x
“Are you sure he will be alright?" the woman asked with concern.
“He will be fine.” The doctor replied looking at the man on the hospital bed. “We administered painkillers to him but he won’t travel until we do the transplant.”
The woman nodded. “Understood.”
The doctor walked out the door leaving the woman with the bedridden man behind and she walked up to his bedside with a blank look on her face. “Hue I…”
“Shut it! This is all your fault!” he snapped.
The woman sighed. “Who did this to you?”
He tsked. “Don’t know. All I know is our target saved my ass.”
She nodded again and walked away leaving him in the hospital room.
Hue sighed. ‘This is my fault. Why did I agree to this in the first place? Why?’
He made himself comfortable on the hard mattress and closed his eyes. How long did he sleep? He didn’t know but he woke up to pain shooting all over his body and a doctor looking at him.
“What the… Gah!”
“Easy now.” The ‘doctor’ looked at the file in his hands. “How are you feeling tonight?”
Hue groaned as something gave his vein a painful tug. “I…Gah! I…What… is this? I...I can’t…” Then he looked at the ‘doctor’ and wondered if it was the effects of the drugs or the pain because the voice sounded familiar.
Too familiar.
“Wait…wait a minute…”
“Yes, you are in pain.” The ‘doctor’ put his hand on his chin in thought. “But what is limiting your movements?”
Hue couldn’t answer because he was breathing heavily for the pain was taking his breath away.
The doctor leaned closer to him and smirked. “Could it be this?”
Then he tugged off the sheets revealing the straps which held Hue to the bed. He tried to wiggle free but that made the pain worse bringing tears to his eyes.
The ‘doctor’ chuckled in delight, watching his ‘patient’s’ futile attempts to scream for help, and brought out a syringe filled with a red liquid.
“Allow me to introduce my partner in crime named Madric; a slow-killing poison that attacks the nervous system. One dose causes extreme pain, another dose enhances the pain, and the last dose well,” he leans closer to his patient. “Take a wild guess.”
Hue cried bitterly for his whole body was in pain.
“I have administered the first dose to you.” the doctor said. “I have the antidote but you must answer some questions.”
Hue coughed causing more pain to spread through his body. “What…what do you want?”
The ‘doctor’ put up a serious face. “Who ordered the hit on Emma Cross-wood?”
“Ho…how should I know?”
Annoyed with the response, the 'doctor' injected him with another dose of the red liquid. Hue yelped and shook violently as the pain in his body increased causing him to choke on his saliva.
“That was the second dose.” the ‘doctor’ said after drawing the last dose from the bottle. “You don’t want the last one on your system do you?”
Hue could only whimper.
“Don’t worry. You will still be able to talk.” He added, “Willing to answer my questions now?”
Hue nodded.
“Then speak.”
“My…my name is Hue Atatsuma.” He began. “I am 25 years old and…”
“Hey, I did not ask you for your personal information.” barked the doctor.
“Okay! Okay! It was Ryoba!”
The doctor cocked an eyebrow. “Who?”
“Ra…Ryoba Aishi! She…sh…she paid me to kill her?”
“Why?”
“I…I don’t know.”
The ‘doctor’ huffed.
“I swear! I…Gah!”
“Ah, ah, ah." the doctor wagged his forefinger on him. "No screaming remember?”
“I swear, she only told me to take her out... I did not ask why... I...I just took the money and fo...fo...followed them he...here.”
“Followed them here?” the ‘doctor’ struck a thinking pose and smiled. “Does she have a daughter called Ayano Yamada?”
Hue nodded vigorously. “Yeah!”
The ‘doctor’ grinned evilly and put the syringe back in the pocket of his lab coat. “That's all I need to know.”
“H…hey wait a mi…minute!” He called out. “Aren’t you going to… Argh!”
The ‘doctor’ opened the door and looked back at him. “I lied.”
“What? You….you…son of…Gaaah!”
“Don’t worry. You are a tough guy. You will last the night.”
“No, please! Don’t leave me here! Please don’t leave me! Please!” Hue begged but the door closed leaving him to his torment.
He groaned, grunted, and strained, trying in vain to subside the pain in his body but that only made things worse. He was ready to succumb to his untimely demise when something pricked him sending relief through his body. The pain disappeared and he lay in bed panting and gasping.
“That sadistic bastard knew you won’t last the night.” a person said putting the syringe in the pocket of his trench coat. “He wanted you to die.”
Hue’s sense of relief was quickly replaced with fear and it made his blood run cold. He looked up at his hero who was wearing a long trench coat with a huge hat that covered his eyes making him unrecognizable.
“You are lucky to survive kid.” He said walking towards the door. “Promise me this; one: you will change your profession and two: you won’t tell anyone about this.”
Hue nodded as the door opened and closed. “I…I promise.”
In the morning….
“Wow! That is scary!” Brianna said.
Ralph nodded. “Yeah! If it weren't for you, he would have died.”
I sheepishly scratch the back of my head. “Th...thanks. Oh look here she is.”
Ayano approached us with a blank expression on her face. “You are here.”
“We are very sorry about your friend Mrs. Yamada,” Brianna said.
"Yeah. I hope he is okay." I said.
“He is going to be fine although he lost a kidney,” she said.
Andrew cringed at that.
“Maybe it's one of those guys who drug people and take out their kidneys?” Jake suggested.
“I highly doubt that. They don’t stab someone in the kidney to take another.” Ayano said looking directly at me.
A look of terror appeared on Brianna's face. “Oh my gosh! Does this mean there is a killer on the loose?”
“I’m afraid so,” Ayano said.
Charlie scoffed and folded his arms. “Relax. There is no killer on this beach.”
“Well, I am not taking any chances.” Andrew took out his phone and started dialing a number ignoring the glare Charlie gave him.
“Don’t worry, I told the police and they said they will be on the lookout for anything suspicious,” I said.
That made Andrew put down his phone while Charlie heaved a sigh of relief. There was a moment of silence before Ayano spoke.
“I have to go. Mother is taking Taro and I shopping at the town square.” then she gave me deadly look. “Thank you Emma Cross-wood.”
I take a moment to stare into her eyes and see they were full of hatred which made me question if she was really thankful. Nonetheless, I bow to her and say, “It was my pleasure.”
“Do you want us to pay for the dress?” she asks.
"Nope. I got it.” Jake replied.
She hummed and walked away.
“Well, that was nice of her,” Brianna said with a smile.
"Yeah, but she looked like she wanted me dead for some reason." I rub my arms to calm the goosebumps on my skin.
“I don’t think it was a mere coincidence Emma was at the scene of the crime." Brutes said while putting a hand on his chin. "Something is off.”
I ponder on his statement. ‘Yeah. Something is off.’ my eyes fell on Jake. ‘It surely can’t be him. He was as drunk as a skunk last night.’
‘Or was he?’
While the rest decided to go back to the Hotspring Hotel, Jake decided to take me shopping and he ended up buying almost anything I laid my eyes on from dresses to shoes to souvenirs...
"Jake isn't this enough?" I ask struggling to hold the bags.
He chuckled. "Nothing is too much for you my love."
To be honest, I wondered how I was going to take these back home. The week went by and I found myself spending more time in the hotel's garden and less time on the beach because of the incident. Jake followed me everywhere playing the role of a romantic samurai in the garden to a loving boyfriend on the beach.
He never left me alone.
Why would he after that incident?
Luckily, I finally got some alone time on the beach and seized the opportunity to sunbathe in my swimsuit. I was falling asleep when someone tapped me on the shoulder.
"What?" I ask raising my sunglasses above my eyes.
It was Valarie. “Looks like you have all day to lie and snooze Ms. ‘I saved a guy’.”
I put back my sunglasses in annoyance. “What do you want?”
“Come with me. I have something private to tell you,” she said flipping her long shiny hair and leading the way to a secluded place behind the shacks used as the changing rooms.
“So what is it?” I ask.
“How much do you want in exchange for Jake?” she asks inspecting her nails.
I was shocked. “Ex..excuse me?”
“How much do you want in exchange for Jake?” she asked again. “Hurry up! Time is money.”
“You...you want me, to sell Jake to you?” I ask again.
She smirks. “You get the idea.”
‘Is she serious?’ I thought.
“Name your price.” She said.
“No.”
“What?”
“No.”
“Not even for a million yen?”
“A million yen?!”
“Yep. Daddy died and left me a lot of money! You are lucky I have a million to spare.”
‘What a spoilt brat!’
‘I’ll say.’
”So do you want it?” she asks.
“No.”
She was shocked. “Really?”
“Why would I do something like that?” I ask.
She smirked. “Why not? You don’t love him.”
“Huh?”
“You may be a hero but I am not stupid Emma," she says. "I see the way he looks at you, the way he talks to you, and the way he treats you like a princess but you just shun him. It is clear you don’t like him so why bother yourself? Hand him over to me and I will show him what real love looks like.”
I grit my teeth. ‘Sh!t! She got me!’
‘But you got her too. Remember?’
“What about you? Do you like him?”
My question shocked her. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t see him as an equal. To put it bluntly, you just want to keep him as a pet because he is a lower-class person right?”
This made her angry. “What do you mean? I do love him.”
“That was not what I heard about your relationship with Brandon.” I folded my arms. “I heard the both of you had a ‘pay-you-to-be-with-me’ relationship before he died and to top it off, you were flirting with Jake behind his back and showed no sense of remorse when he died.”
She looked stunned for a moment then huffed. “Pish-posh. It was not like that!”
“So how was it?” I ask.
“How did you know about our relationship?”
“Is it true?”
“Did you kill him?”
“Stop trying to dodge the truth.”
“Stop trying to lie!”
A rustling sound made us fall silent and we keep our mouths’ shut waiting for another sound but heard nothing.
Valarie huffed again. “I don’t want to be around here anymore now that there is a killer on the loose.” then she turned her back to me. “Call me when you change your mind.”
“I said ‘no’. Didn’t I?” I snap back.
“You will change your mind.”
I grit my teeth again because the tone of her voice had a smirk in it. "Where ever your father is, I am sure he is ashamed to have a spoilt brat as a daughter."
This made me look back in fury. "What?"
"You heard me."
She stomped towards me in fury. "What do you mean by that? Do you know who my father is?"
"Do I look like I..."
"My father is one of the biggest Loanshark's back at home!"
Her statement drained the color on my face.
She smiled. "Scared are you?"
"Wait a minute, he is a Loanshark?"
"Yeah," she replied beaming with pride.
"Isn't he dead?"
I watch her face fall as she looked away. "Yeah. He was found decapitated in the woods along with his men and no one knows who did it."
My blood froze when she said that. “De…decapitated?”
“Yeah it was all over the news!" she hugged herself. "I suspect it is one of his debtors or the same person who kidnapped me in school...”
“Wait a minute, you were kidnapped?”
"Yeah. Daddy had to let go of the people owing him for me to be released and the scary part is, I did not know who did it because I was blindfolded.”
‘Release…oh sh!t!’
‘Hey, no swearing!’
Everywhere went quiet until Valarie snapped back to her senses. “Hey, why I’m I telling you this? It is none of your business!”
She walked passed me while I stood there remembering what Bert told us the day he was leaving ending with the drink Jake was holding that day. Connecting the dots, I slowly walked back to the long chair where my friends were sitting on a blanket sucking on ice pops.
“Brianna, Emma is here,” Ralph said.
“Geez girl where have you been?” Brianna asked in a disappointed tone. “I was about to eat your ice pops but Mr. Yamada wouldn’t let me.”
I looked at Mr. Yamada who fished out an ice pop from the cooler and handed it to me.
'With all due respect, where is his wife?'
I politely refused the gift and let Brianna devour it. I sit on the blanket thinking about the incident over.
'She wants me to hand Jake over to her but she doesn't know that he is the one responsible for her kidnapping.' I lean back and sigh. 'I shouldn't overthink it. Should I?'
'I don't want to bring this to your notice but how many boys did he get rid of to get closer to you?'
My eyes grew wide when I heard that.
"Emma are you okay?"
I snap out of it and looked at Taro Yamada who was close to me. "I...I am fine Mr. Yamada."
He cocked an eyebrow and stood up. "Your friends are going to take a group picture. Do you want to join them?"
I nod and go and join them. There we took a couple of pictures near the ocean, some silly and others nice. I felt better as we took more pictures and didn't mind when Taro Yamada decided to take a picture of me alone.
"Wow you look like model Emma," he said looking at the pictures.
I nod silently admitting I looked good in the swimsuit I was wearing.
"You'd still look good in that bikini though," Brianna said.
Taro's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Brianna beamed with pride. "Yep! The bikini she wore on her first day to the beach made her look so hot that all the guys..."
I covered her mouth and smiled sheepishly at him. "It's nothing."
But he blushed and looked away. "Yeah. I saw it too."
I felt something slimy appear on my hand and cringed when I discovered it was her saliva. We all laughed while Ralph hit his sister on her head. We took some more pictures and walked back to the Hotel.
"Oh you are staying in this hotel Mr. Yamada?" asked Brianna.
"Yeah." then he gave a grim face. "And it is expensive too. There goes my next month's salary."
"Sorry to probe but what does your wife do for a living?" Brutes asked using his shirt to wipe his glasses.
"Her? She is a housewife."
I notice the rueful tone in his voice. "You don't sound happy about it."
"I am not. Money is tight these days and I was planning on spending the summer at home with the kids but she and my mother-in-law brought up this trip calling it our 'Second Honeymoon.'" he grimaced. "The airfare, the change in the hotels, and the medical bills of their friend will add a strain on our finances but they seem not to care about that at all and it infuriates me."
We suddenly felt uncomfortable because none of us were expecting this from him.
Then he smiled. "Thank you for making it worth the while though."
"Umm, you're welcome?" Brianna replied after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"Mr. Yamada."
Jake magically appeared by our side with a rueful look on his face. "Your wife is looking for you."
"Oh,"
We watched him put the camera in its case and walk in the opposite direction where the cheaper rooms were situated. None of us said a word as an uncomfortable silence took over.
Later that night as Jake and I soaked in the hot private hot spring, I thought about what Mr. Yamada told us a few hours ago and sighed.
"Is something troubling you Beloved?" Jake asked.
I blinked in the steam and rubbed my eyes. "No everything is..."
"Liar." he swam closer and trapped me to the wall. "Something is wrong. What is it?"
'Gosh, where do I start?' I thought. “Did you know who Valarie is?”
He frowned and moved closer. "Yeah, I know who she is."
“And you know who her father was?”
“I dug up some information on her.” then he leaned closer and whispered into my ear. “After all, how else was I supposed to get rid of him?”
Despite the water in the hot spring being hot, I felt cold.
“You kidnapped Valarie to get rid of Bert,” I whispered.
He smiled and wrapped his arms around me. "I heard what she told you Beloved and thank you. Thank you for not selling me out like that. This means I am worth more than a million yen right?"
I say nothing as he seized the opportunity to squeeze me tight.
"I had overheard the conversation between the both of you and he told me everything adding that once the debt was paid, he would move out of town. I didn’t have the money to help him so I took another route.”
“By kidnapping his daughter?”
“Would you like it if I killed him instead?” he looked deep into my eyes. “Because that was my initial plan until he said.”
The water suddenly became lukewarm as goosebumps appeared on my body because there was no ounce of remorse in his voice. No remorse at all!
Luckily, he didn't say a word about Taro Yamada until Charlie’s birthday which was held the next night. Once we were at the venue which was the beach, I tagged along with Brianna to watch the fire dancers.
I watched in awe as men and women jumped and spun with staffs and hula hoops lit with fire and clapped when one man stopped, swallowed a ball of fire, and breathed it out like a dragon but that was not all. While spinning the staffs full of fire the women did a massive leap on top of the men who squatted down, put the fire in their mouths, and spat it out. It was breathtaking and it deserved a round of applause from the crowd.
"How do they do that?" asked Brianna.
"They put kerosene in their mouth and spit it out at the flame," Jake said sipping on a coconut.
After watching the performance, eating smoked fish, and participating in a hula-hoop competition, we looked for Andrew, Ralph, and Brutes and found them in the fruit shack eating fruits.
"Hi, guys what are you doing?" I asked walking towards them.
Ralph ripped out a banana from the bunch. "Just eating."
"If I am not mistaken, that is the tenth banana you are eating." Brutes remarked while eating his mango.
"I am not surprised he loves bananas," Brianna said biting into a mango.
I picked up a pink-skinned fruit that had greenish leaves and stared at it.
"Do you know that tomatoes are not fruits but berries?" Brutes began. "They have their seed inside them and their structure is similar to that of an apple."
"Wow, I did not know that," Ralph said sarcastically munching away.
"That is a dragon fruit," Jake said. "It is a tropical fruit that is pink on the outside and white on the inside with black seeds. They are easy to grow too."
I roll my eyes because I knew what he was doing and picked up the knife but he snatched it from me.
"I will do it." he began to peel the fruit.
"Are these things grown in China or something?" Ralph asked attacking his eleventh banana.
"No, they are grown in Southern Mexico and South and Central America. Most people call them 'pitaya', while Asians call them Strawberry pear because of its insides." Jake explained ignoring the look Brutes gave him.
"Wow, Jake I admire your knife skills," Brianna said in awe. "Where did you learn that?"
He grinned. "From the internet? I googled it and watched YouTube videos on how to do this."
"Then you must be a fast learner then." Brutes coldly remarked.
Nothing more was said until he handed me a bowl full of dragon fruit. “For you my dear.”
"Thank you." I used the plastic fork to eat. “It’s sweet but tart.”
"That is why you should not let the name fool you," Jake said.
Brutes walked off making it clear he had lost the match while I continue to eat listening to my friend's conversations until Valarie appeared and latched herself onto Jake’s arm.
"Hey, honey. Sorry I am late. It was so tedious picking an outfit that catches your eye."
Jake ignored her.
"So what are you doing? And why are you hanging out with these losers?" she asked.
Brianna got offended. "Who is the loser?"
"You are and you know it!" she snapped back.
I shrugged. "At least I am not looking like a bimbo."
She was wearing a revealing bikini while I was wearing a white floral blouse with a long pink flay skirt. With nothing to say, she stuck her tongue at me and didn’t notice when Jake slipped her hand from her grip.
"Come on Jake," she said grabbing his arm again. "I know some interesting places we can go to."
“Not interested.” he wrenched his hand off her grip and turned to me. “I have something for you, Emma,”
“What is it?” I ask showing interest.
He disappeared for a moment reappeared with a bag in his hand and gave it to me. Confused, I open it and was shocked to see a brand new tape recorder.
“That's it? That's the surprise?” Brianna asked.
“Well, my Beloved does have a knack for old things,” Jake said.
"And dreadful taste," Valarie added earning a cold glare from him.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
I nod. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Does this mean I am forgiven?” he asked again catching me off-guard.
"What happened between you two? Did you guys fight?" asked Brianna.
"Well..."
"We quarreled." Jake said immediately. "So, do you forgive me?"
With all eyes on me, I gave a stiff nod and received a hug from him. My friends cheered while Valarie mouthed the word ‘Liar’ and stuck out her tongue.
‘Yeah, maybe I am a liar.’
ns 15.158.61.7da2
