9

Life was so unpredictable. Everything could change in a matter of seconds. For me everything changed when I agreed to Marry Michael.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Nick looks at me with a concerned expression. We landed in Tokyo a few hours ago and now we were driving to his family's estate in Kyoto.

Nick was speaking to everyone on my behalf since I knew zero Japanese. He had insisted to show me around Tokyo and eat some delicious Japanese food before we went to meet his family.

My jet leg didn't allow us to wonder around too much because I was exhausted. Nick and I had left in such a rush I didn't get a chance to see my friends. He promised to fly them out on my birthday which was three months from now.

"I'm sleepy but I don't want to sleep because my face will get puffy."

He chuckles. "You will look cute." I roll my eyes at his easy going nature thinking everything will be okay.

"I can't go meet your family looking puffy for God's sake Nick!" I quickly search for my makeup bag so I could do some final touch ups.

"Sammy. You are beautiful don't stress yourself out too much." Nick places his hand ontop of mine stopping me from moving. We stare at each other for awhile before I quickly pull my hand away from his.

"I just want to look presentable Kento." I call his Japanese name making him smile.

"Why kento?"

"Isn't that what your family calls you? I'm your family now." I tease smiling at him.

He shakes his head is disbelief. "So you know how to joke around too?"

"What did you think Kento?"

"Nothing my dear wifey." He said hugging me suddenly. I hit him on the head not too hard.

"Stop. Let me get ready."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The car stops in front of a Japanese style house which was very big. I could see a few people working outside wearing traditional Japanese clothes.

"Kento? Should we wear that too?" I ask nervously. Looking at my Black jeans and sweater I felt out of place. I quickly took off my ponytail letting my brown hair decorate my shoulders.

"We can wear kimonos on special occasions or during holidays." Nick explained putting me at ease.

"So does your family wear them all the time?"

"Yes. They are very traditional."

The driver opens my side of the door giving me instant diarrhea. I felt sick to my stomach. I've never been this scared in my life.

I rush to Nicks side holding his arm for comfort. He smiles at me before holding my hand properly.

"You'll be okay. I'm here." He reassures me. I nod trying to convince myself I was okay.

"Everyone here studied abroad so they all speak English so you shouldn't have a problem with communication."

The workers bow as we walk past them and say greetings (at least that's what I'm assuming)

A older woman wearing a colorful kimono with a eye catching red lip walks over to us. She looks at Nick ignoring my existence.

She says something to him and he responded calmly in Japanese. The two talk for awhile and I hear him mention my name. She turns to me giving me a forced smile.

"Let's go inside Sammy. This is the head maid. Miss Sakura."

I turn to her and bow surprising Nick. He forgot that I was in Korea and knew that bowing was a sign of respect for most Asian cultures.

"No need to do that. Mrs Samantha." Miss Sakura said to me in English. She had a thick Japanese accent but I still understood her.

"You are an elder. I'll show you respect." I tell her honestly.

She smiles at me and this time it seems sincere. Nick leads me to a different area of the house which had many plants and windows. The house was surprisingly having modern features inside but still had a traditional finish to it.

"Grandpa is in the tea room with my grandma." Nick whispers to me. I turn to him feeling my heart race.

"How many people live here?"

"About 25 if you include the staff."

"Excluding the staff?"

"There's 13."

My mouth drops in shock. I had no idea I'd have to meet so many people. I wasn't mentally prepared for this.

"Don't worry there's only seven adults to impress. There's my grandparents. My aunt Mitsuki and her husband haru. My cousin Kazuha and her husband Jae and my sweet mother."

Mother in laws are usually witches in disguise from every movie, book or tv show I've seen. I hope his mother is as "sweet" as he claims.

"That's not really comforting. I'm still shitting my pants over here."

"Don't. You'll be okay."

We stop infront of a room I guess is the tea room. Miss Sakura looks at us and says something to Nick (who I've decided to call kento from further notice) in Japanese.

He turns to me. "They wish to speak to me alone for now."

"Should I just stand here until you come back?"

Kento takes both my hands in his warm hands. "Don't worry. I'll be back in no time."

He smiles letting go of my hands. I watch as he enters the room. Miss Sakura turns to me. "Mr and Mrs Sakurada are very understanding. I hope they'll understand why young master chose you." I wonder why he married me...his family will wonder the same thing too.

She walks away leaving me deep in thought. I still wonder why he married because I think that it wasn't worth it. Kento is a strange man for sure.

"Ugh. These slippers are making me look weird.." I try to focus on something else even nitpicking my own attire. We had taken off the shoes we were wearing before and were given slippers so my outfit was thrown off completely .

"I wonder what he'll tell them." Kento might lie just like he lied to my family. That would be enough probably. I mean everyone apart from dad and Terra was fooled.

I hear a loud crashing sound like a huge cup broke dragging me out of my thoughts. I couldn't figure out what could have caused that sound other than one thing that kept coming to my mind.

What if kento's Grandpa beat him up or something?

I take all the courage I have left and run inside the tea room abandoning my slippers at the door. If he was there for me when my family was being crazy by family I meant Terra, I'll be there for him too.

"Kento are you okay?!" I call out fearing the worst. The room was silent as soon as I stepped in as all eyes were now on me.

Who I guessed to be his grandparents sat beside another older couple. His grandfather looked so much like Micheal there was no way you could deny they were family.

"Samantha. I told you to stay outside." Kento said in a low voice.

I take a step closer to him. "You're my husband. There's no way I'll leave you to face your family on your own."

I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my foot out of nowhere. Looking down I realized I had stepped in broken glass.

"Sammy!" Kento rushes to check on my foot. "We need to get you treated okay?"

"No. First I must show respect to the elders." I stumble past Kento to stand before the elders. I give them a 90 degree bow.

"Good day. I am Samantha. I am kento's wife. I'm sorry we didn't meet earlier but I hope we can get closer as a family."

Kento's Aunt ,Mitsuki, gets up giving me a dirty look. "This is absolute nonsense! Kento you weren't supposed to marry this filthy gold digger!"

Her words leave me stunned to the core as I have never ever been accused of being a gold digger before considering I'm from a rich family.

"Excuse me?" I ask although I heard her clearly. Maybe this time she'll talk to me like I'm a human.

"Why do you always do things to bring shame to this family? What will we say to the Akanishi family?"

"Tell that I am married to the woman I love!" Kento/Nick said leaving his aunt shocked.

Does this mean he was also supposed to marry someone else? Did he marry me to escape from his fate?