Koji was unsure of how he should’ve replied. He looked at President Sanches and back at President Jones. He shook his head and began laughing.
"Tan, you’re joking. Is your mory doing all right? What is wrong with you? It’s , Koji, your cousin, the president of THJ Group Intl. Our headquarters is based in Japan. I ca to visit," he explained.
Tanaka tried to think if he could rember the na Koji.
Then his eyes widened when he finally rembered who Koji was. He was his and Tanaga’s cousin. The eldest son of their adopted uncle. His mother had told him so quite a while back. He smiled as he pulled Koji into an embrace. "Cousin! It had been a while since we last saw each other. I didn’t recognize you when you ca! Sorry about that," he said guiltily.
"Co, cousin. Sit down, were you both planning on visiting ?" He asked while they got themselves situated on the sofa.
While they were making their way to the sofa, Alden’s eyes road around the whole room. ’This room is so simple, and there’s nothing extravagant here. I could offer Ashley much more than this if she cos and joins my company. She deserves more, and this would be a piece of cake,’ he thought as he wanted to offer Ashley a position in his company, and in return, she’d be his woman.
As soon as they sat down, Tanaka was eager to determine why the two of them were there. Who were they looking for? He could sense that they weren’t there for a re visit. They had a hidden agenda, and if he wasn’t mistaken, they were most likely here for his sister-in-law, Ashley.
"Wait, I’ll be right back. I need to ask my secretary about so private matters," Koji heard Tanaka say.
Koji stared at the man he thought was Tanaga. He only gazed at Tanaka’s deanor. Sothing was amiss; there was sothing different about him. He wasn’t the sa Tanaga that he knew. The Tanaga he knew was cold and aloof. This one was friendly and kind.
Alden, on the other hand, was getting anxious. He wanted to know where Ashley was and why was CEO Jones in the office instead? Did Tanaga get demoted, and Ashley fired? What was going on? He had so many unanswered questions that he wanted to ask.
When Tanaka ca and sat back down, Alden was the first to speak.
"CEO, I an, President Jones. If you don’t mind asking, where is Ashley, I an, President Jones?" He asked calmly.
Tanaka was unsure how he would answer the question. The best way he could think of was to respond with another question to avert the subject.
"If you don’t mind asking, what is your business with her? She had never ntioned that she had an appointnt with you before she left. Unless it’s for...personal reasons, what’s your reason to be eting with her?"
Alden was unable to utter a word after that. He looked at Tanaga’s identical twin blankly, trying his best to think of a reason why.
Then it hit him; this was the perfect opportunity to let him know that he and Ashley go way back.
"President Jones, I don’t know if she had ever ntioned to you that we go way back. We knew each other when we were still in high school back in the Philippines. We lost touch when I went to college overseas while she stayed in the Philippines. As you know, she’s not from a well-off family like , but I still cared for her," he said proudly with a smug look on his face.
Tanaka and Koji, who listened to his declaration, both stared at him. But Alden couldn’t care less about what they thought.
"Alright, let’s say you and her had a history, but she’s now married and has children. Twins, as a matter of fact, would you still want to pursue her?" Asked Tanaka with a scowl on his face.
He wasn’t asking for himself, but for the sake of his brother. He wanted to make sure that Alden didn’t have any ill intentions against him and do Tanaga a solid favor.
Alden cleared his throat first, and just as he was about to tell Tanaka his intention, a knock was heard on the door, and Fumika entered with a tray of cold drinks and cookies. They had to temporarily put everything they were talking about on hold and let her put down the tray at the table.
That gives Alden enough ti to think it through. It would not do him any good, contradicting the man in front of him. He was Ashley’s husband now, not to ntion the father of her children. He didn’t even know that she bore him children already. He needed to re-think his actions, knowing his family wouldn’t accept her, though the urge to make her his mistress was strong and hard to decline.
Once Fumika left, Tanaka once again repeated what he had asked Alden.
Koji was only listening to the whole conversation and not intervening.
He already knew that Ashley’s marriage was simply contracted, and now that she had given Tanaga an heir, she was free to leave him at any ti, which he would help her in doing.
When the ti is right, he will let Ashley know his true feelings for her, and if she returned the pent up emotions, he’d make her the happiest woman in the world.
Alden continues, "Oh, I was rely asking. I have no other intention besides getting acquainted once again with an old friend. It’s not like we dated or anything. I knew that she’s already married and had children. I don’t want to intervene," he responded sheepishly while gritting his teeth.
He followed up, "If you know what I an?"
"No, I don’t," said Tanaka before turning his attention to his cousin, who had been sitting there quietly. He knew that Koji Hanada had an agenda hidden under his calm deanor, and intended on finding out what.
===
Just as he was about to say sothing to Koji, Koji quickly made up an excuse that he needed to go to the restroom, even though he headed to the Marine Departnt instead of the restroom. Koji knew that he was next in line to be questioned, and he wasn’t ready to talk. He wanted to wait till after President Sanches left. Then he’d invite Tanaga or the person he thought was Tanaga for a drink.
After thirty minutes had passed, Koji hadn’t yet returned. Tanaka was getting quite restless and did his best to get rid of President Sanches, but when the man made it clear he wasn’t moving, Tanaka excused himself.
"President Sanches, If there’s nothing else to talk about, there is so work I have to do. I think President Hanada is currently busy in another departnt, so I’ll have to ask you to leave," he said, sick and tired of waiting.
Although Alden didn’t want to leave yet, he took the hint, got up, and extended his hands toward Tanaka.
"Well then, I wouldn’t want to be a bother, I’ll leave imdiately, allowing you to get back to your work," he said as Tanaka shook his hands and ushered him to the door.
But just as he was about to turn around and leave, he spoke, his words dripping with professionalism, "President Jones, since I arrived with President Hanada, I’m afraid to say I don’t have any thod of transportation. Would you mind asking your secretary for a car?"
Tanaka nodded.
"Miss Fumika, please call a car for President Sanches," he ordered.
Afterward, he closed the door on Aiden.
He finally got rid of him.
While Alden was on the way back to the hotel, he finally rembered to call President Hanada, which went straight to voicemail. So he left a ssage that he had returned from the office and imdiately booked a flight back to the Philippines when he returned to the hotel.
He knew he had no choice, so he had to make his move now and return to the Philippines, only to wait for any news from or about Ashley.
===
As soon as Alden was gone, Fumika called the Marine departnt to inform Koji that President Sanches had already left the facility.
Koji thanked the people who worked at the Marine departnt for putting up with him for the past hour. He knew that they didn’t feel comfortable around people like him, and the conversation he heard outside the door was a testimony of that.
"Out of all the departnts he could’ve chosen, he chose ours? Why here?" Mikito asked his colleagues.
Koji’s presence had made him extrely uncomfortable, and he wasn’t even sure why he was here in the first place.
As Koji listened to the conversation, he felt ashad, and not to ntion slightly insulted.
He promised himself, "I’ll make it up to them. I’ll take them for a drink while I’m still here as payback."
He made his way to Tanaka’s office to speak to the man and found Tanaka behind his desk as he arrived. He apologized for the ti he had wasted beforehand and told Tanaka, "President Jones, if you have a minute, I’d like to have a word with you," he said, his tone more than serious.
Tanaka looked at him for a mont before he responded, "Give a second to finish this, and I will be with you right away."
He continued with his work, and Koji was left with no other choice but to sit back and wait.
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