by Laine Watson
I gulp, a bit of fear befalling me, and nod bashfully. When I glance up at him, his face has softened.
“I’ll try a little harder to keep things the way you like it.” He takes my hand, leading me to the den. He eases down on the sofa, and I sit next to him.
“Did you and Darby finalize the wedding stuff?”
“Not exactly. We did kind of plan a trip to Japan, though.” I smile, awkwardly showing my teeth.
He laughs. “Did you, now?”
“She found the place. It’s a cathedral with Olympus-like pillars. We have to see it before we book it. So, I suggested we—as in you, me, her, and Hayden—go on a little vacation.”
“I could use a vacation. I’ll have to ask my parents—this is a you-and-me vacation, right? You’re not going to get pissed if I want it to be, are you?”
“No, I love Max, and we’ll take lots of family trips, I’m sure. We could even have the honeymoon be a family thing.”
Haru narrows his eyes and looks away disagreeably.
“Or not. I’d like this to be a romantic summer getaway.”
“Yeah, like a week or something? I could go for that.”
“Awesome. I’ll text Darby to set it up.”
“You know for this wedding gig, she’s like our assistant.”
I giggle. “A little.”
“We can go in a couple weeks. The wedding is August thirty-first, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, so as long as we can wrap everything up while we’re there, it’ll be all right. Then we can have fun.”
“So, you’re just going to say yes to everything I want?”
“As long as I’m able to give it to you, then I will, princess.”
I smile.
“It’s getting late; we should get to bed, so I can give it to you,” he says, sexily wiggling his eyebrows.
“No way! We’re watching The Corbin Castle. You promised.”
“Fuck! No, we’re not.”
Chapter Sixteen: The Haru I Know
Darby gets us a flight to Japan at the beginning of June. A little sooner than we had planned. Haru takes me to get a passport; he already has one. Haru and Darby have moved from sending emails to chatting on the phone from time to time, and they are very secretive about their conversations.
The plane ride is lengthy, so I sleep most of the ride. As we leave the airport in our taxi, I snuggle up to Haru and close my eyes, not sleeping, just relaxing.
Haru snickers. “Wonder if Max is still pissed at us.”
“Yeah, he was mad.”
“Eh, we’ll make it up to him.”
The car stops.
“Oh, we’re here.” Haru unbuckles both our seatbelts and opens the door. “This is Iroshima, Japan,” Haru says.
I take a deep breath and spin around slowly after we get out of the car. “It’s beautiful.”
Haru glances at Darby.
“Yeah, we’re here,” she says with a thoughtful gaze in her eyes.
They are being super suspicious. Wait. Iroshima? “I thought we were going to Akari, Japan?
Haru and Darby share another suspicious stare. “Um, no. Did I say Akari? I must have gotten confused. It was one place I looked in. I was so excited about telling you, sorry.” Darby says.
“It’s fine.” Haru takes a deep breath. His eyes shift from me to Darby and back to me. “Come on, let’s go get settled in.”
I hate when he answers for me. How does he know I think it’s fine? I pout.
Haru goes to the front desk as we wait.
“Stop pouting,” Darby says, nudging me with a sweet smile on her face.
I roll my eyes at her and fold my arms across my chest.
A bellman retrieves our luggage, and we follow Haru into the Iroshima Hotel. It’s a tall building with its name on the side in sleek, large wooden symbols and letters. The lobby has a cream-colored mosaic floor and dark wooden wall, enormous windows and gold accents. I glance around, astonished by its elegance.
“Hey, let’s go,” Haru says, tapping the small of my back.
We head to our rooms that are across the hall from each other.
Haru takes our luggage from the cart and carries them inside our suite after he opens the heavy wooden door. It’s really beautiful, but small. I don’t know what Haru was thinking, but he’s sleeping on the floor if that’s our bed. I guess we’re having floor sex as well.
As Haru passes the TV, I expect him to stop, but he doesn’t. I close the door slowly and tiptoe past the TV. Haru goes through a set of sliding doors, leaving them open. I follow Haru through the doors, my eyes get bigger and bigger as my mouth opens wide in amazement.
I step forward into the marble-floored room.
“What is this?” I ask, staring at the six-foot fountain in the middle of the sizeable room with a large leafed-tree covering it and koi fish dancing around in the water. I don’t see Haru anywhere. I glance up to where the windows are. The chic marble reaches up the stairs with gold rails and around the gold-lined jacuzzi. Above it, a golden fixture with beautifully soft white lights hangs, and studio lights illuminate the room.
Its beauty pulls me forward. Each step I take brings me closer it. I stare in amazement. Where are we? Is this a foyer? I glance around. More doors? No concrete answer comes to mind.
Haru emerges from the door. “Oh, you like that, princess?” he says, walking over to me.
“Is this—is this for everyone? Is it a hot tub?”
He laughs with kind eyes. “It’s a hot tub, but it’s not for everyone. It can’t be; it’s in our suite.”
“The bedroom is over there.” I point toward the bedroom we came in through.
“No, that’s just the entrance, say if I piss you off and you don’t want to sleep with me, or if we’re in a rush and we need to use the bathroom at the same time or something. Or if we want to have people sleepover with us. Our room is in there.” He points to the left of us. I stare at him in confusion and jog down the stairs, almost rushing toward where he had pointed. He follows me.
As I slide open the door, my heart drops to the tatami flooring.
“Take your shoes off,” he tells me.
I leave them on the marble floor and observe every aspect of the room: the king-size bed to my left with white fluffy pillows and perfectly lain covers, the ottoman at the foot of the bed, the windows and walls with beautiful flowers on them, and uniquely shaped lamps hanging over the modern-style nightstands. I turn back to Haru with nothing to say; I only gulp and rush to the other set of doors in front of the bed. I halt with a jolt.
“These doors are different. What are these?”
“Fasuma doors. The walls too.”
“And the other doors?”
“Shoji. Sliding doors.”
“What does that mean?”
“Uh, I’m going to say they both mean sliding doors because I don’t really know.” He smiles.
I nod and turn to face the doors again. My breath is taken once again.
Before me is a large rectangular marble tub in gold casing with painted flowers all around it, red rose petals covering it. The faucet is gold, as well as the fixtures on the tub and the sink. The white towels are rolled nicely with gold clasps holding them in place. The crescent-shaped wooden cabin, holding the beautiful marble sink and counter, sits underneath a circular mirror with wooden shelving across the bottom. The paintings on the walls are light and elegant, in colors like the spring: rose-gold, light turquoise, soft creams, and golds. The floor matches the counter. I melt away, standing in that bathroom.
Haru approaches me.
“Have you been here before?”
“No.” He nods, bringing his body closer to mine.
“Have you been to Iroshima before?”
He nods, pursing his lips. “It’s where my Dad’s family is from. My parents haven’t been here in forever. I wanted to see it.”
“Aww.” I swoon. “I can’t believe this place. It makes my heart flu
tter.”
“No, I make your heart flutter.” He smirks, kissing my lips. I wrap my arms around him. “Did Hayden and Darby get a room like this?”
He shrugs. “I guess.”
“She’s going to flip!” I’m more interested in how Darby is going to react rather than kissing Haru. I dart out the bathroom, slide my shoes back on, and head for the door.
“Summer!” Haru calls.
“Yes?” I glance back, hoping he’ll answer quickly.
He gazes up, a vulnerable stare in his eyes, then glances down.
My entire body turns toward him, calming itself.
“Since we don’t get a lot of time together, just you and me, couldn’t we just stay in for tonight? See them in the morning when it’s time to view the venue.”
“Oh, Haru.” My body draws closer to him magnetically. “I want that too.”
He’s so vulnerable. What happened? This isn’t the Haru I know.
Chapter Seventeen: Suspicious Morning
A knock comes at the door. A gentle whine seeps from my lips as I stir awake, reaching for Haru. The comfort of the hotel bed lulls me back to sleep.
“Haru,” I moan, “someone’s at the door.”
With a sexy sigh, Haru stretches his warm body against me.
“Probably room service.” He swings his legs out of bed and rises to his feet. The lamp on his side of the room flickers on. Sliding the doors open, he leaves the room.
I lie in the fluffy solace of the comforters and pillows, snuggling to Haru’s side of the bed and soaking up his warmth. Haru returns with a golden tray. He takes off the golden covers and sets them aside in the chair by the door, revealing a platter full of breakfast items and a pitcher of juice.
“Get up, princess. We have things to do.”
“But it’s vacation,” I whimper, covering my head with the quilt.
I hear him laugh at me. “Your breakfast is getting cold.”
“I don’t want breakfast now.”
“I asked them to come to the room this morning because I thought you wanted to do some sightseeing or something.”
“Not today, Haru. Can we just stay in bed a little while longer?”
“You were about to jump out of your skin last night to see Darby. Not interested anymore?”
“No,” I peep from under the cover.
“Aw, princess. You’re so cute and stubborn.” His lamp flickers off. His body weighs the bed down as he scoots in closer to me.
I remove the cover from my head and playfully move my fingers across the dips in Haru’s six pack.
“I can’t believe we didn’t have sex last night.” Haru playfully huffs.
“We had a sweet night; we talked all night and cuddled.”
“Bullshit.”
“Being romantic isn’t bullshit!”
“It is when we’re in a whole new country, in this big ass bed, and I didn’t get laid—bullshit.”
“I was tired, and you weren’t complaining last night. I seem to remember a cooing Haru, as I ran my fingers through his hair as he fell asleep.”
“Yeah, I should have been running my fingers over your ass, clutching your hips tightly as I smashed my pelvis into you.”
“Never say smash regarding our lovemaking,” I correct him.
“What would you like me to say? Bang, hit, strike, ravish, enrapture, mesmerize? I have plenty more if you’d like me to go on.”
I roll my eyes as he laughs at my expense.
“What’d we get for breakfast?” I change the subject.
“Uh, you should probably just eat it. It’s hard to explain.”
I sit up and stare at him suspiciously. “What?” I can’t lounge now; I’m way too curious.
He turns the lamp knob and a soft yellow light illuminates the room once again. He smoothly leaves the bed, retrieves the platter from the dresser, and sets it in front of me, over my legs. I get comfortable as I observe what’s in front of me, using my hands to scoot backward against the sleigh headboard.
“This isn’t breakfast. Why is everything separated? Why are there so many bowls?” I glance at the fancy covered item.
“It’s breakfast and... just eat it.”
“What is all this? I know this is bacon and sausage and rice.” I point to the plate and then a bowl.
“This is miso soup.” He points at the small bowl with garnish in the middle. “This is shrimp salad, and underneath the meat is a poached egg.”
“Oh, I never had a poached egg.”
“It’s good. This is seaweed salad, and this is salmon.”
“I’m not eating fish for breakfast.”
“Why? It’s a good source of protein and amino acids.”
“Do you eat fish for breakfast?”
“You make my breakfast.”
“What did you eat before me?”
“Whatever. When I lived at home, sometimes we had a breakfast like this. Can you just try it?” He unveils the covered item. It is a tiny cheesecake with an elegantly cut strawberry held together by a toothpick and a bird design made of red cellophane plastic at the end. A honey-colored syrup drizzle was on top.
“That looks yummy.” I smile.
Haru reaches for the chopsticks.
“Wait, wait. We didn’t have this kind of food at your parents’ house, and we didn’t use chopsticks. What is this?”
“Yeah, I know. That was purposefully. This is different.”
“You said you don’t really know a lot about Japanese stuff, and you don’t speak Japanese.”
“I don’t, and I don’t speak Japanese well. That’s why I wanted to come and have these experiences with you. We could learn stuff together, or at least, have a really cool experience we made together.”
I smile with a nod.
“Okay? Enough with the interrogation—eat already.” He hands me some orange, plastic chopsticks with a rubber little girl on the top of them. Mine look nothing like his stainless-steel engraved ones.
“How come your chopsticks are cool, and mine look like they’re for Max?”
“Because they are for Max. Stop complaining about everything. What’s with you? You don’t know how to use chopsticks.”
“You don’t know what I know!”
“Do you?”
I dart my eyes to the left and fold my arms, “No.” I mumble, closing my eyes with pursed, pouty lips.
“Can I fucking show you? When you learn, I’ll buy you your own damn fancy chopsticks.” He sighs. “Fuck.” He stares at me, playfully annoyed.
I sigh and drop my attitude and my arms. “I sound like a spoiled brat, huh?”
“Yeah, you do. Stop that shit.”
I smile and kiss Haru on the cheek. I stop complaining and he shows me how to use chopsticks. We enjoy our first breakfast in Iroshima, Japan.
Chapter Eighteen: Iroshima Castle
The morning passes as the afternoon settles in. Our driver lets us out after some time of driving. Where we have come from has lots of modern buildings, lots of people everywhere with cafés and boutiques galore. However, where we are now, looks a bit ancient and old. The compact city of Iroshima is warm; it’s very quaint and beautiful. Beautiful trees line the sidewalks. And in the park, we stop at majestic cherry blossom trees that fill up the atmosphere with their sweet aroma. Their petals fall and it makes me feel like I’m in a movie as we take it all in.
We stroll downtown. Haru has a twinkle in his eye. I stare up at him as we walk down the sidewalk, my heart aflutter. The long river separating us from the large buildings catches my eye as we continue around the town.
“Is the library close?” I ask as we get closer to the bridge in the distance. Haru says nothing.
“Haru.”
“Shh!” He smiles and kisses me.
I glance back at Hayden and Darby, who walk behind us holding hands.
Darby smiles and winks at me, which is abnormal behavior for her.
We find ourselves at a dock at the river. I glance
around, seeing no library or any building resembling a library. A small boat approaches, and I stare a Haru girlishly. “Are we getting on a boat?”
He keeps his eyes forward with a curious smile on his lips.
The exchange between the man in the boat and Haru is entirely in Japanese, and I don’t understand any of it. In fact, I feel isolated from Haru. I lower my head as we ride to wherever we’re headed. My hands twiddle with themselves on my lap as I nervously try not to say what’s on my mind.
I can’t help it.
“I thought you said you didn’t really speak Japanese.” I give up on not pestering Haru.
His smile is playfully mocking, yet so loving. My lips tremble against his.
“You are a hassle.” His smirk silences me.
I sit back and sigh, aggravation causing me to pout with my eyes closed. The sweet smiles that come my way when I open my eyes from Haru, Darby, and Hayden anger me.
Why is everyone smiling at me all creepy? Darby hasn’t said one bitchy thing. My thoughts get lost in the air as I gaze up to see the building that looks like a mansion made ages ago. The rocks that line the river catch my eye as I give the scenery another once over.
“Is that the library?” I ask, eying the white building with pillars laced in brick.
No one says anything as the boat docks.
“You guys are acting weird. It’s starting to piss me off.”
“I know. That’s the best part.” Darby chuckles.
Haru helps me out of the boat, holding my hand. As we approach the building, he finally speaks, “So, yeah, this is the place.”
“I knew it. It looks different.” I smile as we head up the stairs.
A host meets us at the bottom of the stairs. He speaks English. “Arima party?”
“Yes.” Haru nods.
“Right this way.” The host bows.
The building on the outside, appears to be an old outdated underkept sack of bricks. Even the top of it looks like it broke off or something. However, as we head up the bricked steps, the host opens the large wooden doors and the inside is like a palace. My eyes widen a bit as we all stand on the landing staring inside.
