Haruki raised his head and t the gaze of the man who had walked in. "I have a mission for you," he said calmly mirroring Ren’s blank expression.
Ren seed taken aback. It had been a while since Haruki gave him a mission and considering the present state of their relationship he never expected Haruki to send him on a mission. He paused and his expression got cold for a split second before becoming unreadable again.
Haruki watching Ren wondered if Ren thought he was sending him on the mission to kill him.
"I want you to kill Aiichiro. Co up with the right plan and make it happen. I am ordering you as the head of this family." Haruki watched the man whose expression gave nothing away.
"I can’t," Ren replied after a few seconds of silence. "I cannot kill him. He is a very important ally to this family and until our deal is over, I can’t harm him."
Haruki was not sure what he had expected but Ren’s rejection surprised him less than it should. "I will do what you want. I will get married, have kids but I need to know you’re on my side completely by killing Aiichiro."
"I never said I was on your side. I am on this family’s side and if you intend to do anything to harm the reputation of this family, I will not support you," Ren replied almost calmly.
The scene felt funny because Haruki realised that although he had maintained the title of the family’s head, the true head was Ren and the only reason he was not sitting in his seat was that he was not of his grandfather’s bloodline.
"I am ordering you as the chairman and head of this family," Haruki repeated emphasizing his position to Ren.
"I know, however, I cannot kill Aiichiro. He is our ally until our deals over and once it is over, I will bring his head to you," Ren replied calmly, too calmly Haruki clenched his fist although he tried to remain calm.
"Leave," Haruki replied. Aiichiro trusted Ren enough to et him privately. It will be easier for Ren to kill Aiichiro than it would be for Kiyoshi.
He knew if he sent Kiyoshi, he would plan the man’s assassination and carry it out but that would an he would most likely lose his diligent assistant leaving him with Ren.
He could easily handle Ren himself but he wanted Aiichiro dead first. He twirled a pen between his fingers as he watched Ren reluctantly walk out of the room. When the door closed behind Ren, he picked up a notepad and began scribbling on it.
It was a matter of survival for him to co up with a plan that would take Aiichiro and Ren out of his life without staining his reputation.
There was a knock on the door and he lifted his head. It was only when he looked at the clock on the wall that he realised he had been writing and tearing up papers for the past four hours without making any progress.
He gathered all the papers and squeezed them together into a large ball and threw them into a drawer before inviting Kiyoshi in.
"You have to eat before you continue," Kiyoshi imdiately began scolding after a bow.
"Have them serve my dinner here. I am famished," Haruki replied without hesitation. Now that he was done, he began to realise how parched his throat felt and how almost painfully empty his abdon felt.
He rose up from the chair behind the desk and stretched tiredly before walking to the sofa and sitting down.
"Okay," Kiyoshi took the order but he seed hesitant to leave.
Haruki gave him a questioning look before asking when Kiyoshi ignored his gaze, "What do you have to say?"
"He has been waiting at the gate for the past one hour," Kiyoshi replied avoiding Haruki’s gaze as he spoke.
"Tell him to return to the hospital and get fully treated," Haruki ordered nonchalantly. "That is after you ask them to serve my dinner."
His dinner was served soon after Kiyoshi but he could barely muster the appetite to bring the fork to his lips. The steak was tender and looked juicy enough with the aroma filling his study but thinking about the doctor at the gate made him uninterested.
He glanced at his phone on his work desk and he hesitated a few tis to stand up but did anyway. He picked up the phone and looked at the lit-up screen. Hiroshi was calling him.
He had stood up to call the man, to tell him to leave, to tell him to never co back but when he saw the call, he could not bring himself to pick up the call. He watched as his phone continued to ring until the call ended.
He sat down and forced the fork into his mouth. He began chewing just in ti for his phone to begin ringing again. The steak that was tasty felt like rubber as he began to chew as though his brain refused to register the taste of what he was eating.
The man didn’t stop calling even as Haruki continued to eat until he emptied the plate and sipped from the wine glass. The man who almost lost his life hours ago is waiting for him at the gate.
He was grateful that Hiroshi survived and he was sure the man knew why he almost been killed. To think that Hiroshi doesn’t care about his life and still ca to the sa house where his car was tampered with, to the sa place his death was orchestrated, made him unhappy.
He felt a strong urge to call Hiroshi to scold him and ask him why he was so foolish. To ask him why he hadn’t blad him for almost losing his life and avoiding him like the plague he was but he only blocked the man’s number to end the endless stream of phone calls.
Until he succeeds at getting rid of these n, he could not bring himself to stand close to Hiroshi. Hiroshi was soone he valued and he was unwilling to lose him the sa way he lost his parents.
From the full report he got about the accident, Aiichiro had not planned it as a warning, he had intended to kill Hiroshi in a very brutal manner.
He had planned sothing so foolproof that Hiroshi wouldn’t have survived if he hadn’t had those he had assigned to ensure his safety.
Even with those people, Aiichiro would still have succeeded so he concluded that Hiroshi was lucky this ti.
He was certain that luck doesn’t co too often and the fact that Hiroshi survived this ti doesn’t an he would survive all the others Aiichiro might be planning.
***
"I never knew you were serious when you called," Aiichiro laughed as he rose up after Haruki walked into the private room of his restaurant.
Haruki ignored the man’s words as he sat down opposite Aiichiro and picked up the nu. He told the waitress what he wanted to eat before looking at Aiichiro silently asking him to order too.
Aiichiro smiled and nodded before sitting down and picking up the elegant nu. He placed his order and quietly watched Haruki.
"We have a deal and you broke your promise," Haruki began as soon as the waiter left.
"What deal?" Aiichiro asked eting Haruki’s eyes with a confused look. Haruki remained silent and watched the man until he laughed awkwardly and added, "Oh! That? You broke the promise first." Aiichiro beca just as cold as Haruki’s when he was done speaking.
Seeing the man’s expression beco cold, Haruki asked, "What promise did I break?"
"You were asked to stay away from him but he spent the night in your house."
"Don’t act like you don’t know what we discuss. My ntor is your spy."
Aiichiro smiled and shook his head, "How will I know what you spoke about? Both of you were in your bedroom all the ti, it’s not as though you invited there."
Seeing the smug look on Aiichiro’s face made Haruki want to cross over the table to grip the man’s throat until he squeezed the life out of him.
"I will announce my engagent and plan the marriage to take place midsumr next month but I need sothing from you first," Haruki said emotionlessly.
"You are not in any position to ask for that," Aiichiro shook his head laughing as he lazily leaned his back against the backrest of the chair. "But go on, I want to hear it."
"No, I have every right to," Haruki corrected him. "He might not be my lover right now but he is a doctor valued by my family and you almost killed him, which gives every right to request compensation."
"Okay, I accept defeat, go on," Aiichiro said gesturing to him to continue speaking.
"Kill Ren for ," Haruki replied almost too calmly. Aiichiro ant nothing in his world. He had never given the man any second thought but Ren was his ntor.
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