CHAPTER 35: THE PERSISTANT MAN

                Awkward; that is the best word to describe the situation between Jae and Maki. After Meisa left the two of them in her apartment, the two of them never changed the words, neither the joke and laughed that they always share. Maki looked on her hands which she folded on her laps. The mood to eat the food was already gone again after being shock by Toma. Now, her secret was no longer a secret anymore. Not when her neighbour heard everything. She sighed softly after being thinking about how to resolute the problem.

“I know about you long time already,” Jae’s rough voice broke the silence between the two of them.

“ Eh??” Maki shot up her head. But the man replied it with a smile. He rubbed his nose for a while and shifted his gaze toward the woman again.

“ I know about it since I joke around with you when Vicky introduced you to me. At first, I thought, maybe you resembled her, but when I discovered your true name is Hara Marina, made me conformed that you are Horikita Maki.” The pale face man explained to her. Surprise was all over Maki’s face.

“You...you knew that long?” Jae flashed her with a really wide grin. He nodded fast.

“Yes,” Jae said shortly. Maki sighed loudly. So, her outfit was a failure after all. Since beginning, her colleague was already knew about her secret. Then a question came into her mind.

“Then....then...why you never tell me about it, about ....about it, about you know me being Horikita Maki,” asked Maki as her eyes lingered on the man’s face . Basically, people would boast about it and kept bugging on her if they discovered she was the actress. But, when Jae confessed to her that he knew for a long time, that made her shock.

“Well....it is not that important after all. There must be a reason why you hide your true identity. Well, I understand that everyone need their own life rather than be peeked by someone else.” His hand played with the keys that was on the table while Maki just stared at the man. Deep inside her heart, she found a person who was understanding in her situation.

“Thank you, Jae,” was showing a bright smile to him. The man just shook his head.

“Naa....it’s okay. It’s nothing at all.” The smile on Maki’s face became wider.

“But, what I heard just now really made me shock,” His statement made Maki immediately turned her gaze back to the man.

“I don’t know that you are pregnant Hara san...” Jae locked his eyes with Maki. The woman just blinked her eyes a few times.

“Oh...you...you don’t know about that?” Maki asked nervously. She thought when the man said he knew it, she thought he knew about her pregnancy as well.

“No, I don’t know. Seriously, I don’t know that you....ummm....are now pregnant. Because you don’t look like one.” His gaze something was shifting between her face and her body. Before this, he never saw her without big clothes and overlarge glasses, now, when he looked in detail, indeed, he could see a small bump there.

“Jae...I thought....I thought you knew about it when you admitted to me that you knew everything,”

“No, I don’t know. That’s why I had been stuck in front of your apartment for a long time. These last few months, when working with you, I thought you just wore the big clothes to hide your identity. I did not know you hide more than that,” Jae explained to Maki on what he thought.

If he did not plan to give her something tonight, maybe he would not know that she is pregnant. No wonder on the first few months when she worked with him, she was having nauseous and did not eat much. He thought she was on diet because women are always like that. Now, when thought back again, all the symptoms were all about being pregnant. He still remembered one day, when Hara san said that she really wanted to eat French cuisine. He thought she was been joking with him. But, that day, they ended up having lunch at expensive French restaurant in Tokyo. He could not help it when the woman kept bugging on him, bringing her there to eat the food. They even travelled far just to eat the food.

“So...Jae...do..you hate me? Do you hate me after...after knowing that I