Reminisce the memories of Hikaru and me left a stinging heartache and it was a bitter feeling. Realizing how much we had grown up to be who we are now, I had learned something valuable about myself: to be independent and confident of myself.

My relationship with Hikaru has its ups and downs. We were completely opposite but these were the ones that extended our relationship to be much different and stand out amongst others. Hesitantly however, Hikaru’s mother hated me.

It was a typical status problem in fact. You see, Hikaru came from a much wealthier family than me. Hikaru is the inheriting owner of Yaotome Corporate, the most successful business industry in the whole of Asia. As a son of a rich and wealthy businessman, his mother wanted him to marry a woman who was as rich as their family and had a high status or better yet, higher than them.

Nonetheless, being the mummy’s child he is, Hikaru often followed his mother’s orders and never once had he been defiant against her. However, Hikaru was different from his arrogant parents. He was much more mature and was not blinded by wealth for he knew that wealth was not going to be forever with him.

Being an orphan since the age of thirteen had taught me to be a capable girl, strong and independent. Looking back at other girls that used to be around my age, I wondered why they were so pampered as though they were jewels. Many at times these puny girls would whine when their requests were not fulfilled and their wants were not met. Their parents doted on them and showered them with too much love that they had forgotten what independent means.

My parents had met with a heartbreaking accident and the last time I was able to see them was before mum’s last breath and her will to Hikaru. Dad was instantly taken away after the crash which brought painstaking heartbreak since he was always the one sacrificing everything for his children. Since then, my brother and I had to live in the huge mansion without our parents to supervise, only servants, butlers, chefs and drivers to take care of us. And after the accident, we were told to take over our parents’ company.

I was not as rich as Hikaru but our wealth was enough for four future descendants. Dad owned a company which invests money, insurance and business while Mum was the owner of the famous Wataru hotel that had branched overseas as well.

Despite the wealth that we had, we were thankful for it although some of the times my brother and I would rather live in slums or better yet, rural areas. Sometimes, we wanted to feel how an average income people would live. We were grown to be adults who should respect elderly as well as everyone no matter how poor or rich they are. We were disciplined to never look down on others and in fact become as humble as we possibly could.

Aiba is the one whom I looked up to after the death of my parents and I am fortunate and thankful for having a brother like him. Even though he was twenty when our parents had died, he was not discouraged in learning something new and in fact was overwhelmed that he would want to make our parents proud by being the next Mr. Masaki of Masaki Holdings. Aiba was protective of me as I was the only family he had left. He was the place where I would share my feelings and happiness with.

Looking at how happy other kids were with their parents, a struck of jealousy sparked between us and them. We wanted to our parents back and share our love with them again. Without them, there would not be us. Sometimes I would relentlessly cry at night thinking of my dear parents and Aiba would always come in and console me.

After my break up with Hikaru, Aiba was fumed in frustration for Hikaru had pulled me into a state of depression. I had been depressed for weeks and I managed to recover slowly after Aiba introduced me to Tegoshi. Unexpectedly, Tegoshi was a senior in my school but I was not a noticeable person at that age and mindlessly cared only about Hikaru, friends and education.

Tegoshi was the one who would spent hours listening to my complaints about how I had treat Hikaru with so much love and affection that he decided to treat me this way. Tegoshi would listen attentively and then consoled me whenever I had a hard time telling him my story. At first I was not comfortable talking to him but as days passed, he became my favourite person to communicate with since Aiba seldom was at home due to the heavy workload he had to handle.

Ever since then, Tegoshi and I became the best of friends which finally end us up in romance. Tegoshi may seemed as a replacement of Hikaru in my heart but at the back of my mind, my memories with Hikaru were still lingering, haunting me of the past.

“Daijoubu desuka?” Tegoshi’s smooth velvet voice whispered in my ear breaking me out of my reverie as he back hugged me. I simply replied with a nod and an affectionate smile, not wanting to hurt his feelings.