Hey guys! It's Sophie. I just wanna say thank you to all of you who followed and left a review as well. It really means a lot.
I realize it has been a month since my last update. I am aiming to update at least once a week starting now. I already have chapter 4 planned out so it's coming soon. I have just finished my uni exams and have more time to update and finish the fanfic. I have been very busy the past month with finals, but I really wanted to publish chapter 1 and 2 at least during that time to get started. Any feedback is appreciated.
Thank you for understanding and thanks again for reading! I am still learning and this is a new challenge for me, so it means a lot. Hope you enjoy it :)
Chapter 3: Trust
"I guess they expected someone….different"
"Kotoko"
"Rumors started to spread that they were a thing"
"Kotoko!" Naoki yelled at his wife, as she was pouring coffee into his cup. The coffee had overflown and spilled on the table. It was Saturday morning, and the two of them along with their family were eating breakfast.
"Oh! Sorry…" Kotoko said, laughing sheepishly.
"Pay attention," said Naoki, slightly irritated.
"Idiot" said Yuuki, her brother in law, with a slight smirk on his face.
"Yuuki!" Noriko scolded her youngest son and handed her daughter-in-law a cloth," here you go Kotoko-chan"
"Thank you!" Kotoko replied as she cleaned up the mess.
Kotoko was distracted. She had been in a state of panic for a couple days. She had so many questions. About Naoki, and Youko, the new intern.
How did the two of them meet?
When did they meet?
Why haven't I heard anything about her?
She could answer that last question on her own. Naoki was never one to talk about the details of his day. She rarely ever heard about what went on when he was away from her unless she or somebody else made it a mission to pry out the information. He wasn't really a liar, but he also didn't see the need to share, even if it meant clearing up any confusion or misunderstanding, which Kotoko has experienced many times due to how private he was, as well as her own insecurity. She never knew what was going on in her husband's mind.
Kotoko was always worried about the other women who had shown some kind of interest in her husband. After all, there were so many. There was that time in college when Matsumoto Yuuko had shown interest in him. Then there was Chris, whom he was engaged to at one point. All these women were wealthy and intelligent, and "matched" him in some way. Kotoko couldn't compete. There was only one thing that made her the proud "winner".
None of them could love him like I do.
The thought made her happy.
After she cleaned up the mess and poured herself some tea, she sat down at the table with the rest of her family. Her father-in-law, the loving husband of Noriko, proud father of two intelligent sons, and the president of a successful gaming company, started to talk.
"So," he said as he put down the morning paper he was reading, "a friend of mine wants to invite us to dinner tomorrow night".
"Really? Who?" asked Noriko.
"He's the chairman of the new toy company. We had recently begun discussing a collaboration between my company and his. It's very exciting!".
Seated across from Naoki's father was Kotoko's father, who joined in the conversation.
"Ahh, Hiro-kun, isn't it?" said Kotoko's father.
"Hiro?" Kotoko asked, slightly confused, "do you know him?"
Naoki's father, Irie Shigeki, laughed and said "we were good friends in high school and college"
"Yeah, the three of us have known each other since we were younger, but Hiro-kun moved away after college", added Kotoko's father, Aihara Shigeo, as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, "haven't seen him in a while" he said.
"He's been a very busy man", said Shigeki, "ever since he became president of "Fujihara Enterprise"
Fujihara…
Why does that name sound familiar?
"Irie-kun~" Kotoko said, with a cheerful expression. They were in the living room, sitting with their parents and Yuuki.
"What" Naoki groaned, as he looked up from the book he was reading, a stoic expression on his face.
"Guess what's coming up!" she said.
Naoki didn't reply.
"Next Friday…" Kotoko said, with a smile plastered on her face.
"What?" replied Naoki.
Kotoko pouted.
"It's our anniversary!" she exclaimed. Her face lit up once again, as she imagined all the romantic date night activities they could do together.
"Oh" said Noriko, "come on Onii-chan! The two of you have to do something special and romantic on that day~". Noriko was very girly and loved stuff like this, and she always adored Kotoko as if she were her own daughter, so it came as no surprise that she was just excited at the idea of a romantic anniversary as Kotoko was. She was their number one "fan". Which was shown by the multiple albums filled with photos she had taken of the couple. From their wedding, to their honeymoon, to their "secret" romantic moments. She always found a way to capture every event.
"You guys could go see a movie, or watch a musical, or you could go take an overnight trip-", said Noriko as she started listing ideas.
"I can't," Naoki said, as he turned his head back to his book, "I have a conference on that day".
Kotoko and Noriko were both disappointed.
Naoki continued, "and besides, who would want to take part in such a pointless occasion".
"Pointless? No way…" Kotoko said. She was used to this though.
Naoki got up.
"Where are you going, Onii-chan?" said his mom.
"I have a call in 5 minutes. Don't disturb me" he replied flatly, and proceeded to walk away.
"This man…" his mom shook her head at her son's attitude.
"It's okay!" Kotoko said, "we still have many more to go".
Noriko smiled, "you're so patient, Kotoko-chan".
Kotoko, Naoki, Yuuki, and their parents made their way to the Fujihara residence. It was the night of the dinner, and all of them were dressed appropriately for the occasion. They arrived at the residence, which was a huge and very modern luxury estate, and they were escorted to the front entrance of the mansion where they were welcomed by their host, Fujihara Hiroto.
"Welcome everyone! I am so glad you could come" he said with a smile.
"It's been a while Hiro-kun, thank you for having us!" said Naoki's father as he greeted his longtime friend.
"The pleasure is mine, and…Oh! Is that you, Ai-chan? "said Hiroto as he adjusted his glasses and looked to face Kotoko's father. Hiroto was a tall and lanky man in his early 60's, with thinning light brown hair that had streaks of white.
"'It's been a while," said Kotoko's father with a smile.
Everybody else also said their greetings.
Standing behind Hiroto was a young man and a woman. The man was the youngest son, and the woman was the only daughter…Fujihara Youko.
"This is my youngest son Takumi. And this is my daughter Youko" said Hiroto as he introduced his children.
Kotoko was shocked as she realized that the name was familiar.
"Ah-" she quickly stopped herself from saying anything.
Oh no. It's her.
"Nice to meet you" said Youko as she bowed and introduced herself to the guests. She glanced at Kotoko, who looked back with a slightly uncomfortable expression on her face. She quickly regained her composure as Hiroto asked the two if they knew each other.
"Yes. We work at the same hospital. I met Kotoko-san the other day" she said with a smile.
"Oh so you know each other! That's good." said Hiroto, obviously clueless as to what went on in their prior interaction.
"Yeah…" replied Kotoko with a nervous laugh.
"So, Naoki-kun! How are things going at work? I'm surprised you didn't follow in your father's footsteps" asked Hiroto as they were seated at the table.
"It's going well," Naoki replied.
"Youko started interning there a few weeks ago" Hiroto said, "she had always wanted to become a doctor".
He continued by asking, "have you ever run into each other at the hospital?"
"Yes father" replied Youko, "actually, I am interning under his supervision" she said with a slight smile as she looked at Naoki.
Kotoko was uncomfortable. She picked at her food and couldn't eat any more of it. She didn't know why she felt so nervous.
"Oh! I see" Hiroto replied, "I was not aware. That's good. Isn't it amazing that all of our children managed to work so close to each other?"
Naoki and Kotoko's father smiled.
"I am guessing that you will be at the conference as well?" Hiroto asked Naoki.
"Yes I will," replied Naoki.
"I see. And will you be there as well, Kotoko-san?" asked Hiroto.
"No, I won't," Kotoko replied politely.
"Kotoko-san works in the nursing department father," said Youko to her father. The tone in which she said that was unnecessarily judgemental, and Kotoko picked up on it. She looked down at her plate in embarrassment.
"Ah I see" said Hiroto as he nodded.
Kotoko excused herself to go to the bathroom. Her stomach hurt.
Kotoko exhaled as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. The bathroom was nice and huge. She kind of wanted to stay there a bit longer, but that would be rude. It was still nice to get away from the awkwardness for a minute.
How could I not have realized that it was her family?
Kotoko washed her hands and dried them.
She's gonna be at the conference.
Kotoko was always curious about what her husband was doing. Because he never told her anything.
And she was obsessed with him, but we all knew that.
But she one hundred percent trusted her husband.
He's not like that. But still. I just wanna make sure.
She could never contain her curiosity though. So what was she going to do?
Of course, she would do what she had always done...
Spy on him!
"I'm leaving now," said Naoki as he put on his shoes and took his bag into his hands. It was the day of the conference. Naoki was going to be gone for two days.
"Have a nice trip, Onii-chan" said Naoki's mom.
"See you in a few days, Irie-kun!" said Kotoko as she waived at her husband.
"You two have to do something when you get back!" said Noriko.
Naoki rolled his eyes and left.
Kotoko laughed awkwardly and said "It's okay..."
I gotta get going soon too.
Kotoko put on her "disguise. She really outdid herself this time.
Yes, you read that correctly. This time.
This was not the first, second or even the third time Kotoko had spied on her husband when he was with another woman. She had spied on his "date" with Matsumoto Yuuko, as well as his marriage meeting with Chris, as well as many other occasions. Female nurses, female patients, female anything really.
She "trusts" him, but deep down, she was afraid that someone would love him better than she did. She knew how hard she worked to get his attention in the first place.
She had to keep his attention. Constantly prove her love. It was how she got him in the first place. That was her love language. So if she stopped doing that, Naoki would think she didn't love him anymore and would find someone better. She didn't know how she would go on if someone came along who was prettier, smarter, better "wife" material, and loved him better than she did.
How would she even stand a chance if that was the case?
So…did she actually trust him?