RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Anxieties and Confusion

Yuko Amazawa did not even realize that she was already biting the nail of her thumb while she sat and stared blankly into space inside her huge office that afternoon. She just kept thinking after that strange call with Kurosaki. And as soon as she started it, she could no longer stop herself. She was beyond curious. What was going on between Kurosaki and Ami Komatsu? Why are they together?

She wanted to know the whole thing, but she could not bring herself to call Kurosaki again just to ask. And judging from how he had promptly ended the call without even an excuse, it was pretty obvious that he was trying to hide what it was about. But why? She was not being nosy at all, she was just used to being the only person to get all firsthand information about everything that Kurosaki does and meets up with. She was his publicist, and they knew each other for so many years. And this was the very first time that he had deliberately tried to avoid her. And on top of that, she even had initially warned him about the woman and the possible consequences of trying to get too close to her. So why was he meeting her secretly?  And why did he have to hide it from her?

Her anxious thoughts continued on, even during the whole workload that Yuko had to deal with and go through that day, and by the time she was about to leave her office, another call came in. Her phone vibrated and flashed Osamu Sato's name on the screen. But Yuko could not exactly pinpoint whether to feel quite relieved or merely disappointed that it was him. Something just told her at that moment, that this was not what she would even want to hear today.

She picked up after a few rings and let out a weary, "Amazawa Yuko speaking."

"Amazawa-san," Osamu's voice immediately spoke from the other line, his tone a little too formal and firm, "Can we meet tonight? Just a quick dinner? I really need to talk to you about something."

"That urgent?" Yuko frowned, hearing that edge on Osamu's voice that clearly told her this was extremely important. "Where do you want to meet?"

"I will pick you up from your building," Osamu confirmed, without missing a beat, "Meet me there in fifteen."

"Okay," Yuko just shortly answered. And after that, the call cut off. She sighed loudly and stood there beside her desk, gazing out towards the view of the city from the windows of her office. The sky had turned into a magnificent glow of orange and pink hues as it expanded throughout the horizon. It was a beautiful scene but Yuko, at that point, could not completely appreciate it. She was more bothered and occupied with a lot of stuff in her mind. And as she stayed unmoved there, she started thinking about circumstances.

She cannot really let herself be this distracted, but she could not avoid it. She was already disturbed. What could be worse?

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She got to the ground floor through the elevators and was already on her way out of the establishment to meet Osamu Sato who just had texted her that he was now waiting out there for her in a car. But everything came to a stop when she saw Kyouhei Kurosaki walking towards her coming from the glass doors of the building's entrance. He had his hair all disarrayed and disheveled, his tie slightly loosened, and the first two buttons of his shirt unfastened. He really looked so haggard but it did not look like he was even bothered by it. He just had his eyes all glued at her the very moment he stepped into the place and saw her walking from the distance.

Yuko Amazawa paused on her tracks and stood there gawking at him, completely astounded to see him there. She suddenly got nervous, and could not even think what to do when he stopped right in front of her and gave her this very penetrating look. He was serious and she tried her best to give him a raised brow, feigning indifference, as she waited for him to speak.

He exhaled loudly, looking past her shoulders and resting both of his hands on the side of his hips as if he was about to drop something quite upsetting to her. Yuko prepared herself for the worst and probably, she was already expecting this. But clearly, she still had no idea what it was all going to be about.

"I have something to explain," he started, and by the tone of his voice, Yuko could tell that he was really earnest in regards to his intention. Was this about the call a while ago? Or the fact that he had tried to keep something from her? Yuko was about to say something back, in between of trying to ask him to have this talk in some other time and turning him down decently. But someone else popped into the scene just so inconveniently. And it was Osamu Sato.

In all of his glorious sleek black polished suit and stylish hair, Osamu came from out of nowhere and briefly distracted the two of them with just his entire unavoidable presence standing beside Kurosaki and Amazawa with a knowing smirk displayed on his face. He had both of his hands tucked inside the front pockets of his expensive pants and he stood silently with such overbearing smugness while leering at them. When he noticed that both Yuko and Kyouhei were now staring at him with equally wary expressions, he quickly raised his hands up with both of his palms facing them and spoke in a haughty manner.

"Oh, don't mind me," he said, slightly chuckling, "I can wait until this is done. This is important, right? Should I wait in the car instead... Yuko?"

He gave Yuko a fake innocent questioning look and it was definitely obvious that he was trying to make a rise out of either Yuko who was completely appalled after hearing him call her by her first name or Kyouhei who was now giving him this quite shocked face and apparently looking like he was all so ready to tackle him any second. Osamu, however, just tried to stop himself from laughing, amused by the distinctive emotions shown on their faces. And as he looked back at the two of them, he waited for something to drop and break the ice just like that.

"Yuko?" he repeated, and this time he was just blatantly provoking them. Then Yuko gave him the stink eye and silently tried to shut him up with a deathly glare.

"Wait for me in the car," she told him, her voice evidently icy and annoyed, "Please."

And so he did, but not before Osamu leaned in and left a brief feathery kiss on her cheek... Which in turn, only got her even more furious as she watched him walked away, looking like he was completely proud of what he just did. 

The bastard.

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It felt like staring was the only thing they could do for the first couple of minutes. They actually wanted to wait until Osamu was out of their hair and out of the place before saying anything. But two minutes went on, and still nothing. Yuko Amazawa just looked back and stared straight into Kyouhei's eyes who kept their attention on her and tried to keep her silence as long as possible. She wanted him to start the talking since it was him who really had some explaining to do. But when he did not utter anything else, not even a single word, Yuko took the chance to finally prompt this all.

"So what?" she asked him, half impatient as she crossed her arms over her chest, "What's this about, Kurosaki?"

"Why is he here?" he frowned back at her, more concerned to discuss why Osamu showed up rather than telling her why he was actually there in the first place. "Why are you meeting him?"

"It's business."

"It's past business hours," he complained, leaning forward a little as he emphasized his point. He sounded like it was really a huge deal and Yuko just felt irritated.

"Didn't you just tell me that you have to explain something to me?" she spat back at him, glowering, "So what is it? Just tell me about it so we can end this. I'm still busy."

Kyouhei scoffed, flitting his gaze to the side as he tilted his head slightly in an angle and looked at Yuko again, "No, you're not."

"Is this important?" Yuko demanded, scowling harder, extremely displeased as well, "You're the one who had something to say to me. So if this is not really that urgent, let's just talk tomorrow in my office anytime. I really have to go."

She was about to walk away and leave him. She did not really want to prolong this kind of complicated conversation with him. But he suddenly grabbed her by the hand and stopped her. She turned and gave him a glare, but he just pulled her back until there were only mere inches left between them. His face was really close to hers, and she started to have trouble breathing normally. It felt like she was sucking all of the air but was too afraid to release it. Then she let out a shaky breath, her eyes widened from shock, mouth dried, and body frozen in panic and astonishment. What was going on?

"Don't leave," he said to her, whispering the words as he stared deeply into her eyes. It was hypnotizing and he was so very close that she could not even say anything back, or just even know what to feel about this proximity and the unusual request.

"Don't leave with him," he repeated, gently touching her on the cheek, looking so worried and very emotional for some reason. He never acted this way with her before, and she still did not know how to react to him. All rational thoughts just jumped out of her head the moment he had stopped her and had her caged. And now she felt like she was trapped, but she could not really say that she did not like it. In fact, she was not even moving away. She just looked back at him, staring with her mouth half-opened.

"Stay with me."

She could not really process what was happening, and as soon as he said that to her, his arms just instantly went around her... And then he was hugging her.

And oh gods, was this bad.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Thirty