Misconceptions

Chapter Sixteen:
Loose Control

Hana tapped her gold, ruby ring against the glass of the teacup as she stared hard at Burke. Burke however paid no attention to her cruel intensions and crossed his arms over his chest. "What should I owe this pleasure to?" he asked with a smirk.

"Mr. Burke, I haven't come here to fight," she insisted. "In fact, I want to set all this nonsense aside. Since you daughter interrupted us last time, I thought I might drop by with some recommendations for your move."

Burke nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "And what makes you think I'll move?"

Hana smiled and sipped her tea quietly. "As I said, I think you're a smart man. And if you're as smart as I think you are, you'll do the right thing." She grabbed some real estate magazines from her bag and set them down in front of him as she swung her bag over her boney shoulder and set her cup on his desk. "Well, call me when you find what you like."

Just as she extended her hand to reach for the door knob she heard his chair squeak. "By the way, next time you inform the police on one of my shipments, I'll make sure you keep quiet."

Hana turned around coolly. "Is that threat, because I don't respond well to threats?"

He smirked. "Looks like you don't respond well to BOTOX either," he countered. "Have a nice day."

.o0o.

"Doctor Ito's office, how may I help you?" Ai spoke into the phone. "No, I'm sorry he's in a consultation right now, I could take a message . . . alright, thank you." Ai scratched down a number and stuck the post-it on the desk.

She had spent most of her time at work. Everyone wondered why she took it as a full-time job instead of spending most of her time shopping like a regular heiress. Too bad she had yet to actually tell anyone about her scenario. After Hana's cruel attempt of ruining her life, she pretty much kept to herself.

The trill of her phone separated her from her thoughts. She looked at the caller ID and slid her phone open to confirm the call. "Hi, Mom," she greeted.

"Honey, are you coming home soon?"

"I actually have another hour here. It seems like there was a small emergency and we had to book in another client."

"Again? Why can't Dr. Ito just lock up himself?"

"I already told you mom: in order for me to finish up I have to shut down all the systems and if I do that them Dr. Ito will be locked in. As the secretary I'm the only one here who has access." Ai wasn't exactly sure what she had just said, but she knew well that her mother wouldn't ask questions.

"Fine, but hurry over. We want to have dinner with Kouga and his family and we can't start without you."

"I might be late so just start without me."

"Alright, bye."

Ai sighed. All the lying had been getting the best of her lately. She barely knew what the truth was anymore. She couldn't keep her lies straight so she had to be extra careful when ever she spoke.

Suddenly Dr. Ito stepped out of his office as he locked his door behind him with his key. "Ai, are you ready to go."

She nodded as she keyed in some thing into the computer then grabbed her purse. "Yeah, let's go."

He rested his large hand on the small of her back as she led the way out of the office building. They both came to a halt so he could lock his door. He suddenly hissed at himself. "I forgot an important file in my office."

"I'll wait out here," she offered.

He kissed her cheek and slipped back into the building.

"Ai,"

Ai turned around to the sound of her names. Here yes suddenly widened. "A-Ayame . . . what are you doing here?"

"I'm meeting Dad for dinner up the street," she explained as she hugged her as an offer for a greeting. "I haven't seen you in ages. How've you been?"

Ai dragged her feet on the cement. "I'm good . . . I'm good. I just got out of work—so I'm leaving."

Ayame stared at her and then suddenly laughed. "Are you alright, you're very fidgety. Anyway, I'm sure you're starved—why don't you join me and my father for dinner. He would love to meet you."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I'll take a rain check. I have to get home. My mom's planning one of her ridiculous dinners and she'll have my throat for breakfast if I don't make it in time."

"I understand—"

"Alright, I've regained my mind." Doctor Ito teased himself as he came out of the building. He wrapped his arm around Ai's shoulder and suddenly realized Ayame was standing there. "Oh, forgive me, I didn't see you there."

Ayame opened her mouth to say something, but she realized nothing would come out. She was more shocked than ever but hoped her face didn't show it. She finally broke into a small smile. "That's okay: I'm a like a freakishly tiny circus freak. Um, I'm Ayame . . . Ai and I uh, distant cousins," she fibbed and bowed to him.

"Nice to meet you,"

"Well, I better get going, I'm late for some . . . thing. Ai, I guess I'll see you at the next family function. Bye."

.o0o.

"Good morning, Sunshine," Ayame greeted Carissa as she stepped into the kitchen for her daily dose of caffeine.

"Go kill your self," Carissa spat back coldly.

Ayame poked her head out of the kitchen and raised a brow. "Gee, you know how to make a girl feel special," she countered groggily.

Carissa sighed and slammed her notebook computer shut. "I'm sorry," she said as she slipped off her thick, black rimmed Gucci reading glasses. "I haven't had a wink of sleep. I pulled an all night-er with this stupid essay on: What patterns mean to me. What the fuck are they supposed to mean? They're fucking patterns. What do I give a rat's ass if it means the world to me or makes me fat? So long as it's fabric covering my yoga-toned, hot ass, I don't give two flying fucks."

"Gee, can you tone down the language? You put a sailor to shame."

"Go fuck yourself . . . I'm sorry Aya, I don't' mean to be bitching, but I get a bit psychotic when I don't sleep."

Ayame sat on the sofa across from her and drank her coffee. "Okay, am I going to get Doctor Jekyll or Ms. Hyde?"

"Strictly Ms. Hyde—scout's honor!"

"But you're not a scout—anyway. I wish you would have told me about that essay, I would have helped you out."

Carissa shrugged and closed her eyes. "You were asleep by the time I got home. I couldn't wake you without having an ounce of guilt. You got in pretty early, by the way. Busy day?"

Ayame nodded and clasped her hands around her mug. "I guess you could say that. It was strange . . . I saw Ai with a man who was much more than a friend. She seemed so scared when she saw that I found out."

"Kouga's Ai? That's strange."

"—that's her business," she added. "I just feel awful that she felt almost ashamed of herself."

Carissa took Ayame's coffee from her and drank some for herself. "That sucks ass. That Hana bitch need to take the bug out of her ass long enough to know she won't get her way. I wouldn't mind dunking that diamond-covered bitch into a dumpster."

Ayame laughed. "You get so much more violent with lack of sleep."

"Tell me about it: I'm this close to actually putting on a ski mask and throwing that bitch down some stairs." She let out a soothing sigh. "God, I needed that. So after that whole Ai-secret-lover thing, what'd you end up doing?"

"I just went diner with Dad."

Carissa cleared her throat in a warning way. "So you uh . . . told him about that whole shipment thing."

"Hideki told you?"

"No . . . I sort of listened in. Look, how your father gets his money is his business . . . I just don't want you getting hurt. Have you forgiven him?"

"Like you said . . . it's his business. We tried talking about it at dinner . . . but he pretty laid down the rule that he's not aloud to discuss and business with me. He's not aloud to talk about it with anyone he cares about . . . for our safety, I guess."

"Hm . . . that's strange."

.o0o.

"Kouga, get up or I'll break down this door!"

"Do it and die!" He groaned into his pillow as he buried himself in the mass of his comforter. The last thing he needed was an early morning wake-up call.

"I'm not scared of you anymore," Ayame hollered back. She pounded her small fist against the door. "Get up now,"

Kouga grabbed a pillow and tossed it over his ear. "Leave," he demanded flatly.

"Would you rather I jump around till your mother decides to see what all the fuss is about?"

Kouga jumped to his feet and unlocked the door. He furiously slid it open so that it practically crashed into the door frame. "What could you possibly want at this time in the morning?"

Ayame rolled her eyes and pushed past him as she made her way into his bedroom. "It's only seven in the morning. What kind of wanna-be-business-man sleeps the way you do anyway?"

"They're called normal people," he countered.

She glared at him playfully. "I only have a few hours," she warned. "I told my dad I had to do something at the orphanage. I have to meet him for brunch later."

"Fine . . . how am I proving myself to you today?"

She snapped her wrist in dismissal. "Don't be so dramatic. You act as If you're being made to be nice." She drifted toward his floor-to-ceiling window.

He suddenly stepped behind her. "So . . . how long do you plan on staying?" he asked huskily as his hands wandered from the small of her back to the colors of her long cardigan in an attempt to pry the jacket off of her.

Ayame squealed and shrugged his hands off of her. She turned around to face him with a sour face. "Watch your hands," she chastised. "I'm not here for any of that. Now get dressed. I'll die if Dad had one of the guards follow me here."

"You know, we could just throw them off by throwing out the window when we're done," he teased.

Ayame shook her head at his manner. "Can you please just shut the hole in your face? I swear if one more perverted thing comes out of your mouth I'll hand you a body part."

"Tempting," he countered as he pulled on some of the clothes from his closet.

Ayame curiously stared out the window attentively. Hopefully no one was hiding in the bushes or something as ridiculous.

Kouga grunted softly in the background. "I really don't understand you women. First you get mad at me for not even implying sex and now you're mad at me just for asking for it."

She rolled her eyes and rested her hands angrily on her hips. "Kouga, right now your Casanova-ways are the least of my worries. Do you know how hard it was to get past the gate keeper and the butler? I feel like I'm in some bad James Bond movie."

"Fine—fine! Where are we going, then? We can't exactly go anywhere where there are actual people now, can we?"

"I really wish you could take this a bit more seriously."

Ayame suddenly jumped as the thrill of her phone interrupted their mini-dispute. The caller ID read Restricted. "That's odd," she whispered to herself as she flipped her phone open. "Hello?"

.o0o.

"Wow, you're actually up," Jin greeted in appall. "Did you even go to sleep last night?"

Bin nodded. "For your information, yes, I did. Your smart remarks are very unwanted."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course they are, then again just about everything seems to annoy these days." She starred into the long hall way where a set of large, dark luggage lay. "I wasn't aware you had business trip," she wondered aloud.

Bin shrugged. "It was a bit of a surprise."

"Oh, where are you going?"

"Just on a week's trip to Tokyo," he replied nonchalantly.

"Hm," she let out and rested her hands on her waist. "May I ask . . . why?"

"I told you, it's a bit of a surprise trip. The company wanted to look at a few locations in Tokyo for a new film."

"Oh . . . strange, I never heard of that—"

"Like I said, it was pretty sudden."

"Hello . . . Hello, is anyone there? Carissa, if you're trying to scare me with the whole breathing-and-not-talking bit, then I don't want you to ever call me again unless you plan on speaking!" Ayame hung up with great frustration.

Bin slid closed his Nokia and rested his chin on it in thought. Just the sound of her voice brought him back to the early years when he and Vorena would spend countless hours on the phone with no real conversation. For a second . . . it almost felt like her death had been just another terrible nightmare.

He shook his mind out of the unachievable thoughts and stared into the busy streets of Tokyo.

"We're here sir," the driver called back to him.

"Hm—oh, yes. Thank you, I'll be about thirty minutes, so you can just drive around." Bin stepped out of the car and looked at the large mansion. He walked over to the gate keeper.

"May I help you?" the man asked in a deep voice.

Bin nodded. "Yes, I'd like to see Mr. Burke, right away."

"Is he expecting you?"

"No, but trust me . . . he's going to want to see me."

.o0o.

"I said I'd call you," Ayame chastised into the phone. "I have to go, but I promise I'll call you tonight, bye." She turned to one of the guard at the door. "Hey, Sang-Min, is my dad in?"

"Yes, but he's got someone in there."

"Someone more important than his own daughter?" Ayame joked. "Look, can you just warn him that I'm here or something? We're meeting for brunch and if he forgot then I'll be forced to starve myself to death."

Sang-Min nudged the guard next to him. He watched as the other guarded entered and exited. He nodded at Ayame. "It'll be a minute."

"Fine, but the more I start to look like Nicole Richie, the angrier my father will become." Bin opened the door as Ayame welcomed him with wide eyes. "B-Bin . . . what are you . . . doing here?"

"I think you should hear this," he interrupted. He stepped out of the way to let her in.

"Dad, what's going on?" Ayame asked desperately. "I didn't even know you two knew each other." She suddenly turned to Bin with confused eyes. "If you're here then it obviously has something do with you. Is it because of the whole Vorena incident? Look, Bin, I'm sorry for your loss, but I already told you there's no possible way I'm her."

Burke sighed. "Ayame . . . calm down. Now, I want you to sit down and catch your breath."

Bin pulled out a picture and handed it to Ayame. "Now do you think my cousin and I are crazy?"

Ayame delicately held the picture to her face. It was of her laughing and caught off guard in a white dress and a fancy up-do. "I don't remember wearing that," she scoffed. "Why do you have this picture me?"

"It's not of you," Bin began. "That's Vorena."

"Wow . . . Jin . . . wasn't kidding," she whispered to herself. "Alright, so maybe I look a lot like Vorena, but that's not going to change the fact that I'm not her."

Burke sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He couldn't' stand the dirty secret for another minute. "Ayame . . . there's a reason you look so much like the woman in the picture."

Ayame shrugged nervously. "Maybe the whole twin-on-the-other-side-of-the-world theory exists. It doesn't prove anything—Dad, what's going on. I do not understand any of this."

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

A/N:

Sorry for the long wait again. Thanks for all the support guys. Love ya tons! Thanks for all your reviews and keep them coming!

Spoiler…sort of: Okay, Bin and Burke reveal their dirty little secret, so how will Ayame react? And Burke find out Ayame's been hiding her relationship with Kouga from him, how will he react? And Ayame has heart-breaking news for her best friends…but what could it possibly be? And Bin symphonizes with Ayame and she actually begins to get to know him better—no wonder Verona fell for him.