Haru

"Even I didn't know this," Reo said. "Uncle Jin has only ever sent me photos of a traditional type house with hot springs, telling me that's where we're staying."

Higa-san said, "Oh, that one. It's one of our presidential suites."

"Presidential suite?" Isaac chuckled. "Nice. We get special treatment."

My head was still buzzing with all this new information regarding our uncle Jin as we headed toward the hotel. I mean if he owned this massive resort place, didn't that mean he was freakin' rich?

I mean we had a rich uncle?

The lobby was elegant, and warm, and the moment we entered, staff came over to greet us.

"Welcome to Lake Aoi Resort and Onsen," they said in unison, bowing their heads at us.

I must admit this felt a little weird, since none of us had ever been treated like this before. Did they do this to every guest coming in, or was it just because we were related to Uncle Jin, the owner of this place?

A few guests entered behind us, and one of the staff rushed over to the reception area to serve them.

Well, that answered my question.

Higa-san told the rest of the staff to return to their duties and then led us into the elevator on the other side of the lobby.

"This place is awesome," Isaac said. "The special treatment is awesome. Aren't we glad Uncle Jin is related to us, Haru?"

"Yeah," I said. Though I wasn't sure I liked the special treatment much.

Noah ruffled my hair. "You sound tired. Are you all right?"

Though I nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm fine," I did feel a little light-headed. I must still be tired from all the traveling, and yeah, the passionate nights I had with Aiden.

The man treated this vacation like a honeymoon, making love to me at least once a night, if not more. If it wasn't wild and all consuming, then it'd be slow and gentle, with him just caressing me and kissing me everywhere. I must admit it was crazy amazing, the passion between us strong, but it was damn tiring.

Despite that though, I refused to tell Aiden to take it slow and leave me to rest and rejuvenate. This was simply because I wanted to spend as much time with Aiden as possible. I wanted to have him all to myself. I was that selfish, despite the risk to my own health.

When the door of the elevator dinged open on the top floor, Higa-san led us out to the corridor and then into a fancy sitting area.

"Please wait here. I'll inform the president you've arrived," Higa-san said.

Once he was gone again, I took a seat on the sofa, with Aiden claiming the spot beside me.

Aiden drew my attention to him when he touched the back of his hand to my forehead. He said, "You're hot, Haru. Are you sure you're not sick?"

"I'm fine," I said. "I'm just a little overwhelmed, that's all."

Reo, sitting on the armchair opposite us, said, "You're not the only one." He had a dark frown on his face, which was rare.

I asked, "What? Are you suspicious of something?"

Reo chuckled. "He was very persistent, Uncle Jin. I mean I know he's not well, but…" He lapsed into silence.

Mason said, "He's probably working on bringing you two back to Japan. I mean if he's not well, it's likely he'd want you both around, since you're his only relatives. More importantly, this place, it's massive. It's big money. I don't know how Japanese men operate their businesses, but I'm guessing this is private and Uncle Jin would want to keep it within the family if anything were to happen to him."

I looked at Mason, surprised he could decipher that much already when we hadn't even meet Uncle Jin yet.

Isaac said, "You mean Uncle Jin wants Reo and Haru back? No way!"

Mason shrugged his shoulders. "Don't quote me on that. It's just my gut instinct, that's all."

I didn't know why, but the thought of me living apart from Aiden and the others made me feel sick to my stomach.

I instinctively moved closer and wrapped my arms around Aiden. He must have understood the meaning behind my action because he ran his fingers through my hair and said softly, "Don't worry. I won't let Uncle Jin take you away from me."

I nodded. "Hm."

The door opened then, and a female voice in an American accent said, "I'm sorry for keeping everyone waiting. I'm Patricia Steel, one of the managers of this resort, so please let me know if you need anything. I've brought refreshments."

"Thank God," Isaac said. "I'm damn thirsty."

After putting the tray of refreshments on the coffee table, the woman stepped back and then raised her head to look first at Noah, as if she recognized him. Noah, of course, hinted that he, too, recognized her. The woman then shifted her gaze to Connor, Reo, and then finally settled on Aiden.

Suddenly, she chuckled. "Aiden! Oh, my God! I can't believe it. Long time no see."

Aiden's body stiffened, which drew my attention to him. Suddenly, something sickening rose in the pit of my stomach as I saw Aiden break into a wide grin, his eyes twinkling.

"Patricia," he said. "Wow! Yeah, haven't seen you for a long time."

The woman laughed merrily. "Well, duh! Come here and give me a hug."

My heart, of its own accord, raced like mad when Aiden easily moved away from me toward the woman. I suddenly felt cold and lost. I felt like…I was being abandoned.

Standing, Aiden and the woman hugged tightly.

I felt bile rising in my stomach and I started feeling sick, for real.

When the two moved back, the woman asked, "So, you guys are the president's VIPs? How very unexpected." She laughed as she looked around. "Everyone is here, I see."

She knew Aiden? She knew us? And from the looks of things, very well, too.

But I didn't know her. Who was she?

Who the hell is she?

I reached my hand out and grabbed for Aiden's, desperately almost. When he turned to look at me, I said, "Aiden, I don't feel well."

It was then the door opened again and an elderly man came in. I recognized him straightaway, since I had seen photos of him numerous times.

I stood, my hands holding Aiden's tightly, as if I didn't want to let him go. I could feel the woman's eyes on us, which were intense, and then her gaze shifted to our hands, where our fingers were intertwining with each other.

Shit! But my head was beginning to spin and my body was shivering. What the hell was wrong with me?

Before I could greet Uncle Jin, the world around me turned dark and my knees weakened. I fell forward against Aiden, and then I blacked out.