What Do I Call You?

Chapter Twenty

“Ouch.”

I muttered with a hiss when I felt the ice bag touching the bruise below my eye and the sensation stung me with a lingering coldness. I instinctively pulled away but Nari just aggressively put more weight on her hand as she held the bag firmer against my face. She was so close, and all of a sudden, I was immediately surrounded by her scent. And momentarily forgetting the entire situation, I tried to bask into the scent of hers that instantly reminded me of cinnamon bread and that one particular day ten years ago…

“You find this funny, huh?”

My eyes blinked back to the present upon hearing Nari’s question thrown at me and I frowned at her for a second. “What?”

“You’re smiling,” she said to me, her eyes not leaving the area on my cheek. She was looking at me with a placid stare and I coughed uncomfortably, fixing that silly grin on my face. I did not even realize it was even there. I winced again when she brushed a sore part and I heard her sigh heavily.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s pretty late to say that now,” she told me grimly and I could even feel the tension seeping out of her when she roamed her eyes all over my face. “You don’t fight so well for yourself. He had you really bad, you know.”

I know. I can even feel everything. It was really stupid to start that fight. I did not even expect I was just going to embarrass myself by lying flat on the ground. I seemed to have only degraded myself more by my own idiocy again.

“I always end up looking like a clown to you, ain’t I?”

My comment surprisingly had Nari laughing at my expense but I did not even feel offended by it. In fact, the sound of her laughter had my heart welling up as I smiled at her expression and felt endearingly captivated by her face. For some reason, every pain I could feel in my entire body had vanished as I basked into the comfort of her touch and gentleness. This is bad though… I am actually falling so hard and I don’t how to save myself from this anymore. I was sucked down to infatuation towards her and it was getting me so whipped.

“This is a first,” I suddenly remarked and Nari paused as she gave me a look.

“What is?”

“You laughing like that,” I casually admitted, my lips twitching into a smile, “You’ve always and only scowled at me but it feels like being beaten up like this was actually the only way to see that rare expression from you directed towards me.”

For a moment, Nari just stared right back at me, her hand raised mid-air towards my face with the ice pack. I was not sure how to describe the way she looked at me at that second. I was just deeply hypnotized by those green orbs that seemed to look past my nonchalant façade. We did not say anything for a few minutes, but our stare seemed like we were having a conversation that neither one wanted to interrupt. I just kept meeting her reserved look unable to move from where I sat by their couch with her side softly pressed against my shoulder.

“Taiyo, I got you something to change to.”

Maria’s interruption from the near distance eventually broke the moment between me and Nari and I turned towards where she was now standing by the hallway. She had appeared with a shirt in her hands. Her eyes darted between Nari and me and she seemed to have realized that she had caught us in an awkward moment. Yet Nari just silently pulled away from me as if nothing had happened and she shifted further towards the opposite side of the couch that I suddenly regretted losing her warmth near me.

“Thank you, Maria,” I said with a small smile as I struggled to get up from sitting and started walking my way towards her. She held the shirt out to me and I immediately caught her wincing at the sight of my face.

“That bad, huh?” I said, bitterly smirking at the reaction she just made.

“You might need some bandages,” she told me and before she could even turn to walk back to their room down the hallway, Nari suddenly walked up behind me.

“I’ll get it,” she said and she quickly disappeared away. Maria and I looked at where she had just walked out to and we both smiled sheepishly.

“I’m sorry about what just happened,” I decided to take that moment to apologize right away. Maria just looked back at me and gently tapped me on the shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she said to me, her warm smile not even subsiding. “For the record, I also didn’t like the guy.”

“Huh,” I uttered back, smirking again then winced when it triggered a sting on my face. “Who was he to Nari, anyway?”

“He’s…”

“Alright,” Nari came back so quick before Maria could even answer my question as she approached me with a medical kit in her hands. I suddenly wanted to make her turn back and leave so that Maria can finally tell me what her relationship with that Ren guy really was. But then, I also did not want to ruin whatever moment we were sharing now just by bringing that guy up again.

“Let’s fix you up,” Nari said this to me, stopping on her tracks when she reached my side.

We went back to the couch and I let her tend to my bruises as I watched her silently. Bandaging my face took quite a while and Nari had a hard time trying to cover up every injury shown on my face. I don’t really want to ask how much it damaged my entire look and I tried my best not to react to every pain I get whenever she hit a sore spot. I remained composed as I waited and when she finally finished, I exhaled loudly not even realizing that I had been trying not to breathe too much the entire time.

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“Thank you, Nari.”

Soon after being taken care of, I had decided to go back to the motel just to clean myself up and check everything else. I was still feeling all sorts of pain all over my face and my upper body. I had a hard time trying to settle myself inside the driver’s seat of my car, grunting as I endure every jolt I get when I moved. Nari was standing behind me the whole struggle and I partially looked back at her with a small smile, silently appreciating her presence.

“You sure you’re feeling okay, now?” she asked me, and I could even note the sound of worry from her voice. I actually felt relieved that she was beginning to soften a bit towards me and I responded back to her with a wider grin.

“I’ll be back for our date so you’ll be hearing from me soon again,” I told her and she just silently nodded back at me as she stepped back before I closed the door of the car. I rolled the window down for one more time and reached my hand outside towards her to touch the side of her face.

“I love you,” I uttered before I started the engine, not even minding waiting for her answer. She just went quiet as I pulled away with my foot slowly stepping on the gas. I took a few glances at the side mirror to check her reflection and caught her just standing by the side of the road as I got further and further away from their house. I tried to imprint that picture of her as I sped down the road and finally went back to focus my eyes towards the windshield when she eventually disappeared from the mirror. I sighed loudly for a moment. This was a little strange for our development.

My mind was filled with so many thoughts of sorts until I have finally reached the motel and parked on the driveway. Just then, I noticed another car on the empty lot and frowned at the unusual scene when I turned the engine off. When I got out of the car and started walking towards the motel’s entrance, I saw another person standing in front of the counter through the glass doors. When I walked in, Henry turned towards my direction and the person who was in front of him did the same. I stopped in my tracks, slightly confused as to how to assess the situation. The person gave a look of familiarity but I could not recognize the person at all.

It was a woman.

The sophisticated-looking woman wearing a bland gray suit and a pencil skirt looked like she was already past her forties and she stood so straightly with elegance and superiority as she met my eyes with a cold demeaning expression. Her lips were pursed and she slowly took her time as she skimmed her eyes from my face down to my feet with a subtle raise of her brow. I felt chills as she regarded me so blatantly as that and I paused on my tracks by the entrance.

"Taiyo Takagi. You must be him," She said this coolly and I gulped as I hesitated to answer her back. I really had no idea who she was and hearing that she already knew who I was, had instantly thrown me to a slightly defenseless position.

"Who are you?" I inquired with a look of mistrust.

I took that chance to give Henry a glance but I only caught him darting his eyes back and forth from me and the woman as if he did not really want to see this as he tried to blend in the background. I bravely took another step forward as I calculated my next words while the woman just kept observing me from where she stood.

"Should I know who you are?"

"Oh don't worry," the woman replied so casually, her lips curving into a misleading smile and I started to feel even more suspicious. "I know your father. We've been business partners for years now. I just didn't expect that you would actually be visiting this place. Does he even know you're here?"

"My father?" I frowned and the woman just smirked back as if it was an affirmative response. Business partners? For years? How come I hadn’t met her not even once before?

"Didn't he tell you?" She teasingly remarked as if she just heard my thoughts and she clicked her tongue at me. "I've heard about you actually. You must have been so naive all this time. But allow me to introduce myself, just for formality sakes."

I kept silent as I waited.

"I'm Katherine Lincoln," she explained, "People call me Madame Lincoln for short. And I'm this town's mayor."

"Madame Lincoln?" I repeated, feeling totally confused. "This town's mayor?"

The woman laughed at my frowned expression as she started to take a few steps towards me. She took her time as I watched her with utter disbelief, frowning at her unexpected introduction. And when she stopped a mere meter away, she gave me a shake of her head with a smug smirk on her face.

"I must be really a shock to you," she told me as she gave a raise of her brow, and only then did she took note of my bruised look. "You got into a fight, huh? How did you mess your face up that way?"

I suddenly felt a little bit self-conscious when she said that and I stumbled a step back, only remembering that my face had been partly covered with bandages.

"It's nothing..."

"You think I'd believe that?" She said and the sharp insinuating sound of her words instantly had me looking up to meet her eyes. "Who do you think made me show myself up here to meet you?"

Ren? Does she know Ren? Just who is that guy and why does the mayor even know him?

"If I caused small trouble then I apologize, Madamme Lincoln," I forcibly said out of courtesy, gritting my teeth as I spoke. It might be a wrong move if I get into this person's bad side and I need to keep track of the words I will speak from this point. "I won't do it again. Things just got out of hand a while ago but I’ll be careful now. So pardon my intrusion, I need to go back to my room."

"No you won't," she suddenly stepped in front of me, blocking my way all of a sudden and preventing me from even taking a step forward. I paused and looked her way again, almost giving away a scowl as we stared at each other.

"Excuse me?"

"You will leave this town right now," she argued and her glare had me feeling a bit threatened. Though, I’m not really sure of the exact reason as to why she was suddenly forcing me out of here as if I had been doing something illegal just now.

"I'm not doing anything," I retorted back, sounding thoroughly defensive and quite confused. "I'm still booked for two more days in this place."

"Then we'll return the refund. I will have you escorted out of this town.”

“I’m not leaving,” I stubbornly replied, making the woman take another step towards me with an intimidating sneer.

“You’re quite hard to please, Mr. Takagi. Even when I’m already being overly nice to you. Or do you want me to do this the hard way then? Do you want your entire presence banned here? I don't think you would want that, do you?"

"Are you threatening me, Madamme Lincoln?"

The woman slightly looked amused upon my question as she let out a mocking chortle. "Do you feel threatened now?"

"No," I said back, not even backing down, "But I will not leave today. I will wait once my booked days are over before I do, but even if it does, I don’t think there’s any reason for me to leave right away.”

"You're quite stubborn, huh? You must really be very serious about Miss Nari Hiden."

The mere mention of Nari’s name instantly put me in a state of panic as I tried not to show any reaction on my face. "What are you trying to say?"

"Depends on what you think about it,” she vaguely retorted back, “It's up to you anyway? Will you leave accordingly or will I have to force you out of this place to make it a little bit fun?"

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“Are you trying to test me, Madame?”

"I don't know what you mean by that, Mr. Taiyo,” the woman just smugly replied back. A ghost of a mocking smirk appeared on her face as she spoke, “But if I were you, I won’t really risk going against what I’m requesting you when I’m still being nice. Worst case scenario, I might even add, is your father's business that can also be put at stake here."

My father’s business, huh? Her clear threat was vividly shown by the way she looked straight at me with that unwavering sneer on her face. She had certainly meant business when she said those words and I was actually starting to get really affected by where this conversation was quickly leading us onto. Her warning was evident and very clear. With just one wrong choice of words, something bad might really happen—and much worse, it will all befall me. And as this realization hit me, I could only resort down to playing it safe as I decided to just string myself along to her request for now.

“I’ll leave,” I said with a forced smile that I could not even stretch out no more as the woman quickly showed a triumphant smile on her face when I spoke. “You don’t have to escort me out of the town. But this does not mean I won’t be coming back again.”

“Let’s see,” the woman said smugly as her lips quirked up to one side with a seemingly mocking smirk on her face that quickly annoyed the hell out of me.

“Maybe the next time, young Takagi… You won’t have any reason to come back here anymore.”

I could not believe I was blindsided by everything. How in the hell did I get defeated by that woman? And knowing that she had used my father and Nari as leverage to get her way, I just felt really angry with how things turned out.

I did not even realize I had been stepping on the gas real hard that I was already driving a speed of more than sixty-five miles per hour. My entire senses came back when I noticed the border sign of Preston that was greeting me farewell ahead of me that I abruptly pulled by the side of the empty highway. I took a deep breath for a second and exhaled loudly. All of my frustrations came out so suddenly that have been brought out by the weight of everything that had happened today. I was sacked black and blue and now I was sent away from the village.

Such a pile of misfortunes in just one day.

As I gather all of these thoughts, I was suddenly visited by an image of Nari and it actually had me instinctively reversing the car back and I quickly took a turn to drive back in the direction of the village. But this does not mean I was going there again. This time, I won’t be daring to set foot on that town with anyone seeing me as clear as day… I will try to hide in the mansion while trying to save some time figuring out what to do next after what just happened a while ago.

Driving the road, it was very easy for me to just park the car by the front of the big steel gates of the property. I took a long moment to gather my thoughts first so I could come up with a backup plan. Returning to the village or even showing my presence to someone there could be really risky at this point. But that won’t ever stop me from meeting Nari. I had to do something about this so I could still see her and if more possible, I want to get her and her family out of this town. And now that I thought about it, the email that Hudson had sent me just came to mind and I quickly fished my phone out of my pocket to see it.

I was not yet ready for what I might see there. The things that were written there and what sort of confidential truth I was going to discover, was something that really made me feel anxious and a bit afraid of ever really figuring it out. And without even expecting anything, I did what I should have already done the moment Hudson sent me the documents.

He was really right about everything. The town was all but a completely undisclosed asset of our business.

There are so many transactions and suspicious clauses on the property settlement of the entire place. And if anything else, it was entirely illegal. Millions of dollars insured and had been going in and out of the town’s address. There was really something about this town and it all felt really dangerous. The mayor is one thing already but this document just directly proved everything about my suspicions. And now that I have skimmed through it, I didn’t have to check every detail to confirm it. I have to stop this now. I have to get Nari and her family out of this town… And all the more to it, I have to find a way on how to destroy everything that I had just seen with my eyes.

It took me until dawn to finally get myself inside the mansion without actually leaving any traces behind me. I hid the car all the way behind the woods surrounding the entire place and I only brought a light load of bearings with me when I had tried to cross over the tall gates. When I got over the borders, I broke a window behind the mansion and trespassed my way in just to spend the night there for the meantime. Considering how things have been turning out now, this might be actually the best and safest place for me to stay for a while. I just have to keep up with the consequences and I have to make sure no one finds out where I am right now. It will be better as well if Nari does not know this. She would probably hear soon about what happened to me with how small their village is.

By tomorrow, I really have to keep things low-key and very discreet. I also have to call Hudson so I could let him know about a few things I had just discovered about this town. Having him on my side could really make things much easier to work on with all the secrets my father had been keeping about this town and especially about that suspicious woman who just called herself the mayor. She is the main target and winning this risky game requires a head start by knowing the enemy first.

After all, everything about this place has been a total lie and it all just screamed bogus to me. I can never really trust anyone so completely but myself now.

I won’t leave no matter what.

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