CHAPTER 9


Atsuko stretched herself along the beach and sat down there on the sand alone, facing the sunset. The feeling was calm. Just the thing she needed after that huge argument with Minami.

“Erm, excuse me...” Somebody tapped on Atsuko’s shoulder softly. As she turn her head, she saw that it was an American teenage boy. “Erm.... Maeda Atsuko?” The teenage boy asked in English. He tried to use his English as simple as possible so that Atsuko could understand him. Well, Atsuko isn’t really fluent in English, so Atsuko was kinda happy that he was considerate.

“Yes..” Atsuko nodded and answered back in English.

“Erm.... Can I have an autograph please? I’m a fan.” The teenage boy showed Atsuko one of her albums and showed it to her.

“Ah... Fan..... Ok ok...” Understanding the boy’s request, she took out her permanent marker and gave the boy an autograph. She always brings a permanent marker with her everywhere she goes just in case there’s a spontaneous autograph session like now.

“Thank you.. You’re beautiful.. Bye bye..” The teenage boy complimented Atsuko before he left.

“Me? Beautiful? Thank you!! Bye bye!” Atsuko literally laughed at the teenage boy’s dorkiness.

“Can you sign an autograph for me too?” This time a lady voiced out to her in Japanese language.

“Sure..” Atsuko took the album from the lady’s hand and signed her autograph and smiled as she passed the album back to the owner. “Here you go..”

Atsuko lost her smile right away as soon as she saw the owner’s face.

“Hi, Atsuko..” There Takamina stood, smiling brightly at her.

“Minami!!” Atsuko shot up from her seat and released a slap on her face before the shorter girl had any chance to talk back.

After recovering from the slap, Minami looked back at Atsuko once again. “You can slap me all you want. I will never go away.”

“You think I won’t do it?” Atsuko raised her hand once again, and it made Minami flinched a little. After letting out a loud and annoyed sigh, Atsuko lowered her hand and asked, “What are you even doing here, Minami...”

“I told you before, I will not leave your side.”

“You followed me all the way to Hawaii? Are you serious? I came all the way here so I don’t have to look at your face.” Atsuko was dumbfounded.

“I overheard your conversation that you’re going to Hawaii, so I decided to come along. As I reached the airport, I overheard some of your Japanese fans talking about you and asked them about it. They told me that you were staying in HKT Hotel with four more ladies. So, I came.. And here you are.. At the beach..” Minami shrugged.

“You’re a stalker and you’re annoying. Go away. I’m not going to talk to you.”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to talk to me. I won’t expect any reply from you, but please just hear me out.”

“I don’t want to hear either. Get lost.” Atsuko warned.

“I have to clear this matter up with you, Atsuko.. Come.” Minami pulled Atsuko to a secluded area despite the latter was resisting..

“Let go of me, Minami!” Atsuko finally freed herself from Minami’s grip as soon as they reached the area. “I swear to god you’re going to be in a big trouble once they come back from their meeting.”

“I love you, Atsuko.”

“No, you don’t. You love Tom-”

Atsuko did not get to complete her sentence as Minami grabbed Atsuko for a kiss. A soft, gentle kiss. Atsuko blushed a lot from the kiss. Most likely because she had not expected a kiss from Minami at a time like this.

“Minami......” A soft voice escaped from Atsuko’s mouth and she slowly pushed Minami away from her. “Please don’t do this to me, Minami.. Don’t make me feel confused any more than this..”

“I wouldn’t kiss you if I don’t love you, Atsuko.. I can swear to god that I have never kissed Tomochin before because the one I love wasn’t her. It was you.”

“Then why? Why did you disregard me to go for her?”

“Because she knows.”

“Huh?” Atsuko was confused.

“Tomochin knows about us.. Our relationship. She told me if I did not play along with her games, she would announce to the media that we’re in a relationship.”

“Then let her do that! I don’t care about-”

“I care, Atsuko! I care! Singing had always been your dream. I don’t want you to give up your dream just to be with me. This just isn’t fair for you..” Minami caressed Atsuko’s cheek.

“Minami.... Seeing you with another woman is what isn’t fair for me.. If I were to lose you to another woman... I’d rather lose my celebrity life instead. I don’t want them. I just want......you...” Atsuko teared up.

“Atsuko...” Minami hugged Atsuko tightly. “I’m sorry.. I’m sorry for everything I have done to you.. I swear it will never happen again...”

They embraced themselves for a long time before Atsuko voiced out. “Minami?”

“Hmm?”

“There’s a lot of mosquitoes here...” Atsuko wiped her tears off.

Minami giggled at Atsuko’s random statement. “Alright. We should go walk around the town maybe?”

Atsuko nodded and held Minami’s hand. “I want to go... But we’ll hold hands, ok?”

“Are you sure about this?” Minami asked and Atsuko nodded silently. Minami grinned widely and intertwined her fingers with Atsuko’s fingers happily. “Alright then.”

Atsuko’s mood just became brightened by Minami’s gesture and they made their way to town to do some shopping. Atsuko did not care about her celebrity identity anymore. Minami was all she wanted. She finally got Minami back and will hold on to her till the end of time. Atsuko’s future in the entertainment industry still remains unknown. But that’s definitely not what she cares about at this point. For now, she just wanted to go on a date with the woman she loved.


HKT Hotel lounge

“Phew... That meeting was tiring...” Yuki laid down on the couch situated in the lounge of HKT Hotel.

“Yuki, I believe that’s not how CEOs act. Come back to our senses. You’re humiliating me.” Jurina was looking over some of the paperworks and documents from the meeting they just came back from.

“Geez, Jurina... Why must you be so serious? We came to Hawaii to let ourselves go, didn’t we?” Yuki clinged her arm onto Jurina.

“I’m not angry... Not angry at all..” Mayu was smiling. Only that her hands were choking Rena at the same time.

“You’re choking me, Mayu. Will you stop that?” Rena pulled Mayu’s arm away.

“Yuki, please. We’re in HKT Hotel now, one of our hotel branch. We’re the CEOs of AKB Hotel. We should show a good example to them, not destroy our image. Get it? If you want to loose yourself, go loose yourself somewhere else, just not here, alright?” Jurina continued accessing the documents.

“Let’s go loose ourselves together at the beach then.” Yuki suggested.

Jurina sighed. “Can’t you see these paperworks? I’m still busy now, Yuki. Just because you have no paperworks to take care of, doesn’t mean I have no paperworks.”

“You’re no fun, Jurina..” Yuki slumped herself on the couch and pouted.

“How about you stop bothering me now and I’ll buy you an ice cream later on?” Jurina suggested.

“How about you buy it for me now and I’ll stop bothering you?” Yuki returned with a sarcastic voice.

“I’m busy, Yuki.. See this? P.A.P.E.R.W.O.R.K.” Jurina lifted her pile of documents and showed it to Yuki.

“I’ll be happy to buy you an ice cream now, Yuki.” Mayu shot up from her seat at that time, shocking Rena.

Jurina clapped her hands. “Finally, somebody useful. Please do, Mayu.. I’d appreciate that.”

“Hmph! I’m not going to talk to you for the rest of the day, Jurina.” Yuki stood up from her seat and grabbed Mayu’s hand.

Mayu looked at Yuki’s face, then her hand, then her face, then her hand again. “You’re holding my hand....” Mayu was literally beaming in happiness.

“Rena, she’s holding my hand now! Oh, it’s like those romantic scenes from dramas..” Mayu said as she was dragged away by Yuki.

“Doesn’t seem like a romantic scene to me at all...” Rena looked on at Yuki dragging Mayu out of the hotel like how a mother would drag a child.

“Erm.... Do you think maybe you’re treating Yuki a little too harsh?”

“This is work, Rena. If Yuki doesn’t understand that this is more important, then I’ll have nothing to say.”

“I mean, you’d still have time to complete it later, right?”

Jurina pointed her pen at Rena’s face. “I don’t like delaying my work. So, stop lecturing me like you know what’s best for me. You don’t. Alright?”

There was nothing else Rena could say as she merely shrugged.

“Ah, damn it!” Jurina slammed the paperworks on the table, alerting Rena.

“Is there a problem?”

“There’s a document I need to use...... Rena, come with me to my office.” Jurina stood up and started packing her things.

“Your office?? But we’re in Hawaii...” Rena was dumbfounded.

“I have a hotel branch here in Hawaii. What makes you think I have no office here as well? Here you go. My office is just two blocks away.” Jurina placed her stack of papers on Rena’s arm. “Since you’re my assistant, I’m going to give you another set of my office card key. Don’t you lose this card key. This is very very important, alright?”

Rena nodded and received Jurina’s set of office card key.


By the seaside

“That Jurina....” Yuki pouted and was still unhappy about Jurina’s coldness towards her earlier on.

“Calm down, Yuki..”

“I just wanted her to stop being so serious while working, that’s all.. What’s the wrong in that? Hmm?” Yuki shot her face close to Mayu.

“N-Nothing. Nothing is wrong with that..” Mayu’s head automatically shifted back a little as Yuki’s face was too close to hers. “Maybe ice cream will help you cool down a little?”

“No ice creams can cool me down now..” Yuki seemed really angry.

“Oh, look.. An ice cream store over there.” Mayu pointed at a man selling ice cream at the beach.

“OH ICE CREAM!!!” Yuki rushed towards the man immediately. Well, maybe she wasn’t that mad after all. Mayu finds Yuki’s love for ice cream really amusing. She could be really angry at this very moment. Ice cream appears, and BOOM.. Angry Yuki’s gone.

“What do you want, Mayu? Chocolate? Vanilla?” Yuki seemed like a small kid right now.

“Chocolate.”

“Two chocolate ice cream. Thank you.” Yuki was so excited when the ice cream vendor passed her the ice creams. “Here you go, Mayu.” Yuki walked towards Mayu.

“Thank you..” Mayu was reaching for the ice cream when Yuki did something unexpected.

“Catch!” Yuki threw Mayu’s ice cream towards her and by reflex, Mayu accidentally dodged it and watched her ice cream drop onto the floor.

“My ice cream!!” Mayu looked at her broken ice cream laying on the floor.

“Oops.. Looks like you have to get a new one.” Yuki sticked her tongue out at Mayu and walked away.

“Come back! I’m going to take your ice cream!” Mayu immediately chased after Yuki. 

Noticing that Mayu was chasing after her, Yuki started running as fast as she could but she didn’t realize there was a hard rock camouflaging itself along the golden sands and...

*KICK*

“Ouch!” Yuki fell down flat on the sand with her ice cream escaping from her grip and meeting the sands. The impact of her body to the ground caused some of the sand to land on top of her own body.

Mayu stopped in her tracks and started laughing. Even if it was the lady that she likes a lot, Mayu couldn’t stop herself from laughing at a scene like this. She started clapping by herself and held onto her stomach while laughing as if she was watching an entertainment show.

“My ice cream......” Yuki was pouting and sobbing while still laying flat on the sands.

“Are you okay?” Mayu held in her laughter, swiped the sand off Yuki’s back and helped her sit up.

“.........” Somehow Yuki just sat up and stare right into Mayu’s eyes as she dusted the sand off her.

“Oh my god, look at you.. You have sand even on your hair.” Mayu giggled as she gently swiped the sands off her hair.

“..........”

“Yuki?” Mayu realized that Yuki looked stunned.

“It’s those beautiful eyes again..... Those sincere and pure eyes...” Yuki blinked.

“Yuki, are you ok? Don’t scare me..” Mayu was nudging Yuki’s shoulder.

“H-Huh? I’m so sorry. I must be having a concussion or something.” Yuki tried to stand up. “Ouch!” Yuki just realized at that moment that she had twisted her ankle.

“What’s wrong, Yuki?” Mayu looked at Yuki’s ankle and it looked swollen. “This looked serious. Did you twist your ankle when you fell just now?” Mayu sounded concerned.

Yuki nodded silently and painfully.

“Here...” Mayu pulled Yuki up and offered. “Get on my back.”

“But I’m heavy..” Yuki did not want to get on Mayu’s back as she mentioned.

“Get on my back, Yuki. I doubt you’ll be able to walk with your foot in this condition.”

“You’re smaller than me, Mayu. You’re going to get hurt carrying me..” Yuki was still doubting Mayu’s strength.

“I might look small, but never underestimate my strength. Can you see these muscles here?” Mayu flexed her right arm and showed it to Yuki. 

“...........There’s nothing...” Yuki thought as a sweatdrop appeared at the back of her head.

“Get on. I can handle this..” Mayu insisted once again.

“If you say so..” Yuki hopped onto Mayu’s back.

“Oh, wow god damn it, she’s so heavy...” Mayu thought to herself and literally gritted her teeth as Yuki finally landed on her back. Trying her best to cover her expression, she smiled back at Yuki and started walking. “See? You’re not that heavy at all.. This is nothing..”

Yuki definitely knew that Mayu was straining herself as she felt her whole body vibrating from the aount of strength exerted. “Erm.... Mayu? Are you ok?”

“What do you mean? Of course I’m ok..” Mayu smiled. Even her lips vibrated a little.

“Mayu, your face is all red..” Yuki pointed out.

“No, it’s not.. It’s just the sun shining on my face.”

“Put me down, Mayu..” Yuki patted Mayu’s shoulder.

“No, I’m not putting you down.” Mayu insisted.

“Put me down, Mayu! This is an order from your boss!” Yuki raised her voice.

“Like you said, Yuki.. This isn’t AKB Hotel..” 

“You’re going to hurt yourself if you continue carrying me. Put me down NOW!” Yuki patted Mayu’s shoulder harder than before and started wriggling around.

“You want me to put to down? Ok. I will put you down...” Mayu suddenly diverted her way towards the sea. 

“Where are you going?” Yuki was confused about Mayu’s sudden diversion.

“Putting you down, of course.” Mayu sneakily moved towards the sea water, going in a little deeper and deeper and it alerted Yuki.

“Mayu! Do not drop me into the water! You heard me!? I will kill you if you drop me here!”

“But I thought you wanted me to put you down? Apparently, the Watanabe taxi only drops people into the ocean.” Mayu grinned.

“No no no no! Stop it, Mayu!”

“Are you still insisting of coming down?”

“Alright! Alright! You win! Now take me away from here now! And don’t blame me if you get yourself hurt or anything.” Yuki demanded with a loud voice. 

Mayu smiled, being satisfied that she finally won against Yuki. “Well, nobody asked you to fall and sprain your ankle.”

“And whose fault is that, huh?” Yuki smacks Mayu’s shoulder.

“Hey... This all started because you knocked my ice cream down..” Mayu answered and Yuki didn’t seem to like it.

“Excuse me? If you had not chased after me, I wouldn’t have fell down. So it’s your fault. Your fault! Your fault! Your fault!” Yuki smacked Mayu’s shoulder for every time ‘fault’ was mentioned. “And I’m your boss. You’re not supposed to speak to me like that. When I say it’s your fault, it’s your fault.”

“Alright, alright.. It’s my fault..” Mayu gave up.

“That’s what I wanted to hear..” Yuki smiled in satisfaction of her victory.

They then remained silent and let the melody of the evening birds sink into their head. “It’s really peaceful just walking like this..”

“Yea.. I know, right? Just look at the sun... It’s beautiful..” Yuki stated as she looked at the beautiful golden light emitted by the sunset.

“Not as beautiful as you though..” Mayu’s frank words made Yuki blush a little. It’s too bad Mayu couldn’t look at Yuki’s blushing face right now. Mayu would go crazy for that face.

“You sweet talker..” Yuki pouted at herself being so embarrassed at Mayu’s one sentence. “You know.... You’re a little crazy and playful sometimes.. But you do have a decent side to you after all..” Yuki smiled.

“Me? Decent? Wow... I guess this is the first time I heard this word..”

“Mayu, you sure you don’t want to put me down? You really are going to get hurt, you know?” Yuki asked once again but with a softer tone as she was concerned about her a little.

“Put you down and let you get hurt instead? Not a chance. I’d rather get hurt myself than to see the woman I like a lot get hurt..”

*BA DUMP*

“That’s sweet of you, Mayu.. Thank you..” Yuki spoke out in a soft tone as she laid her head on Mayu’s back while tightening her grip on her. Mayu felt Yuki’s hug tightened and she was literally smiling on her own.

“So.... Yuki? I was thinking.....if you want to go on another date with me..” Mayu shyly spoke out.

“Date? Aren’t we already on a date right now?” Yuki’s sentence made Mayu skipped a heartbeat and almost made her lose strength in her legs. The silence came once again. The sound of the birds chirping and the sound of the waves itself were soothing and calming.

“So, when’s your birthday?” Mayu asked out of the blue to cut the silence.

“...........”

“Yuki?” Mayu turned her head back softly and noticed that Yuki had dozed off laying on her back like a comfortable pillow. 

“Oops... Better not make any more noises..” Mayu thought as she made her way slowly back to the hotel, step by step so that she doesn’t wake Yuki up.

 

Jurina and Rena stood in front of a building. It was a tall building of about four story high. JuriYuki Corporation’ was written outside of the building.

“Wow... This is your office?” Rena asked in awe.

“This is our office building. Mine and Yuki’s. My personal office is on the first floor.” Jurina swiped her card key and opened the main entrance glass door of the building.

The interior was huge. It could fit at least a few hundred workers inside this building. Technically there was nobody here because it was on a Saturday evening. Rena followed Jurina up one floor and she finally reveals her office. It was made of glass panels. There was a big working desk with a desktop on top of it and a couch leaning against the glass panels.

Jurina unlocked the door of her personal office room and entered. She then looked at Rena who was hesitant to enter the office room. “Rena? You don’t expect me to send an invitation letter for you to come in, right?”

“N-No..” Rena came into the room and closed the door.

“Why were you standing outside the door?”

“Because I’ve never been into a CEO’s office before.. It’s kinda......pressuring..”

“Pressuring? I’m going to imbue lots of pressure on you if you don’t sit down right now and help me arrange these papers.” Jurina stated.

“Okay..” Rena sat down silently and helped Jurina to arrange the papers. Fifteen minutes gone by and the office was still silent. So silent that the ringing sound could be heard in Rena’s ears.

Feeling uncomfortable with the awkward silence, Rena broke it by asking Jurina a taboo question, “So....erm.... Is today really your birthday?”

Jurina placed her papers down and looked at Rena. That made Rena apologize immediately. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. How stupid of me..”

“There’s no use hiding it from you anymore I guess? You saw my ID anyway..” Jurina leaned back on her seat.

“So, today really is your birthday..” Rena nodded. 

“Yes it is. Only you know about this.” Jurina’s face became fierce in an instant. “If you ever, I mean EVER reveal this to anybody, even to your best friend, Watanabe Mayu, I will make sure you’ll be unemployed by any company for the rest of your life. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Rena smiled and saluted Jurina just like how a girl scout does. Rena was already getting used to Jurina’s sudden change in behaviour ever since she told her about it.

Jurina tilted her head a little and squinted at Rena. “You don’t seem afraid of me anymore.”

“Oh.. I’m slowly trying to get used to your sudden change in behaviour.”

“Tch- I shouldn’t have told you anything about my mood swings..” Jurina sneered.

“Oh yea...” Rena excitedly reached for something inside her bag and took it out. “Here...” Rena pasted a golden star sticker on Jurina’s coat.

Didn’t even take one second for Jurina to tear that sticker off her coat and showed it to Rena. “May I ask what this thing is?”

“Well, this THING is a star sticker. I carry a bunch of them with me everywhere I go. This is what I always stick on my own shirt every year on my birthday. It’s a good luck charm. Since it’s your birthday today, I’m giving one to you.” Rena took the sticker from Jurina’s hand and sticked it onto her coat for another time.

“I don’t want anything on my coat, Rena. You’re not ruining my coat for the second time.” Jurina tore the sticker out once again.

“Then paste it here.” Rena took Jurina’s left hand and pasted the golden star sticker on the back of her hand.

“......” Jurina blinked her eyes in amusement at Rena’s action before looking at the star sticker at the back of her left hand. “So you’re telling me that this star sticker is a good luck charm?”

“Yup.. It really works. And it glows in the dark too.” Rena smiled.

Jurina touched the sticker. “How long do I have to stick this for?”

“Just keep it on you for the whole day. As a charm.”

Jurina nodded. “Well, we’ll see how good this charm works.”

Just then, Jurina gets a mysterious phone call that made her furrowed her brows. “Hello? Who’s this?”   

“What’s wrong, Jurina? You can’t remember your father’s voice? Are you free today? I wanted to meet up with you, kid. I know you’re in Hawaii. Such coincidence, I’m in Hawaii today too.” The reply made Jurina’s eyes shot wide open. 

She remained silent for quite some time before she swallowed her saliva and voiced out. “You......wanted to meet up with me today?”

“Of course... Why not? Today is an important day anyway.. Come on over to the Honolulu Restaurant now. Room 105. I’ll be waiting for you there, my dear daughter.” Jurina’s dad let out a soft laughter.

“Alright.. I’ll see you soon..” Realizing that Honolulu Restaurant is just a few blocks away from where her office was, Jurina ended the call with a troubled expression on her face. 

“Something wrong, Jurina? You don’t look too well..” Rena seemed worried about Jurina.

“I’m sorry, Rena. I’ve to go somewhere for a meeting now.”

“Please don’t apologize.. Work are always more important. I can understand that.” Rena nodded, signifying that she understands the situation.

“You’ll stay here and arrange these paperworks for me. If you need me, I’ll be at Honolulu Restaurant. Just seven blocks away from here..” Jurina stated. “Otherwise, I’ll be in the office all night long. Lots of paperwork to do.”

“Sure. I’ll stay here and arrange these paperworks. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’ll find you if there’s anything important.”

“Good. Oh, and thank you for your golden star charm, Rena.. Seems like it’s working out pretty well.” Jurina touched the golden star sticker on her hand for another time.

Jurina’s statement seemed to have caught Rena’s attention. “Hmm? Something good happened?”

“It’s nothing.. I just wanted to thank you for this good luck charm. Thank you..” Jurina gave Rena a quick hug before she made her way out of the office and to the restaurant.

“A..........A...........A........” Rena was literally frozen from Jurina’s action. Her face flashed in red instantly as she looked on at Jurina’s back profile. Her heart pumped so fast that she was going to get a heart attack anytime. It took quite some time before Rena finally come back to her senses. “What is wrong with you, Matsui Rena!?!? Why are you blushing like this!? Matsui Jurina is your boss! You can’t possibly fall for her!” She grabbed her own cheeks and pulled it as hard as possible. 

“Today is an important day, huh.. Idiot father... Only remembering his daughters’ birthday after so long...” Jurina smiled a little by herself. For once, she was sincerely happy. On her way to meet her dad, Jurina notes that this is the first time in over 10 years that he remembered her birthday. “Honolulu Restaurant....”

Jurina finally stood in front of the room 105. “Here goes nothing..” Letting out a huge breath, she pushed the door open. As soon as she entered the private room, there was a long table, and she finds that her father was sitting there, smiling back at her. There were a few unfamiliar faces wearing formal clothings sitting together with her father but that didn’t bother Jurina at all. Her attention was all concentrated towards her father. Jurina’s father stood up from his chair and smiled at her. “It’s been a long time, Jurina.” 

Jurina let out the most sincere smile she ever showed in a long time and thought to herself. “I don’t believe it.. My dad is actually.....standing right in front of my face... I’m not sure why but I have this fuzzy feeling within me. I thought he didn’t want the public to know about our relationship...”

At that time, one of the man stood up from his seat and walked over to them. He then introduces himself as a reporter. He enthusiastically greets Jurina, saying that he heard JuriYuki Corporation would be merging with the Matsui Corporation, he was eager to interview both of them. JuriYuki Corporation is a company owned by both Yuki and Jurina, that owns a lot of properties in Japan, and the best known property they have is the current AKB Hotel, whereby they are the CEOs there as well. Matsui Corporation on the other hand is owned by Jurina’s father. It is also a company that owns properties, but on a wider range, on an international level. As soon as Jurina heard that, her ears twitched a little. Whenever Jurina hears something that she hates a lot, her ears would twitch. She literally pointed and glared at the reporter. “I’m giving you one last chance to reintroduce yourself and tell me again the reason you’re here.”

The reporter repeated his introduction full of confidence this time. He was indeed a reporter who came here to cover the news about JuriYuki Corporation merging together with the Matsui Corporation. Jurina placed both her hands in her pocket and looked at the reporter. “So, you’re a reporter... And you’re here because the JuriYuki Corporation was going to merge with the Matsui Corporation?”

“Yes I am.” The reporter smiled and nodded.

Jurina snickered and then shifted her glance over to her father. “An important day.... That was the reason you called me out? To convince me to............merge companies with you?”

“Think about it, Jurina. You will be one of the biggest shareholder of the biggest company in the world, along with me. Just imagine the amount of money you’ll be earning.”

“I’m already earning a fortune. I don’t need more than this. If that was really the case, you seemed to have missed out the other CEO, Kashiwagi Yuki.”

“I believe you’re holding the bigger share in the company, Jurina. According to statistics, you own 51% of JuriYuki Corporation. You alone can make the decision.. It’s now or never, Jurina.” Her dad convinced.

Jurina sizes up the situation, then makes up an excuse to leave. “Sorry, I can’t stay here. I have a personal matter to attend to.” Excusing herself, she left the restaurant, leaving them all dumbfounded. It’s particularly sad, because although she would have told her father that her birthday doesn’t mean anything to her, she was obviously feeling hopeful when her father called her for a special meal together. How crushing it must be to realize that he wasn’t calling her to wish her a happy birthday, but was only doing it for his own selfish request.

Rena suddenly had an uneasy feeling in her heart as she thought of Jurina. “Why do I have a weird feeling suddenly? I think I better go check on Jurina.” Deciding to go check out on her, Rena heads off to Honolulu Restaurant to find Jurina.

Jurina’s father finds Jurina outside the restaurant, confronting her for humiliating him at the dinner. Jurina sneers that he must no longer be afraid that the truth will leak out, the truth about him having a family and left them to die. He admits openly, “What do I have to lose? To be honest, I’m considering revealing that you’re my daughter. That’ll draw some attention.” He sees her hard expression and asks, “Why, are you afraid now?”

Jurina’s father explains that he’s very ambitious about his proposal, and in order to command a lot of attention from other neighboring companies, he needs her. Understandably, Jurina’s not exactly moved by that proposal, and she jeers, “Do you love that woman that much? The reason you left me and mom was because of her money, wasn’t it?”

“I left you with everything I have! I left you with all of my money!”

“YOU LEFT US TO DIE!” Jurina replied with a scream so fierce, a vein could be seen throbbing at her temple.

“Daddy....” At that time, a little kid of about age 5 came up to Jurina’s father and grabbed onto his leg. “Daddy, this woman is scary......”

“Daddy? Who’s this little over here? The ’s son?” Jurina sneered and insulted despite the little boy being so young.

Jurina’s father answers coldly, “Don’t sneer like that. This is my son. You have no right to talk about him or my wife. They’re the most precious thing to me.” Ouch. Hard words to hear from your own father.

Jurina returned, “And that was the most terrible thing to me...” She turned to walk off, not wanting to continue this topic any longer.

He bursts out, “But you’re my daughter!” He makes his case, and as awful as the words are, they do have a ring of honesty about them, not that it makes them any better. “Can’t you understand me!? I had barely enough money to support your mom, let along you! Do you even know the pain of not having enough money to support even yourself!? I left because that was the only choice I had to continue living on. Yes, you probably thought it was a terrible thing because I abandoned you. But because I had no money, it was horrible for me when I almost lost my will to live!”

Not a persuasive argument to say to an abandoned child. Jurina turned around once again and faced her father, both hands curled up into a fist, the tears in her eyes belying her cool words, “All you think of is money... If you want to take credit for ever having me as a daughter, at least you should remember when that day was.”

Her reaction made him guess, “Was it today?” 

Ignoring the question, Jurina walked away in a cool manner, leaving her father and her half brother standing alone outside. Only…they’re not actually alone. Rena had witnessed the exchange from the corner, and clapped a hand over in horror. 

Jurina’s coldness to her father was really a front to cover her hurt, because once back to her office, she slumped against the wall, her bravado crumbling completely into dust. She literally tried in vain to choke back her tears. She doesn’t want to give in to the tears, because she doesn’t want to admit that her father has that kind of hold over her, but she can’t help it. She kept her family photo in her wallet because she actually had hope that her father would want her again. With tears running out continuously from her eyes, Jurina took out her family photo, crumpled it and tossed it at the wall. Her hope was completely shattered by the very man who gave life to her. The strong and intimidating Jurina is no more. She's completely in pain and sorrow. The state of being utmost vulnerable state that no one would be expecting from her. It was like a whole brand new side from her. From the strong figure woman, she became like a helpless child that needed someone to embrace her.

Rena, who followed Jurina back to her office secretly, stood down the hall, witnessing her pain and teared up. Rena was speechless. No words could explain these feelings in her heart after watching Jurina's vulnerable state. So hectic inside her mind and only but remain in silence is something she could do. Nothing can be done more than that. Staring at the glowing golden star on Jurina’s left hand, Rena placed her right hand over her chest. “My star is crying in the dark. And it makes my heart aches a lot. What should I do?”


Chapter 9
END