Midnight Pretenders (BL)

Chapter 35

“Are you trying to test me, Madamme?”

"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 on 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 an forced smile that I could not even stretched 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 realized I had been stepping on the gas real hard that I was already driving the 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 has 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 to 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 myself 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 of what I might see there. The things 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 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.

 “Here.”

I had instinctively reached out for the door handle as fast as I could, intentionally beating Nari to it, that our hands ended up brushing against each other in a slight caress. Nari joltingly pulled away upon the contact and turned her face to the opposite side. I didn't want to think too much about her immediate reaction but she looked rather annoyed as if the mere touch had disgusted her. I tried to act like it was nothing to me though—even when I was actually swooning inside. And I just gave her a small smile as I smoothly opened the passenger side for her. She hesitated for a second, glancing at me in a cautious regard as she took a step back to put a decent distance between us before she eventually moved to get inside. She didn’t dare to mumble any other word, not even a simple ‘thanks’, but it was okay. I don’t really mind her keeping the vow of reticence as long as she was no longer running away again. And when she finally settled herself on the cushion of the front seat, I quickly leaned down against her side to pull the seatbelt beside the headrest.

It was not really intentional. I hadn’t actually thought it through until I found myself staring face to face with her in a very close distance. It was too sudden that I quickly got flustered upon the mere proximity.

“I can do it,” Nari quickly broke the gaze, eventually relieving me from the gesture, as she moved further to the other side and snatched the strap from my hold. She quietly tugged the seat belt around her body in a haste, eagerly trying to avoid my eyes.

“Suit yourself,” I said awkwardly after she had clumsily secured the safety strap around her. I stepped back from the car after that and gently closed the door on her.

What a way to start, I thought to myself.

I struggled to take a deep breath under the foggy night, feeling my cheeks burning against the cold breeze of the wind blowing in the air. I quickly raised my hand to cover up the blush. It was so out of my character. I never had gotten this flustered right away just for a brief brush of the hands. It was weird. And I slowly walked around the front of the car, still feeling disgruntled, until I finally felt my heart rate returning back to its normal beat. I tried to circle my keys around my finger to slightly distract myself from the effect of the incident a moment ago. Then I opened the door on the driver seat with a blank face.

Nari was still looking out of the window, her face hidden behind the wild curls of her hair when I closed the door behind me.

Settling myself in front of the black steering wheel, I inserted the key into the ignition and swiftly turned it on with natural ease. The car immediately revved up to a smooth vibrating start. I habitually checked the rearview mirror as I silently maneuvered the vehicle in reverse and slickly backed away from the driveway, turning the wheel towards the main road.

“Do you usually walk by yourself alone after your gigs?” I curiously asked over the lulling silence as soon as I had finally managed to get the car moving in the right direction. The streetlights glimmered as I drove past the empty sidewalks, leading us further down to the town’s innermost streets. It was a deliberate move to make small talks. However, Nari still didn’t respond and her gloomy stillness had me quickly assumed that she was going to keep it like that throughout the entire drive. Feeling a little uneasy under the brooding awkwardness, I slowly reached for the dashboard to turn the radio on but stopped when Nari suddenly spoke to me.

“Why do you care?”

I was confused for a second, glancing her way with a frown. But I immediately grinned when she suddenly turned to face me, wearing a vicious glare.

“I just want to know,” I replied to her, shrugging back.

“Hmn.”

Her short nondescript response mentally summoned a picture of Henry’s face in my head out of the blue. And I was suddenly reminded of the same vague remark the kid had given me before. I snickered to myself at the thought just as I slowed down to a yellow light that was blinking on a streetlight ahead.