Lila then buried her face in his arms, after a few minutes, she played with his hands. "Ahhh, his wife is too adorable. Too bad I can"t eat her here." Haruka glanced at his surroundings, while this area is quiet, it is still a public s.p.a.ce. As these crazy thoughts ran through his mind, he recalled Kiryu"s state earlier.He pulled Lila away slightly. "Do you want to go to--"
"Hubby, Hubby! There is this nice restaurant in town. Can we go there?"
".."
Haruka stared at her speechless. Does she still want to eat during this situation? It seems like she is making date plans all on her own again.
He cupped her cheeks, and Lila laughed. "Um, what is it?"
"Let"s go on a date?"
Lila nodded happily. "Un, we can go to one. But finish up your work first."
"Will you still come with me?"
"Mmm, of course. Let"s go together."
...…
XX Manor - New York -
Such an empty promise. But then again, Haruka already felt terrible for taking Lila away earlier. Right before they left for the party, Kiryu broke out into an awful hanyou fever. A deep sigh crossed his lips. "Asking her to come with me then would be too sly." While having Lila by his side would help, perhaps it was a good idea she didn"t come.
The moment he entered the ballroom, he smelled it—a terrible scenery of blood.
The man"s a.s.sistant leads him to a private room. But, Haruka could still smell the blood from here. This is a bad
It didn"t take him long to realize what happened.
"Such a thing is unsightly, isn"t it Kanagawa Haruka?"
Haruka turned and spotted the man who he came here to meet. This person is Nagawa Sano, the current head of the Nagawa family. On the surface, the nagawa family were famous businessmen. But it turned out they had strong ties in the underworld.
"I won"t comment," Haruka said.
He has no right to comment on anything hanyou related when he denies this blood.
"I came here, to.."
Sano nodded. "Sumire said you would come here and persuade me."
"..."
"Isn"t it funny? She could have convinced me herself. But instead, she wants you to ask me."
Haruka couldn"t miss the endearing tone when he said, "Sumire." It seems like this man still likes that woman. Sano walked over to the table and picked up a bottle of alcohol.
"Care for a drink?"
Haruka nodded.
"Tell me, Kanagawa Haruka. You"re dating her daughter, correct?"
"Were married." Haruka looked away.
"Marriage, huh?" Sano trailed off. "I see. You know, you"re quite similar to me."
At that comment, he frowned. Sano saw how displeased he was and laughed.
"Calm down. If you were similar, do you think you would still be holding onto her hand right now?" Sano questioned. "You would have lost her a long time ago due to stupid decisions if that were the case."
Haruka didn"t say anything to that. Nagawa Sano makes a point. He almost lost Lila several times because of the stupid decisions he made. However, whenever he thought he would lose her, she would prove him wrong.
Since when did Teras.h.i.+ma Lila learn to love him so much?
"I don"t know when, but before I knew it.."
Before he knew it, Lila was the one initiate anything intimate. She was the one who clung to him.
"Are you telling me you regret it?"
Sano nodded. "I regret hurting the one person who tried to understand me. During my younger days, I went through a lot as the heir to my family. I didn"t realize how much the pressure affected me emotionally. But Sumire noticed it, she realized it. Even when I did something terrible to her, she never told me she hated me. When we met again, she was hostile, but she remained polite. The reason why she could do this was because she took into account my situation."
"That sounds a lot like Lila. Even when I was at my worse and sleeping around with other girls, she still accepted me."
A bitter smile appeared on Sano"s face. "Even then, I thought she was acting. She was so hostile towards me and yet showed concern. It was peculiar."
"I heard that you thought she liked you."
Sano laughed. "You heard that, huh? Yes, I believed that for a long time. But that"s because she was very attached to me. She tried to play cool around me, but her clingy side would show once in a while. I only thought of her as a brat then. Her beauty was unparalleled. But as a man, she couldn"t satisfy my needs then."
Haruka felt very uncomfortable speaking to this man. There was a reason why he accepted Lila"s offer about her coming along too.
He felt uncomfortable because this man resembled how he was before. He often said such cruel sounding things to Lila before.
Will he end up like Sano too? This man is already forty-three years old, and yet he isn"t married. From the sounds of things, even now, he likes Lila"s mother.
Could this be the future him? Alone, and running his business ruthlessly without anybody by his side? Lately, Haruka has thought, "what is the use of achieving your dreams if you are alone?" The dream he has is vaguer, but he has a dream.
"It was stupid of me." Sano suddenly mumbled. "Everything I thought of back then. All my ideals and beliefs it was all stupid. I should have listened to her and treasured her. It is too late for me to say all this, but I wish I could go back in time even now."
"I think she wouldn"t want you to say things like that," Haruka interjected. "I don"t understand that person very well, but I don"t think she would want you to live like this."
Sano"s eyes widened at his words, but he nodded. "I see, I think I understand why she asked you now." His gaze fell on the transparent gla.s.s window that overlooked the ball. "For the peaceful future she envisioned, I shall do anything."