Chapter 161 - Slow But Not Stupid (2/2)
”If you want. I will go with you,” he told her softly and she smiled.
Yanee knew that he already heard about her trauma, the real reason why she ran away from Nagoya. Aside from being cheated on, her ex had harassed her, at first calling her a social climber when he saw her attending a party, and then accused her of tricking him when he found out that she was a rich man's daughter.
He had twisted everything. He told people that he was sincere to her but she dumped him since he was nothing but a normal office employee which was laughable since people in the circle knew he had been engaged a while. Still, even if that did not leave a bad impression of her to the people, it had left a scar in her heart and mental state. She could no longer find the heart to stay there even if she loved Nagoya.
”You're going to meet my parents in three days, you know,” she told him and he laughed.
Tohru pulled her into his arms so she could lean against him. At this position, she could clearly hear the rumbling in his ċhėst as he laughed and it felt comfortable.
”Actually, I already met your dad and mom a couple of years ago,” he said and Yanee's brow arched as she waited for him to elaborate. ”It was at a dinner party of one of their common business friend. My dad took me there so I could meet his circle.”
”You mean your face is already known in the business world?” she asked and Tohru shrugged.
”It's an inevitable thing. The purpose of my attendance there was so people would know my face.”
”But when I did your interview I still couldn't find anything personal about you,” she told him. ”If you had your debut in the business world shouldn't your background already be known? I cried tears of blood doing research but found nothing on you.”
Since Yanee had trouble interviewing him before since he didn't seem to want to cooperate with her, she was forced to sneak and do a background research on him but found nothing about his family.
As if remembering that time she interviewed him and he was too love-struck to talk, giving her a hard time, Tohru's smile became apologetic. But he was not worried since he already told Yanee the reason why he couldn't talk to her properly that time.
”It's normal. I was only known to the business circle. In public I still maintain anonymity so I could continue to work comfortably. I had someone maintain the internet and he deletes all information leaked about me or pictures of me that's connected with Arcus.”
Yanee was surprised. ”That extreme?”
”I love my privacy,” he said. ”I only care about family and friends. Other people don't have to know me personally and I hate it when people approach me because of my family.”
Well, she could understand that. It was why she did the same and didn't tell people she was the daughter of a rich businessman and the sister of celebrated events coordinator Ami Lee.
”You have a year left before you go public?” she asked.
”Hmmmnn…” Tohru inclined his head. ”Not going public per se. I don't really have to present myself to everyone on television and the like. But yeah, I will be exposed to more people in the identity of the new Chairman of Arcus Iris International and there will be times I will be attending functions where my photos and videos could be taken by the media. When that happens, I can no longer erase it so I cannot remain as Niji's editor-in-chief.”
That Tohru James would retire for good.
”It's why I'm giving my all in this last fight— to get my wife and to take a shot at the Ai Awards with the project we're working on together.”
”Who's your wife?”Yanee countered and Tohru grinned unabashedly as he shifted her in his arms so they could look at each other face to face.
”Who else? You— you're my honey and would-be-wife. I don't want to marry anyone else,” he told her stubbornly before leaning forward for a kiss.
They had kissed before but those were just quick pecks before he left. This time, their lips met slowly. At first, the both of them did feathery kisses as if they were shy and just getting into the mood. But soon, the hesitant and shy kisses gradually deepened. Their tongues intertwined as they held onto each other, savoring each other's' tastes.
It was their first real kiss.
But before the two of them were consumed by passion, Yanee pushed him away; and Tohru, understanding her ended the kiss albeit reluctantly.
”S-Sorry…” she apologized, her heart beating fast against her ċhėst from the kiss but at the same time scared that he would feel upset since she pushed him.
But Tohru was not upset or angry. He smiled at her and tweaked her nose with his fingers. ”Why are you apologizing, silly?” he asked and Yanee was surprised.
”You're not angry I pushed you away?” she countered and he laughed as he shook his head.
”We have forever. Things like this, we don't have to rush. I'm already happy that you accept me and let me stay with you and kiss you like this,” he told her softly as he shifted his fingers and played with the strands of her hair. ”I love you, Yanee Lee…”