Chapter 221 - Not Like Me

"Look, I didn't mean to be rude okay?"

Maki Yuuka sighed heavily as she let Chiaki guide her towards the chair and made her sit. Gone was her exaggerated poise as if she was some royalty from earlier. Although she's still elegant, she slightly flopped on the chair and puffed out air like someone who just lost from the competition.

Well, it did look like she was at a competition earlier the way she strutted – although it was one-sided on her part and the other two women whom she trailed after, found out why.

"Oh, so the partially veiled hostility towards Chiaki was a joke?"Ara couldn't help but poke her with words.

Even if the woman looked like she was telling the truth now and seemed to be harmless, the animosity she had directed at Chiaki earlier was also real. Maki Yuuka should fess out what she meant by those hostile looks first if she wanted Ara to listen to her.

"Ah…"

This time, the woman looked truly guilty before she covered her face and counted to three before facing them again. It was totally strange but it seemed to help the woman gain her brain cells so the other two didn't interrupt.

"Well, I'm sorry about that. It's just that I arrived from New York and was just told I got rejected earlier this morning so I was in a bad mood," she confessed after a while.  

Rejected?

Chiaki and Ara exchanged looks before the secretary cleared her throat and put on an awkward smile. "Awkward", because she had no idea how to deal with the other person. She's very good at business things but when it came to personal matters, aside from the people she's very close to like Ara, she had no idea how to act with strangers.

Maki Yuuka was, of course, a stranger – a previously hostile one.

"Are you talking about the engagement?" the secretary asked softly, and Maki stiffened, although she was no longer antagonistic like earlier.

"No, it's my audition to the singing contest – of course, it's the engagement," the lady in red answered comically.

Ara and Chiaki exchanged looks again, judging whether to comfort the girl or not. She looked forlorn and didn't care about her surroundings at this point in time. Also, based on how she answered this time, Maki Yuuka was being open, even if she sounded sarcastic with her last words, but it was the truth. The two preferred her like that.

"Ah, sorry for that again. I can't seem to stop my mouth," Maki Yuuka apologized once more. "When I'm upset I tend to speak what's in my mind – but I try not to let that happen a lot."

"Nah, it's okay. It's better that you speak your mind like that with us. We prefer frank and open people over hypocrites," Ara assured her, and the woman relaxed.

"Well, as you already know, I was supposed to be engaged to your brother since we were kids. I grew up knowing that I'll be the future Mrs. Suzuki, and to suddenly being dumped like that was painful," Yuuka began, and then she remembered Chiaki who was supposed to be the 'fiancée' of Aki and raised her hands as if to calm the secretary down in case she was offended.

"Oh, please don't get me wrong," Yuuka told Chiaki. "I mean it's painful like my pride was hurt, okay? I'm not interested in him romantically – he's too intense like an old man," she continued making both Chiaki and Ara snort with laughter.

Maki Yuuka who again realized what she said covered her mouth, her eyes wide, horrified at what she said. "Please forget I said that."

"Nah, my brother's kinda like that before."Ara's shoulders were still shaking in mirth.

Suzuki Aki, in his drive to take over Suzuki Raiden Group properly, was too intense.

Who'd have thought that the person she thought was another crazy stalker would end up being a tactless bigmouth instead? Maki Yuuka was not a burikko, but someone who even had a hard time controlling her mouth from blurting her thoughts out loud.

She was a very frank girl.

Her judgment on people had gotten bad, Ara thought. She should try and evaluate herself again. Lately aside from becoming more and more mischievous and inclined to lying, the fact that she was getting more and more comfortable with doing those was alarming.

"So, you're not in love with my brother?"

"No,"Yuuka answered quickly. "I appreciate the title he'd give though – but it's not something I'd love to have if he already has someone he likes enough to marry."

Oh…

"Er… title?" Chiaki was surprised.

"Mrs. Suzuki of course," Maki Yuuka answered bluntly. "As the rising star of the business world, it's such a wonderful title. You are lucky," she told Chiaki.

"I'm not marrying him for the title," Chiaki answered blandly, totally forgetting that the 'fiancée' thing was not real.

Yuuka nodded. "I know – that's why I said you're lucky."

Huh?

Even Ara was confused. She also thought that Maki Yuuka deemed Chiaki as lucky for being Mrs. Suzuki because of the name and the status it would bring.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that in this world where people are just after fame and money, you still found love," Maki Yuuka answered bluntly.

"Honestly, before I saw you at the café earlier, I thought you were just a gold-digger because Uncle Daizo told my dad Aki had his secretary for a girlfriend."

"That old bastard…"Ara murmured and took not about zapping that old man's ass.

"Well, he was totally hostile towards me during the IBEC. It was understandable he'd tell things about me like that," Chiaki confessed.

"So it was why I was livid when I realized it was you at the café," Yuuka confessed,

Ara then nodded, finally understanding the hostility.

"But I realized after following you that you are not," Yuuka continued with a heavy sigh.

"How would you know that?" Chiaki was totally curious, and so was Ara.

"Because you are nothing at all like me. If I were you I'd have swiped his card all over the place for shopping," Maki Yuuka answered with diamonds in her eyes. "So even if I had the advantage of my lineage and my beauty – although you're pretty too," she assured Chiaki who laughed. "I think I know why Suzuki Aki chose you…"