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As I watchHisashi’s driver pull up my hands twist nervously. The cold chill in the air whips around my legs. I feel it all the way up to my bottom in this dress I have on. Hisashi steps out looking every bit of the heir to a billion Yen fortune. He’s attired in a black tuxedo with a midnight blindingly white dress shirt. The cut of his jacket is cut high and severely to fit his tall frame. The only hint of color is the thinnest of royal purple stripes in his tie and his cufflinks that sport cubed purple diamonds. It is a subtle acknowledgement we are together.
My dress is black velvet with a chiffon overlay studded with purple crystals. It’s the most stunningly expensive item I have ever worn. If it weren’t for my concern of not wanting to embarrass the man who’d come to mean more to me than anything besides my family and my work, I would have refused this far too generous gift.
The tickets to the opening night of the theater would have been enough, but then he said, “You will be my family’s guest.” When he whispered later as he held me, “family,” meant his entire family, including his parents and his cousin, the official head of the family, I would have fainted were we not already in bed and him holding me closely.
“It’s time for the world to know you are mine, little dove.” He pulled me under him then. Kissing me in longing, drugging pulls. That night we came so close to finally making love but for the innumerable time he pulled back even though my eyes stung in frustration when he got up to take care of his needs. The next morning, I woke with him cupping my mound possessively as he did every morning since our first night together. I let him hold me. I felt so safe with him. He’s never pushed. Even when his needs obviously overwhelmed him. I don’t know how the situation got away from me. It’s like he’s waiting for me. I know he is. I want to say I’m ready and to a point I am but there’s something that makes the hairs on my neck rise when I allow myself to look past the fascination I have for him and get a peek at his intensity. Obsession, my mind whispers.
“You look beautiful, Tay-chan.” He bows deeply after he comes to stand before me. Smiling I return with my own, “You look very handsome too, Hisashi.” Stepping behind me he ushers me to the car. I slip inside. The privacy glass is already up. As soon as the door closes behind him, he leans over me cupping the back of my head. He draws me close to him. His lips are a soft welcome.
“I missed you,” I say when he pulls back. Reaching up I swipe away the lip gloss staining his lips. It would be considered very unseemly for him to show up with lip gloss on his lips and would probably cause a minor scandal. Not to mention make his mother dislike me more than she seemed to the night of the scholar’s gala.
“Good.” He smirks with a roguish tilt of his lips. “Now you know how I feel every moment you leave the loft.”
“I haven’t been back to my dorm room since the night of the baby tsunami.” Now he really chuckles shaking his head.
“That wasn’t a tsunami. I hope you never have to see one.” He lifts my chin then. “But if you do, I will keep you safe.” The promise in his words makes me believe him. I know he will.
“I believe you.” Leaning in, I want to reassure him of my faith in him.
He clears his voice. “You better.” He turns to face forward. “Otherwise, the next hundred years would be very awkward.”
I can’t believe my ears. He’s talking about forever. “Very.” I scoot as close to him as I can, tucking my arm under his and resting my head on his shoulder.
“Courage,” he whispers, as he helps me out of the Rolls Royce. Lights flash all around us and soon they intensify when they see who is with one of the scions of the Takeda Dynasty. Murmurs are added to the flashes as the members of elite and very homogenous Japanese society notice the lone Black girl entering their ranks.
Hisashi leads a step ahead of me but there is no mistaking we are walking together. He even moderates his stride, so he doesn’t leave me. As we approach the rest of his family, I see several amused looks, one from his father, a tall, beautiful, svelte older woman who’s accompanied by three equally handsome men, whose younger selves I’ve seen in several pictures among Hisashi few pictures.
Takeda-sama looks on with kind indulgence. His brother, Kiyoshi, looks on with curiosity but no malice. Their mother, however, is livid. So much so that her cheeks burn red with anger and her eyes flash with so much animus I almost take a step back.
“It is so good to see you, aunt,” Hisashi addresses the obvious matriarch of the family. “I have been very remiss in not coming to visit, my studies are not even significant enough to excuse this failing. You must forgive your thoughtless nephew.” He bows deeply to the woman.
Her smile is gentle. “Hisashi, you know you are my most favored nephew.” She quirks a look at Kiyoshi. “And even my own sons can learn several things about your excellent manners and consideration. Now, who is this young woman you have brought for me to meet?”
“Dear aunt,” he says with all sincerity and a gravity that is lost on no one. “May I present for your consideration, Taylor Love from Washington DC. Her father Thomas Love is a former ambassador to our country and her mother, Lilly is a philanthropist.” He bows deeply and I follow. Speaking clearly I say, “You honor me, Lady Takeda.”
There is a hard pulse. Rising to the shocked silence I watch the expressions on every Takeda’s face as they take in the fact that Hisashi isn’t just introducing me as his girlfriend. He’s declaring his intention to marry me in front of his entire family.
The breath is sucked out of my body, it takes everything in me not to look his way. Now, I realize he wasn’t just saying sweet things. He meant every word.“I’m going to keep you.”The fact that I’m not afraid, I’m not thinking I’m too young. Somehow, I know he will make it alright. We will make it work.
“You’ve always known your own mind, nephew.” Lady Takeda nods her assent before turning on her oldest son’s arm and leading the family into the theater.
I glance at Hisashi to see him looking at me with unhidden emotion. Dark intensity is electric between us. We can’t touch but I want more than anything to touch him right now. I want to kiss him, love him, give my body to him.
It’s not until we are seated and the house lights go down that I feel his strong hand covering mine, his fingers slip between mine.
“I didn’t tell you earlier Tay-chan because I knew you would overthink it. I meant what I said when I said you were mine. I want to be yours too.”
I squeeze his hand in return. “You already are.”
The rideback to his loft is quiet and intense. There was almost a scene with his mom demanding he come visit them tonight. It was already past eleven, so he told her he would be by tomorrow after he and I got back from an excursion.
Hisashi, his father, and brother had an intense closed in conversation outside of the car. From what I gather from the people passing and trying so hard not to be seen looking at the intense conversation was so out of the norm.
The thick glass kept me from hearing a clear word. I could to some degree see Hisashi was having to fight for us. His brother seemed the one with the most intensity. Their dad rounded on Kiyoshi at one point with his older brother countering saying he was deluding himself and it would all fall at his feet. He threw up his hands barely giving both men brief barely respectable bows before storming off.
Hisashi gets in the car cold and silent. He doesn’t look at me but out the window, his jaw working hard like he’s trying to bite through a jawbreaker.
The car stops, he turns to me his eyes almost dead. “I’m not in a good place. I will have Kogi take you back to your dorm.”
