Chapter 2

It was the first time she had the dinner with Takahashi's family. It was a very awkward atmosphere that she wanted to run away. Dr. Takahashi Renzo was a busy man who had a stern and serious look. Unlike her dad, she thought Renzo could scare everyone off. Dr. Takahashi Kaori, on the other hand, was a kind and friendly lady.

"Rika-chan, please make yourself home." Kaori said to the young girl.

"If you need anything, you just let Kaori or Ryosuke know," Dr. Takahashi added.

"I will, thank you." Rika replied politely.

Kaori smiled, knowing that the girl must be quite uncomfortable at the moment.

"By the way, you wedding will be brought forward to this weekend so get prepare," Renzo told his son.

Rika and Ryosuke looked up at each other. They were uncomfortable to hear about the wedding. Rika was confused if she should follow her parents' instruction. Ryosuke was unhappy about the whole thing but he dared not object it and hoped that Rika would tell his parents. Being the elder son, he had duties to fulfill.

Takasaki High School

Ryosuke's friends were shocked to hear the news of Ryosuke's marriage. Sakito knew that Ryosuke had been troubled lately, but he did not expect this would be the cause. Hideki and Tokio understood his friend's feeling. However, they knew well that arranged marriage is very common among those well-to-do families. They would be facing the same problems in the future too.

Rika looked out of the window, lost in her thought. Namika watched her troubled friend from her desk. She understood that Rika was going through. Makiko and Hikari were looking at Rika with worries too, as the most cheerful girl in the class suddenly became so quiet.

In the next classroom, Harumi was shocked by the news about Ryosuke and Rika. She thought that his proposal was just a joke. She was very frustrated with herself for turning down Ryosuke earlier and what should she do now.

Takahashi Mansion

Rika was in the study room with Kaori who took time off to prepare for her son's wedding. She told Rika about the procedure in the Japanese tradition, while Rika was trying on the gown.

"Beautiful, you're beautiful, Rika," Kaori smiled.

Rika looked at herself on the mirror, confused.

"Rika, listen to me. I understand your feeling now, but believe me; Ryosuke will love you one day. I have gone through this before when I married Ryosuke's father and you see, how lovely my family is now," Kaori told Rika.

"But… I…" Rika wanted to say her thought, but she dropped it.

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine," Kaori reassured the girl.

"Nah, Aniki," Keisuke called Ryosuke, who was immersed in his pile of books.

"Yes, Keisuke." Ryosuke responded.

"Rika. I don't know how to put it. I don't like her at first but I feel pity for her," Keisuke told his brother. "I don't want to be left alone. Once you married, she'll be your priority…"

"Don't worry, Keisuke. She won't be." Ryosuke replied.

"No, you will." Keisuke argued. "After a while, you'll give her all your attention and don't care about me."

"Keisuke, I won't do that coz you're my brother!" Ryosuke reassured.

Wedding Day

Rika sat in front of the mirror, looking at herself. It was a tough time for her to handle so many things at the same time. Ryosuke never looked at her and they had not exchanged any words so far. She knew that he hated her, as she was the person who separated him from Harumi. She did not want this to happen too. However, no one had ever concerned about her feeling.

Ryosuke, in a white suit, was standing with his parents at the wedding reception. He was trying his best to look as happy as possible. The wedding ceremony started soon after all the guests arrived. It was just a small wedding with less than 10 people invited anyway. The ceremony went through smoothly.

Rika was left in the bedroom with Ryosuke after the reception was over. Neither of them spoke. Rika leaned herself against the wall next to the door while Ryosuke sat on the study desk a distance away. She was so tired that she dosed off after a while. Ryosuke took a quick glance at his wife and slowly relaxed himself a little.

"Okasan," Ryosuke called his mother as Kaori entered the room.

Kaori looked at the sleeping girl with adoration and surprised when the girl slept while standing. She looked up at her son with a displeased gaze for not helping his newlywed bride to the bed where she could be more comfortable. Ryosuke quickly walked over and tried to wake Rika up as his mother watching them.

"Let me sleep for a while, I'm so tired." Rika mumbled in her sleep.

"Okasan is here, Rika." Ryosuke said with a little harsh tone.

Rika opened her eyes and stood straight up immediately before she apologized to Kaori.

"I'm just want to tell you that I'm happy to see both of you together." Kaori said then turned to her son. "Ryosuke, please take a good care of her. I know you two are still very young, but you're a responsible person that I believe you can take care of her. Please be patience with Rika, Ryosuke."

Ryosuke nodded.

"By the way, you two will not share the room until you two reach 21." Kaori added.

Rika and Ryosuke sighed in their relief. Kaori gave the two kids a smile before she left the room. As soon as Kaori closed the bedroom door, Rika quickly moved to the other corner of the room. Ryosuke looked at Rika a second before he purposely moved closer to her. He slowly reached out his fingers to tug her hair so that he could see her face more clearly.

"She looks so sweet," he thought to himself.

"Don't come so close," Rika ordered. "Don't touch me!"

Ryosuke smiled, "You scare?… Hmm… Since we're now husband and wife, why can't I touch you?"

"Go away!" Rika raised her voice.

"Ok! Listen Rika, I will stop teasing you." Ryosuke said with a serious tone. "I just wanna let you know that since we can't change what we are now, we might as well live together in Harmony so can we have a deal…"

Rika nodded and looked at Ryosuke's hand that pulled out, waiting for a handshake. Rika returned Ryosuke a small smile before she shook his hand. Then, Rika suddenly bit his hand for revenge. Leaving Ryosuke so pissed off that he gave a fierce glare before to left the room with huff and puff.

Takasaki High School

Rika and Ryosuke became the talk of the school overnight. Many girls were envied of Rika and her popularity was not quite good among the girls. Harumi looked at Rika from a distance with pain and jealousy. No one knew what was she up to. Ryosuke, on the other hand, seemed that nothing had changed so far. He still was hanging out with his friends as usual, but they did not like Rika. He had no reaction to his friends' comments about Rika, as he did not care about her.

Takahashi Mansion

Ryosuke waited at the dining table for his brother. However, Keisuke went out and he knew that he must have the dinner with Rika alone again. Both of them never spoke when they were at home.

"Why are you keep staring at me?" Rika asked when she noticed that Ryosuke had been staring at her for some time.

"Is that so? I never want to look at you, never." He replied.

"But you just did," Rika pouted.

"Aa, it's because there is something on you face," he replied without looking at her.

"Oh," Rika touched her face to remove the rice from the corner of her mouth.

"I don't know why you agree to this arranged marriage." Ryosuke asked. "Why didn't you stop it?"

Rika remained silent.

"Why? You don't wanna answer?" Ryosuke asked again. "Because of money right?"

Rika nodded, though that was not her reason but she knew that he would not understand her feeling. The best way out was to agree with him so she could go back to her room.

"Yes, I want the money 'coz my parents were poor. It's easy for me to just stay here and you will take care of me," Rika said with tears at the corner of her eyes.

"Girl like you can just find any rich sugar daddies to support you. They're even better than me," Ryosuke asked, agitated Rika.

Rika tried to hold her tears but from Ryosuke's eyes, she knew how much he hated her. Everything was happened too fast and she did not have time to think . She just went along with what their parents had arranged, fearing that she might let them down.

"How would you understand my feeling and what I am going through? If I can choose, I won't want to be here too," Rika got out of her seat and ran to her room.

Ryosuke shocked when he made her cried. He felt guilty about venting his frustration to Rika. He followed her upstairs but just stopped at Rika's bedroom door, as he did not have the courage to face her too. On the other side of the closing door, Rika was sobbing.

Next morning

Ryosuke was waiting at the dining room for Rika, as he was still guilty about the incident yesterday. He watched Rika entered the dining room with soared eyes. Rika avoided his eye contact and sat at the other end of the table, drinking her cup of tea. As soon as Keisuke finished his breakfast, they slowly left for school.

Ryosuke slowly walked beside Rika and said softly, "I'm sorry."

Rika nodded and got into the car without saying anything. Ryosuke was sitting next to her in the Mercedes Benz S500, while Keisuke sat in front. He slowly placed his hand on her and held it. Rika's heart was racing as she took a quick glance at him, where their eyes met.

"I want to stay and understand more about him," Rika told herself.

As soon as the car approached the school, Ryosuke slowly pulled his hand off Rika's hand. He took a glance at her and got out of the car, leaving Rika looked at him in confusion.

Takasaki High School

Rika was chatting with her friends in the classroom. They were talking about the blind date that Makiko and Hikari attended a few days ago. The girls were making fun of each other, while Namika listened with a boring face. Their class was very noisy.

"Look at the 1-A, this class always very noisy," Sakito commented.

Ryosuke looked up at the class where he saw Rika was happily chatting and playing with her friends. He was quite surprised to see Rika's first smile and her naughty expression.

"Ryosuke," Tokio called. "What are you looking at?"

"Don't worry, he's not looking at that ugly wife," Hideki replied.

Ryosuke gave his friends a faint smile and walked off.

Takahashi Mansion

Rika was watching TV at the living room while Ryosuke was in his room studying. The house once again left with the newly wed couple. Rika felt bored after some time and headed for Ryosuke's room.

"Can I come in?" Rika asked as she knocked the door lightly. She quietly opened the door and walked in before Ryosuke permitted.

"Why?" Ryosuke asked without lifted his eyes off the textbook.

"Can we have a chat?" Rika asked as she stood behind Ryosuke.

"I'm busy," he brushed off.

"Just for a while, can't you show a bit of concern for me?" Rika protested.

"I'm busy, can't you see?" Ryosuke raised his voice in his annoyance.

"You always busy. I just wanna talk to someone, but nobody in the house and you always hide in your room," Rika said.

Ryosuke stood up and said angrily, "If you're bored, go back to your room and sleep. I'm not interested in entertaining you. Keep that in mind!"

"Get out of my room!" Ryosuke ordered.

Rika was frightened by his reaction and left the room in tears. Ryosuke knew that he was overboard and frustrated with himself. He threw his books aside and got out of the house.

Rika looked out the window as she watched Ryosuke left the house in his white FC. She knew no matter how hard she tried to get to know Ryosuke, it would just annoyed him. She looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head. Rika then slowly picked up her handphone and dialled a speeddial.

"Any plan tonight?" Rika asked the other side of the line. "Ok, I see you in half an hour," she hung up.

Ten minutes later, Rika got out of the house.

To be continued…