Back at home, we announce, "We"re home," as we enter the house and Mama replies, "Welcome home," from the living room.
Heading into the living room, I give Mama a hug and kiss.
"How was work?"
"Everything went fine. Seems like the party planner really knows her business, so there shouldn"t be any problems."
"Great. Your father told me we"re going as well. Sounds like it might be fun."
"I"m hoping so, but for me, it"s more about allowing my employees to get to know me a little better… Speaking of fun. How would everyone feel about a spa day tomorrow? It"s been a little while since we had one and I"d like to get a mani-pedi as well."
Mama smiles and tells me, "You had me at spa day. My back and legs stay sore all the time now."
Honoka says, "That sounds good to me as well."
Sofi states, "I"ve never been to a spa before, but it sounds like it might be fun."
Chinatsu smiles and says, "I"m always up for a spa day."
"Fantastic! I was hoping everyone would want to go."
Mama looks at Sofi and tells her, "Sofi, Playland Spa has nearly anything you could want in a spa. Several different types of hot spring baths, including a large hydrogen carbonate one for mixed bathing, which I don"t recommend unless nudity doesn"t bother you. There are also regular hot tubs, jacuzzi tubs, saunas and acupuncture, along with various types of ma.s.sages and beauty treatments."
"Mama, if it"s alright, I"d like to invite Mayumi as well."
"Of course it"s alright."
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"Good. I"ll text her about it."
Pulling my phone out of my purse, I unlock it and open the messaging app. Scrolling down, I select Mayumi and send, "Hi. We are going to Playland spa tomorrow and I"d love it if you come with us." Sending the message, I place my phone on my lap. It isn"t even a minute later that my phone chimes. Opening the message to her reply, "Hi, I"d love to go since I have the day off. What time should I be at your house?"
"Mama, are we going to make a day of the spa?"
"Mhmm. We might as well get our money"s worth."
"So, we"ll leave here at 9:00?"
"9:00 is perfect. That will give us time to eat breakfast and clean up afterward. Is Mayumi coming?"
"She is. She was wondering what time to be here at the house."
"Tell her not to worry about coming here. We"ll pick her up on our way to Playland."
"Thanks Mama."
I send back, "We"ll pick you up at your apartment around 9:15."
A few moments later, I receive her reply, "Alright. See you tomorrow morning. I need to get back to work. Love you."
I reply, "I love you too."
I set my phone back on my lap and tell Mama, "Alright, I told her we would see her around 9:15."
Mama says, "Okay," and unmutes the TV to finish watching her movie. As I snuggle up to Mama, she looks at me, grins and slips her arm around my shoulders. Of course, Chinatsu snuggles against me as well and I take her hand. Glancing at my watch, I see it"s a little after 4:00. Ryu should be home soon and text or call me to tell me what he found out. I"m hoping he has good news. More than that, I want any boys he found to be like him.
Sitting there staring at the TV without actually seeing the movie, I contemplate the problem between Chinatsu and Ryo. At this point, I believe I need to do something about the two of them since I hate seeing her upset like this. The best thing would be for Ryu and me to sit down with him and have a heart to heart talk. It would be best if she did it, so I"m not sure if my doing so will help or not, but I don"t want to see the status quo continue. It isn"t all his fault either since her refusing to talk to or see him isn"t helping the situation. I"m not saying she doesn"t have a legitimate complaint. Especially with the way he acted Sunday. Neither am I disputing that he"s a narcissistic a.s.s. At the same time, I know he really likes her and that she likes him. As I said, Ryu and I need to sit down with him to talk about this and get him to see what he"s doing wrong. Later, I might have to do the same with Chinatsu. Even if it does make her angry, I"m going to make them fix this one way or another before Sat.u.r.day.
My phone chiming startles me out of my musings. Picking up my phone, I unlock it, and open the messaging app to see a text from Ryu, "Hey babe. I just got home. When I change clothes I"ll come over to get you."
I reply, "Alright, see you soon."
Looking at Mama, I tell her, "That was from Ryu, he"s coming over to get me since there"s a couple of things to talk about and I want to ask Maki how her first day at TGR went."
Mama looks at me with a perplexed expression. "I didn"t know she was working there."
"Mhmm. I hired her yesterday as a lab tech."
A few minutes later the door intercom chimes. Getting up, I head to the front door, and slip on my heels before opening the door. Smiling in antic.i.p.ation, I take the short step to him while closing the door behind me. I wrap my arms around his neck to pull him down to me as I stretch up on my tiptoes for a tender, lingering kiss from the boy I love so much.
He"s getting so much better at taking the initiative now. You folks know me, I dearly love surrendering myself to what my partner wants from me, even if I do have to restrain some of my more animalistic urges when it comes to Ryu. That said, he reaches down to grab my b.u.t.t and picks me up while I wrap my arms and legs around him. As our kiss deepens and becomes more pa.s.sionate, I hold him as tightly as I can and simply lose myself in the seductive feel of his muscular body against mine.
Several minutes later, I break our kiss, nuzzle against his neck and simply enjoying being held by him as I sigh contentedly. "d.a.m.n Honey! That was magnificent. I missed you."
His breath tickles my neck as he replies, "I missed you too. Why else do you think I called you the second I got home?"
Of course, I"m smiling as say, "Hmm… Could it be because you wanted to make out with the cute girl that lives next door to you?"
He chuckles and holds me a little tighter. "You might be right."
Kissing my way up his neck to his ear, I whisper, "I hope you aren"t using her."
"Never. She"d kick my b.u.t.t if I even thought about it."
"d.a.m.n right she would. I know for a fact that she loves you."
He kisses my neck. "I love her too. That"s why I"d never do something to hurt her."
I lean back enough to look at him and grin. "Yet, here you are with me. Care to explain that?"
He smiles and shakes his head. "Easily done. I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you. Who wouldn"t? Now, how about we take this somewhere a little more private?"
"Honey, the only way someone can see us is if they stand right at the gate and look in at us, but okay, let"s go back to your house. I"d like to talk to Maki for a few minutes anyway."
"Alright. I suppose I can give you two a few minutes of privacy. Do you want to get down so we can go?"
I shake my head slightly and grin mischievously. "Nope. I want you to carry me... Even so, I know how you are, so I"ll give you a break today. Though I will say this, you need to worry less about what other people think since you want to be an attorney. You"ll have to get used to being the center of attention."
He nods. "I know all of that, particularly since I"m also dating the genius daughter of one of the most high profile attorneys in Tokyo."
"Trust me, I understand. I"d much rather not have to worry about public image and everything, but there are many reasons I have to." Sighing, I release my hold on him and he gently sets me down. "As much as I want to continue to make out and cuddle with you, let"s go do this. We have something else to do as well and I"m not really looking forward to it."
Taking my hand, we walk over to his house. Announcing ourselves as we enter, I hear Maki reply from the living room. Slipping off our shoes, he heads upstairs while I go to see Maki.
In the living room, I give her a hug and say, "Hi MamMaki."
She smiles while hugging me back. "h.e.l.lo Sora." After she releases me, we sit down and she asks, "How are you today?"
"I"m doing great. How about you?"
"A bit tired, but not too bad."
"Good. How was your first day at work? Did everyone treat you alright?"
"Work was awesome. I like Kotomi and she"s the no nonsense type, which I really like. She caught the person she a.s.signed to show me how things are done being snide and stomped down on them. She told her, "Look, if you can"t do the jobs I a.s.sign you without being a b.i.t.c.h, then I don"t need you here." Even so, Kotomi replaced my trainer and I like him a lot better than the girl." She chuckles and grins. "He even flirted with me a little."
I smile and nod. "I can see that MamMaki. After all, you are a pretty lady. Sorry about the girl being a b.i.t.c.h though."
"There are always people like that around, so it"s something we have to deal with. Kotomi did say my clothes weren"t really appropriate for work. It looks like I"m going to have to figure out a way to buy clothes along with everything else with my first paycheck."
Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, I tell her, "It"s fine, we can do something about it. How would you like to go on a shopping trip with your future daughter-in-law?"
Smiling, she takes my hand, and replies, "I"d love to since it"s something I always wanted to do with a daughter."
"Fantastic! Umm, we can"t do it this weekend because Sat.u.r.day will be date day and Sunday Mama"s taking us girls shopping for yukatas for the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival on the 27th. Do you want to come shopping with us too? You might have fun."
"Sure, it does sound like fun. I haven"t done things like that since I was in high school."
"Sounds like you"re overdue for a girls" day out then. I still need to take the boys shopping for their yukatas as well, but it won"t be Sunday. We don"t want them to see what we"ll be wearing until the festival."
"Sora, you don"t have to keep buying my boys clothes."
"Since we are trying to change the way the boys dress, it wouldn"t be fair to dump the responsibility of paying for that on you. You see how my family dresses. I found out Sunday we have a lot of eyes on us, so if the boys want to date us, we need to change their look and that"s going to be rather expensive. It wouldn"t be right to expect you to pay for something we want." I think about it for a few moments since the festival is so close and my time is limited. "MamMaki, would you do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"Would you take the boys shopping for their yukatas? I thought about my schedule for the next week and I don"t see when I"ll have the time to take them to get them."
"No problem at all."
"Thank you." I open my purse and pull out my wallet. Opening it, I remove five ¥10,000 notes and hold it out to her. "This may seem like a lot for a couple of yukatas for them, but I"d like them to be high quality. Please, don"t let the boys choose them."
She chuckles. "I promise I won"t."
She takes the money and I drop my wallet back into my purse as I tell her, "Thank you. That"s probably far more than you"ll need for them, but I"d rather be sure about it… Now, about shopping for you. As I said, I don"t have much time, so how about going Friday with me? I"m pretty much free that day."
"I"d love to, but I have work."
"Hang on a moment and I can fix that."
Reaching into my purse, I take out my phone, unlock it, scroll through my contacts until I find Kotomi and click on it. Two rings later she answers. "Hi Sora."
"Hi Kotomi. I hate to do this to you since I just had her sent to you, but I"ll be borrowing Maki Ueno Friday. I need to do some things Friday and I"m going to take her with me, alright?"
"Sure, why wouldn"t it be alright? You"re the boss."
"Thank you Kotomi. Please make sure she"s paid for the day too as this is work related."
"Certainly."
"Thank you. Have a good night Kotomi." Ending the call, I drop my phone in my purse. "See? Easy enough."
"Didn"t you just lie to Kotomi about it being work related?"
"No. You need clothes for work, so this is work related… Alright, on to less pleasant things. We have a big problem with Ryo and Chinatsu. Even before Sunday Chinatsu was having problems with Ryo"s narcissism. Sunday seems to have brought it to a head though and it"s not getting any better. All he keeps doing is apologizing to her instead of moving forward and making things right with her. At this point, she doesn"t want to see or talk to him and that"s not helping anything. I know she still likes him, but if he doesn"t take steps to fix this quickly their relationship is finished. I don"t want to see that happen since it would make both of them unhappy. Can you help me have a talk with him?"
She sighs loudly. "After all I told him, he still does this. That boy is too much like his father in some ways. Alright, we can give it another shot. I hate to say this, but if he screws this up, I don"t see him finding another girl like her."
I nod. "She"s a very special girl. I wonder if he knows how lucky he is to have her as his girlfriend?"
She shrugs with a small smile. "I believe he does, but I"m willing to bet he has no idea how to deal with her or this… Okay, give me a minute and I"ll go get him."
I reply, "Okay," as she stands and goes to get him.
I pull out my phone to text Ryu that, "Sorry honey, I"ll be a little while longer," and put back up my phone. A few minutes later she comes back into the living room with Ryo in tow. She sits down beside me and he literally flops into the chair, which makes me frown since his posture and att.i.tude are horrible.
"Hi Ryo," I say pleasantly.
His grunt as a reply instantly makes me furious and I think, "Why I"m even bothering to try and fix things between them?"
Eyes blazing angrily, I surge to my feet and snap at him, "Don"t you dare grunt at me! One: it"s rude and two: this is part of the d.a.m.n problem you"re having with Chinatsu! I have half a mind to blow off talking to you and simply tell Chinatsu to break up with you!" When he starts to say something, I yell at him, "Shut up and listen! I don"t want to hear a bunch of lame excuses!"
A moment later, I hear the "thump, thump, thump" of Ryu running down the stairs. I have to admit, I was rather loud so it"s not all that surprising. When he comes into the living room, he demands, "What"s going on?"
Maki tells him, "Nothing much, it"s just Ryo being rude again and Sora snapped at him."
He walks over to Ryo and glares at him. "Ryo, brother or not, you will not act that way with Sora, or I"ll kick your a.s.s from one end of this house to the other. She has been nothing but nice to you and you will show her the respect she deserves, do I make myself clear?"
He nods and looks at me. "I apologize Sora. I"m irked that my game was interrupted."
I"m literally flabbergasted. I mean, seriously!? A friggin game is more important than your girlfriend? Excuse me here, but what the f.u.c.k!? I look at the ceiling and roll my eyes with a loud sigh. I think, "Is it even possible to get him to understand?"
Looking down to Ryu, I tell him, "Come sit by me honey." I sit down beside Maki and he comes over to sit by me.
Once he has, I take his hand. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and when I open them, I say, "Ryo, is a game more important than your relationship with Chinatsu?"
"No. No, it isn"t."
"Then please explain to me why you"re playing a game rather than trying to fix things with Chinatsu."
"I"ve tried calling and texting her, but she won"t talk to me for the last couple of days."
"Have you done anything else? By that I mean, have you gone over to our house to sit down and talk to her?"
He shakes his head and says, "No, I figured if she wouldn"t talk to me on the phone that it wouldn"t be any different in person."
I look at Ryu. "Honey, if I was mad at you over something and wouldn"t talk to you on the phone, what would you do?"
"I"d give you a little time to calm down and come over to talk to you. I wouldn"t let things keep going on like that."
I smile at him and squeeze his hand. I already knew he wouldn"t, but, "Why wouldn"t you?"
"Simply because the longer you leave things as they stand; the worse they will get. Ignoring a problem and hoping it will solve itself is nothing more than wishful thinking."
I reach up to caress his cheek, lean over and whisper in his ear, "Do you wonder why I love you?" I tenderly kiss his cheek for a moment and look back at Ryo.
I gently ask, "Ryo, do you see the difference? Girls want you to show us how important we are to you. I know for a fact that I"m the most import thing in Ryu"s life. I know there"s nothing he wouldn"t do for me. How do I know this? He shows me every single day with his actions. Words have their own power and they are great. Look, you can tell someone you love them, but if what you say and what you do contradict each other then it means nothing. Are you doing any of that by sitting in your room playing games?"
"No, but I"m not Ryu."
I sigh. "Did I say you were? I"m not asking for you to be a clone of Ryu. What I am asking is for you to think beyond yourself. The people in your life are what make it worth living. Money, fame, and all the rest of that can"t make you happy. It might add to your happiness, but that"s all. Relationships take effort. Do you think that my family being as close as we are doesn"t take a lot of work? Let me be the first to tell you that it does. Apathy and neglect in a relationship is a quick path to seeing it destroyed. In the simplest terms, relationships are like flowers. If you don"t care for them, they wither and die. Does any of this make sense to you?"
"It does, but I still have no idea how to fix things between us."
He can be so frustrating. "Did you ever think to ask any of us for help or advice?"
This carries on right up until I get a text from Honoka telling me that dinner will be ready in a few minutes. I tell them I"ll be back after dinner with Chinatsu so they can talk things out. We gave him quite a few ideas about this. Number one being what I already told him, stop thinking of only of himself first and foremost. I suppose we shall see how this works out after dinner.