Clumsy at Love
Chapter 25: Little Do You know
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½
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"Nabiki called. She told me to tell you to answer your phone," Ranma said, standing in front of Akane's desk.
"Got it." She replied without breaking eye contact with the computer screen.
She's been like this ever since the last drunken incident a week ago. Her not looking him in the eye and barely talking to him, if not only about work issues.
Well, this is how they've started anyway. And this is how they are supposed to be. If he only he had learned the damage he had caused her a little earlier, he would help her and her family without asking anything in return.
And then her phone rings again. The screen flashed Nabiki's name.
"Your phone's ringing." He said when she still didn't answer the phone after a while.
"I'll talk to her later," she said coldly.
Suddenly his phone started ringing again while Akane's stopped.
"Seriously." He groaned. "I told you to answer your phone."
"Can't you just tell her that I'm busy working?" She countered, equally pissed. "Thank you."
Though seething inside, he answered his phone miraculously calm. "Hi, Nabiki... She's not in her station. I wonder where she went. I'll convey your message when she returns. No problem. You take care, too."
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The following day, Akane decided to leave her phone at home in the hope of a much peaceful working day.
"Akane," Ranma called.
"Yes, boss." She uttered and as usual, without looking up, completely avoiding meeting him in the eye.
"You have a visitor," he said.
"Hi, Akane!" Akane instantly stopped whatever she was doing, looked up, and found Kasumi beside her gorgeous yet exasperating boss.
"Kasumi!" She gasped, standing up from her swivel chair.
"You've been ignoring our calls, so I decided to drop by. Sorry," Kasumi said.
"No, it's okay, really." She said, waving her hand. "And it's not that I'm ignoring your calls, it's... I think my phone is broken, that's why I left it at home today. Sorry." She lied, catching a glimpse of Ranma, who just snorts, irritating her.
"So, do you have time to talk?" asked Kasumi lovingly.
"Absolutely! Let's go to this cozy coffee shop my friends had introduced me to." She said, closing her laptop and picking up her wallet, wanting to get out of Ranma's earshot right away.
"Wait, you've got friends?" Kasumi chuckled.
"Of course, I do," she replied, glancing at Ranma. "Come on."
"Aren't we gonna invite your husband?"
"He doesn't like coffee!" She blurted out, groaning inwardly for lying again. "And he's busy. Let's go." She said, pulling her sister away.
"Yeah, I don't like coffee," Ranma muttered to himself sarcastically.
Isn't this what he wanted? Being hated by her? Her, not treating him well. Why now that she's doing it to him, why does it have to leave some bitter taste on his tongue?
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"About father's birthday..."
"I'm sorry, I don't think I can make it. You know how much I hated the crowd." She told Kasumi rather honestly. She hates lying to her one and only favorite person in the world.
"Yes, I know. That's why I ask Nabiki to make the party simpler. As much as possible, just close family and friends only."
"Come on... Its father's 60th birthday celebration. After all that happened, we should celebrate it with people who have been with us through the most difficult time of our life. And it wouldn't be complete without you there."
"And father would be very sad if you're not there. He's always asking about you."
She missed her father too. Ever since he got out of the hospital, she didn't see him anymore. At the hospital, she could stay around him without being noticed by anyone, even her father. But at their house... There's no way she could sneak in and out without being caught, especially by Nabiki.
"I'll think about it. I promise, I will."
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"Where are you going?" Asked Ranma as she walked down the stairs, all dressed up.
"The orphanage." She replied casually and, as usual, looking everywhere but him.
"That's out of the town."
"Yes, got a problem with that?"
"Today's your father's birthday party."
"I know." She replied.
"And you're going out of the town?"
She exhaled exasperatingly. "Yes, I'm going out of town, and I'm not attending father's birthday, alright."
"What?! Why?" he exclaimed.
"I hate parties."
"But it's your father's birthday."
"So?"
"Isn't your father the most important person in your life before your sisters?"
"What's with the silence? Don't tell me that your father is not important to you, wasn't he's the reason you're here with me now even though you hate me? Because everything that's important to him is important to you as well."
"I'm still not going and nothing and no ones gonna make me either." She huffed, picking up her backpack, and headed to the door.
"Don't you dare, Mrs. Saotome," Ranma said in a commanding voice while marching down the stairs and went after her. "As your husband, I'm forbidding you to go as you wish."
"What?!" She exclaimed incredulously.
"What? Don't tell me that you didn't know that its wife's duty to obey his husband."
"And what would that make me? A dog? A genie in a bottle that grant wishes? As you said, I'm a wife, and wives are just human beings too. They have their own thoughts, feelings, needs, and wants. So you can't stop me from doing what I want to do just because you're my husband."
"Duty to obey your husband," she snorted. "What year are we? And what's next with that? Submission? Pleasing ~ " Akane stopped her running mouth abruptly.
He chuckled.
"What?!" She barked, blushing badly.
"You surprised me, again. You never had a boyfriend and obviously never had a husband before now, and yet... you seem to know so much. What else do you know?" he teased.
"Whatever. I'm going," She muttered, escaping fast.
"If me being your husband is not gonna make you stay, then how about me being your employer making you go to your father's birthday?" He said, making Akane stop from walking.
"You can't embarrass me, Akane. It's the first gathering of our family after our wedding, and we're not going?" He also pointed out.
"You can go..." She said feebly.
"Without you? What does that make me?"
Akane's mouth opened and then closed.
Ranma smirked. He knew he had just won the battle. Ahh! Why does it feel so good?
Ah, it's because the weeks of awkward silence and uncomfortable conversation have finally broken.
So, this is easier for him... looking at her, talking to her, treasuring whatever amount of time left for him to be with her.
Ha! And did his genius mind have just left her with no choice but to come to the party with him?
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She gave many excuses to avoid going to the party but depressingly, he had every little thing prepared as well.
Like when she told him that she didn't prepare any gift for her father. He simply told her that his gift was their gift.
When she told him that she didn't have the dress for the occasion. He told her that that's been taken care of and that the stylists and dresser will be arriving soon. Leaving her with no choice but to get ready and then come with him.
"This is overkill," Akane complained as she stood in front of preoccupied Ranma, showing him her exaggerated hairdo and makeup and the fancy dress she's wearing.
"What is?" He asked, still tapping on his tablet.
"The outfit and the makeup." she groaned.
He looked up and gave her a once over. "No, I don't think so. It's just right for the occasion and..." he stopped to choose his word well. "It fits you well." He added, looking away from her, then cleared his throat. God, she's beautiful.
"Sorry about the fuss, but this day is important, of course, it's important because it's father's birthday... but this day is equally important to your father's business. You see, I've invited some of my big-time associates to the party. It's our chance to make an impression and win some investors while celebrating your father's birthday and health as well," he explained.
Akane's eyes flickered on his face and found his eyes all lit up, the kind of look he makes when he's all fired up. She sees it all the time during meetings and when he's engrossed with his business dealings. It's her most favorite expression of him... seeing it now stirred her stupid heart again. She sighed.
All along, this is what he had in mind, promoting her father's business... at the back of celebrating.
For the nth time, she restrained herself from being touched. He's doing all of these things not because he cares. He's doing it because it's in their contract. And maybe because he wanted to get rid of her fast.
She couldn't understand why her heart was still hurting with that glaring truth. She already told herself time and time again that she could not want this person and that continuing to hate him would save her heart from being broken once again.
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All you have to do is stand beside me while I welcome the guests. And that's all. Ranma told her earlier. Or maybe you could show them your charming smile... he teased.
And that's exactly what she did while she watched him do his part and fall for him all over again. Ugh! She should not have watched him since it's not part of his instruction.
She looked around and started plotting her grand escape. Her eyes fell on her father and sisters and found that they were also watching Ranma while he exquisitely ran the show. They looked proud and bewitched as well, like the rest of the crowd.
She gave Ranma another long glance. It seemed he forgot that she was by his side and thought maybe it was her cue to run away.
Akane inched away from Ranma, walked across the crowded front yard and snatched a drink while at it, and then sneaked to the backyard to hide inside her garage.
Ah, she missed home. She sighed inwardly as she sat down on her battered couch and drank her glass of wine. Ahhh! she exclaimed. This is an excellent wine... she commented, looking at the emptied glass.
"I'm glad to see you home." She heard and then froze. It's her father's voice.
She turned around and saw that its really her father.
"I knew that you'd be in here." He said. "I'm glad that you didn't miss my birthday this year."
"Papa..." she uttered. She was glad too... to see him up on his feet again and looking so well.
"When I heard from Kasumi that you had started working out of your bedroom walls and started making friends again, it made me so happy. I'm relieved that you're living your life again. Looking at you, now... my heart feels more and more at ease, realizing that you have grown beautifully even without me guiding you as a father."
"Papa ~ " she whimpered.
"I know I should have thanked you for saving the company your mother and I had loved so much... But right now... I'd rather ask for your forgiveness. That's all I had in my mind when I thought I was gonna die. I'm sorry for not talking to you for years... Even if it's too late, I want you to know that I never blamed you for your mother's death. Nobody had blamed you... The truth is... I blamed myself... and I couldn't face you because I'm too ashamed."
"Papa!" Akane cried while running to her father and embraced him with all her might.
"I should have been the one that saved you, not your mother... I know how much you love your mother, how much you girls needed her..." he continued.
"Don't say that, papa... We need you, too. I need you!" She wailed and hugged her father even tightly. "I'm sorry, too..."
"Akane, dear... You're a child then, what do you know? How could you know? Will you give papa a chance to make up for all of his mistakes?" her father is crying, too.
Akane shook her head. "I love you, Papa. I miss you all my life," she told him and wouldn't want to let go.
"I love you, too, my dear daughter Akane," he replied.
Oh, it is like a dream... Her father was not angry at her... And like Kasumi, he's not blaming her that her mother died in a car accident instead of her.