Chapter 31: Old friends

"I'm tired of pretending to like that man, mom." Akiko said as she lied on her bed. "Why do we have to do all this drama?" 

"So that we can catch Daisuke red-handed, we need to know his real motive." Yuki sighed, rubbing at her temples in an effort to ease her tension headache from their conversation.

Her daughters have always been impatient, especially Akiko.

"Way too much drama, mom." Akiko complained before rolling over onto her back and staring up at the ceiling.

"Keep quiet."   Yuki said before sitting on the bed beside her daughter and reaching a hand out to stroke her hair. "It's for the best."

"Anyway, mom, let's leave that and focus on our main goal." Akiko yawned widely before rolling to face her mom again. "You know, time is going by really quickly—the National Cherry Blossom Festival—and there's still no progress in Narumi and Daiki's relationship."

"What else can we do?" Yuki asked. 

"I have an idea!" Akiko jumped up suddenly, making Yuki yelp slightly as she fell off the edge of the bed. "We can make Narumi jealous so that she will accept her feelings. I have a few friends that I could use to do this."

"Absolutely not Akiko; don't you know that it's always dangerous when there's a third wheel in a relationship. You want to bring someone into their relationship so that Narumi feels jealous, but what if that woman ends up having feelings for Daiki? "That would be a terrible thing to happen."

Akiko stared down at her mother for several seconds with a look of shock on her face. "So what should we do?" 

"Let's just lay low for a while and wait for a while." Yuki spoke gently, giving her daughter a reassuring smile. "Their relationship is already complicated; if you carry out your crazy plan, it could make things worse." 

"Fine."  Akiko huffed, lying back down on her pillows. "We will just wait for them to finally accept their feelings." 

Yuki gave Akiko a kiss on the head and left the room. She muttered a little prayer because the thought of another person entering into her daughter's complicated feelings sent chills down her spine. Unfortunately, she had no idea that her prayers were not going to be answered anytime soon.

                                     ~*~

"You gave a great presentation, Daiki." Narumi muttered.  She didn't want to admit it at first, but it was a fact, so it had to be done.

"Thanks for the compliment, ma'am." He smiled.  "I was pretty nervous because these are foreign clients who are interested in your company."

Narumi bit her lip, feeling her heart skip a beat as she took in his handsome features and warm eyes.

'Stop this.'  She berated herself as she remembered that her feelings would only cause problems. 

"Let's go home." Narumi said, but Daiki objected.

"I want to buy something for Akiko; she wanted me to get some sushi for her." He frowned a little.

"You spoil my sister a lot; she's not a child." Narumi muttered before standing up. "The sushi sold at this restaurant is really good, so let's just buy it and go home." She grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the exit of the restaurant once he bought the sushi. 

"Calm down, Naru." He chuckled but suddenly stopped when he saw a familiar face.

'Is that Izumi?' Daiki  wondered. 

"Narumi, can you wait for a minute? I'll meet up with you." He called out as he headed towards the lady.

"Huh?"  He heard Narumi speak behind him, confused by her husband's strange behavior.

Daiki then reached the lady, who looked very familiar to him, and bowed politely. "Are you Satō Izumi?" He asked.

"Yes, I am." The lady replied.

"Oh my, it's being so long. Do you remember me?" He continued.

Izumi looked at him with confusion until realization hit her like a truck. "Tsukumo Daiki"

"Yes."   Daiki laughed nervously and scratched the side of his head. "How nice to see you again."

Izumi hugged him tightly, which surprised Daiki greatly. He wasn't expecting this sudden display.

"Oh my Tsukumo, it has been so long!" She sniffled.

"Yes, it has." He muttered as he tried to push her embrace away, but she held on tight to him. "Can you release me, please?"

Izumi seemed to snap back to reality and released him immediately. "Sorry about that." 

"Daiki."   A voice interrupted. Narumi appeared next to him, and she had an unreadable expression on her face. "What are you doing here?" 

"Narumi  I saw a childhood friend of mine. Let me introduce you to Satō Izumi." He turned to face Izumi with a bright grin. "Izumi, this is my wife, Tsukumo Narumi." 

"Nice to meet the first female billionaire in Japan." Izumi giggled. 

"Nice to meet you too." Narumi muttered.

"Izumi and her family moved to Korea when I was seven; we haven't seen each other since then." Daiki said

"That was such a long time ago." Izumi giggled.  Narumi watched as the two friends spoke about old things, and she couldn't help but frown deeply. Izumi seemed like she was trying to flirt with Daiki, and it felt annoying.

"I'm surprised that you are married." Izumi said.  "Do you remember when everyone taught me we would end up together?" 

"Oh that.  I never took those words seriously.'' Daiki scoffed with a smirk on his face.

"Are you sure? I think we would have made a cute couple." Izumi smiled.

"Well, he's sure because you are not his type." Narumi cut in with a sneer on her face.

Daiki glanced over at Narumi in surprise, a smile forming on his lips.

"Anyway Izumi it's time for me and my husband to go back home." Narumi said. Her hands wrapped around Daiki's arm protectively so that she could prove her point. "Nice to meet you." 

"Oh, of course, I hope to see you soon." Izumi smiled at Narumi with false sweetness and walked away.

'I hope I don't see you again.'   Narumi thought with a hint of annoyance. Daiki looked at her, clearly noticing how bothered she was.

'She looks cute when she acts like this.' Daiki thought absentmindedly as he looked at Narumi, thinking about how she acts when she feels jealous over something. 'It makes me love her even more.'