Beneath the... (Chapter 20)
Title: Beneath the…
Rating: G for this chapter.
Characters: OT5 (All Arashi members as brothers)
Genre: AU, drama, family, angst
Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine~
Summary: 2 years ago Osayama Satoshi was involved in a terrible accident that made him lost partial of his memories. Even though he survived the impact, he becomes mentally incapable and has to depend on his younger brothers to lead normal life. What he didn’t expect when waking up though was to find all his once caring brothers had turned into people who were completely different from his memory. Sho has changed into a hot-tempered workaholic, Kazunari becomes an introvert who refuses to talk with anyone, and Jun drowns himself in party, alcohol and women every single night. To make it even confusing, nobody in the house is allowed to speak about Masaki who for some unknown reasons has disappeared without a trace.
Will Satoshi find the answer he is seeking for in the end? Or something…is actually is hidden beneath the mess?
A/N: Their surname is Osayama. Un-betaed!
Chapter 20 : Beneath the ego
The hospital pharmacy is slightly crowded with patients who are waiting for their turn to get their medicine like him. Entering 20 minutes, Kazu can’t longer hide his worries as he sighs on his seat, sometimes rubbing his face due to stress.
It is not the long waiting that bothers him now. In fact, he knows there is no way he can properly remember what the pharmacist will explain about the drugs if he is called sooner. The only thing that haunts him now is the lack of news from Sho regarding the management planning that he had asked the latter to fix for Masaki. Although he had visited the latter a few times to bring clean clothes or to take turn with Satoshi to watch over Sho so the eldest brother can rest at home, he never even once see Sho touched the paper, let alone working on it. Now, with time is running out until the deadline which will be the day after tomorrow, he is growing restless by the helplessness of unable to do anything for Masaki. He really thought after the emotions burst with Satoshi before Sho will at least become a bit softer toward the airhead brother, but it seems like he is very wrong. Regardless the widespread story of Masaki’s innocence among the workers in the company now, Sho clearly can’t bring himself to forgive the younger man for not listening to his order before. He was so deep in his trouble until he fails to realize that someone actually already takes the seat beside him.
“Are you okay?”
The familiar voice startles him. As soon as he turns to his side, he found Jun already stare him with his clearly worried eyes.
“Why are you here? You’re supposed to help Masaki in office.”
“He told me to come here with you. He said there’s nothing much to do in office so far anyway.”
Kazu only manages to nod by that. Despite being pressured with tons of meeting and a very important planning’s deadline, he can’t believe the older man still can be worried about his condition.
“…Have you found her yet?”
The question stuns Jun who is actually waiting for Kazu to answer his previous question. Sighing, he then turns to look at the walking nurses and patients in front.
“No. To be honest I’m running out of idea where to find her.”
“Have you tried to contact her friends? Go to the place you guys met before?”
“I did everything I can, Kazu. Even her friends don’t know where she is. Her agency said she applied for temporary leave until next month to settle personal matter, I don’t think there’s much to be done within that short time unless she plans to…”
Kazu frowns when his younger brother leaves it hanging instead, looking stress and guilty by something. It takes a while before he eventually gets the meaning behind the words.
“You mean…abortion?
“…That’s why I’m really afraid with what she’s thinking now. I don’t think she will afford it to give up her carrier. She loves it too much to let it go because of pregnancy.”
Kazu feels like his mouth is drying. He only can imagine how guilty his brother will be if the woman really plan to go through abortion. Although so far they don’t know yet if the child is really Jun’s, that doesn’t change the fact that Jun’s ignorance is a part of the reason why she might think that is the only solution she has since he is the only one she has to talk about the problem. Also, this is not only about her. This is also about the life of the innocent child that the woman is carrying in her. There is a long heavy silence fills between the two of them before Jun suddenly let out another sigh as his previous dim expression changes to normal again.
“I’ll find one way or another. For now, let’s stop thinking about my matter first. Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
The older brother is dumbstruck by the fact that another one of his brother will also put him ahead of his own worry. That nearly brings him to tears if not because he reminds himself about the real problem that they are having now.
“Sho hadn’t work on the document that I asked him to fix for Masaki. I know he’s not fully recovered yet, but he’s the only one who has expertise in that field. I don’t want those old jerks make fool of Masaki again. They are taking any chance they can to destroy Masaki now like they had done to Sho.”
“What kind of document was it?”
“Something related to the company administration. I gave it to Sho two days ago, but I never saw him work on it. I’d only see him writes down something on his journal.”
Feel completely helpless by the entire situation, Kazu let out another heavy sigh as he leans on the backrest. He is seriously running out of idea with how he should push Sho to lend his skill to Masaki anymore. Just why that second brother is so stubborn and egoistic to help someone who is actually covering him? Not to mention that the latter doesn’t even spare a glance on the papers when he gave it before although he already emphasized how important it is, especially in order to ease Masaki’s situation. He has made up his mind to see the bedridden man again so he can give his piece of thought about the latter’s unacceptable attitude when Jun suddenly touches his arm to gain his attention.
“You mean those thick papers about Masaki’s future plan during his take over on Sho’s position?”
The fact Jun knows what document he is talking about caught him off guard. Every word stuck in his throat as he looks at the younger man with wide eyes, obviously shocks by the unexpected discover. Just how come…?
“If it’s that one, Sho already told me to give it to Takayama-san yesterday. He said Takayama-san will know what to do with it.”
That turns the fourth brother speechless. Jun on the other hand already shaking his head while giggling due to amusement beside.
“Now I understand why he had something that supposed to be related with Masaki with him. You yourself know just how stubborn and egoistic Sho can be, right? Maybe that’s why he asked me to give it to Takayama-san instead. There’s no way he wants to say that it’s for Masaki by himself. That’s very Sho-like.”
“But I never saw him even touch it. There’s no way I won’t notice it if he’s working on it.”
“You think he will show that he’s working on it in front of you of all people who know what the document is about? And you’re also the one who asked him to fix it for Masaki, so being a full of pride man he is, there’s no way he will let other people to see how he actually is still concern about Masaki. Well, the last part just my rough guess tho.”
When the younger already laughs by Sho’s antic childish behavior, Kazu remains unresponsive as he just stares at the younger man with his jaw drops really low. By the moment he eventually realizes that he was actually worrying about nothing before, he immediately snorts before join in Jun while shaking his head as well. Even with the cold war which is actually going on between Sho and Masaki, he can’t believe those two will still have their silly moment like now. Yet, for some reasons it makes him relief as well. That proves to him that those two idiots are actually hadn’t change much until this second.
“And speaking of journal, I noticed there’s a book included in the envelope he gave me. I wonder what it is about. If you said you only see Sho worked on it-” his sentence suddenly died as his eyes caught something. Then, much to Kazu’s surprise, the younger brother of his gets up abruptly as his eyes stop at the entrance to the pharmacy. That reaction brings confusion to Kazu who follows the direction that Jun is looking at where he eventually realizes there is a pretty woman is about to step inside there. However, as soon as she notices Jun’s pair of shocked that already laid on her as well, she immediately halts.
For a while, both Jun and the woman remain still while exchanging their stare with each other. Only Kazu blinks his eyes by the dramatic reaction that those two are having as he tries really hard to recall where he had seen the lady before. Soon, he let out a gasp as his memories finally catch him up.
“She’s the model from one of the magazines you’ve worked with before, right Jun?”
The younger brothers however doesn’t react to his question the slightest. That makes Kazu to frown even deeper until a realization eventually hit him. His eyes immediately snap wide open as he turns to the lady again and notices the small maternity book that she is holding.
“I finally found you.” Jun finally finds his voice again, indirectly proved the previous guess that Kazu had toward the lady. The awkwardness however makes neither of the two dares to say anything first even until the pharmacist calls the fourth brother to come and get his medicine at the counter. Kazu immediately gets up from his seat and walks toward the mentioned place by that, but not before gives Jun a pat on the back to show his support. The gentle touch at the same time immediately makes Jun turns to look at him, though later nods back when sees the silent encouragement that he receives behind the eyes.
***
“Masaki-san. There’s something for you.”
Masaki immediately turns to Takayama who already shows him an envelope as he is about to enter his office after having rounds of table talk with the marketing department. Yet, by the time he comes closer to the secretary, he can’t help from frowning confusedly once notice the secret smile that the slightly older man has. Thinking that the latter is probably just having a good day, he thanks him for it before disappearing inside the office again. As soon as he is inside the private space however, the thought of his unsettled management planning makes him sigh heavily while dragging his heavy steps toward the working desk. The burden just grows heavier when he sees how messy his working space is with papers occupying everywhere since he hasn’t finished fixing what the directors had told him to yet. It seems like he will need another strong coffee to make him stay awake for another long night ahead unless he manages to complete it early which is unfortunately very unlikely.
While slumping on his working chair, Masaki places all the files he is carrying on top of the desk. His heart clenches just by thinking how he is going to solve the crisis that still going on in the company with his lack of information on what had happened during his absence for the past two years. Chewing his lips bitterly, he begins to arrange his desk in case any of the directors decides to barge in all of a sudden again and takes the chance to criticize his manner this time. The envelope nearly slips pass his mind at this moment if not because he notices how thick it is with something book-like had been put inside. Expecting another ton of works is waiting ahead, Masaki takes a deep breath to prepare for the worst before slowly pulling the content out. At first, he furrows his eyebrows when sees a lot of post-notes and scribbles conquer nearly every page of it, but once realizing it is actually corrections for his mistakes, his jaw drops. His heart beats faster due to excitement as he notices how detail each of it is, what more when he recognizes how familiar the handwriting is. He can feel his eyes glimmer with happy tears by that - both toward Kazu and the certain brother of his for their kindness.
That however is not the end of the surprise. Later, when he looks at the journal which had been put inside the envelope together with the plan, he is completely speechless. Almost all the pages had been filled in with advice, information, and suggestions on how to deal with the directors, department, and even clients in a very great detail. The fact that the second brother will do this much for him despite the stupid mistake he had done to him before makes him really want to go and see the latter right away to apologize and say his gratitude for everything. Tears already make its way down to his face as he reads each word that Sho has written there before he quickly wipes it to away start work on what has been entrusted to him.
There is no way in hell he is going to screw the older man’s expectation on him again this time.
***
Everything the doctor says doesn’t stick in his head.
From time to time, Sho will nod at whatever questions that were thrown to him, but that’s it. Even when the doctor reminds him about their schedule and says that he is going to leave to check the other patient first, the bedridden man just bows his head down without a word. Later, when he is finally left alone in the ward again, his eyes move to the petition which is lying on the top of the small table next ot his bed. He would never thought that some of his workers will do something like that behind his back just to show their support on his family by pleading him to let Masaki to watch over the company during his absence. Of course, doing that without the approval from the top management is against the rules, but seeing how long the name list on the petition goes left Sho to no other option but to surrender to his workers' wish. Undoubtedly now, the story of Masaki’s innocence has widely spread inside the company which leads to that outcome though for some unknown reason it only makes their father angrier as the old man refuses to recognize the result. In the end, it was him who agreed to recommend Masaki’s name to become the temporary replacement of his just like the workers wanted it by taking advantage of both his power and influence as the CEO of the company. The memory of how Takayama persuades him nearly every day just to agree with that decision brings a frown to his face due to the realization of the man’s absurd level of loyalty to their family. Not to mention that he also still can’t get how Masaki’s brain work until this second looking by how eager the latter is to save the company that actually had ruined his life for the past two years.
Sighing by the forever unsolved mystery, he moves to sit on his bedside and stares outside the window again. It already becomes his habit to watch the calming scenery nowadays if he starts to get overwhelm with a lot of things that might struck him with migraine again. Usually he can stare at it without thinking about anything for hours, but for some reason today, a memory suddenly comes into his mind.
“Why are you still in here, sir? I thought you went to accountant department. They are holding a welcome party, right?”
The young, stressed Sho who was still working behind his computer immediately turned to the clearly surprised Takayama who just entered the office. In the end, he let out a heavy sigh as he resumed his work.
“I’m busy right now. Also, it’s not unusual for a new employee to come and work here. Only the chief or vice of department’s presence is necessary, right?”
“I’m well aware about it sir, but…it’s Masaki-san’s welcome party. I thought you probably want to celebrate him.”
That froze Sho on the spot. Masaki? Which Masaki? He is only familiar with one Masaki and that person is his brother. It wasn’t until he recalled the mention of accountant department that everything eventually come into a piece in his brain.
“President was very proud when Masaki-san graduated with honor in accountancy, right? I know it just a matter of time before the president himself will hire Masaki-san to work with him. He must have a high expect-” the secretary didn’t manage to complete his words when Sho already rushed out of his office. The young vice president ignored all the greetings he received from everyone he met along the way as he ran toward the elevator and pressed the button to the accountancy department. At that time, he still remembered how fast his heartbeat was due to fear. Why he never heard about that before? Why their father didn’t mention anything about Masaki working with them? Indeed, when he thought about it again, it won’t be that weird for their father to secretly use his power to bring Masaki into the company without having to sit through interview or some sorts of test since it was the fastest and safest way to secure Masaki’s employment without the directors get in the way. However, thinking how his own brother will have to work for long amount of hours and ridiculous expectation to reach, that something he couldn’t bear. And with the fact of just how excellence Masaki is when it came to numbers, he knew it will be sooner or later before the sneaky, heartless directors will feel threaten by it and do anything they can to eliminate the latter.
As soon as the elevator door was opened, Sho hurriedly ran toward one place in his mind. He already panted hard by the time he arrived at the entrance where a lot of people gathering while holding drink in their hand. When he heard everyone suddenly laughed aloud later, he sneaked inside as the thought that his brother was probably being made fun of came in. How surprised he was though to see that younger man was actually the one who made a joke about his own self.
“That’s why everyone can just call me Masaki instead! I know I will trouble all of you a lot from now on, but please kindly guide me so I can improve myself. I am more than glad to learn everything, so please kindly teach and look after me.”
By the time the younger man bowed down, all the people in there gave him a loud round of applause. Sho who were both disturbed and surprised by the supposed to be pleasant scene however, quickly reached for Masaki’s arm and led him away from there. Questioning voices immediately rose in the air by the sudden action since nobody will expect the young vice president to come there, especially Masaki who stared at his brother with his wide eyes though still dumbly followed him. Later, when they were finally alone at the emergency stairways, Sho eventually turned to the younger man with distressed gaze.
“Are you stupid?”
That question startled Masaki. Slightly offended, the younger brother returned the older man’s look with a furious one.
“I know your position is higher than me and you’re much clever, brighter, or whatever it is, but that’s not a nice way to talk with your people!”
“That wasn’t what I mean, Masaki! You’re also the one who said I look too stressed up and exhausted when I came home! What were you thinking when you agreed to work in here?! You should tell me if father forced you to work your *ss off in here! I can see him-”
“No! It was my decision! I was the one who asked father to let me work in here!”
Not expecting that, Sho was left dumbstruck for a while. His frown grew deeper as he stared his younger brother with disbelieve eyes.
“…What? Why?”
Masaki chewed his lip as he looked thoughtful to himself. It took nearly a minute before Sho saw him deeply breathe in and looked at him again, this time with determination.
“I respect you.”
Another long moment passed in silence when Sho dropped his jaw and looked at the slightly younger man in front him without blinking. When he eventually got his voice back, he came closer as he tried to confirm what he was told.
“What?”
“I said I respect you! Don’t make me say it again! Do you know how embarrassing it feels to say it loud!” he knew Masaki was stating the truth when the latter quickly turned away despite the noticeable glowing redness until his ears. That of course confused Sho even more as he tried his best to make sense of Masaki’s logic even though he knew he wouldn’t ever be considering how random and airheaded the younger man can be. After all, what was so respectful with working yourself too hard until you are mentally and physically drained? It wasn’t like his brothers didn’t know how stressful working in the company can be with the constant harassment from the board of directors. He was about to question that when Masaki continued.
“Like you’d said, I did notice that you always looked so tired when you returned home after work. Also, since you have to learn a lot of things about this company and its business from scratch while carrying your responsibility at the same time even with that pressure from father and those…selfish men, I can’t imagine how stressful it could be for you. You’re working so hard for everyone, yet it’s never enough. So I thought-”
“Masaki, I get it. I appreciate your concern. But working in this field is much darker and complicated than you think. It’s not only about numbers or whatever you learnt in university. You have to deal with a lot of people and meet certain expectation…that sometimes not even possible to achieve. This is much, much harder than you thought. I don’t want you to work in here just because you feel sorry for me. I will do just fine alone rather than making you feel oblige to be here.”
“But Sho, that’s not what I mean. What I’m trying to say-”
“It’s fine. You should find a job that you like. Don’t feel responsible to think about this company or me. I’ll handle the rest. I’ll talk to father about this later.” he then smiled as he ruffled the younger man’s fluffy hair. Masaki who was blinking his eyes since a while ago immediately showed his pout by that which made Sho to chuckle instead. Assuming that the younger man will listen to him this time, the young vice president wanted to leave and settle the necessary stuff, but was surprised when he received a slap on his head from behind. Totally dumbstruck, he rubbed the hurt area as he quickly turned to Masaki again.
“What the hell…?!”
“Now you will listen to me? You’re calling me stupid when it’s you who are the one who is stupid here.”
The serious look that Masaki has made him frown. He was about to say something back when Masaki suddenly lifted his hand to stop him.
“See? You’re not listening to what I just said. Anyway, yes, part of the reason why I choose to work in here is because I’m worried about you. You have to endure everything alone with such pressure and expectation that I’m afraid will break you one day. Remember the accident a year ago? Though I’m glad that you’re finally open to me about your pain, I can’t afford the thought of you breaking down like that alone. If you choose to work in here to redeem yourself for that accident and avoid the directors to take over again, then there’s no reason for me to be rejected from working in here because I want to help you, right? It’s not because I feel forced. It’s because I want to.”
Sho just blinked his eyes by that. Not only it was very rare to see Masaki appeared furious like that, but the fact that the younger man didn’t easily surrender to his words as usual surprised him more than ever.
“I don’t blame you for keeping everything to yourself. I know it is part of your personality and because you feel it is your responsibility to appear tough to protect your image as father’s main heir. The only thing that I disagree is how you often keep pushing yourself until the limit and then break down on your own. I don’t want you to fight alone anymore.” Sho wanted to object him, especially for the last part, but couldn’t when notice the changed on Masaki’s expression from serious back to the slightly embarrassed one.
“And about what I said about respecting you…it’s because I admire your strength. You didn’t give up easily even if you don’t have experience in business. You don’t like this company, but you’re still kind enough to stand for those workers. It’s something…that very admirable for me. The kindness in the perseverance that you always have.”
Sho was completely dumbstruck. If they were in different situation now, he will definitely tease the younger man for such chessy words. Even the reddening Masaki himself looked so torn between ran away or remain standing there after saying something that very unlikely among them. Probably that was why he then suddenly pretend to look everywhere except him.
“Anyway, now I’m already here, are you going to take me for a tour? Ah! But you’re the vice president, so you must be very busy! I’ll ask my co-worker during lunch break then. You probably have a lot of work in your office, right? Hurry up and go back! I’ll be fine!” the very fast babble stunned Sho who didn’t even manage to say a word yet. When the younger man started to pester him to go back by pushing him until the door, Sho couldn’t stay quiet anymore and turned around to stop Masaki. His eyes left no room for joke as he gripped the younger man's arms.
“You don’t have any idea what you’re involved with.”
The firm tone sent Masaki speechless for a while. Unexpectedly, a huge smile then spread on the airhead brother's face as he calmly returns Sho’s worried look.
“I know what I’m involved with.”
Hearing the light tone turned Sho furious. Before he could say anything back though, Masaki silenced him with reassuring eyes.
“You’ll have me on your back, Sho. I promise.”
He still remembers until this second how Masaki was often there to cover him up every time things nearly got out of hand. Despite being a airhead and slightly ‘slow’ when reading the atmosphere in personal basis, the younger man is unbelievably professional and reliable when it comes to work. Back then the two of them always take turn defending each other when the directors saw any opportunity to drag them down and that what gave him strength to keep on fighting until the end. Of course, the credit will also go to Satoshi, Kazu, and Jun who always provide them with place to return after a long day in the office with ton of endless works are waiting on the next day. He probably will already break down much earlier if not because all of them are always there for him.
Wiping the droplet of tears that already flow down to his cheek away, Sho then takes another deep breath to calm down himself from getting too overwhelmed.
This time…he knows it is his turn to meet their expectation on him.
***
>Aaaah this is getting harder to write (@ __ @) I want more tiiiiime. RL is not that hard (since I'm in semester break now), but I need time to wriiiiiiite. I can delay the update if I want it (not like I hadn't update late yet so far tho :P), but I'm not going to make it until the end of July if I don't force myself. I won't be around after that until middle of September (*___*)9 Power up for the last spurt!
>Speaking of last spurt, I'm going to end this story on chapter 25. So we only have 5 chapters left before the ending! Hope you will stay with it until the end (_ _)
>As always, Thank You SO much for sharing! Comments are Loooooove <3<3<3
Rating: G for this chapter.
Characters: OT5 (All Arashi members as brothers)
Genre: AU, drama, family, angst
Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine~
Summary: 2 years ago Osayama Satoshi was involved in a terrible accident that made him lost partial of his memories. Even though he survived the impact, he becomes mentally incapable and has to depend on his younger brothers to lead normal life. What he didn’t expect when waking up though was to find all his once caring brothers had turned into people who were completely different from his memory. Sho has changed into a hot-tempered workaholic, Kazunari becomes an introvert who refuses to talk with anyone, and Jun drowns himself in party, alcohol and women every single night. To make it even confusing, nobody in the house is allowed to speak about Masaki who for some unknown reasons has disappeared without a trace.
Will Satoshi find the answer he is seeking for in the end? Or something…is actually is hidden beneath the mess?
A/N: Their surname is Osayama. Un-betaed!
Chapter 20 : Beneath the ego
The hospital pharmacy is slightly crowded with patients who are waiting for their turn to get their medicine like him. Entering 20 minutes, Kazu can’t longer hide his worries as he sighs on his seat, sometimes rubbing his face due to stress.
It is not the long waiting that bothers him now. In fact, he knows there is no way he can properly remember what the pharmacist will explain about the drugs if he is called sooner. The only thing that haunts him now is the lack of news from Sho regarding the management planning that he had asked the latter to fix for Masaki. Although he had visited the latter a few times to bring clean clothes or to take turn with Satoshi to watch over Sho so the eldest brother can rest at home, he never even once see Sho touched the paper, let alone working on it. Now, with time is running out until the deadline which will be the day after tomorrow, he is growing restless by the helplessness of unable to do anything for Masaki. He really thought after the emotions burst with Satoshi before Sho will at least become a bit softer toward the airhead brother, but it seems like he is very wrong. Regardless the widespread story of Masaki’s innocence among the workers in the company now, Sho clearly can’t bring himself to forgive the younger man for not listening to his order before. He was so deep in his trouble until he fails to realize that someone actually already takes the seat beside him.
“Are you okay?”
The familiar voice startles him. As soon as he turns to his side, he found Jun already stare him with his clearly worried eyes.
“Why are you here? You’re supposed to help Masaki in office.”
“He told me to come here with you. He said there’s nothing much to do in office so far anyway.”
Kazu only manages to nod by that. Despite being pressured with tons of meeting and a very important planning’s deadline, he can’t believe the older man still can be worried about his condition.
“…Have you found her yet?”
The question stuns Jun who is actually waiting for Kazu to answer his previous question. Sighing, he then turns to look at the walking nurses and patients in front.
“No. To be honest I’m running out of idea where to find her.”
“Have you tried to contact her friends? Go to the place you guys met before?”
“I did everything I can, Kazu. Even her friends don’t know where she is. Her agency said she applied for temporary leave until next month to settle personal matter, I don’t think there’s much to be done within that short time unless she plans to…”
Kazu frowns when his younger brother leaves it hanging instead, looking stress and guilty by something. It takes a while before he eventually gets the meaning behind the words.
“You mean…abortion?
“…That’s why I’m really afraid with what she’s thinking now. I don’t think she will afford it to give up her carrier. She loves it too much to let it go because of pregnancy.”
Kazu feels like his mouth is drying. He only can imagine how guilty his brother will be if the woman really plan to go through abortion. Although so far they don’t know yet if the child is really Jun’s, that doesn’t change the fact that Jun’s ignorance is a part of the reason why she might think that is the only solution she has since he is the only one she has to talk about the problem. Also, this is not only about her. This is also about the life of the innocent child that the woman is carrying in her. There is a long heavy silence fills between the two of them before Jun suddenly let out another sigh as his previous dim expression changes to normal again.
“I’ll find one way or another. For now, let’s stop thinking about my matter first. Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
The older brother is dumbstruck by the fact that another one of his brother will also put him ahead of his own worry. That nearly brings him to tears if not because he reminds himself about the real problem that they are having now.
“Sho hadn’t work on the document that I asked him to fix for Masaki. I know he’s not fully recovered yet, but he’s the only one who has expertise in that field. I don’t want those old jerks make fool of Masaki again. They are taking any chance they can to destroy Masaki now like they had done to Sho.”
“What kind of document was it?”
“Something related to the company administration. I gave it to Sho two days ago, but I never saw him work on it. I’d only see him writes down something on his journal.”
Feel completely helpless by the entire situation, Kazu let out another heavy sigh as he leans on the backrest. He is seriously running out of idea with how he should push Sho to lend his skill to Masaki anymore. Just why that second brother is so stubborn and egoistic to help someone who is actually covering him? Not to mention that the latter doesn’t even spare a glance on the papers when he gave it before although he already emphasized how important it is, especially in order to ease Masaki’s situation. He has made up his mind to see the bedridden man again so he can give his piece of thought about the latter’s unacceptable attitude when Jun suddenly touches his arm to gain his attention.
“You mean those thick papers about Masaki’s future plan during his take over on Sho’s position?”
The fact Jun knows what document he is talking about caught him off guard. Every word stuck in his throat as he looks at the younger man with wide eyes, obviously shocks by the unexpected discover. Just how come…?
“If it’s that one, Sho already told me to give it to Takayama-san yesterday. He said Takayama-san will know what to do with it.”
That turns the fourth brother speechless. Jun on the other hand already shaking his head while giggling due to amusement beside.
“Now I understand why he had something that supposed to be related with Masaki with him. You yourself know just how stubborn and egoistic Sho can be, right? Maybe that’s why he asked me to give it to Takayama-san instead. There’s no way he wants to say that it’s for Masaki by himself. That’s very Sho-like.”
“But I never saw him even touch it. There’s no way I won’t notice it if he’s working on it.”
“You think he will show that he’s working on it in front of you of all people who know what the document is about? And you’re also the one who asked him to fix it for Masaki, so being a full of pride man he is, there’s no way he will let other people to see how he actually is still concern about Masaki. Well, the last part just my rough guess tho.”
When the younger already laughs by Sho’s antic childish behavior, Kazu remains unresponsive as he just stares at the younger man with his jaw drops really low. By the moment he eventually realizes that he was actually worrying about nothing before, he immediately snorts before join in Jun while shaking his head as well. Even with the cold war which is actually going on between Sho and Masaki, he can’t believe those two will still have their silly moment like now. Yet, for some reasons it makes him relief as well. That proves to him that those two idiots are actually hadn’t change much until this second.
“And speaking of journal, I noticed there’s a book included in the envelope he gave me. I wonder what it is about. If you said you only see Sho worked on it-” his sentence suddenly died as his eyes caught something. Then, much to Kazu’s surprise, the younger brother of his gets up abruptly as his eyes stop at the entrance to the pharmacy. That reaction brings confusion to Kazu who follows the direction that Jun is looking at where he eventually realizes there is a pretty woman is about to step inside there. However, as soon as she notices Jun’s pair of shocked that already laid on her as well, she immediately halts.
For a while, both Jun and the woman remain still while exchanging their stare with each other. Only Kazu blinks his eyes by the dramatic reaction that those two are having as he tries really hard to recall where he had seen the lady before. Soon, he let out a gasp as his memories finally catch him up.
“She’s the model from one of the magazines you’ve worked with before, right Jun?”
The younger brothers however doesn’t react to his question the slightest. That makes Kazu to frown even deeper until a realization eventually hit him. His eyes immediately snap wide open as he turns to the lady again and notices the small maternity book that she is holding.
“I finally found you.” Jun finally finds his voice again, indirectly proved the previous guess that Kazu had toward the lady. The awkwardness however makes neither of the two dares to say anything first even until the pharmacist calls the fourth brother to come and get his medicine at the counter. Kazu immediately gets up from his seat and walks toward the mentioned place by that, but not before gives Jun a pat on the back to show his support. The gentle touch at the same time immediately makes Jun turns to look at him, though later nods back when sees the silent encouragement that he receives behind the eyes.
***
“Masaki-san. There’s something for you.”
Masaki immediately turns to Takayama who already shows him an envelope as he is about to enter his office after having rounds of table talk with the marketing department. Yet, by the time he comes closer to the secretary, he can’t help from frowning confusedly once notice the secret smile that the slightly older man has. Thinking that the latter is probably just having a good day, he thanks him for it before disappearing inside the office again. As soon as he is inside the private space however, the thought of his unsettled management planning makes him sigh heavily while dragging his heavy steps toward the working desk. The burden just grows heavier when he sees how messy his working space is with papers occupying everywhere since he hasn’t finished fixing what the directors had told him to yet. It seems like he will need another strong coffee to make him stay awake for another long night ahead unless he manages to complete it early which is unfortunately very unlikely.
While slumping on his working chair, Masaki places all the files he is carrying on top of the desk. His heart clenches just by thinking how he is going to solve the crisis that still going on in the company with his lack of information on what had happened during his absence for the past two years. Chewing his lips bitterly, he begins to arrange his desk in case any of the directors decides to barge in all of a sudden again and takes the chance to criticize his manner this time. The envelope nearly slips pass his mind at this moment if not because he notices how thick it is with something book-like had been put inside. Expecting another ton of works is waiting ahead, Masaki takes a deep breath to prepare for the worst before slowly pulling the content out. At first, he furrows his eyebrows when sees a lot of post-notes and scribbles conquer nearly every page of it, but once realizing it is actually corrections for his mistakes, his jaw drops. His heart beats faster due to excitement as he notices how detail each of it is, what more when he recognizes how familiar the handwriting is. He can feel his eyes glimmer with happy tears by that - both toward Kazu and the certain brother of his for their kindness.
That however is not the end of the surprise. Later, when he looks at the journal which had been put inside the envelope together with the plan, he is completely speechless. Almost all the pages had been filled in with advice, information, and suggestions on how to deal with the directors, department, and even clients in a very great detail. The fact that the second brother will do this much for him despite the stupid mistake he had done to him before makes him really want to go and see the latter right away to apologize and say his gratitude for everything. Tears already make its way down to his face as he reads each word that Sho has written there before he quickly wipes it to away start work on what has been entrusted to him.
There is no way in hell he is going to screw the older man’s expectation on him again this time.
***
Everything the doctor says doesn’t stick in his head.
From time to time, Sho will nod at whatever questions that were thrown to him, but that’s it. Even when the doctor reminds him about their schedule and says that he is going to leave to check the other patient first, the bedridden man just bows his head down without a word. Later, when he is finally left alone in the ward again, his eyes move to the petition which is lying on the top of the small table next ot his bed. He would never thought that some of his workers will do something like that behind his back just to show their support on his family by pleading him to let Masaki to watch over the company during his absence. Of course, doing that without the approval from the top management is against the rules, but seeing how long the name list on the petition goes left Sho to no other option but to surrender to his workers' wish. Undoubtedly now, the story of Masaki’s innocence has widely spread inside the company which leads to that outcome though for some unknown reason it only makes their father angrier as the old man refuses to recognize the result. In the end, it was him who agreed to recommend Masaki’s name to become the temporary replacement of his just like the workers wanted it by taking advantage of both his power and influence as the CEO of the company. The memory of how Takayama persuades him nearly every day just to agree with that decision brings a frown to his face due to the realization of the man’s absurd level of loyalty to their family. Not to mention that he also still can’t get how Masaki’s brain work until this second looking by how eager the latter is to save the company that actually had ruined his life for the past two years.
Sighing by the forever unsolved mystery, he moves to sit on his bedside and stares outside the window again. It already becomes his habit to watch the calming scenery nowadays if he starts to get overwhelm with a lot of things that might struck him with migraine again. Usually he can stare at it without thinking about anything for hours, but for some reason today, a memory suddenly comes into his mind.
“Why are you still in here, sir? I thought you went to accountant department. They are holding a welcome party, right?”
The young, stressed Sho who was still working behind his computer immediately turned to the clearly surprised Takayama who just entered the office. In the end, he let out a heavy sigh as he resumed his work.
“I’m busy right now. Also, it’s not unusual for a new employee to come and work here. Only the chief or vice of department’s presence is necessary, right?”
“I’m well aware about it sir, but…it’s Masaki-san’s welcome party. I thought you probably want to celebrate him.”
That froze Sho on the spot. Masaki? Which Masaki? He is only familiar with one Masaki and that person is his brother. It wasn’t until he recalled the mention of accountant department that everything eventually come into a piece in his brain.
“President was very proud when Masaki-san graduated with honor in accountancy, right? I know it just a matter of time before the president himself will hire Masaki-san to work with him. He must have a high expect-” the secretary didn’t manage to complete his words when Sho already rushed out of his office. The young vice president ignored all the greetings he received from everyone he met along the way as he ran toward the elevator and pressed the button to the accountancy department. At that time, he still remembered how fast his heartbeat was due to fear. Why he never heard about that before? Why their father didn’t mention anything about Masaki working with them? Indeed, when he thought about it again, it won’t be that weird for their father to secretly use his power to bring Masaki into the company without having to sit through interview or some sorts of test since it was the fastest and safest way to secure Masaki’s employment without the directors get in the way. However, thinking how his own brother will have to work for long amount of hours and ridiculous expectation to reach, that something he couldn’t bear. And with the fact of just how excellence Masaki is when it came to numbers, he knew it will be sooner or later before the sneaky, heartless directors will feel threaten by it and do anything they can to eliminate the latter.
As soon as the elevator door was opened, Sho hurriedly ran toward one place in his mind. He already panted hard by the time he arrived at the entrance where a lot of people gathering while holding drink in their hand. When he heard everyone suddenly laughed aloud later, he sneaked inside as the thought that his brother was probably being made fun of came in. How surprised he was though to see that younger man was actually the one who made a joke about his own self.
“That’s why everyone can just call me Masaki instead! I know I will trouble all of you a lot from now on, but please kindly guide me so I can improve myself. I am more than glad to learn everything, so please kindly teach and look after me.”
By the time the younger man bowed down, all the people in there gave him a loud round of applause. Sho who were both disturbed and surprised by the supposed to be pleasant scene however, quickly reached for Masaki’s arm and led him away from there. Questioning voices immediately rose in the air by the sudden action since nobody will expect the young vice president to come there, especially Masaki who stared at his brother with his wide eyes though still dumbly followed him. Later, when they were finally alone at the emergency stairways, Sho eventually turned to the younger man with distressed gaze.
“Are you stupid?”
That question startled Masaki. Slightly offended, the younger brother returned the older man’s look with a furious one.
“I know your position is higher than me and you’re much clever, brighter, or whatever it is, but that’s not a nice way to talk with your people!”
“That wasn’t what I mean, Masaki! You’re also the one who said I look too stressed up and exhausted when I came home! What were you thinking when you agreed to work in here?! You should tell me if father forced you to work your *ss off in here! I can see him-”
“No! It was my decision! I was the one who asked father to let me work in here!”
Not expecting that, Sho was left dumbstruck for a while. His frown grew deeper as he stared his younger brother with disbelieve eyes.
“…What? Why?”
Masaki chewed his lip as he looked thoughtful to himself. It took nearly a minute before Sho saw him deeply breathe in and looked at him again, this time with determination.
“I respect you.”
Another long moment passed in silence when Sho dropped his jaw and looked at the slightly younger man in front him without blinking. When he eventually got his voice back, he came closer as he tried to confirm what he was told.
“What?”
“I said I respect you! Don’t make me say it again! Do you know how embarrassing it feels to say it loud!” he knew Masaki was stating the truth when the latter quickly turned away despite the noticeable glowing redness until his ears. That of course confused Sho even more as he tried his best to make sense of Masaki’s logic even though he knew he wouldn’t ever be considering how random and airheaded the younger man can be. After all, what was so respectful with working yourself too hard until you are mentally and physically drained? It wasn’t like his brothers didn’t know how stressful working in the company can be with the constant harassment from the board of directors. He was about to question that when Masaki continued.
“Like you’d said, I did notice that you always looked so tired when you returned home after work. Also, since you have to learn a lot of things about this company and its business from scratch while carrying your responsibility at the same time even with that pressure from father and those…selfish men, I can’t imagine how stressful it could be for you. You’re working so hard for everyone, yet it’s never enough. So I thought-”
“Masaki, I get it. I appreciate your concern. But working in this field is much darker and complicated than you think. It’s not only about numbers or whatever you learnt in university. You have to deal with a lot of people and meet certain expectation…that sometimes not even possible to achieve. This is much, much harder than you thought. I don’t want you to work in here just because you feel sorry for me. I will do just fine alone rather than making you feel oblige to be here.”
“But Sho, that’s not what I mean. What I’m trying to say-”
“It’s fine. You should find a job that you like. Don’t feel responsible to think about this company or me. I’ll handle the rest. I’ll talk to father about this later.” he then smiled as he ruffled the younger man’s fluffy hair. Masaki who was blinking his eyes since a while ago immediately showed his pout by that which made Sho to chuckle instead. Assuming that the younger man will listen to him this time, the young vice president wanted to leave and settle the necessary stuff, but was surprised when he received a slap on his head from behind. Totally dumbstruck, he rubbed the hurt area as he quickly turned to Masaki again.
“What the hell…?!”
“Now you will listen to me? You’re calling me stupid when it’s you who are the one who is stupid here.”
The serious look that Masaki has made him frown. He was about to say something back when Masaki suddenly lifted his hand to stop him.
“See? You’re not listening to what I just said. Anyway, yes, part of the reason why I choose to work in here is because I’m worried about you. You have to endure everything alone with such pressure and expectation that I’m afraid will break you one day. Remember the accident a year ago? Though I’m glad that you’re finally open to me about your pain, I can’t afford the thought of you breaking down like that alone. If you choose to work in here to redeem yourself for that accident and avoid the directors to take over again, then there’s no reason for me to be rejected from working in here because I want to help you, right? It’s not because I feel forced. It’s because I want to.”
Sho just blinked his eyes by that. Not only it was very rare to see Masaki appeared furious like that, but the fact that the younger man didn’t easily surrender to his words as usual surprised him more than ever.
“I don’t blame you for keeping everything to yourself. I know it is part of your personality and because you feel it is your responsibility to appear tough to protect your image as father’s main heir. The only thing that I disagree is how you often keep pushing yourself until the limit and then break down on your own. I don’t want you to fight alone anymore.” Sho wanted to object him, especially for the last part, but couldn’t when notice the changed on Masaki’s expression from serious back to the slightly embarrassed one.
“And about what I said about respecting you…it’s because I admire your strength. You didn’t give up easily even if you don’t have experience in business. You don’t like this company, but you’re still kind enough to stand for those workers. It’s something…that very admirable for me. The kindness in the perseverance that you always have.”
Sho was completely dumbstruck. If they were in different situation now, he will definitely tease the younger man for such chessy words. Even the reddening Masaki himself looked so torn between ran away or remain standing there after saying something that very unlikely among them. Probably that was why he then suddenly pretend to look everywhere except him.
“Anyway, now I’m already here, are you going to take me for a tour? Ah! But you’re the vice president, so you must be very busy! I’ll ask my co-worker during lunch break then. You probably have a lot of work in your office, right? Hurry up and go back! I’ll be fine!” the very fast babble stunned Sho who didn’t even manage to say a word yet. When the younger man started to pester him to go back by pushing him until the door, Sho couldn’t stay quiet anymore and turned around to stop Masaki. His eyes left no room for joke as he gripped the younger man's arms.
“You don’t have any idea what you’re involved with.”
The firm tone sent Masaki speechless for a while. Unexpectedly, a huge smile then spread on the airhead brother's face as he calmly returns Sho’s worried look.
“I know what I’m involved with.”
Hearing the light tone turned Sho furious. Before he could say anything back though, Masaki silenced him with reassuring eyes.
“You’ll have me on your back, Sho. I promise.”
He still remembers until this second how Masaki was often there to cover him up every time things nearly got out of hand. Despite being a airhead and slightly ‘slow’ when reading the atmosphere in personal basis, the younger man is unbelievably professional and reliable when it comes to work. Back then the two of them always take turn defending each other when the directors saw any opportunity to drag them down and that what gave him strength to keep on fighting until the end. Of course, the credit will also go to Satoshi, Kazu, and Jun who always provide them with place to return after a long day in the office with ton of endless works are waiting on the next day. He probably will already break down much earlier if not because all of them are always there for him.
Wiping the droplet of tears that already flow down to his cheek away, Sho then takes another deep breath to calm down himself from getting too overwhelmed.
This time…he knows it is his turn to meet their expectation on him.
***
>Aaaah this is getting harder to write (@ __ @) I want more tiiiiime. RL is not that hard (since I'm in semester break now), but I need time to wriiiiiiite. I can delay the update if I want it (not like I hadn't update late yet so far tho :P), but I'm not going to make it until the end of July if I don't force myself. I won't be around after that until middle of September (*___*)9 Power up for the last spurt!
>Speaking of last spurt, I'm going to end this story on chapter 25. So we only have 5 chapters left before the ending! Hope you will stay with it until the end (_ _)
>As always, Thank You SO much for sharing! Comments are Loooooove <3<3<3