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"Shouldn't he tell his staff to do that?" Tristan said from the other side of the room. "Nicolas, I mean."
"All his staff are busy," Logan put in. "I would imagine. And Sebastian is free."
"I think Nicolas is just too easygoing with his staff," Hayden said, sipping his tasteless coffee.
The door opened at that moment, and Nicolas and Sosuke walked in.
"What did you just say, Hayden?" Nicolas asked his brother.
Hayden took the bait and said again, "I think you're too easy on your staff."
"Then maybe you'd be kind enough to teach me a few things about staff management?" Nicolas raised his blond brows at his brother. "I'd be glad indeed."
Hayden chuckled. "I'd be glad too, bro."
"Damn," Conrad put in. "You two are always going on about that." He looked heavenward.
"By the way," Sosuke interjected, looking around the room. "Where is Darcy-san? I haven't seen him since this morning. Is he not coming to the event?"
"He'd be at his loft, doing his artsy thing," Conrad supplied. Then the youngest of the Princeton brothers couldn't really help himself and asked, "By the way, Sosuke, that woman you bumped into this morning by the lift?"
Sosuke raised his brows and started to rock himself back and forth. Haruka noticed and hid a smile. Her nephew only did that when he was into something and tried to hide it. Now she was interested in this blond woman they'd glimpsed that morning as well.
"Yes?" Sosuke asked evasively.
"You did see her face, didn't you?" Conrad asked.
"Yeah," Tristan added with interest. "What does she look like?"
Sosuke frowned and noticed himself rocking. He made himself stop and cleared his throat. "Why do you want to know?"
Logan was beside him immediately and swung his arm over Sosuke's shoulders. "Come on now, Sosuke, my friend, spit it out. Can't keep a beautiful woman all to yourself, you know. We share."
Sosuke didn't like the sound of that.
"Hey," Nicolas put in, frowning at Tristan and Logan, who were having rather a good time teasing the Japanese man. "That's Sosuke's business."
Tristan chuckled. "Come on, man, what does she look like?"
"Pretty?" Logan asked.
"Hot?" Tristan added.
"Sexy?" Hayden queried.
"Blue eyes?" Conrad put in. "It always goes with the blond hair."
"I think you guys should really take this outside," Sebastian said, indicating there were conservative adults here that didn't want to hear such conversation, referring to his parents and Haruka.
His brothers, however, weren't listening and continued.
Tristan said, "I'm partial to blue eyes."
"Me, too," Logan added. "There is that something with blue eyes and blond hair. They're perfect together."
"I'm into black hair and chocolaty-brown eyes," Conrad said.
The room suddenly went dead silent as the brothers stared at Conrad, who went rather red in the face. James took Brenda's hand into his and gave it a gentle, comforting squeeze. Brenda looked up at her husband then, tears burning within her eyes. She gave him a weak smile.
Haruka noticed the subtle movement between husband and wife. She also noticed the tense atmosphere surrounding the room and the brothers' silence, as though what Conrad had said hit a target. She wondered what was going on.
"Actually," Sosuke began, "she does have one blue eye."
The tense atmosphere was lifted then, and Hayden said, "Blue eye?" He cocked his head to one side.
"You said blue eye, singular," Conrad put in.
"What?" Tristan couldn't help himself from asking. "Is she blind in one eye or something?"
Logan shook his head. "How unfortunate. And to think you gazed at her like you did, Sosuke."
Sosuke grunted, and both Logan and Tristan laughed.
"I'm sure she's not blind," Nicolas put in, frowning at his brothers to stop their nonsense.
"She has one blue eye and one gray eye," Sosuke said.
The brothers turned their full attention to Sosuke, including Sebastian, who was interested. They were talking about the same woman he'd bumped into just moments ago after all. He hadn't seen her face and now wondered what she looked like.
"It's the oddest thing," Sosuke said. "I've never seen that color in anyone before." He cocked his head to one side. "The blue one is so blue, like the color of the sky in summer." He turned to Sebastian. "Actually, it looked very much like yours, Sebastian-san. The color of your eyes, an azure-blue."
The brothers' gazes shifted toward Sebastian, who turned a bit pale in the face all of a sudden.
"And the other one?" Sebastian asked.
"The other?" Sosuke frowned. "Like I said, it's the oddest color, the likes I've never seen on any person before... except--"
"Except?" Nicolas prompted. He really couldn't help himself. He knew what all his brothers were thinking. Shit! He hoped their suspicions were right. He really hoped so. Then that would explain everything. Why they couldn't find her.
"Except," Sosuke said, "Darcy."
"What do you mean?" Sebastian asked, his voice hard.
Sosuke was confused by the tense stance and dark faces all the brothers wore as they watched him, his friend Nicolas included. He chuckled and tried to make light of the situation.
"Just like Darcy. One eyes, it's exactly the same as Darcy's, that moonlike pale lavender color. I think it's like a mauve-grey?"
Sebastian felt his whole body shaking. Oh God! Could that really be her? Sakura? Shit! He had her within his clutches and he just let her go? Just like that?
"Where is she?" Conrad asked suddenly.
"She's working backstage!" Sebastian supplied and strode to the door.
Sosuke watched in confusion as all the other brothers followed Sebastian, Nicolas included. He turned his attention to his aunt and saw she was also looking at him in confusion.
Though she gave the impression she hadn't a clue what was going on, Haruka did notice something very odd. The husband and wife sitting opposite her looked rather anxious and relieved at the same time. What was going on? Why was the talk of this pretty blond woman bringing forward such an intense reaction in this wealthy and kind family?
Haruka didn't know, but she did know this--she hoped they found what they were looking for, because she knew they were looking for something. Or someone.
*
