Chapter Eleven #4
Kumicho makes her entrance a moment later, followed by five men in black.
Her eyes focus straight on us as she walks in and stops a few feet away.
One of her men opens a foldable chair and places it on the ground to let her sit.
As soon as she does, another one kneels near her feet holding an ashtray.
I tilt my head her way. She takes a puff from her cigarette and then flicks the butt with the nail of her thumb, forcing her man to move and catch the ash—the floor is already dirty as fuck, I don’t see the point of doing that.
Her lips make a smacking sound as her eyes study the awkward position I’m in…because of Aki. But fuck, if I show her that.
“Kumicho. To what do we owe such pleasure?” Aki opens the conversation with a sarcastic tone.
“I came to check on your health. You look good, all things considered.” She throws the sarcasm back at him. “I see you already took care of the problem.” Her eyes fall on the blood painting the floor and the corpse.
“Hai. I did.”
She snaps her fingers at her men standing behind. “Help with that.” She points at Karin, who’s laying a plastic sheet on the ground where the body will be moved, and to Yuna and Masa picking up the pieces of flesh and bone. Two of her men in suits quickly follow her order.
“I also came to tell you that the Triad won’t be a problem.”
“How did you pull that off? Wasn’t Ling Wang the grandson of one of their big heads?” Aki starts patting my chest, foolishly trying to make me relax.
I feel like this because of him. He should just let go of me.
She nods. “Nevertheless, I told them we had fucking proof of the embezzlement of their company’s fund, Shanghai Construction. They immediately changed their damn tune and assured me Ling Wang acted alone. It seems they had no idea about the deal he made with Ishida-san.”
“Glad I could help with the proof part,” Aki arrogantly states.
She huffs. “By the position in which you are, fucking literally, I presume you don’t intend to meet the last suitor?”
All the muscles in my body contract.
“No,” Aki answers simply.
She drops the butt of the cigarette on the ground; her man quickly picks it up. “I chose him for you, although it seems you already caught him.” She waves at us. “You don’t have to go on a date, unless this is what you call one. Young kids these days.”
“What?” Aki takes the word from my mouth. Is she saying…
“The person you’ve…coiled yourself around is my marriage candidate for you, iina.” She drops the bomb, looking annoyed by the extra explanation.
“What?” This time I’m the one talking, because I must have heard wrong.
“You chose River? Since when?”
“The fucking beginning.” She gets another smoke out of her little purse.
“You are like two peas in an idiot pod. Of course, I chose him! I was sick of this dance between you two. I thought it would be easy, but fuck, you are unbelievably stubborn.” She’s looking at me.
“Your feelings of inadequacy have turned into a damn complex. You have to work on it and fast.”
What? I can’t seem to think of another word.
“Why did you put me through all those dates if you knew I’d choose River? Was this some kind of insane punishment?” Aki growls, finally releasing my body to fully face his aunt.
“Insane is the only approach you understand, Akira. And it was my way to push both of you in the right direction. As always, it worked!” She smiles with the cigarette between her lips.
So all the jealousy and anger I felt in seeing Aki meeting people that could give him things I couldn’t was all part of her plan?
“I’m pretty sure you orchestrated all this mainly to force Ishida-san out of his traitorous hole. Getting married to a powerful ally would have made it even harder to take me out. So he jumped the gun and played right into your hand.”
There’s always another angle with her. She really is diabolical.
“Whoever said don’t mix business and pleasure was a damn fool,” she declares.
“Pleasure? Punishing me is pleasure for you, Ane-san?”
“I took him in when he was a kid and fucking saved him…why am I being punished?” I hear her muttering before she looks at Aki again. “Like you didn’t have your fun. You are just pissed at me because, once again, I outsmarted you.”
His indignant sniff only shows her how utterly right she is.
“Contract marriages are normal for our family. I had one too, needed it to secure my position as the kumicho. I sacrificed everything, everything for this family.” For a moment, her eyes move away.
“Just like your grandfather did before me. Your father, though, he found love and held on to it. He left the family and never looked back until that car accident. Before he died in the hospital, he made me promise to help you find love, and when you brought this blond-haired gaijin back home with you nine years ago, I knew you’d found it all by yourself. ”
“We didn’t even know ourselves at that time,” I tell her.
“I think you both did on some level. I didn’t know it would bloom in a sexual, romantic way, or whatever you call it. But you did live for each other, and trust one another unconditionally.”
Her words reach deep inside me. Aki’s hand grabbing mine forces air in my lungs again. And I take it all in, pushing away my fears and doubts while finally and totally embracing my feelings for him.
“This is the love your father wanted for you.” It’s the first time I witness such an affectionate smile curling her lips. I’m quite sure this is a one-time thing.
As soon as the thought forms, her mouth tightens. “And how the hell it took you so long to see it is beyond me! How can you become the kumicho if you are so blind?”
“Like you’d leave your throne anytime soon.” He scoffs. “You could have at least given me a hint or something.”
“We all need a little rain to grow and darkness to let us shine. And what do you think moving to New York was for? To make you bond or some shit like that.”
I don’t care how or why, but I’m thankful she did it. I give her a deep bow, and when I straighten up, I state, “I’ll do my best from now on, Kumicho.”
“Good! I’m sick of the two of you pining for each other, ugh!”
“I don’t pine,” Aki hisses.
“No, you pout like a small kid.” The words slip my lips.
“More a lame teenager,” the kumicho interjects, making me chuckle. Aki elbows me in the gut.
“So now, you’ll get married—”
“Wooo, wooo! what?” Aki cuts her statement off.
“You still need to secure your position. There’s four other families who aren’t your biggest fans,” she reminds him.
“Also, thanks to your fiancé,” is that me?
“we cut a deal with the Leone family. Don Sebastiano is ruthless and cold-hearted, just my kind of guy. I already told him about your wedding, and he agreed to come. You and River will be the bridge between the organizations here in New York. While…”
She keeps talking, but my mind stops listening for a moment.
Marriage. With Aki. Me and him. Together. For everyone to know.
“Do it with me,” I blurt out, pulling on his hand.
“Ehm, I’m sure I’m interpreting your words the wrong way since my aunt, the crew, and a bunch of robots in black are here.” His brown, impish eyes find mine, and looking inside those shiny pools, I know more than ever that this is what I want.
“Do everything with me.”
“More than we already did? Oh, I’m so up for it.” He is still not getting it.
I grab his shoulder and squeeze. “Marriage, Aki. Let’s do it.”
“Bite the bullet and get married?” His eyes are darting between mine as he needs to make sure I’m serious.
“Just say yes!” the kumicho exclaims with irritation before I can reply. “I can see the hearts falling out of your eyes. It’s like a sticky, sugary waterfall.”
I don’t know who she is talking to, probably me.
“Fuck, and I thought I was the impulsive one.” Aki is grinning like a loon at me now. He jumps once again and wraps his limbs around me, making me stumble.
“Impulsive? I’ve fucking wanted you for years,” I grumble, but relief and joy I’ve never felt before invade my chest. He doesn’t kiss me, and I don’t mind—we both know that if we start, we won’t be able to stop. But he bites me hard on the jaw. His way of sealing the deal.
“Here.” A little box is tossed our way. Aki catches it, looking with curiosity at his aunt.
“A present for me?” He sounds excited.
“Not for you. Open it, or did you forget how to fucking do it?” She huffs.
It’s incredible how he controls himself around her but turns berserk with everybody else.
Inside the box, there’s a pinky ring with the emblem of the Hebikawa family. The same ring Aki and the kumicho always wear.
“It was Akira’s grandfather’s,” she lets us know.
“Give me your hand.” I hear his order, and I follow it almost in a trance. I feel the cold metal enveloping my skin and sliding down, and then the heaviness resting on my finger. It fits perfectly.
“River Ichigo Hebikawa. Sounds good.” He smirks teasingly at me. But it actually does to me.
Aki lifts my hand and kisses the ring before the kumicho states, “Welcome to the family…River.”
It still feels weird when she calls me by my name. I have to force the tears back, it’s hard. So fucking hard, but I manage, tightening my arms around Aki a little too much. I’m becoming the man I was meant to be because of him.
“Now I’m going back to LA.” I hear her stand up, and before leaving she adds, “I’ll see you at the wedding, one month from today. Don’t be fucking late. Ijoya.”
As soon as she disappears, I hear the crew clapping hands, cheering, and voicing their congratulations. But I tune it all out.
My forehead falls on Aki’s, and I savor his scent, his warmth, his presence, before I tell him, “Umarekawattemo, omae o sugu sagashi dasu.”
“Orega saki ni mitsukeru,” he replies with a determined look.
I wish this moment would never end…until it does. He does.
“Now take me home and fuck me. But stop at that café on the way, I feel like a matcha latte.”