MIMI

While Mimi continued to stand in the office doorway in a daze, Kenji finally noticed her presence and stared at her, his expression chilling to the bone.

"Who are you?" His voice was deeper than Mimi remembered.

For some reason hearing his voice caused Mimi"s body to tense up. The faint memories of when she was a child resurfacing.

His look of contempt embedded in her brain. Rather than feeling shaken and fearful, Mimi felt irritated.

At the time, out of all her brothers, Mimi despised Kenji the most.

He wouldn"t pretend she didn"t exist like Alec did or look at her with mock and disgust like her half-brother Seth.

If anything he spoke to her quite frequently, but whenever he did it would be to ask her a question.

One that was always far more advanced than any ordinary child could understand.

To conceal her true intelligence, Mimi was forced to answer with a dumb, naïve response.

What made it worse was that he would always look at her with a look of disappointment, as if she were nothing but a mere idiotic fly!

The torture he put her through was unbearable!

Acting all sickly, sweet and dense around him made Mimi want to slam her head against the wall.

If her father was a demon then her brother was a monster.

But now, he didn"t recognize her. He didn"t know she was the same Mimi from back then. His incompetent and naive sister.

She was relieved she was wearing her baseball cap in gla.s.ses at that moment. Otherwise, he would have recognized her due to her unique pair of purple eyes.

Momentarily lost in her unpleasant memories, Mimi had forgotten about her half-brother staring at her with his sharp glaring eyes.

"Are you deaf? What business do you have to come into someone"s office so freely?" His voice was filled with venom and impatience.

Remembering Kenji standing a few feet away from her, Mimi blinks her eyes and held back the urge to smirk.

Hoho! This is going to be fun, eldest brother!

"I was told not to tell my name to strangers, thank you." Mimi returned to her gothic persona. "And I believe I"ll be asking the questions here. Who are you and what are you doing in Mr. Itou"s office?"

Kenji only smiled. "I don"t need to answer someone like you. It"s none of your concern."

Mimi snorted, "I have every right to be concerned. Especially since someone from Hirogori Corporation is standing alone in the office of Glory Trade Corporation"s President, Tobias Itou. Your company"s rival in business."

Silence engulfed the office.

Despite the dark shades concealing her face, Mimi never broke her eyes away from his. Kenji stared back at her for a while before he smirked arrogantly.

"I"m here to discuss a business collaboration with Tobias Itou. However, it appears he"s rather late."

Mimi"s eyebrows wrinkled.

Business collaboration? Why would Tobias want to collaborate with her father"s company?

Was he hiding something from her?

Just as Mimi was about to question Kenji further on the matter, she felt a familiar figure behind her.

Looking up, Mimi"s eyes were met with a close up of Tobias"s handsome face.

"Mimi?" Tobias asked, his tone low and soft.

Parting her lips to speak, Mimi was interrupted by Kenji"s domineering voice.

"You"re late, Tobias Itou."

Unfazed by his tone, Tobias shifts his gaze away from Mimi to look at her brother Kenji.

"Mr. Hirogori, I believe I told my secretary to have you wait downstairs until I was finished with a meeting." His tone was indifferent.

Kenji sneered, "Why should I sit and wait down there when I can just do that up here?"

Huh, so it seems shamelessness ran through the family, Mimi inwardly thought.

However, listening to their conversation, didn"t this confirm Kenji"s previous words? Was Tobias really collaborating with her father"s company?

Mimi, standing off to the side, stole a glance in Tobias"s direction, her eyes clouded in uncertainty.

Sighing, Tobias runs his hand through his hair and turns to look at Mimi.

"You can wait in the next room. I won"t take long."

"Mmm." Mimi nodded her head before leaving to the private room in his office.

Tobias followed Mimi"s figure as she walked away and only turned to look at Kenji once she was gone.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Hirogori?" Tobias walked toward his desk.

"I came to discuss with you my previous proposal."

"Which I believe I declined."

Kenji"s expression stiffened toward his words. "Indeed you did. But I"ve made some adjustments to it that I find will work out satisfactory in both our favors."

Kenji took out a doc.u.ment from his briefcase and placed it on Tobias"s desk. Tobias looked at the set of papers and quietly scanned over them.

One minute pa.s.sed before Tobias set the papers down and looked at Kenji, his expression cold as ice.

"The changes are indeed satisfactory, but I"m afraid I"ll have to decline your offer once more, Mr. Hirogori."

Kenji"s eyes narrowed, a frown quickly surfacing on his face. "Why?"

"Not satisfactory enough," Tobias responded curtly.

A chilled smile spread on Kenji"s lips, "Heh, is that so? In that case, my business here is done."

Not bothering to gather the doc.u.ments on the desk, Kenji turns to leave. Before he left, Kenji turned to look at Tobias with a dark glint in his eyes.

"Don"t think I"ll give up just yet, Tobias."