

"I like sharks, but I wouldn't swim beside one."

"Just shut up and eat your stupid food in this stupid place. If you need me, I'll be at home."

"Rika, come on! You're getting mad over nothing—again."

Just like today at the office, Ryo thought to himself.

"I'm not mad. I'm frustrated that you dragged me out for no good reason when I was trying to sleep. I'm going back to bed."

"Stop shouting. Can't you see that you're embarrassing yourself?"

"Then I'll leave."

"Rika, just—" Sounds of somebody screaming and falling. "Oh, my God, are you all right?"

Without thinking, Ryo turned around to see what had happened. By the looks of it, the man had accidentally hit the waitress' tray. The man was helping the waitress up off the floor, while Rika glanced at Ryo.

He immediately turned around.

"You—" she started.

He threw money on the table, attempting to walk out of the pub.

"Thank you," he muttered as he passed the waitress.

"Wait!" Rika took his arm and stopped him.

He froze. With her attitude, he almost expected her to hit him.

Her face brightened before he got a chance to respond. "Hi!"

She was being friendly. Why was she being friendly?

"Hi," he said nervously, hoping he didn't look as freaked out as he actually was.

"Who's he?" the other guy demanded, losing interest in the fallen waitress. He had been helping her up, resulting in her falling straight back to the floor. He didn't look twice at her.

"Nobody you know," she said matter-of-factly. She smiled at Ryo. "How have you been?"

She gave him a look.

"I'm well?" he asked.

She gave him another look.

"You?" he tried.

"I'm perfect!" She laughed, hitting his arm rather harshly, probably for his poor acting skills. "I haven't seen you in the longest time!"

"Who're you?" the guy demanded, looking at Ryo.

She slid a hand over his shoulder and another across his chest, making him uncomfortable. He was never too touchy. "This is… Motou."

"And who the hell is Motou?"

She smiled smugly and snuggled her head close to his neck. Ryo, too shocked and confused, merely stood there. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Who the hell are you?"

He stared at him, watching as the guy rolled his sleeves up. "Oh, I'm not—"

"Stop being stupid, Kazu." She took Ryo by the arm. "Come on, Motou, will you take me out to a real dinner?" She smirked at her boyfriend. "Motou here is president of his own company."

Before he could clear things up with this Kazu character, she was dragging him out the door.

He was interrupted, however, as Kazu gave him a hard punch on the back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded as Ryo found his balance and straightened up.

"Look, this is a big misund—"

Kazu punched his face.

"Kazu, stop hitting him," Rika said nonchalantly, seemingly not concerned that she had just caused Ryo a painful injury. "God, you get so jealous—"

Without thinking again, Ryo punched Kazu back in the face.

Surprisingly, it felt good. He was never one to get into physical brawls, but it was as if he had put all his frustrations into that one punch.

His relief was only temporary as Kazu lunged for him again. Before he could hit, Rika stepped up, kicked him between the legs, grabbed Ryo's arm and ran out the pub.

Random Fact about Chapter 3: I had to write Ryo's phone conversation with Mayuko three times because I kept closing the window without saving it. It hardly has the same effect anymore.