Between Two Roses - Chapter III

Matsui Rena sighed in impatience.

Though had not regained her strength entirely, she had quite energy to eavesdrop on everything going on this palace. Almost every maid, especially fresh recruits, who worked in this place, could never let any little news without going through their ears and lips. At first Rena thought that this was annoying as hell but now she couldn’t be more grateful for it.

Pretended by wanting to find some fresh air, Rena finally found a way to be alone for some time. She spent the freedom by touring the whole manor to find out some information of what was going to happen with her. Glanced behind, she sighed and realized that being alone was a prohibited request to be fulfilled seeing a man in black still followed her secretly. Suddenly Rena felt she was like a caged bird, being watched all day behind the tall walls that surrounded the Matsui Headquarters, unable to do anything but to stay calm and entertain her owner. She didn’t have any choice but to go on, not wanting to raise any suspicion about her true intentions.

“I have to get out of here…”

Apparently they were going to have some kind of honorable guest visiting, judging from how well the dining table was prepared when she sneaked a look in the east hall, just one floor under her room. Noticing that there weren’t many people had the right to eat on that table; her father, her brother’s mother, and herself; made her sure that a feast was to be held here. And Rena knew exactly what kind of feast that was for. The recent conversation she just overhead from two young butlers convinced her to make an escape plan as quick as possible.

“…he’s like, forty, right?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think Master’s daughter is going to like it.”

Rena didn’t even need to hear the rest to understand the situation. She always had goose bumps whenever she heard about the mystery man that recently became the main topic here; imagining her became a wife of an unknown old man was already giving her unpleasant chills to the bone. Going back to her room, she started to plan everything.

Unluckily, she only had less than 8 hours to accomplish her great escape.

xxx

The station was not quite busy though it was supposed to be rush hour in the morning. Most students were in their summer vacation unless they took a cram school for upcoming exam preparation. So far there were only salarymen, government workers, and a group of middle school boys; they all carried a bag that I assumed must be swimming gears judging by how they dressed by wearing t-shirts and beach shorts. Suddenly I felt like going to the beach too today. I glanced at my watch.

Akane was late.

She was always like that; made me waiting for so long before she came up with lame excuses. The worst case was when she suddenly canceled or changed the meeting place in the last minute. Not that she took my complaints lightly; she didn’t even listen to it at all! Fortunately my patience didn’t run out so fast remembering the fact that she always gave me incredible amount of tips. But making me wait for 3 hours was just insane. And I already lost my appetite to buy anymore candies from the nearby convenience store.

My phone beeped.

I frowned reading the incoming mail; it was from that woman that she wanted me to meet her in Takabata Station, miles from Sakae Station I was at! Though it was in the same Higashiyama Line, but taking a train from Naka to Nakagawa was quite a bothersome. I swore to myself next time I would just meet her in her apartment then.

xxx

“But Miss, you aren’t allowed to leave this place.”

“Then I’m not going to that dinner tonight.”

“But-“

“What’s with the commotion?” A deep voice broke the small debate between a pale woman and a young man in black in the hallway. The voice was appeared to be a middle-aged man’s who was wearing a decent black suit, just like the other butlers who worked here, and a pair of thin glasses over his wise-looking eyes. His adequately trimmed beard made he even looked charismatic. Judging from the badge on the left side of his chest, he couldn’t be just someone whose daily routine was only serving plates and wines.

“Yuasa…”

The man who just being called Yuasa bent his upper body towards Rena, showing a slight of apologetic smile for the sudden intrusion,

“Do you need anything, Miss?” 

Rena stared at the man that she was always considered a family. Or at least the only one who acted like one. She remembered the only man who cared enough to tour her out of the isolated cottage just because she was desperate enough to see the outer world though it’s only for few hours was Yuasa Hiroshi. Though it was against the rules, Yuasa was willing to risk his career for a ridiculous demanding request from a twelve year old.

“I need to go back to the cottage.”

“What makes you?”

Yuasa somewhat anticipated the situation. As a man who had spent twenty seven Christmases and New Years with the only heiress of Matsui, he knew exactly what the docile girl who was always longing to see the outside world had already grown up to. He almost felt Matsui Rena was like her own daughter instead of someone he should always bow to.

“I left Mother’s pendant there, I’m about to take it.”

“Is it that important?”

“If Father wants me to look best tonight, I can’t go without it.”

He wasn’t surprised that Rena was smart enough to realize the situation and condition they were in.

“I’m afraid we don’t have enough time, Miss.”

“Don’t fool me, Yuasa. Everyone knows what Rolls-Royces are capable of.”

Yuasa mentally smiled. As expected from the Matsui Enterprise successor candidate, Rena was a fast learner. Unlike her younger brother who needed extra expenses in order to get a counterfeit diploma degree of the business and economics he was dreadfully struggling in, Rena almost knew everything about the outside world she barely live in without even having to enroll in a formal intuition. Yuasa was glad the books and literatures he had been sending every week for two decades weren’t for nothing.    

“Let me fetch them for you, Miss.”

“Nobody knows where I hide it.”

Though his intuition said something was going to happen, Yuasa chose to forget it.

“I’ll go preparing the car then.”         

xxx

Just like usual, she came wearing her biggest smile as if she didn’t do anything wrong. I kept my straight face on, showing my irritation, though she straightly handed me the down payment, as if attempted to make amends of what she just did.

“You’re so cruel.”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry Jurina-chan! I just…got some work to do.” I pretended not to be interested with the brown envelope in her hands and showing my concern instead.

“Right, you can afford me but not manners?” It was true that I was still pissed off after being made to wait for hours but I suddenly regretted when I said that because I thought I was going too far. Letting my emotions out wasn’t something I supposed to do in front of customers unless I intended to get rid of them. And unfortunately Akane’s name wasn’t even in that list.

I messed up.

Akane’s repentant smile wore off and she lowered her hands, about to put my only earnings back to her bag. Before this lead into an unwanted episode, I immediately hugged and stroked her hair tenderly. Then, just like what I’ve been doing when facing the same mistakes, I whispered into her ear,

“Sorry dear, you’re just so important to me I get so jealous when you don’t prioritize me.”

“Really?” Her pungent French perfume was all over me, overwhelming in a nauseating way. I already told her to change her current brand of fragrance into lighter ones but she apparently thought my preference of colognes were too childlike.

I continued to stroke her hair, giving her my best of comforting words as much as possible. She was my biggest asset and I definitely would not forgive myself if I happened to lose her because of my uncontrolled exasperation. That would be the stupidest thing to happen ever.

“Yeah, waiting for three hours was just painful when all I wanted just to meet you as soon as possible…”

For a moment I was afraid that my words weren’t much effective to melt her when Akane let go of my embrace but it was actually the opposite the time I saw her smile; she believed me.

“Am I…” she paused, as if about to ask something she already knew the answer.

“Yeah?”

“Am I the only one for you?”

The question was actually simple and easy to answer, depends on your creativity, but in my case this was strange for people like me. Akane knew who and what I’ve been doing for a living which means something like that would be just a rhetorical issue to be questioned about as she must have known the answer in the first place. Or maybe she was just in denial and really did take my words too seriously, but that was another story.

“For now, yes.”

I answered truthfully.

“For now?”

“Nothing lasts forever, Akane.”

“But-“

I took her hands and kissed them both, my eyes never left hers. Akane slightly looked away, obviously trying to hide her nervousness as I saw a shade of crimson gradually appeared in her cheeks.

“This moment, only you and me. I’m yours truly, okay?”

She nodded and quickly let go of my hands. Why was she so nervous today?

“We better get going.” Akane secretly scanned the area, as if looking for something. Or to be exact, someone unwanted that was not supposed to be there and witnessing her doing something she should not be. However, that didn’t go unnoticed and I suddenly realized something.

Reputation.

What else could be? As an owner of a coffee shop that quite had franchises in some districts around Nagoya, Takayanagi Akane could not be just a businesswoman that had no renown other than among her customers. Judging from how she dressed and her way of interacting, she must be someone who was quite often being invited into fancy dinners, talking nonsense and sometimes business to other company owners while enjoying a glass of wine. Being seen with a prostitute like me having a rendezvous near the station was not something brilliant for her career and that was something I also well aware of.

For a brief moment I thought my eyes were deceiving me after I noticed a plain gold ring wrapped around her finger. Weird though, Akane never wore her wedding ring before.

xxx

Three hours after the long ride, while gripping the pendant she was looking for, Rena breathed in anxiety. To avoid Yuasa’s piercing look from the front mirror as if drilled deep into her eyes to seek out what she was actually thinking at this moment, pretending to be interested in street view was the wisest thing to do right now. Though that butler of hers didn’t say or ask anything, his eyes quite stabbing her with curiosity.

“Are we there yet?”

The young man in black whom she previously argued with answered,

“We’re nearing Sakae now, Miss, just few more minutes before we arrive at Atsuta.”

Rena sighed. Her impatience grew bigger.

“What’s wrong, Miss?” the silent Yuasa finally spoke.

“I don’t feel very well…”

“Please hold on, Miss! We’re almost there. You want water?” the opposite of Yuasa, the young man who sat beside her in the backseat suddenly panicking. The water bottle in his hand being shrugged off,

“No, I just need fresh air.”

“You’re not allowed to go out, Miss.” Yuasa spoke again. His tone was sharp yet somewhat calm, vexing Rena in a way she couldn’t explain.

Rena mentally cursed. Out of the blue, she covered her mouth with her hand, while making noises as if she had just being forced to eat three full course meals a day at once. The young butler got even panicked,

“Yuasa-san, please stop the car!”

Seeing that, Yuasa couldn’t help but drove slowly to park the car at the side of the road, in front of a closed café that seemingly was in the middle of renovation, assuming from the board of notice that was stood firmly before it.

Then everything happened so fast.

Before both butlers could even get out the car, Rena hastily opened the door and ran away.

Without even looking back, she kept running. Rena was glad she was wearing a light dress and a pair of short heels which she could easily running in. She knew with her strength as a woman who never walked for more than the cottage’s yard in her life, the two fooled butlers would easily reach her in seconds.

“Miss! Where are you going?!”

“Damn, she’s fast!”

Through downtown, passing a group of confused elementary school kids who were seeing such strange view of a woman being chased by two men in black, running through tunnels, being shouted by two pedestrians who were bringing their now fallen shopping bags, and after what was like forever, she finally reached the intersection of Sakae. In her rapid and shallow breathing, she had to decide where she had to turn to; Sakae Station on the Nagoya Municipal Subway or Sakae Station on the Meitetsu Seto Line. Rena only had two seconds.

Without further thinking, she took the first choice and ran to the parking lot in front of the infamous shopping and entertainment building with its well-known giant ferris wheel, Sunshine Sakae.

Her head was getting even dizzy; her condition hadn’t gotten well enough and now she just had a marathon that felt like eternal. Rena’s sight blurred as her eyes redden and filled with tears, the fear and anxiety overwhelmed her to the point she probably couldn’t bear anymore. She didn’t care about the yell of numerous people she just accidentally ran into. She didn’t care anything anymore. Not even the future of Matsui Enterprise.

Just when she was about to determine where she would head next, the tears in her eyes were getting even in the way that she couldn’t see the road anymore. In that second, she successfully ran into someone and fell down backwards.

Her already weak body screamed in pain, she fell down hard that she almost couldn’t feel her back. Her legs tired, not to mention her mind and her soul as well. Rena attempted to wipe the tears with her limp hand.

“Hey! What’s with y-Eh?!“

The person she just bumped into was appeared to be a young woman in a plaid white and light blue shirt and also a pair of short shorts above white sneakers. Her shoulder-length black hair was parted to the right side, the moderate length of her forelocks giving her a sporty look.

Rena felt like her body being pulled, that woman helped her to stand.

“Are you okay?” a concern look on her face didn’t successfully calmed Rena as she heard someone yelled from far away,

“Miss!”

Yuasa’s voice. Suddenly Rena felt like she had no place to run into anymore. Her body already exhausted. She didn’t even properly catch her breath to form an appropriate sentence to apologize to the woman before her. Instead, she used her last strength to save herself,

“Please…help…they chase me…”

The short-haired girl’s eyes gotten bigger when she later noticed a man in black wearing glasses was running into their direction, while dragging Rena, she quickly ran into a nook in an alley between two restaurants to hide where usually been a nest for the homeless and abandoned cats. Then she finally found a brilliant idea to solve this unexpected trouble.

“You, stand here,” she positioned herself in such a way using her height as benefit to cover Rena’s body. Then with a swift smile, she put both of her hands on Rena’s cheeks,

“Sorry in advance.”

By the corner of her eyes, Rena watched Yuasa ran passed them both without realizing that he missed his targets. At the same time, she felt something moist against her lips, something soft and smooth, with a hint of an orange flavor.

“Finally got away huh? That man in black.” That woman finally spoke after they parted. Rena suddenly became pale after she realized what just happened to her. Her face showed the mix of fear, unease, and a slight of curiousness. The short-haired girl noticed Rena’s unexpected reaction, was rained by guiltiness all of sudden.

“Ah! I-I’m…uhh…I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be rude. I just didn’t know how to-“

“My first kiss…”

“Sorry?”

“That was my first kiss you bastard!”

That woman abruptly felt a sting on her right cheek. Matsui Rena had just slapped her.

“Yuasa-san!” a young butler in his last breath finally reached his mentor, who was standing beside a vending machine to buy some cigarettes. He had been chasing the escaped heiress and also Yuasa but apparently because of his unhealthy lifestyle, he couldn’t run more than hundred meters without having himself breathing like a chicken about to be slaughtered.

“Where’s Miss Matsui?”

Yuasa Hiroshi smoked his cigarettes genuinely before exhaling with a deep sigh. He turned into the young recruit that was dying to catch his breath and shrugged,

“We’ve lost her…”

“What?! How are we going to report this to Master?! I am so dead! Yeah, so dead!” the young butler panicked again. Yuasa only bitterly smiled.

Deep in his mind where he wanted nobody to acknowledge, Yuasa recalled the moment he secretly witnessed his precious Master being kissed by an unknown person in a nook of an alley, he exhaled again,

“Miss, I always hope for the best for you.”

xxx

Note: all the locations this story takes place are real