“Erika could allow what?” Ryo’s sudden voice made Kazuya and Azuma snapped their heads together to the back. Horror plastered on their faces as they found Ryo was looking at them while folding his arms across his chest.

“OHHHHHHHHHHHHH……..Ryoooo…..wh-what are you doing here? I thought…..I thought you are in the room, playing around with girls.” Ryo eyed them suspiciously as Azuma stumbled on his words and his voice was louder than usual.

“I was. Went to the toilet just now.By the way, what are you guys doing here?” Kazuya shifted his gaze toward Azuma, who was looking nervously than ever.

“We? We….we……think that…..that we want to ….to find ….yes….to find a girl out here. Thinking we…. might hit some good girls.”Azuma stuttered on his own words as his nervous gaze fixed on the kansai man. Upon hearing it, Ryo snorted and shifted his gaze toward Kazuya. The owner of blonde hair remained calm and smiled widely. He neither admitted neither denied it.

“Then, why are you talking about Erika just now?”Ryo shot another questions toward them making Azuma flinched instantly.

“Erika? Wh-when do we talk about her?” Azuma denied while flapping his hands toward the kansai man. Ryo eyed Azuma dangerously. There, on the man’s handsome face, Azuma swore he could see the man’s jaw tightened, showing that he did not like his answer after all.

“Azuma, I’m not fully drunk yet.  I can hear Erika’s name coming out from your mouth. What’s about her?” Azuma rolled his eyes and glanced at Kazuya who stood next to him. The man gave sign to tell the kansai man about the real thing.

“I….nothing Ryo. Really!” Azuma lied once again making Ryo glared at the short man.

“Azuma…you better….” Before Ryo could finish his words, his eyes caught Erika’s glimpse. Instantly he stepped forward and his eyes widened as his gaze fixed on something.

                It was his best friend, Erika sitting at the bar with a man. The woman’s cheerful face and laughed could be seen from his place.

“Isn’t that Erika?” Ryo asked the question as he did not believe what he saw by his eyes.

“Yes, that is Erika,”Kazuya answered him calmly. Both of his eyes fixed on Ryo’s face, trying to read the man’s expression at the moment.

                 Ryo was froze when Kazuya confirmed on his question regarding to Erika being with a man.Instantly, his jaw turned into a tight one.Usually, seeing Erika with another man will not affect him emotionally or mentally. Not that much. However, there is something else that made his veins nearly popped out from his head when he saw them. It was the way that man touched Erika intimately tickled of some part of him. Even, that unknown man too was able to make the owner of long hair laughed happily. Unknowingly, he clutched his hands tightly while pinning his dark eyes on them. Seeing this, Azuma, who was being intimidated with Ryo earlier, instantly moved and stood next to the kansai man.

“I told you already Ryo!! She is that! But you don’t believe me!”Azuma told him after he gained back his courage to talk with the man who still looked at Erika. He was sure added up oil in Ryo’s anger to burn him more. Glancing toward Azuma,Ryo raised his eyebrows, as he did not understand the meaning behind Azuma’s words.

“What do you mean by she is that?” Ryo asked the short man who stood next to him.

“The one we talked about last month, don’t you remember? I know Shizuka would not lie. What Erika’s housemate said is true after all. It has been proved!”

                Ryo was still looking puzzle and did not understand the short man’s words. Even, he felt lost from it. Then, he averted his gaze back to Erika and he nearly groaned out loud when he found out what the man did to Erika. The unknown man was touched her nose lightly and on Erika’s cheeks.

“Who the hell is he? How can he touch Erika just like that when they just meet?” Ryo barked angrily as he clutched his fist tightly. Even, his eyes twitched a bit, due to anger that started to flame within him.

“It is not he, Ryo.”With that,Ryo snapped his head toward Kazuya who stood next to him.

“What do you mean by it is not he? That is a man, isn’t he?” Ryo asked Kazuya as his gaze locked with the tall man. Immediately Kazuya shook his head.

“No, Ryo. It is she. That person is a woman; not a man.”Kazuya corrected his words instantly. With that, Ryo widened his eyes in terror.

Wh-what?

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“Hahaha…..seriously, you are very funny Minami san.”Erika shook her head slightly as she looked at the woman. Minami replied with a smile as she locked her dark eyes with her.

“You look much better now, rather than before….”Minami told her while pointing to the smile dangled at the corner of her lips.

“Thanks to you….”Erika raised her glass a little bit before she drank her bir from it. Minami tilted her head and leaned closer.

“Is something bothering your mind before?”She tried to fish out the stories from the owner of long hair. Erika glanced toward her mischivieously while wiggled her forefinger.

“Stop it! I’m not going to tell you! After knowing that you can read future on my palm and my personality based on my face, I felt extremely inferior to you. I am afraid that by the end of the days, all my secrets will be exposed by you.”Erika told the woman as she turned looking at her. Minami let a soft laugh while leaning against her arms.

                Frankly, Erika was impressed with the thirty three years old woman in front of her. Despite of her outfit likes a man; she was undeniably womanly inside. It just, she was too used to dress as man due to her works as an actress in Takarazuka Revue.  Man’s clothes are so usual for her to wear it.

                Yet, the thing that impressed Erika most was her special gift. The woman was gifted by God to be able to read the future based on the palm. At first, she thought it was nonsense and she did it for fun. However, it turned to serious one when the woman managed to guess on her love life and her career. That managed to steal her attention after all.

“So…..that’s it? It is another man?”

“Yes.”Erika became silenced at once with worries started to reflect on her face.This was noticed by the actress herself.

“Why do you look so worried, Toda san?”

“You said my ex-boyfriend is not my destiny, Minami san”

“Of course, he is not. Frankly speaking, you should forget him already Toda san…..”Erika bit her lower lips and thought for a while.

“Instead, you should look around you. Your destined man is already close to you. It just you never realize about it. Your ex-boyfriend from the past blocked your destiny with your future husband….”Erika thought for a while before shot a question.

“How should I know him?”

“You will know it one day. It will come to you. Don’t worry about it….”

                Erika stared at Minami who drank another glass of beer. Seriously, she still felt dissatisfied with the woman’s reading on her love life, on her non destiny with Shingo….and her destiny man is with someone else.

“Minami san…..”The woman lifted her gaze and averted toward her.

“Toda san….don’t say that you do not believe what I said before.”Erika sighed as she locked her eyes with the woman.

“Seriously, Minami san, I don’t think my future husband is close to me.”

“He is close to you….well…actually….very close to you.”Minami stressed on the last phrase, showing how serious it is. Erika shook her head, denying the facts.

“Maybe you see it wrongly. Can you look for me once again?”Her voice was almost pleaded when Erika extended her hands and let the woman see her palm once again. Looking at Erika’s desperate face, Minami sighed deeply and pulled the hands closer to her. Staring at it, she nodded softly and lifted her gaze.

“I did not see it wrongly, Toda san.” Frustration reflected immediately from Erika’s face. Somehow, knowing Shingo not her future husband broke her heart. Despite of the fact that they already seperated, still she had high hope on the man. Noticing the disappointment on the woman’s face, Minami spoke again.

“Okay. I will give you a little bit hints on him. Seeing from the lines here on your palm, the man is quite good looking. In fact, he really loves you a lot….”Minami told her about her future husband, while tracing the lines that represented the partner life on her palm.

“If he is good looking, then I will have difficulty in keeping his loyalty to me.” Erika expressed her thought instantly on her unknown future husband. Minami shook her head and butted in.

“Nope. He is the loyal one. When the two of you together, he will be extremely loyal to you.” Erika became silence than ever, upon hearing it. Slowly, Minami lifted her finger from Erika’s hands and her eyebrows.

“Hmmm….it reflected on your eyebrows too. You are already seeing him, Toda san.”Minami said the words softly. Erika raised her eyebrows and reacted strongly.

“You can see from that too?” Minami nodded and traced it.

“Of course… I….” Before Minami could finish her words, a hand grabbed her hands and pushed it harshly. Both of Erika and Minami were surprised and instantly they averted their gaze to the rude person.

“Ryo!”

                The name flew out from Erika’s mouth once she discovered the person’s identity. However, the man did not react. Instead, he was glaring at her. Swallow hardly; Erika knew already that the man was angry. But…. why?

“Who is this?” Minami averted her gaze to Erika. Questions could be seen as it was reflected in her face.

“He is….”

                As Erika wanted to answer Minami’s question, Ryo grabbed her hands and dragged her from her chair. This made Minami was surprised with the man’s sudden action. Before she could save Erika, the angry man was already pulled the owner of long hair to somewhere else, leaving Minami alone.

***********************************************************************************

“Ryo!!! Stop!! Please stop!!! What are you doing?!!” Erika shouted loudly while struggling beneath the man’s strong grasp. Questions by questions played inside her mind when she looked on the man’s strange reactions and anger.  However, the kansai man remained silence and his grips on her wrists became even stronger. This made pain started to feel through her wrists.

“Ryo!!! Stop!!! It hurts!! My hand is hurt!! Please stop this!!!” Erika called the man, but once again she was ignored. Looking around, Erika noticed all eyes were on them when they passed by workers along their way through the kitchen. Even, some of them whispered between each other. Embarassing with the situation, Erika averted her gaze to the man and tried to pull her hands harshly. Still, it was a failure.