XXIII - Husband

That night, once Ryo was inside his room, he dialed his secretary number. He did not even bothered with hello and immediately told his secretary the news.

"I'll be taking an indefinite leave for now," Ryo said right away as soon as he heard Secretary Fujiwara said 'hello'.

Secretary Fujiwara just came from his kitchen after heating a cup of milk when he received Ryo's call. The moment he heard about his boss's news he dropped his favorite mug on the floor and it broke into pieces.

"Sir?" was all that came from Secretary Fujiwara's mouth.

"I'll still foresee and supervise everything, just get me updated about what's going on and send all the reports and contracts to me for signing. But, I won't be coming to work for now," Ryo said calmly.

"Are you, by any chance, unwell?" Secretary Fujiwara asked his boss.

Ryo hesitated for a while.

"Well, not physically but, emotionally I guess you can say that," Ryo started. "I found something, someone, very important, and I don't want to let her go," he further added. "You can understand me right?"

Ryo heard his secretary sigh on the other end of the line. "Yes, sir. Unfortunately."

Ryo chuckled. "Do your best. I'm counting on you."

"You too, sir. The best of luck with the missus," Secretary Fujiwara said, he was smiling now. He had a faint idea about the truth behind his boss's marriage. He thought it sad for two people to be bound in marriage because of family duty and pressure.

"Bye," with that Ryo ended the call.

Now, he can finally focus all his attention to his "Win Sachi back in thirty days" plan. So far, he knew what needs to be done. First of all, in order to successfully woo his wife, he needs to know more about the subject, aka Sachi. To achieve this, he'll need the help of those who are close to her.

He got his phone out and begun typing a message to be sent to his brother-in-law. After sending it, he told himself, "This much should be fine for now."

Just then his phone beeped. He had just received a text from Kinosuke. Ryo smile upon reading the text.

"Brother-in-law, thank you," he said to no one, then he began texting again.

Sachi did not get any sleep at all so she was cranky the next day early in the morning, thanks to a certain someone. When she got out of her room she was surprised to see Ryo early in the morning setting up what looked like a video game consul in the living room.

Kuma-chi ran towards the sofa, sat there and played with one of his toys.

"Good morning." Ryo greeted her with a bright smile. "Breakfast's ready in the dining room."

She just nodded and awkwardly gave him a smile. "What's all this?" she asked.

"It's the latest model of PlayerStation. I bought this last night. Overnight shipping sure is great," Ryo answered, pleased with himself.

She nodded, but she was still confused about why he was still dressed in those sexy cotton jogging pants and cotton V-neck shirt.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for work?" she asked.

"I've taken an indefinite leave from work. Want to play?" Ryo asked her invitingly.

"Leave?" Sachi repeated.

Ryo nodded with a smile holding one of the controllers out to her.

Sachi loves playing PlayerStation. She used to play a lot with it with her younger brother before. She momentarily put the issue of him being on leave at the back of her mind because right now she was just itching to play it.

"Are you sure you're not just trying to go back to your frat days in college?" Sachi said to hide her enthusiasm and accepted the controller he was holding out to her.

"Look, I bought the scariest zombie video game in the market, too," he replied ignoring her question. He showed her the tape.

Sachi now has a huge grin on her face. Ryo smiled to himself as she saw a new side to her that he did not know. She was like a kid trapped in a toy store.

"This'll be fun, I can assure you," he told her.

When he wasn't looking and was busy setting up the game, Sachi stole a glance at Ryo. She was looking at him the same way she was feeling now, weirded out.

Ryo learned from Kinosuke last night that Sachi loves to play video games, especially those with zombies in it even though she's actually scared of them. Kinosuke added that she often asks him to save and clear the stages for her when they get too hard or too scary for her to handle.

He stole a glance at her when she wasn't looking. He felt a pang of pain in his heart. He thought about how fate had been too cruel for both of them.

'Why did you have to become the granddaughter of the person who stabbed my grandfather in the back? We could've started liking each other early on,' he thought to himself sadly. Then he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh no," he said all of a sudden. "Breakfast."

"Just one game," Sachi said in a pleading voice.

Ryo sniggered. "Okay, okay."

"Yes!" Sachi said enthusiastically, and just like that her attention shifted back to the game.

Day one of Ryo's "Win back Sachi in thirty days" plan would have gone smoothly and perfectly, with the two of them playing PlayerStation all day if not for the call that interrupted their moment together.

Sachi's phone suddenly rang around mid-afternoon, she said she had to take it so they paused the game and she went into her room. After a few minutes, she went back to the living room, only to tell him that she has to go somewhere, to meet a friend. She did apologize to him, but she just really need to see this person.

Ryo, of course, although irritated and wanted to strangle the person who called for interrupting his plan to monopolize his wife for the whole day, had no choice but to let her go. Not like he can stop her anyway. Especially not now that they were still in the middle of a divorce that he's supposed to be overseeing and get done in thirty days' time. He needs to be the 'best boy'. He must always be in his best behavior around her since their marriage is no more than just a ticking time bomb now.

Ryo ached even more, when he saw how pretty her wife was in her yellow Sunday dress, he couldn't take his eyes off her. He wanted to kick the bastard that his wife was going to meet, as he had noted earlier that she said 'he', so he knew he's a bastard. It irked him a lot that another man was going to spend his time with his precious wife who has dolled up for the occasion, too. Ryo bit his tongue the whole time while he was seeing Sachi leaving their suite, so as not to get carried away by his emotions. He was afraid that he might do something stupid like stop her and lock her in his room. This was what he really wanted to do. But, he reminded himself that he can no longer afford to be hated by her. One wrong step and it could spell the end of everything between them.

So, like the good boy that he is, he kept his cool, smiled at her, and even wished for her to enjoy her meeting with this bastard, err friend. He wonders if this is how fathers must feel when they're giving their daughters away. At that moment, he decided that he longer wanted to have any daughters of his own, otherwise, he'll just die of jealousy even before he gets old and wrinkly.

Unbeknownst to Ryo, he really has a very good reason to worry, since the person that his wife was meeting today, will be his biggest hurdle in winning his wife back.

***