Love (Ai)

by Suilan Lee

  Chapter Two

  “So, you’re telling me some guy picked you up from the gallery, took you to the Peak Lounge, introduced you to your mother and then took you to some hotel where you had dinner. Kyo, this is why I worry about you,” Kaori said the next morning sitting across him in their favorite coffee shop.

  “What, I was hungry, he offered meat, what do you expect,” Kyo said with a shrug. Sipping his hot coffee, he sighed. “Don’t worry, nothing happened, I left and headed straight home to my cold empty bed.”

  “You should have come to the club,” Kaori said with a shake of her head. “If these people show up again, Kyo, you have to call me. Don’t leave with them, wait for me.”

  “Are you going to baby sit me?” Kyo asked with a chuckle.

  “Apparently, you need it,” Kaori snapped picking up a muffin and breaking it into two. She handed him one-half and bit into the other with an angry bite. “Wait until Daisuke hears about this.”

  “Oh, please don’t tell him,” Kyo said, shuddering at the thought of the explanation he’d have to give. “Did he at least meet with Rie?”

  “Yes, the big question was asked and she said yes,” Kaori said happily. “I’m finally going to get a sister. I won’t have to deal with the two of you by myself.”

  Kyo laughed happy that his brother was finally getting what he wanted. He deserved all the happiness he could get. They all did, he thought staring at Kaori. She was a short, skinny girl with the cutest face he’d ever seen. Her hair was long down to her back. It was currently all curly thanks to the hair stylists at Bovian Image salon in Harajuku. Today, she was in a white dress that fit to her figure and stopped just above her knees and her feet were in white knee length boots. Judging from the look, she was probably presenting a report at her office.

  “What are you up to today?” she asked studying him with piercing dark eyes that missed nothing. “The exhibition is over right?”

  “Yeah,” Kyo said with a sigh. He looked around the cafe taking in the warm ambiance and the chattering customers. “I was thinking of heading over to the studio putting in some hours as student adviser. I’ve been neglecting that for like a week now. I’m pretty sure some students are upset with me.”

  “As long as you’re not alone,” Kaori said sternly. “Call me at one; hopefully I’ll be done with my presentation by then. This project is driving me crazy. Become successful already so that I can market your art.”

  Kyo laughed at her constant griping, it always happened when she was being stressed at work. Watching her look through her wallet, he wondered if he should tell her who the woman he’d met really was. He’d let out that little detail. He picked up his mug and sipped his coffee just as Ryuu came to stand right by their table.

  “We don’t want anything-,” Kaori started and looked up. She stopped when she saw Ryuu’s tall forbidding figure. He was dressed casually today, although casual for him was still dressed up. Kyo frowned at the black polo neck that was covered by a black casual jacket, and black jeans. Kaori gave him an appreciative look. “Wow, who are you?”

  “Good morning, Ms. Tatsuya,” Ryuu said oozing charm like a creamy éclair. Making a face at that annoying handsome face, Kyo concentrated on his coffee. “My name is Ryuu Shin. I work for Kyo’s mother.”

  “Really,” Kaori said, making Kyo glance at her with concern. He knew that tone. She was going to start interrogating Ryuu very soon.

  “It’s almost eight-thirty, Kaori, aren’t you going to be late for work?” Kyo reminded her.

  “Damn,” she cursed staring at the time on her cell phone. “Mr. Shin, are you going to be talking to my brother?”

  “I actually want to take him with me to see his mother,” Ryuu said quietly.

  “No,” Kaori said with a firm tone. Pulling out money for their bill, she stuck her purse in her bag and shook her head. “Whoever you are, Mr. Shin, you don’t need to put my brother through this. And why doesn’t she come to get him? Why send other people to come deal with family matters? Kyo, stand up; you’re going to work with me. I’ll call Daisuke and you can spend time at his place.”

  “Ms. Tatsuya,” Ryuu started.

  Kaori wouldn’t hear of it, grabbing her bag, she stood up and for once didn’t gripe about getting her change. She urged him up and took him by the arm dragging him out of the cafe. They must have looked as if they were trying to escape after robbing the cafe. Once they were on the street, Kyo sighed and pulled at his arm.

  “Kaori, will you slow down.”

  “I’m late for work, and you need to be kept away from strangers. You don’t learn do you? I was the one that picked up the pieces when you met that woman who made you think she was your mother. I’m the one who had to watch you disintegrate. I won’t do it again.”

  “Ms. Tatsuya,” Ryuu said behind them. He had a habit of keeping up that was irritating as hell. Shaking his head, Kyo stopped forcing Kaori to do the same. “I can give you a ride to your work place. Which will give you an opportunity to meet Rin-san, and your worries can be alleviated.”

  “Really,” Kaori said, liking the idea, no Kyo thought. The ride to work was the key here, and Ryuu knew it. He sent him a smile and pointed to a black SUV waiting at the road.

  “The car is waiting,” Ryuu said urging Kaori toward the car.

  Kaori paused for a moment, glanced at her watch and sighed. “Come on, Kyo. I need a ride, and we need to find out what is going on. If it’s too hard, I’ll send Daisuke after them.”

  Kyo shook his head at the amount of people trying to protect him. Giving Ryuu a glare, they walked to the black car and were settled in faster than he dared appreciate. Inside, he found himself seated beside Rin, with Kaori by the door. Ryuu disappeared to the front passenger seat beside the driver.

  Closing his eyes, he frowned when Rin turned slightly to look at him. She smelled of home and he hated that it was so enticing.

  “Morning, my son,” she said quietly. “This must be your sister, Ryuu has told me about her.  Hello Kaori.”

  Opening his eyes, Kyo turned to look at his sister to find her gaping. She was clearly stunned and he knew why, but what the hell. Poking at her ribs, she blinked and stared at him with accusation.

  “Rin Kiyoshi is your mother,” Kaori gasped.

  “No.” Kyo protested.

  “Yes.” Rin reaffirmed at the same time making Kyo turn to glare at her. She smiled at him and held out a paper. “I have proof. DNA results, I had to move heaven and earth to get them, but I did, thanks to Ryuu.”

  “What,” Kyo said looking at the back of Ryuu’s head from the front. Damn bastard must have gotten a hold of his ‘DNA’ last night at some point. “That’s really low, Ryuu.”

  “You gave us no other choice,” Rin explained giving the paper to Kaori. “You wouldn’t listen, but I doubt that should be a surprise. You’re as stubborn as I was. I thought the money would lure you back, but that didn’t work either.”

  “Money,” Kaori asked perusing the paper she held. “Kyo is not like that.”

  “I know that now,” Rin said quietly. She smiled and moved to touch him. She stopped when he flinched, and her hand dropped back on her lap. She was also dressed casually, in a pair of blue jeans, and a heavy black sweater that buttoned up to the top. It looked very warm. She held her hair in a ponytail, and her face looked freshly scrubbed. She was beautiful for her age. She met his scrutiny with one of her own and he wondered what she thought of his skinny short frame. As usual, he’d grabbed the most available clothes; he was a perpetual skinny jeans kind of guy. His faded blue t-shirt was clean at least, but the blue jacket he’d pulled on was paint stained. He had on a wool cap over his head, mostly because he’d washed his hair and hadn’t dried it.

  “Kaori,” Rin said into the silence. “I want to spend some time with Kyo today. I hope that would be all right with you. I promise I don’t want to hurt him, just to talk.”

  “Our older brother and I are very protective of him,�
�� Kaori said, folding the paper she was holding and slipping it into her bag. “I don’t care who you are, if you cause him pain, I’ll retaliate.”

  “You’re very pushy,” Rin said with a chuckle. “I’m glad to see that my son has such reliable family. I just want to talk with him. Later, perhaps tomorrow, we should all have a dinner date. That way we can get to know each other.”

  “Of course,” Kaori said quietly. The car stopped and suddenly Kyo realized that they had reached Kaori’s work place. She glanced at her watch with a frown and sighed. “Kyo, I’ll call you later. Keep your phone on you, all right. Mrs. Kiyoshi, please take care of him.”

  “You have my word,” Rin answered gently.

  Kaori gave him a concerned look before she left the car giving Rin a short bow. The moment they were just the two of them, he moved leaving a space between them, clutching the door tightly as the car started moving again. He didn’t know what to say, the fact that she really was his mother was hard to take in. If she was this wealthy, why had she given him up?

  “You are very angry with me,” Rin stated quietly. He didn’t need to answer her, what was the point if she already knew. “I can understand that. I will take the anger, Kyo, but I won’t take the rejection. I’m your mother, you’re my son. I won’t let you be alone anymore.”

  “I’m not alone,” Kyo replied his thoughts firmly on Kaori and Daisuke.

  “Fair enough,” Rin said. “I’m just letting you know that I won’t back off. You might not believe me, but I’ve been looking for you all your life.”

  Kyo turned to look at her in confusion. How hard was it to find one child? He had been adopted through the state; there was no way she would have been unable to find him. As if reading his thoughts, she turned on the chair fully to look at him.

  “You’re a very skeptical child.” Sighing, she tangled her fingers in her lap and his gaze was drawn to the very large diamond sparkling on her wedding ring finger. Her nails were perfectly manicured with a shade of dark green. They were long elegant fingers. Perfect for playing an instrument and sculpting things, he wondered if she was still doing her art.

  “I was born into a very strict family,” she said quietly. “My father expected so much from me and I was very rebellious. As a result, I entered a relationship with a man working for my father and ended up pregnant. My mother was devastated since I was already promised to another family. Our family had the habit of marrying off children for business instead of love. My dear mother could not face the humiliation of her daughter destroying the family reputation.”

  She paused for a moment to look out the window, and Kyo suddenly realized that they were driving out of the main city to the residential areas. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but a small part of him really wanted to know. He wanted to know who he was.

  “My parents arranged for me to visit a relative abroad. I stayed there for the duration of my pregnancy, and the night I gave birth to you, they paid some one to take you away. I never even got to hold you.” They wouldn’t tell me where they had taken you. They wouldn’t even give me a name. For three years, I begged my mother, but she wouldn’t even look at me when I started that topic.”

  “My engagement was due, and the day before the wedding to Mr. Kiyoshi, I threatened to run away. God forgive me, but I wanted to end my life that night, unable to take it anymore.” Shaking her head, she turned to look at him with a small smile. “My mother, made me a deal that day. She promised to tell me your name if I married Kiyoshi. She chose the perfect thing to blackmail me. I had given you so many names in my head. I wanted just to know what you went by, my dear son. I can’t explain to you that need.”

  Pulling out a very old paper from her sweater pocket, she held it out to him with a proud smile. “I never wanted to lose this paper. My mother wrote it to me right after the wedding reception, it was the most beautiful gift I have ever received. Your name written on a dry cleaning receipt my mother pulled out of her bag.”

  Kyo stared at the symbols of his name written on the paper with a sad smile. Handing it back to her, she refolded it carefully and put it back into her pocket. Glancing back at him, she bit her bottom lip for a moment before she reached out slowly with a trembling hand. It took all he had not to move. The touch of her hand on his cheek had him gasping and she pulled back fast.

  He stared at her in surprise. He hadn’t hated her touch. He wished she’d kept doing it because she was so warm. Rin cleared her throat and returned to tangling her fingers on her lap.

  “You would not believe how many people go by your name Kyo. I’ve made DNA testing into an art, so many con artists wanting to be who you are. I was starting to lose hope. It didn’t help that your foster family seemed to stay away from modern registration. Not even credit cards,” she shook her head. “If it weren’t for the art book you published I might never have found you.”

  “How did you know it was me?”

  “Ryuu found you,” Rin said with a smile. “He investigated everything about you, tracing you back to the day you were born. I don’t know how he does it, but he even found the nurse my parents used to transport you back to Japan.”

  Frowning, Kyo looked to the front seat where Ryuu seemed oblivious to their conversation. His attention sorely on their destination and the driver, no wonder the man had seemed so sure yesterday.

  “This might seem disturbing, but Ryuu is head of the foundation’s security and takes care of the Kiyoshi home as well. He had to know everything about you first before we approached you. You understand we’ve had issues before, and I didn’t think I could stand another false find. I wasn’t happy to find out that it had also happened to you before. Ryuu worked hard to convince me to not file charges against the woman who betrayed you three years ago.”

  “You know about that?” Kyo frowned. Who were these people? What more did they know about him? Or should he say, Ryuu. The man probably knew how he liked his cereal.

  The car stopped and he looked outside to find that they had driven into very secure and impressive grounds. Before him, an astonishing modern mansion stood. It’s architecture a mixture of European styles. It was huge, mammoth, he wasn’t sure it could pass for a home, more like an intimidating symbol.

  “Before we go in,” Rin said quietly. Kyo glanced back at her to find that Ryuu and the driver had left and were now entering the house. Rin was watching him expectantly and she didn’t stop when he frowned. “I want to ask you to give me a chance, Kyo. I want you to give me some time with you, stay here at this cold place I call home and if you can’t stand to be near me, after two months, I’ll let you go.”

  “Why,” Kyo asked quietly.

  “Because, I have all this love bottled up inside for you, my dear son. It’s going to kill me very soon, if you don’t accept it. But, if you really don’t want it, tell me in two months, just give me that much time to dish it out so that it doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

  “You’re more dramatic than me,” Kyo said shaking his head. “As long as you don’t start throwing money at me like you had Ryuu do yesterday.”

  “You have my word,” she said with a bright smile. “Does that mean you’ll do it?”

  Kyo stared at her and sighed. What choice did he have? Like Daisuke, he too wanted to know who he really was. Where his roots had come from, he sighed. Everyone wanted to know who they were, why should he be any different.

  “Fine, I’ll do it.” Kyo looked up to find tears trailing down Rin’s face. “Please don’t cry.”

  “I’ll stop if you let me hug you.” She wiped at her face with her palms. “Please let me hug you.”

  Giving her a nod of assent, he was suddenly wrapped tightly in the warmest hug he’d ever received in his life. She smelled of peppermint and strawberries, the kisses she pressed to the top of his head and forehead were sweet and warm. She rubbed his back slowly, comforting him in ways he’d never felt before. Closing his eyes, he basked in the warmth of his mother’s comfort for the first
time since the day he was born.