Between Two Roses - Chapter XV

“Where have you been?!”

The stinging sensations on his cheek didn’t heal as more unforgiving blows hit his face, one after another, leaving him in disgrace. Never had him being utterly humiliated as this before, being beaten in front of Matsui group’s elites without daring to strike back, let alone replying anything to his infuriated opponent who was appeared to be his own father, the head of Matsui Enterprise. 

Blood started to run down his nose, he could almost taste the piquant drip. Oh how he wanted to stand up and retaliate the man who had made his days as good as dead down to his knees. It was easy, he’s old and without the wooden cane that propped him walking, his father was merely a vicious frail being. But given the situation which made him at disadvantages, and always been, being silent was the wisest thing to do right now.

“Disappearing for weeks, abandoning your studies, ditching your work, what were you doing in Tokyo?!” his eyes winced in pain as the cane knocked the side of his stomach.

“I’m sorry, father.”

“Don’t just say sorry! Speak your reason like a man you are!” his aged face twitched in disappointment when he didn’t get any sensible explanation from his rebellious son.

“It was…an art exhibition.” The young man’s breath caught in his throat. It was neither lie nor an egregious truth; he went to the international art exhibition in Tokyo, hoping to seek some inspirations from them highly-regarded paintings to be applied on his own developing. That was originally planned to be a three days trip before an unexpected invitation from an Italian artist whom he had befriended for a long time, which led him to a private party in Roppongi and thus inexorably tangled him in an unpredicted encounter with someone who had made his darkest days brightened up again for the first time.

“I don’t raise you to become an artist.” The old man’s tone turned cold, chilling everyone in the room with fear, it was like a natural aptitude of him to make his opponent’s mental shaken down in fright, one of the reasons Matsui Enterprise’s vast development under his wing for decades.

“You should know where you are standing.”

When he discovered the hobby of his son, which he foresaw as a premature destroyer for his company’s future, he burned all the paintings until there’s nothing left. He then got him into cram school. When the young heir finally enrolled in one of Japan’s top universities, he started to assign him with company’s works. As a candidate of next leader, he made sure there were no holes in his son’s schedule so the possibility of him ditching the responsibilities reached zero. However, unbeknownst to him, there was a secret place where his son could still paint which nobody except Yuasa acknowledged of.

There was a scoff which made his brows furrow.

“Father, you’re so ridiculous. When you gave me all these works and duties, you said because I’m not a kid anymore, that you entrust decisions on me. But when I finally made one with my life, you are treating me like a kid again!”

“Matsui Enterprise means a great power. You can’t control a great power with such attitude of yours! Don’t you know there are many people in the group whom cut out to be a successor more than you?”

“Then make Rena as one! NOT ME!” the young man snapped, his chest heaved in anger hearing the implied underestimation he’d been getting since kid.

“Nobody is saying that name in this place.” The grip on his cane tightened, as if trying to restrain the boiling rage within.

“WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING? WHY ARE YOU HIDING YOUR OWN DAUGHTER, MATSUI RENA!!”

“I said, nobody. Is. Saying. That. Name. In this place!” his palm mercilessly blown his cheeks in each word, making the young heir fell on his knees, blood wouldn’t stop dripping.

“I knew you’re useless. You better off dead.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” he stood up, turning his body towards the door. Slipping his hand in his pocket, he grasped his last plane ticket which destination was Tokyo, dated that night. “I’m better off dead.”

xxx

Awoken by the tone of an alarm clock, Matsui Jurina snapped her eyes open. Since the ringing sounded foreign in her ears, she finally realized she wasn’t in her own flat room. Turning off the device, she suddenly felt somewhat cold in rather drafty room. In that second she found out that she was lying down naked, the blanket barely covered her top half, as if someone had left the bed without bothering to fix it back. Jurina stared at her own bare chest, remembering that it was drenched with tears of a woman the night before. Quickly she turned her head only to find the woman she was just thinking about wasn’t there by her side.

She must be taking shower or something, thought Jurina.

“Matsurina, are you up?” not wanting to get up as her head still dizzy for she wasn’t a morning person, Jurina decided to stay for awhile and calling from the bed.

There was no answer from the other party. She thought to wait for a while but the longer she did, the more uncomfortable it became as she didn’t hear any single sound or a sign of movement in other room.

“Matsurina?” Jurina finally got out the bed, throwing off the blanket and picking up her scattered clothes on the floor. Her chest suddenly pounded as the kept thinking the worst situation that might happen. The night before was another scenario of her mournful love-making with the girl she didn’t believe would reencounter after a long time.

Jurina knew she should’ve been disgusted or at least, scared. Leaving the depressed girl alone was the cleverest decision any normal person would do, but one way or another, she just couldn’t. Not wanting to get involved was always in her mind all the time but instead, she washed her, comforting her, helping her again even though she got nothing but tears in return. Jurina also knew she could just walk away in the first place but she couldn’t help when Matsumoto Rina started tearfully kissing her, desperately seeking for soothing warmth she couldn’t find anywhere but in the escort’s arms. In the end, despite the fact that she realized she was only being used, Jurina just couldn’t stand seeing a person facing the world alone because she knew exactly how painful it used to be for her.

Breaking her way through the messy living room, she found out that Matsurina was nowhere in the apartment. When her eyes met the dispersed remedies on the floor, she happened to read familiar names that usually being utilized for anti-depressant and other anxiety disorders. She saw them a lot being consumed by depressed worker girls in the club back then. As if not enough surprise already, Jurina discovered that the apartment door was left wide open. The slippers of the girl also went missing.  Jurina immediately ran outside.

“Matsurina? Matsurina?!”

It was no use. The sight of her was nowhere to be seen no matter how hard Jurina had tried to look for. Matsumoto Rina was likely to leave when Jurina was asleep. Where she head for, when she left at, why she disappeared, Jurina never knew. Feeling she had enough of all the thick and thin, she decided to pretend that everything was never happened, that she never met Matsurina in the first place. As Jurina finally realized that the whole thing was out of her reach, that it was not her problem anymore, she took her belongings and headed home, feeling disheartened.         

xxx

How Rena wished she could rewind the conversation she just engaged on the phone. Things would’ve been better if she hadn’t picked up the call, so she didn’t have to hear the outrageous testimony she wanted to go unheard. What actually sounded like a made up story at first turned to be something she couldn’t help but to concern about.

“…That was a lie, wasn’t it?” Rena finally uttered her reply after a considerable while. There was a sigh on the other side of the phone, sounded almost like disbelieving it himself.

“I know how you feel, but this is just a deduction from things I’ve discovered lately. Right or wrong we still can’t be sure but I suggest you to stay away from her.”

Rena’s heartbeat got even faster at the end of his sentence. It was true she barely knew a thing about Matsui Jurina, a call girl who shared the same family name with her, whom frequently disappeared during the day and most of the days, who had sheltered her for months, who had been so attentive to her, also whom she had her feelings for. She knew nothing other than those and from things could be taken for granted; she didn’t feel like needing to know more.

Moreover, what feelings had Rena developed for her exactly? Both never clearly stated what it was. Whenever they met, words became luxury each couldn’t afford in the meantime. She might be only infatuated with affection Jurina was always showing and so did the other Matsui towards her. Each time the thought of that returned, it gave her nothing but grief as she was sure it was wrong, that something greater was happening. Rena didn’t even know where that certainty was coming from but one thing she could be sure, the thought of her being away from Jurina kills her.       

“I can’t do that, Yuasa.”

“Why so?”

“I don’t know. I just can’t.”

Yuasa sighed again.

“Then please keep an eye on her, be safe.”

Who Matsui Jurina actually was Rena didn’t even care, not even yearning for knowing her past because she knew everybody has their own part of their life where they want nobody to acknowledge of. However that didn’t stand long, not until recently. Although she barely knew about her brother, let alone meeting him in person, she thought the culprit must be her father’s opponent or anyone associated with him becoming the heir of the Enterprise. She didn’t believe that common people like Jurina would even related to him by any means, on top of that, the one who had murdered him.

“What if…”

“Yes?”

“What if it’s true? What if she…what if she-“

Who is she actually? Rena couldn’t help but wonder. It’s not about her murdering her brother or anything since she hardly knew him and thus she didn’t feel like having actual sibling. But if it’s true then she wouldn’t know how she should react on it, more importantly, how she should act towards the other girl. Things obviously wouldn’t stay the same and she was too afraid to even think about it. Besides, if it’s true means Jurina was actually involved in making her life in misery. If her brother was still alive she wouldn’t have to go through all the unwanted responsibilities that made every night filled with agony.  

“Then you should go home, Miss.”

“What?”

“You do realize that you eventually return back home, right?”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Well, you should. Your father is in coma right now.”       

xxx

Watanabe Mayu dejectedly stared at the beautiful entrance gate of her house, which now had yellow tapes with a certain logo surrounding it. This was the third time she went there, making sure everything would return back like before, the time when her mother hadn’t left them and her father hadn’t gone crazy with making himself rich by abusing his power and authority. But no matter how many times she went to visit, the government seal was still there, claiming her family wealth to be part of the repayment of the debt her father had made, as if sending his father to prison wasn’t enough already.

Staying in her relative’s place wasn’t helping either as she got nothing more than sarcastic comments and satiric innuendo in every dinner. It almost felt like they were helping her only to be able to throw up their hatred to her father just because he was powerless now. Tired of faking smile and being a sweet face, she decided to live by her own with whatever remains. She didn’t bother to visit the man who had made the only person she could cling to, which was her mother, leave when she was fifteen and her whereabouts remained unknown. Mayu just couldn’t see her father as a reliable person anymore, and she actually never did.

A single teardrop rolled down her cheek, then followed by another, and another, and soon the small stream turned into hot tears, quite the contrary with the snowy weather outside. This didn’t make her warmer but instead she felt extreme coldness she never felt before, emerged from her chest. She just wanted someone to hold her there, telling everything would be okay from now on, even if it’s not. She wasn’t ready to face everything on her own.

Then Mayu remembered a certain girl that had made her days brighten recently, a girl whom she could be herself every time she was with. Though she knew she was probably no longer able to pay her to come, and despite of her actual job was, Mayu could tell that Matsui Jurina was a good person and also someone she could rely on, without intending to bother her.

Everything was happened fast if she recalled it. The day after Jurina stayed the night, television announced her father was sentenced to life in prison due to his bribery, embezzlement and corruption cases. In the same day, government immediately sealed their house and evicted her out. When she thought things couldn’t get any worse, they also decided to cut off all the accounts belonged to Watanabe family.

Since that time, she really wanted to see her again, probably spending time together once again so she could forget anything even for a while. She then took out her phone and dialed right away. However, as she kept her hopes high, she had to face the reality that what she heard on the other side of the phone made her weak to her knees,        

“The number you are calling is no longer active, please contact-”         

Mayu threw the phone to the ground, screaming. Her cries got even more profusely; her body trembled in grief that she wasn’t even able to stand properly. She fell down her knees, immediately welcomed by the snowy asphalt beneath, as if absorbing the remains of hope within. Mayu would never know where Jurina was. She also would never know that one of her lethal chemical tubes had gone missing, just like everybody she needed did.

xxx