[Complete] Invisible Chains- Chapter 22
Chapter 22
I covered my face in my pillow. I wanted to scream on top of my lungs but I was overwhelmed with sadness and helplessness that I cried. Somehow it was a new feeling-crying your heart out. It’s been a long time since I let out my tears for a reason. Actually, from what I can remember, the only time I cried was when I sat on the cold and dark floor in Mariko’s nursery room. All of her toys and clothes were thrown everywhere on the floor after my father had threw a fit. He couldn’t stand her crying at night when he tried to get some sleep. It was a few years since Nakashima Industries started and my father was in a difficult position. He worked for almost 15 hours per day and when he comes home, he almost had no strength to walk from the front door to the bedroom. With crying on top of his stress and tiredness, he was frustrated and took it out on Mariko.
There was a knock on my door and I quickly sat myself up. I wiped my tears and sniffles away before I gave out a reply to the door. “Who is it?” I asked, hoping that it was the maid or butler. “It’s me.” I recognized that it was Aiba-san’s voice. I let out a small sigh and got up to answer the door. I opened it to be greeted with a tray of two sorbets from dessert in front of my face. I took a step back when Aiba-san lowered the tray from his face. “I thought that you wanted to finish your dessert so I asked the chef to make some new ones.” He said with a shy smile. I forced a smile and then let him enter my room.
He came in and with his mouth wide open, he looked around my bedroom. “Wow, is this your room? This room is…” Aiba-san said and then I finished his sentence with, “Weird like the structure of the house.” Aiba-san shook his head and then looked at me. “It’s pretty. I wish my room was like this.” He said. Then he looked at the room that is connected with my bedroom. “You have a big view of the neighbourhood too!” He exclaimed as he rush towards the window. I looked at him dumbfounded and wondered how I got myself involved with him. Then he turned his head to me and said, “But the tree is kind of in the way, right? If this tree wasn’t here then you could poke your nose around, but they would be able to do the same to you.”
Suddenly I laughed as hard as I could for no apparent reason. Somehow he made me laugh with just that comment. I found it funny how Aiba-san was concerned with me peeking at other houses around like a housewife. I held onto my stomach as tears formed from my eyes. “What’s so funny Asuka-chan?” He asked, clueless and lost at the comment I was laughing at.
I slowly calmed myself down and wiped the tears from my eyes with my arm. “It’s nothing.” I said with a shy smile. Aiba-san giggled as he looked at my facial expression. “I think today’s my lucky day.” He said then he placed the tray of sorbets on the lounge chair. I furrowed my eyebrows and wondered what he was talking about. “I finally made you laugh.” My face quickly hardened and I stared at him feeling stunned and startled. He was right, he did make me laugh even until tears came out. Why did I laugh at him? I don’t even laugh at things that other people laugh to so why did I laugh when he made that comment?
I stood frozen as I tried to think of the reason why I laughed. First I started to repeat Aiba-san’s comment in my head and questioned if it was funny or not. Then I started to doubt my sense of humour. Do I have a bad sense of humour? Reasons and theories started to pop in my head about my laugh, when I noticed a cup of sorbet in front of me. I slowly looked up to see Aiba-san trying to hand me the sorbet with one hand as he held to his in his other hand.
I bit my lower lip and gently took it from him. “Arigato gozaimasu.” I muttered, which he replied with a smile. I scooped up a bit of the sorbet and placed it my mouth. All of my worries and concerns that I had floating in my mind were quickly frozen by the cooling and tasty sorbet. As I quietly ate my sorbet, Aiba-san roamed around my bed and my desk.
“What’s this?” He asked. Then I looked over at his direction to notice that he was staring at the envelope, which contained the letter from Mariko’s brother. My eyes quickly widened and I dashed to grab the envelope before he had a chance to poke his nose at it. I placed it in the cabinet and he looked at me with a puzzled look. “It’s a confidential letter from a stockholder.” I lied as I avoided eye contact. I didn’t want to reveal to him another dark secret of mine. Considering that he's only an acquaintance, he already knows too much about me and things that no one else knows.
“Oh, I see.” He whispered sadly with his head lowered, almost if he wanted to be included in the concerns of the company. “It’s boring stuff anyways. All I do is read sheets of paper of words that are usually about non-sense.” I said and then I paused. I began to realize what I had said. Why did I explain myself to Aiba-san, especially when none of it’s true? Why did I lie about something I don’t need to? I could have told him that something he wouldn’t understand, like using words explaining financial, or research filled with explanations of scientific processes. Then I looked at Aiba-san who ate his sorbet and slowly met with my eyes. I forced a smile and then also began to wonder, why was I cautious about not hurting his feelings?
I slowly began to drift away in my thoughts. Unconsciously, I headed towards the sofa and sat down while I kept eating my sorbet. I didn’t even notice that Aiba-san had sat beside me and pointed out that I had finished it. “Do you want me to ask the chef to make more for you? He can probably whip up a new batch for you if you want.” I turned my head to him and then I looked down at my cup to see I had finished it. I blinked my eyes and quickly declined his offer. “Iie, I’m fine.” Then I glanced at Aiba-san who turned his head back to stare out through the window.
I bit my lower lip. I began to wonder why Aiba-san was here the first place, and then I remembered that he was here because I yelled at my father before I stormed off from the dinner table. “Arigato.” I whispered. Slowly Aiba-san turned his head towards me and cocked his head to the side. “Hm? What did you say?” I pursed my lips tightly and straightened myself up before I stared into his eyes. “Arigato. The dessert helped me cool down a bit.” I said and smiled at him. He looked at me and gave me back the same smile. “Sometimes I have family problems and get upset too. But eventually you have to consider that blood is thicker than water, right?” He said and then took the cup from my hand, and placed both cups back on the tray.
I nodded and leaned forward to rest my chin in my hand. “I’m just embarrassed that my otosan treats me like a child. I feel like I need to prove to him that I’m capable and responsible.” Then I wanted to add, but held myself back. Like if I was born as a boy instead of a girl, that would make any father proud. After I sighed, I heard giggles from Aiba-san. I turned my head to see he was staring at me. I took my chin off and pulled back my head. Then I began to notice that I had lowered my guard and revealed my true nature to him. I could feel my cheeks turning red.
Soon afterwards, the conversation died down and we both became awkward. With my flushed face, I remained quiet as I tried to think of another topic to talk about. I glanced at Aiba-san and he made a similar face. I guess he was trying to do the same.
“I think I should go, it’s getting quite late.” He said and rose from his seat. I quickly got up and answered. “I’ll send you out then.” Both of us were still feeling awkward and quiet as we exited my bedroom and headed towards the front door. Even though we didn’t say anything else, I believed he had said enough to soothe my frustration that I had in my heart.
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A/N: As I mentioned in chapter 11, I based Asuka and her father's house to this real-life house. However I wasn't able to post the picture because LJ was being stupid to me, so I provided a link. This chapter was basically in Asuka's bedroom and the room adjacent to it. I just wanted to remind you how her bedroom and the room looks like. As seen here:
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as it has a lot of cute moments with Asuka and Aiba. Thanks for reading! (o^-^o)
I covered my face in my pillow. I wanted to scream on top of my lungs but I was overwhelmed with sadness and helplessness that I cried. Somehow it was a new feeling-crying your heart out. It’s been a long time since I let out my tears for a reason. Actually, from what I can remember, the only time I cried was when I sat on the cold and dark floor in Mariko’s nursery room. All of her toys and clothes were thrown everywhere on the floor after my father had threw a fit. He couldn’t stand her crying at night when he tried to get some sleep. It was a few years since Nakashima Industries started and my father was in a difficult position. He worked for almost 15 hours per day and when he comes home, he almost had no strength to walk from the front door to the bedroom. With crying on top of his stress and tiredness, he was frustrated and took it out on Mariko.
There was a knock on my door and I quickly sat myself up. I wiped my tears and sniffles away before I gave out a reply to the door. “Who is it?” I asked, hoping that it was the maid or butler. “It’s me.” I recognized that it was Aiba-san’s voice. I let out a small sigh and got up to answer the door. I opened it to be greeted with a tray of two sorbets from dessert in front of my face. I took a step back when Aiba-san lowered the tray from his face. “I thought that you wanted to finish your dessert so I asked the chef to make some new ones.” He said with a shy smile. I forced a smile and then let him enter my room.
He came in and with his mouth wide open, he looked around my bedroom. “Wow, is this your room? This room is…” Aiba-san said and then I finished his sentence with, “Weird like the structure of the house.” Aiba-san shook his head and then looked at me. “It’s pretty. I wish my room was like this.” He said. Then he looked at the room that is connected with my bedroom. “You have a big view of the neighbourhood too!” He exclaimed as he rush towards the window. I looked at him dumbfounded and wondered how I got myself involved with him. Then he turned his head to me and said, “But the tree is kind of in the way, right? If this tree wasn’t here then you could poke your nose around, but they would be able to do the same to you.”
Suddenly I laughed as hard as I could for no apparent reason. Somehow he made me laugh with just that comment. I found it funny how Aiba-san was concerned with me peeking at other houses around like a housewife. I held onto my stomach as tears formed from my eyes. “What’s so funny Asuka-chan?” He asked, clueless and lost at the comment I was laughing at.
I slowly calmed myself down and wiped the tears from my eyes with my arm. “It’s nothing.” I said with a shy smile. Aiba-san giggled as he looked at my facial expression. “I think today’s my lucky day.” He said then he placed the tray of sorbets on the lounge chair. I furrowed my eyebrows and wondered what he was talking about. “I finally made you laugh.” My face quickly hardened and I stared at him feeling stunned and startled. He was right, he did make me laugh even until tears came out. Why did I laugh at him? I don’t even laugh at things that other people laugh to so why did I laugh when he made that comment?
I stood frozen as I tried to think of the reason why I laughed. First I started to repeat Aiba-san’s comment in my head and questioned if it was funny or not. Then I started to doubt my sense of humour. Do I have a bad sense of humour? Reasons and theories started to pop in my head about my laugh, when I noticed a cup of sorbet in front of me. I slowly looked up to see Aiba-san trying to hand me the sorbet with one hand as he held to his in his other hand.
I bit my lower lip and gently took it from him. “Arigato gozaimasu.” I muttered, which he replied with a smile. I scooped up a bit of the sorbet and placed it my mouth. All of my worries and concerns that I had floating in my mind were quickly frozen by the cooling and tasty sorbet. As I quietly ate my sorbet, Aiba-san roamed around my bed and my desk.
“What’s this?” He asked. Then I looked over at his direction to notice that he was staring at the envelope, which contained the letter from Mariko’s brother. My eyes quickly widened and I dashed to grab the envelope before he had a chance to poke his nose at it. I placed it in the cabinet and he looked at me with a puzzled look. “It’s a confidential letter from a stockholder.” I lied as I avoided eye contact. I didn’t want to reveal to him another dark secret of mine. Considering that he's only an acquaintance, he already knows too much about me and things that no one else knows.
“Oh, I see.” He whispered sadly with his head lowered, almost if he wanted to be included in the concerns of the company. “It’s boring stuff anyways. All I do is read sheets of paper of words that are usually about non-sense.” I said and then I paused. I began to realize what I had said. Why did I explain myself to Aiba-san, especially when none of it’s true? Why did I lie about something I don’t need to? I could have told him that something he wouldn’t understand, like using words explaining financial, or research filled with explanations of scientific processes. Then I looked at Aiba-san who ate his sorbet and slowly met with my eyes. I forced a smile and then also began to wonder, why was I cautious about not hurting his feelings?
I slowly began to drift away in my thoughts. Unconsciously, I headed towards the sofa and sat down while I kept eating my sorbet. I didn’t even notice that Aiba-san had sat beside me and pointed out that I had finished it. “Do you want me to ask the chef to make more for you? He can probably whip up a new batch for you if you want.” I turned my head to him and then I looked down at my cup to see I had finished it. I blinked my eyes and quickly declined his offer. “Iie, I’m fine.” Then I glanced at Aiba-san who turned his head back to stare out through the window.
I bit my lower lip. I began to wonder why Aiba-san was here the first place, and then I remembered that he was here because I yelled at my father before I stormed off from the dinner table. “Arigato.” I whispered. Slowly Aiba-san turned his head towards me and cocked his head to the side. “Hm? What did you say?” I pursed my lips tightly and straightened myself up before I stared into his eyes. “Arigato. The dessert helped me cool down a bit.” I said and smiled at him. He looked at me and gave me back the same smile. “Sometimes I have family problems and get upset too. But eventually you have to consider that blood is thicker than water, right?” He said and then took the cup from my hand, and placed both cups back on the tray.
I nodded and leaned forward to rest my chin in my hand. “I’m just embarrassed that my otosan treats me like a child. I feel like I need to prove to him that I’m capable and responsible.” Then I wanted to add, but held myself back. Like if I was born as a boy instead of a girl, that would make any father proud. After I sighed, I heard giggles from Aiba-san. I turned my head to see he was staring at me. I took my chin off and pulled back my head. Then I began to notice that I had lowered my guard and revealed my true nature to him. I could feel my cheeks turning red.
Soon afterwards, the conversation died down and we both became awkward. With my flushed face, I remained quiet as I tried to think of another topic to talk about. I glanced at Aiba-san and he made a similar face. I guess he was trying to do the same.
“I think I should go, it’s getting quite late.” He said and rose from his seat. I quickly got up and answered. “I’ll send you out then.” Both of us were still feeling awkward and quiet as we exited my bedroom and headed towards the front door. Even though we didn’t say anything else, I believed he had said enough to soothe my frustration that I had in my heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: As I mentioned in chapter 11, I based Asuka and her father's house to this real-life house. However I wasn't able to post the picture because LJ was being stupid to me, so I provided a link. This chapter was basically in Asuka's bedroom and the room adjacent to it. I just wanted to remind you how her bedroom and the room looks like. As seen here:
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as it has a lot of cute moments with Asuka and Aiba. Thanks for reading! (o^-^o)