Cold but Kind

Riku & Akane's residence.

Riku ran towards Akane's room, anger plastered all over his handsome face. When he reached her room, instead of knocking like he always does, he forcefully kicked the door open. 

"Oni-" Akane rose from her seat while clutching her sleeping robe. Her eyes wide from shock at the sudden and loud intrusion.

"I told you not to do something stupid!" he bellowed as he approached Akane. "Go- leave now!"

"Onii-sama! What are you talking about?"

"Stop playing dumb with me! Zhuo Jingren and Lily got into an accident and now they are missing!" Riku shouted in exasperation as he opened Akane's closet, took out her luggage and threw it on her bed. Then, he hastily pulled out pieces of her clothes with the hangers and threw them into the luggage.

"Riku! What are you doing?" Akane grabbed her brother's arms, stopping him from grabbing any more of her clothes. "Stop it! I am not leaving!"

"Don't you understand? Mr. Go is already on his way here… they will surely get to the bottom of this incident! You have to leave now!"

"I said I am not leaving!" Akane insisted while returning her clothes, to the closet. "It wasn't me! I did not cause the accident so why would I leave?"

"Liar!" Riku hissed. "Do you think that I wouldn't know about your dealings with our cousin in Canada? I already told you to avoid him yet, you did not listen to me! Leave now before Mr. Go arrives!"

"You can't order me around like I am your employee! I am your twin sister, Riku! And yet, you didn't have the guts to help me get a little closer to Zhuo Jingren! What kind of brother are you?" Akane's sudden outburst surprised Riku.

"Akane! Why are you being so stubborn? There is no way that he will like you!"

"How do you know that he won't like me? I have worked hard and finished my studies abroad so I can be worthy of him! How can he not like me?"

Riku stared in disbelief at his sister. He always knew that Akane like Zhuo Jingren. However, he discouraged her from pursuing him. He even forced her to go abroad and study so that she would be far away from Zhuo Jingren and could not scheme her way into Zhuo Jingren's bed. However, he never expected her to cause such a big mess this time round.

"I told you, he already has someone he loves!" he bellowed. "Is that something that you cannot understand?!"

"I can make him love me!" Tears started to welled in Akane's eyes. "I just need some time to get a little close to him. I…"

"Akane… please! How could you ignore my words? Zhuo Jingren is not someone that you can have just because you wanted to! Since he was a teenager, that man only has Lily in his heart! Lily is someone very important to him. If anything were to happen to her, he will lose it and he will hunt down the people who were responsible for hurting her. I've personally witnessed this before. Seven years ago, when he found out that Lily had gotten into an accident, he totally lost it..." Riku sat down and ran his fingers through his hair before looking at his sister.

"Do you want to know what happened to the people who killed his father?" he asked. Seeing Akane nodding her head, Riku continued. 

"I was there when… when Zhuo Jingren received a call. I did not know the person who called him but Zhuo Jingren got so angry that he asked us to leave. After that, the man became… different… crazier."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked, confusion written all over her face.

"After that Zhuo Jingren asked his father's men to deal with the Inagawa clan as fast as possible."

Akane widened her eyes at her brother's words. "You mean… he was the one who destroyed the... the Inagawas years ago?"

Riku nodded slowly. "Originally he was not planning to eliminate the entire Inagawa clan. But after he received some news of Lily's accident, he lost his rationality and ordered to eliminate all of them. Everyone got killed, including the children. There were more casualties than necessary."

"How… how did you know that?" Akane asked.

"Everyone who is close to Zhuo Jingren have heard about what happened to the Inagawas. We also know how obsessed he had been over someone from Hong Kong. He had drawings of her, paintings… I saw them. He had lots of paintings of her. So… we believe this rumor."

"But… but Zhuo Jingren… he does not kill people… he is cold but kind…"

"Stop acting as if you understand him. Though we all know that he is actually kind beneath those cold eyes. But… when is comes to his woman...he is.. he is a little irrational." He looked worriedly at his sister. "Akane please… leave now. Once they find out that it was you… he might kill you… I don't want that to happen. Please."

"I am not leaving," Akane said stubbornly. "There is no way that I will leave now knowing that something might have happened to him. I will take care of him."

"You-" Riku was speechless. How could she not understand a thing that he said? He stared at his twin sister intently. Exhaustion and sadness apparent in his eyes. He knew that his sister would suffer if she remained here. So should he just drag her out of the country against her will and hide her somewhere safe? That might not be easy as well. 

Resignation clouded Riku's eyes as he rose from his seat. He had said all he could say but if his sister still refuses to leave, then there is nothing else he could do but to try and protect her to the best of his abilities. 

As Riku was about to leave his sister's room, he heard the latter rummaging her closet. He turned around and saw her taking out an outfit. "Where are you going?" he furrowed his brows.

"I am going to look for Zhuo Jingren. I will join the search party," she said with determination in her eyes. If Zhuo Jingren was injured then he would need someone by his side to take care of him. Akane was sure that Lily wouldn't be able to take care of Zhuo Jingren, given her injuries. 

This was her chance to get closer to Zhuo Jingren, to show him that she was worthy to be by his side.

…

Editor: Swaning