(BL) Mafia Love; He who falls the hardest loses-Chapter 176: The Party . . .
Kiyoshi glanced at Haruki he knew Haruki had no intention of becoming friends with Aiichiro so his words had a hidden meaning. However, he wondered why Haruki was bent on doing it himself.
Haruki had so many men especially himself who would gladly walk through fire for him but Haruki chose to walk into the fire himself. It was admirable but also dumb in his own opinion but Haruki didn’t need to listen to him so he kept it to himself.
There was no way Haruki would form a truce with the same man who killed his aunt, grand aunt, Shinya and Ren. Aiichiro had so much blood on his hands, blood of Haruki’s family members, it was beyond forgiving.
When they arrived, they were allowed in through the gate as soon as they arrived. It was a modern Japanese-style mansion. It was brightly lit and it was easy to see that the place was filled with guests.
The driver drove to the entrance of the mansion. Either side of the driveway had cars parked. The door was opened immediately. Haruki stepped out of the car. He expected himself to be nervous but he was calm. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
He took the steps into the house. Were they searching him for weapons? He wondered if Aiichiro was either expecting him to attack and ready to defend himself or if Aiichiro trusted him enough not search for weapons.
Haruki was allowed in but Kiyoshi was stopped at the door. Haruki paused turning to look at the guard.
"He comes with me," he said firmly.
"I am sorry but no one is allowed in with their guards," the man bowed slightly before replying. "My deepest apology," he bowed even deeper with that apology showing he had no intention to compromise.
Haruki met Kiyoshi’s gaze. Maybe it was best that Kiyoshi wasn’t near him. He could use Kiyoshi’s protection after two are better than one but since he had been denied this, he decided to play along. Refusing to back down would only cause more suspicion than necessary.
"Wait for me. We’ll go home together," Haruki calmly assured Kiyoshi wearing a small assuring smile.
Kiyoshi parted his lips to say something but ended up sighing and nodding. He however, could not hide the sad look in his eyes. He wondered if that would be the last time he would see Haruki. He ended up smiling brightly at Haruki, assuring himself that Haruki was not easily defeated.
Haruki’s smile broadened in response before turning further into the building while Kiyoshi stood at the door watching him go in. The music got louder as he continued following the staff leading him.
Laughter filled his ears. They had been walking for so long that Haruki could guess it was an integrated indoor-outdoor ballroom. The room was large and the guests could be seen swaying to the beat of the music loudly playing.
Haruki sighed. He wondered why he had not met any of the guests from the moment he arrived. Beyond the opened glass ceiling-to-floor door, was a large indoor pool and an indoor garden.
There was a door behind the garden. An outdoor pool party in March would have been a bad idea but Aiichiro seemed to have put in the effort to still provide the same ambience with the indoor pool and garden.
Those guests who weren’t in the room were obvious in the pool, dancing, or sitting on pool chairs interacting with each other. He knows such parties shouldn’t have a very controlled crowd just like it was unless someone ensured it was that way.
This was not the type of party he had expected. He expected something different befitting what he believed Aiichiro’s tastes were. Perhaps he never truly knew who Aiichiro was and his preference.
He could guess what might happen at such a party. The room smelled like a mix of perfume, and cigarettes. The music was even more overwhelming than the smell coupled with the loud laughter and random cheers.
He stood for more than a minute at the entrance and he couldn’t identify Aiichiro in the crowd. He saw a lot of familiar faces. These were people he celebrated most of his birthdays with or they simply belonged in the same circle.
The calmness he had when he stepped in began to slip away gradually. He had an idea of why Hiroshi had told him not to attend. He sighed and began considering leaving.
He liked the position he was in. He could see everyone great time, drinking, smoking, talking but they could not see him. He hated the idea of having to leave such a position that gave him a great view but he had to find Aiichiro.
The staff was gone. This was his first time in Aiichiro’s house. Even while they were still friends, he never visited Aiichiro in his home. He wondered why they thought it was a good idea to leave him at the door.
He could not help but feel it was punishment for being late as he finally took the first step away from the door. He took a step down completely into the room and continued towards the glass door while hoping no one noticed him.
He was the only one dressed in a suit. The others dressed so casually. Some of the men were shirtless while in the room. As he got to the glass door, he wondered why he was not told what to wear.
Everyone made him feel overdressed. From those in the floral casual shirts and the ladies in bikinis. He had chosen a suit and made sure his hair was styled neatly to arrive in such an atmosphere.
All these made him certain that he shouldn’t leave Aiichiro’s home without ensuring he ended his life.
"Hi," a lady called out when she saw him. She was close enough which was what made her words audible. She was dressed in a bikini as though she had just gotten out of the pool and dried her hair well enough to keep it from dripping water.
Haruki couldn’t recognise her at first but it was obvious that she recognised him. He calmly met her gaze wondering whose daughter she was. He frowned as soon as he finally recognised her.
Her smile broadened and she got closer. "I heard it was your birthday and I made sure to attend."
Haruki narrowed wondering what she wanted from him. He wasn’t sure that her parents were poor but he had never seen her in this circle before.
"I came with my husband. He is a close friend of Aiichiro," she said as though reading Haruki and gestured at a man in the pool. "I got tired of the water. You should take a swim too. The water is warm."
Haruki became expressionless. He already had an added reason to hate Aiichiro but she wanted to remind him of it.
He came with this outfit and had nothing to change into. He didn’t have extra shorts or swimwear. "Did Aiichiro pay you to meet me?" Haruki feeling no need to continue talking about the party asked.
"Pay?" she asked and shook her head a hand placed on her chest dramatically. "He doesn’t need to. He just had to ask. It was not a big deal."
It was absurd the more Haruki thought about it. He wondered what humiliation Aiichiro had in store for him. To think that he would have to endure all that in the presence of his friends and ex-classmate, was painful to imagine.
He accepted this life to escape the past but it felt like he went around in a circle and was back to the miserable spot he started. He tried to encourage himself that Aiichiro wouldn’t be so cruel.
He would kill the man but to have the last words and action of the man humiliating him, was horror. Feeling like he needed a break thanks to how overwhelming everything suddenly became, he turned away from her.
She tapped his shoulder. He glanced at her and could see that her lips were moving but he couldn’t hear her. The music sounded muted suddenly so far away.
The music stopped and so did his strides through the crowd. Everything became loud. It was quiet yet so loud, almost too loud. Everyone was looking at him.
Ever since he became the chairman, he had never been scared of people’s gazes, regardless of how many there were. Yet, this time it was different. It was as though he was trying to think of what Aiichiro’s antics were behind it.
He took steady breaths and focused his mind towards remaining calm. He studied everyone’s gaze as they moved away from him to the walls, to the edges surrounding him with adequate space.
He saw smiles, small waves, calm expressions and that assured him significantly. The lights were turned off and everywhere went dark except for the lights around the pool and down a path in the garden that stopped at the door he noticed earlier.
The door opened and Aiichiro stepped out of the door holding a cake with lit candles. His palpitating heart began to calm down. That was better than what he had anticipated but he could not relax at seeing Aiichiro coming towards him.
It felt as though he was trying to keep himself from directly lunging at Aiichiro with the adequate strength to render him immobile.
