What Do I Call You?

Chapter Fifteen

“Urgent matter? You mean something in the town, huh?” Hudson naturally probed back with a lucid tone of curiosity, “Where are you really?”

“Just at a small suburban village, they called Avian Hills,” I answered back, “It's actually near our old mansion here in Preston. I didn't even know that there was one here. I thought the whole Preston territory was a private asset of the family but then I somehow found this town in the middle of nowhere.”

"Avian Hills?” Hudson suddenly exclaimed with a voice raised with disbelief, “In Preston? Wait a minute...”

The way he trailed off had me feeling a little bit skeptical about it.

“Why?” I asked him right back, frowning.

“It's kind of strange, Taiyo,” he told me. And I felt quite bothered with the way he had sounded. It had me instantly reeling for a more direct explanation from him.

“Why?”

“I don’t know if I should say this, but…” he paused for a moment, making me feel extremely impatient.

“What is it?”

“Well, I used to review the rundown of the various assets of your family before… And I normally double-checked everything. I had briefly come across that Preston property and I was pretty sure that the whole place had been bought by your father for a long time now. So…”

“Are you sure?” I demanded louder, sitting up from the bed.

“Y-yeah,” Hudson hesitantly replied with a stammer, sounding suddenly frightened by my raised deep voice, “I read it on one of the settlement documentation I had been reviewing the last time. I was sure of it because I had seen the word Preston on a contract and it indicated there that it was bought as a private property of Takagi’s. It was legally signed and sealed. That’s why I don't think a village could even be built within it. That’s too strange and unbelievable. Are you sure it’s really inside the borders?”

“Yeah,” I answered right away, “It is just a kilometer away from the old mansion. It's really within the borders.”

“Weird,” he remarked with evident suspicion, “Maybe your father let them have the town, I guess.”

“You think so?”

“I don't know. I’m not sure, Taiyo,” he admitted, “But I didn’t see anything else besides the territorial measurements and the geographical aspects of Preston on the paper. Maybe it would probably be better if you just ask your father about that. He would know more of it.”

“He already knows. But he didn’t say anything,” I told him.

“Well… I guess he did know about the town after all,” Hudson resolved with a sigh, “Anyways, I’m actually in the middle of checking a few stuff here so I’ll just send you a message later once I had finished all the final reviews and organized them together, ‘kay?”

I was still not ready to drop the subject on the other hand.

“Wait,” I uttered back to Hudson, stopping him from ending the call.

“What?”

“I have a favor, Hud.”

And I knew this was going to be a little risky.

“What kind of favor?” he asked me, sounding reluctant all of a sudden.

“Do you still have that document about Preston?”

“I do have a copy in my files. Why?”

It really was going to be risky.

“Can you check that again for me? Or maybe if you could just send me the copy instead. I just want to see it for myself.”

“Why?” Hudson asked, his voice resonating a bit louder now.

“Just check it first and call me right away once you do,” I said back instead, “Please.”

I heard Hudson sighing heavily from the other end and after a moment he spoke again.

“I don't know what this is all for so suddenly. But yeah,” he finally agreed, “I’ll see what I can do and try to help you with this. But if this is trouble, Taiyo, you’ve got to drop it right away, okay?”

“Fine.” I abruptly obliged.

“Good,” Hudson intoned through the receiver, the sound of relief settling in his voice, “Talk to you soon.”

“Thanks, Hud.”

“Take care, friend.” And the call ended quickly in a short click.

I put the phone beside me after that and sighed. It seemed like there was more than just the strangeness of this village that led me to meet Nari. And it felt like I had discovered some kind of a secret that I should not have. But it was already too late. I was already stuck in the spiral of this mystery.

And I need to know it all.

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The next day came by like any ordinary day in my very odd life in Avian Hills.

It actually had started with a very pleasant morning for me, from the moment I had woken up from my bed, feeling refreshed; up to the second I walked out of my room, whistling a happy tune. I seemed to have completely mastered the habit of shifting my mood lately. The trial of my ongoing struggle to ask Nari on a date had me gradually changing my character depending on the situation I was in. And I seemed to have undergone a mental crisis with my identity but it still didn’t really bother me at all.

Carefully following the previous plan I had devised the night before, I had meticulously chosen my attire and wore the most polished tailored-fit black suit I had in my luggage, and casually strutted out into the lobby, looking dasher than the day before. Henry had even looked at me and did a double-take with a strange startled expression—the first-ever genuine shocked face I had seen from him. And I smirked back at his gaped mouth just as I stopped by the front of the counter from where he stood behind.

“What a face,” I smugly remarked, blatantly pointing out his comical reaction. Henry quickly readjusted himself as soon as he heard my words and moved to fidget with his glasses instead, suddenly looking embarrassed in front of me. He looked away for a second, avoiding my gaze.

“Well, you looked like you’re finally back to your old self, Mr. Takagi,” Henry cautiously inferred after a moment, immediately masking his face back to the usual demeanor he always had. I had carefully groomed myself this morning with the intention of impressing someone so badly. And it seemed like the whole get-up had been successful, seeing as how Henry had just acted when he saw me right now. I didn’t even know that the kid could blush like a little girl. And I was even a man who just made himself more attractive with a simple play of luxuries.

My charm had somehow, won another heart again. And I can’t help but feel a bit proud of myself.

“That sounded like a compliment there, kid.” I retorted back, arrogantly smirking as I leaned over the counter. “I will actually be kind of busy today, that’s why.”

“Really?”

“I’m going to woo my woman.” I answered him with a raised brow, spitefully bragging, “She’ll finally go on a date with me.”

“Hmn.”

“Stop saying that,” I complained with a frown, a bit sensitive over that repeated noncommittal response that Henry always gave me.

“It’s rude for some people. And I don’t really get what you mean when you do that.”

“You sound so sure about Miss Nari,” Henry just said with a blank look, completely ignoring my angry remark, “What gives?”

“Nothing really,” I told him, merely shrugging, “I’m just persistent as ever.”

“I’m no longer surprised,” the kid only remarked, staying unfazed. “Well, I’ll just hope you have a great day, Mr. Takagi. Good luck with the… ‘Wooing’.”

I snorted to the mocking tone he had emphasized on the last word and stepped back from the counter, trying not to be affected by his teasing smirk.

“Good talk, Henry. See you later.” I just said, waving a hand at him before walking away. I marched out of the motel just like that, still in the middle of feeling optimistic about this particular day.

I was not really sure why I was feeling so out of my element all of a sudden. Perhaps, there was just something about how I had woken up this morning or maybe how the sun was directly blaring down at me with its heat oozing into the air and the slow breeze of the wind meeting my face through a faint whisper. It all just felt like good things were about to come to me, finally. And I walked towards the car, whistling a happy tune, thinking of my carried-out plan I had in the back of my mind.

I soon took a long drive outside the village, listening to the heavy metal jibe of s*x Pistols’ “God Save The Queen” booming from the car stereo. I was still carefully trying to avoid meeting any locals inside Avian Hills so I chose to shop away from the town. I was not yet ready to face any hostility within this day and I didn’t want to destroy the good mood too. Driving down the freeway, I shortly dropped by the nearest flower shop I had found near the next city. I then bought the most expensive bouquet of flowers available there and I had it arranged in the most alluring way I seemed to like.

The plan was to do the traditional way of courting… But I was not really that sure if it was going to work out fine. But then, who knows?

I just have to do it any other way. And buying the flowers was the first option on the list. I then drove back to the town again, feeling a little more determined about what I was about to do. She would totally get angry with this—that was for certain. It was in her nature, anyway (as I have observed from the previous interactions we had). But when I started to imagine the scowling face of hers inside my head, it just made me, even more, fueled to do what I was planning. I don’t even know why that mental image got me so amused and grinning to myself for no reason…

Hudson still hadn’t given me an update about what we had talked about last night. And somehow, I was slowly getting impatient with all the waiting. Though I’m pretty sure he was currently in the process of doing it now. And he can’t really say no to me, after all. Yet I still sent him a message this morning just in case he might have jilted out of the deal—and to which by knowing him, was very unlikely to happen anyway. But then, it could still be possible. Especially when I already knew that this was like treading on dangerous grounds against my father just by asking Hudson for that classified information. My father had strictly forbidden me the last time on never trying to interfere with the business matters of the town. But my undying curiosity had beaten me down to it and I can’t even stop myself anymore.

I was no longer rational to think about those kinds of consequences alarming me of what could possibly happen. And just by doing all of these crazy things, I might already be completely insane. Even when I knew it might backfire on me someday, I still wanted to give it a go.

I don’t really care, I supposed. As long as it meant I would be getting much closer to Nari… I just have to do anything that I could.

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