The sound of the Rain

11. Siblings

Hideki stood in the library. Hidden in the corner, reading his favorite book which father gave him when he was around ten years old. Whenever he felt lonely and missed his father, missed those calm days when he could be himself and just observed the hard work of the old man, he came to this place. His father was very busy with work. Running two huge corporations wasn’t easy, although he had tons of people running the things smoothly, he had to go attend meetings and make sure each contract was successful. The library was the only place where he could spend time with his father, although they rarely talked. His father came to this place to work as well, but Hideki could sit here quietly and watch him. Now when the father died, he still secretly came to this wing despite his mother’s order to stay away from it.

Just when he was about to leave, the door to the library opened. Two young girls in maid uniforms entered. Hideki didn’t know why he stayed hidden, deep in the shadows, watching them. The other girl he met several times. She has been working for his family for a month now. He was sure she never saw him, since he always left once she entered the library. He was afraid she might speak with the others, and they would find out she was secretly visiting this part of the house. The other girl was new. First time he saw the other girl, but when he looked at her face, he just wanted to stay and watch her. The moment her eyes landed on these dozens of thousands of books they had here, her eyes widened, and dazzling sparks appeared there. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. The way she looked at those books reminded him of his own childhood, when his father took him here for the first time.

“A-li,” he repeated to himself when the first girl spoke to the dazed one. She seemed to really enjoy being on cloud nine just from seeing all those books, which made him smile for no reason. The first girl left and went downstairs while A-li slowly roamed around the shelves. He made sure to quietly follow. The room itself was dim thanks to the heavy covers on the windows and because the sunset already took its place.

She took several books in her hands, opening them. He saw the gentleness when she brushed her fingers across the pages. Inhaling the scent of the ink and old paper. Long time he didn’t see anyone with such deep love and understanding of books. Reading books and spending money in the bookstore was one thing, but understanding the value of these old masterpieces was another story. People must be born with the love for old books like this.

But every single book she returned. He replayed the words the other girl told her about the opportunity to borrow from the book. Hideki wasn’t sure why their butler would allow anyone to borrow one of these. Every single book here was precious and although this place was now off limits for the staff and family members thanks to his mother in order, he still felt that allowing anyone borrowing the book was inappropriate yet for him unknown reason the expression of this young woman made him feel like letting her take any books she wanted. He didn’t know her, but those eyes told him that no matter what, she would keep any book from here as the most treasured jewel.

He followed her for a few more minutes, almost finding himself to appear in front of her. Just when he wanted to come forward and call for her, the other girl called from downstairs. A-li ignored her, but within a few seconds, she stood in front of her with a smile on her lips. He quickly hid himself before the other girl could spot him, staying hidden by the shadows again. They both left the room, leaving Hideki alone once again. He stood there for a few more minutes, still playing with the image of the girl when she first entered the room and the movements of her hand when she brushed the pages inside the book. Her widening nostrils when she deeply inhaled the scent made him smile again.

Just like that, he shook his head, trying to take those images out of his mind. Today was the family dinner and his brother should come any time now, but even knowing this, he couldn’t get the girl out of his thoughts. He looked around the library, and although the scent of old ink was extensive, she still caught the slight scent of peony. The scent engraved deeply in his mind before he left the library heading back to the main house.

He already heard the engine of Hiroki’s bike, which meant only one thing, he had just arrived. Hideki hurriedly walked to the main hall, awaiting his brother. Since their father’s death, Hideki had mixed feelings about his brother. Partly he felt like protecting himself from everything. He was five years older than his little brother and for that he wanted to make sure Hiroki was happy all the time, but he resented him. He hurt him so many times he already couldn’t count that on his fingers and whenever those two interacted with one another, it usually ended up in fight until the moment Hiroki ignored him completely.

Coming back to this house left Hiroki blunt. If he could spend his entire life out of this house, he would be the happiest person under the sun, but sadly today his mother called him back for the family dinner. Times like this always brought goosebumps to him. The reason his mother called him for a family dinner meant she had something important to talk to him about, which could have meant mostly only one thing. She wanted to talk about the family business.

“I am glad you made it, little brother.” Hideki welcomed his brother into the main hallway. He wasn’t sure why, but his voice came out shady with a hint of sarcasm. Hiroki only scoffed, ignoring his brother. He hated him. He hated everything about him. His perfect appearance whenever he saw him. Tall and neat, with a great body structure. His perfectly defined muscles and always perfectly ironed clothes without a single wrinkle. Everything about him just made him angry whenever he saw him.

Hiroki knew about everything his brother did against his reputation. His mother always pushed harder because Hideki instigated her against him. He most likely told her about something he did in his free time and, as always, mother planned to scold him in front of everyone.

“You won’t greet me?” Hideki stopped right in front of his brother, blocking his way. Hiroki only lifted his eyes to look straight at his older brother before he made a step aside and simply passed him without a single word. He wanted to scream and shout. He felt the urge to beat him, but there was nothing he could do. His brother excelled in everything, including the martial arts, which they both had to practice since early age. Hiroki felt like a shadow of his brother and, at some point, he lost the will to speak to him or argue with him about anything.

Hiroki walked straight to the dining room. His mother already sat there at the head of the table, expecting him. Hideki was right behind him, entering the dining room just a moment after his little brother. They both took place on each side from their mother.

“Good evening, mother.” Hiroki greeted her coldly. The greeting coming from Hideki was warmer, but even his tone missed any kind of warm feelings.

“Good, we can start.” Their mother said once they both went to their respective place. The servants brought the first course, which was soup. All three just sat there, eating silently in this heavy atmosphere. Hiroki wanted to leave. Every single cell of his body gasped for freedom, yet he knew he couldn’t leave until his mother let him go, unless he wanted to get himself locked in the house like half a year ago. He wasn’t allowed to speak before his mother as well.

Once they finished the first course, they automatically brought the second one. Hiroki sat on his chair and the blood pressure slowly rose to where he had a lot of trouble controlling himself. His mother kept silent, and Hideki pretended like he wasn’t even there. This was a good part for him. At least he didn’t provoke him today.

“Mr. Nagai contacted me today.” His mother finally spoke. Hiroki froze, leaving the food in the middle of the way to his mouth. He slowly placed the food back in his place, dropping the chopsticks.

“What did he want?” Hiroki tried to keep his voice under control. He knew this conversation would eventually come. Yuriko tried to approach him several times during this last month, and every single girl he tried to approach during this time practically disappeared. They never contacted him again, which meant only one thing. Yuriko took her anger to them, but now it looked like she finally tried another strategy to get back at him. Hiroki wasn’t sure whether this was better or worse compared to what other topics his mother could discuss with him.

“He informed me you broke up with his daughter. You know that this partnership could only benefit you.” His mother continued eating as she was slowly talking to him. Her tone was cold like ice and Hiroki knew he needed to be careful about every single word now, otherwise there might be a huge storm.

“The company doesn’t need a partnership like this.” Hiroki tried to argue as the businessman. He wasn’t completely right about this statement. Her family-owned a huge network of malls across Japan and China. Their partnership would benefit them a lot since they could easily discuss the exclusive sales for their products in their malls. His family already had a contract with the Nagai group, which was closed a few years ago, but the due time was almost up and breaking up now with Yuriko might turn against them. Hiroki thought about this option, but he also hoped that by that time he would figure something out.

“Are you aware of the approaching time for a new contract? Are you trying to endanger our position with them by this stupidity of yours?” The tone of his mother becomes harder. She as well placed her chopsticks while lifting her eyes, staring deadly to her younger son. Hiroki looked her mother in the eye, preparing other arguments in his mind.

“You could wait with your move after the contract signing.” Hideki suddenly stepped into the conversation. He wasn’t really planning to help his brother, but making mother angry today wasn’t a good idea and although he didn’t want to help Hiroki, he didn’t want to witness another storm coming from her. They both were now walking on thin ice. Especially since the other contract Hideki currently worked on had complications. Their mother was a businesswoman and a head of the family. Then there were several other things and somewhere there, below all that, she was their mother. Hideki was aware of that and a long time ago he gave up on any kind of relationship with her except the one regarding business.

“You don’t need to worry about that, mother. I have the situation under control. They will sign the contract according to the schedule.” Hiroki tried to ensure his mother, although he still didn’t have any kind of plan for it.

“And how do you plan to do that, exactly?” She asked him right away. Hiroki kept his composure despite the anxiety which he felt deep inside. He couldn’t tell her to trust him. This would be the same as asking her to grant him a swift death.

“Give me a few days and I will bring you my strategy plan.” He tried to trick her, to give him a bit more time so he could think about something. Dealing with her was always difficult, especially when being unprepared. He expected her to talk about the school and the business since this was his last year. If he won’t come up with any other plan for himself, during the last semester he should be slowly getting the leadership of the second company.

“You have one week to fix the situation with Nagai Yuriko. If you don’t, then I will deal with this problem myself.” She told him angrily before she continued with her dinner, ignoring her son.