Iori stood in front of the mirror staring at her reflection and liking what she saw. The dress was marvelous and everything about it was made to show just enough and entice whoever was watching into wanting more.
Since she had decided not to face her father with the gathering’s invitation, Iori could barely sleep. She knew that she wasn’t making the right choice, she knew that she was taking the easy way out, but, still, she just couldn’t contact her father about it…
Jun had respected her decision and taken it without even trying to change her mind. He knew her enough by now not to push her when she couldn’t take it. And she was grateful for that…
Besides, Jun seemed to be preoccupied with other matters. His phone vibrated all day long and there seemed to be a lot of calls that he wasn’t taking. His concentration on their work wasn’t effective and he barely reached the required word count this week. Jun had somet
Iori leaned back on her heels as she half paid attention to one of her fellow mystery writers as he talked about the perfect plot for a closed room mystery. Fighting a sigh of annoyance, she smiled and nodded letting him go on with his monologue as she scanned the ballroom for the attendance.Jun was in a corner talking to one of the printers, they were so engrossed in their conversation that Jun didn’t seem to notice her.Her heart tightened and her annoyance grew at her colleague who went on from critiquing Conan Doyle to talking about Agatha Christie’s lack of plot tricks. Why the guy was a writer and not a critique was beyond Iori.Jun’s story had stopped as soon as their driver stopped by to pick them up for the ball, since they arrived two hours ago, they didn’t have a moment for themselves to breathe. Everything was a blur, she was introduced to so many people that her head was spinning and she could barely remember half of them.
Jun took Iori’s hand and pulled her to him on the dancing floor, he felt her stiffness and wondered what made her like that. It was true that the night was trying and he was too tired from sweet talk and forced smiles. He’s had enough to last him for a lifetime. She must be the same, but something told him that there was something else.Looking up, Jun realized that he had been right, and the reason was staring back at him with expectant eyes. Jun felt anger swirl within him and he would have loved nothing more than to go to Emi and give her a piece of his mind, but he wouldn’t make that mistake. Because it would be exactly what she wants.She was provoking him so that he would talk to her, and then she could build upon that and weave her webs around them like the black widow she was.Jun leaned down pulling Iori to him and he couldn’t help the satisfaction when she fit against him like a perfect match. He pressed a kiss at the back of he
Jun still remembered everything about those days. It had been a hell of a strange week. Emi was on her phone all the time and every time he asks her, she tells him that it was her family back home.It was a nice and well-done surprise when he leaned that she didn’t even have a family in Japan. Or anywhere else for that matter…Aya kept saying that he was busy and Jun was getting sick of his friend’s avoidance. Planning to face him once and for all, he drove to his apartment. When he got there, he saw Aya leaving the apartment in his car so on a whim instead of calling out to him or just calling him on the phone, Jun decided to follow Aya.Perhaps that had been where he went wrong. If he had called Aya, surely, he would have stopped him from going where he was never going to return from.As he drove after him, Aya went to the part of town where old offices were. Jun wondered what his friend was doing when he parked his car in front of on
“He’s dead…” Jun said with a voice he didn’t recognize as his own,A strangled scream came out of Tohru and he kneeled beside his brother shaking him and trying to wake him up as if that would do any good.“Aya! This is a lie! Aya open your eyes. Stop joking around, Aya!” Tohru kept yelling at his brother to open his eyes but it was too late. Aya was already dead.Jun gritted his tooth and looked up at the man who killed his best friend. The man who defended his family and friends until his last breath. The tattooed American was looking at him with a smirk on his face.He was smiling. The man was smiling after he just shot Aya. Rage blew through Jun like a vortex. His limps were so tense that he thought that his tendons were going to snap.“You’re a bunch of stupid wussies, I knew that you wouldn’t be able to pull it off in the end,” He told Tohru as he lifted his gun up.Toh
“You told her?” Shou asked leaning forward on the counter and looking more than just surprised.“You thought that I would never tell her didn’t you?” Jun asked with a skeptical look at his friend“No… Not that, It’s just that…” Shou leaned back rubbing the back of his head“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Jun reproached his friend who had the decency to look bashful.“So you told her everything. Even about the old man?” Shou asked as he regained his curiosity pretty quickly.“Not about him…” Jun responded looking down at his coffee mug,“You really… You told her about your past and you couldn’t even tell her about your father?!”“I couldn’t tell her so soon after dropping one bomb at her…” Jun said“You have to tell her! You know that what you’re hiding from h
Iori made her way through the long hallway her steps swallowed by the flush carpet adorning the floor. This used to be so normal to her, though now she could feel and see the signs of luxury surrounding her.Things that she used to take for granted now seemed like the valuable things that they were. Not only the luxury of her family’s company but also how familiar everything seemed, how good it was to be greeted by her family members and to be working with them again.Iori reached a door at her right and reached into her bag to pull out the keys and froze. What if the keys didn’t fit? It had been such a long time, what if someone else changed the locks.This was ridiculous, she was obsessing over something so trivial, yet she couldn’t shake the apprehension as she pushed the key into the hole.It slipped in smoothly and turned when Iori twisted it sending a wave of relief through her when it did. Iori found herself smiling to herself as
Jun sighed and leaned back on his desk in his and Iori’s shared office,“The book is going smoothly…” He informed the other line uncomfortably,“Then you should be thinking about what you’re going to do next,” His father said in his patronizing voice that never failed to irritate him.“I’m going to write a new book…” Jun responded,“It’s about time you came back to the family business,”“I am already helping, and we talked about this before,”“That’s not going to be enough if you’re going to take over someday you’re going to need some real training,”Jun heard the door beeping and opening, and he knew that this conversation was over,“I have to go, Iori is back,” he said“Well at least someone is helping their family run the family business,” His father added and Jun hung
“We’re done, you lied to me,” Iori said looking at Jun with tears running down her cheeks,“I was going to tell you! I swear we didn’t have it from you on purpose!” Jun exclaimed, but Iori shook her head and turned around leaving,Jun reached out but he couldn’t catch her. He tried to move but his feet were frozen as he watched her walk away.“Iori! Iori! Please don’t leave! Iori!” Jun struggled against his feet but they wouldn’t move no matter how much he tried to shake them.His labored breath could be heard in the cold hallway where he stood and watched Iori’s back as it grew farther and farther away.“Iori!” He called out one more desperate time only to find himself sitting up in his bed startled. His best was heaving and he was drenched in sweat as if he ran miles and miles.Running a hand over his face he took a deep breath subsiding his panting a