Chapter 9

"what the hell?!" She read the content of the file.

Just then Rihito entered the hall, "Sorry, I made you wait..." He drifted away as Rina glared at him.

"What is this? Would you please explain?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What?" He looked at her in confusion.

"This!" She turned the file to him.

"Oh this...umm... I wasn't really going to use this.. it was just a backup plan in case you refused or backed out at last minute." Rihito smiled nervously. Damn! She was not supposed to see that.

"Back up plan? Running a background check on me as your backup plan?" She tilted her head in confusion.

Oh, she hasn't discovered yet. Good! He's still safe. Phew! He thought.

"Hmm.. yeah. Now, can I have that file back?" He tried to take it.

"Wait, there's more to this isn't it?" She pulled her hands back and secured the file against her chest.

"What? It's just a background check." Rihito smiled at her but she eyed him suspiciously.

"Fine, go ahead and check for yourself." He crossed his arms and pouted sulkily.

"I know you're a good actor so stop pretending and this of course I'll thoroughly go through this."

"Wow, you don't trust me at all, huh?" He sighed.

"If it's just a background check then why is it your back up plan..."She muttered, "...unless.." she thought for a moment, "you have something to use against me?!" She unconsciously raised her voice as she realized it.

"Hey you're not supposed to check other's room and just do whatever you want, respect privacy." He tried to snatch the file.

"It's my privacy being breached here, so don't you dare!" She glared at him threatening him. She read every page of the file and glared at him.

"Why do you have this?" She tried not to yell, still hoping it's not what she thought it was. He wouldn't go this far would he? She tried to keep her calm.

"Look I told you I wasn't going to use that," Rihito said in defense and *Snap* the thread of her patience snapped, there goes her calmness.

"No! I don't want your excuses. Your so-called backup plan was to use this against me? How can you stoop so low?" She yelled at him.

"I said I wasn't going to-"

"Oh shut up! I knew you were annoying, irritating, pervert and womanizer but today you've surpassed my imagination. I never imagined you would exploit one's weakness like this! You're using my brother?!" She shouted at him trying her best to keep her tears at bay.

"I said I wasn't, damn it." He shouted back at her.

"Stop lying! You're disgusting! I can't believe I decided to help you. Such a manipulator! You know what, forget about being your fake wife, I can't even stand the sight of you. You can just go to hell!!" She turned around and hurried to the door.

"Rina please listen to me." Rihito stood in front of her, blocking her way.

"Get out of my way Rihito." She glared at him as she clenched her fist.

"If you go out of here, I'll be forced to use that, which I really don't want to." He said as he stared at her.

"Now you're showing your true face?" She punched him hard on his face. She did have a bad opinion on him but this thing was just beyond her expectations, after all the things he did for her, from her break up to being his fake girlfriend, she thought 'hmm he's got a good side too', though he irritated and annoyed her every single day with his talk and she never liked him for that very reason, she disliked him but never hated him.

"Fine! If I'm already a bad guy, why not go all the way then!" He wiped the blood from the cut on his corner of mouth, where Rina just punched him.

"If you step out of here I am going to fax all those evidence to your father. What do you think your father's going to do with your brother? They already have a bitter relationship, after he finds about the embezzlement, and knowing that his daughter the so called "good daddy's girl" is helping her brother hide this, what do you think he'll do? And your brother who already hates you enough, if he gets to know that he's secrets are out, won't he hate you more? He won't care who exposed him, you know he'll blame you for it." Rihito clicked his tongue.

"You're quite detailed about my brother's hatred for me? You think you get to go away with this?If that's how it's going to be then even I'll go and expose your lies to your grandparents. You think they're going to be happy about that?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You won't," He smiled at her.

The nerve!

"Confident much?"

"The thing is that Rina, you're too much of a good girl and you won't hurt anyone, you even decided to help me, the one you dislike so much and you think you can actually go and hurt granny? Even if you decide to, you wouldn't risk your dad's life on this because your dad has a weak heart." Rihito leaned forward, whispering in her ear.

"You!" She glared at him, she tries to hit him again but he dodged it this time.

"Look, I really don't want to do this, I really don't want to play the bad guy. Didn't you already agree to help me? Let's just go with our original plan, hmm? Why does this matter at all? It's just a day, I'll tell every lie that needs to be told, you need to act out your role as my fake bride and after this, I'll let you hit me as much as you want, I'll even become your punching bag, sounds good? And I won't trouble you anymore, you won't hear of me, it ends there. This thing here we can pretend it never happened hmm? We can protect each other's secret." He assured her.

"I know you want to kill me right now, but I can't send you home alone, so risking my life I'll drop you home." He smiled as he looks at her, finding her shooting death glared at him.

"I'm sorry, I know that was a bad one. If you don't want me to drop you home, that's fine, but I won't send you alone, it's already this late I suggest you stay here, I'll stay out tonight." He pats her head, she immediately pushes him aside, "You disgust me," She snarls at him.

With hurt in his voice, he said, "I'm really sorry but I don't have a choice."

***

Aaron rushed to Rihito as soon as he got his call. The guy who was an infliction, whose voice always had that annoying smugness now sounded gloomy.

"So why did you call me?" Aaron looked at his best friend who was sitting in front of the bar staring at his drink.

"Have a drink with me," Rihito passed a drink to his friend.

"I can't, need to visit my grandpa, tomorrow early morning," Aaron sighed as he took a seat beside him.

"Geez, grandfathers! Then just sit here, I'll have my drink," Rihito gulped down his drink in one breath.

"Whoa! Slow down, will you? What happened?" Aaron asked him with a worried face.

"I acted like a total jerk, a total assh*le!" Rihito sighed.

"What's new about that?" Aaron mocked him.

"to someone whom I didn't want to act like that, to someone I would have preferred to be a nice guy though she never believed I was, to someone who was ready to help me, though she disliked me, to someone I would prefer to be close to, and now she completely hates me," Rihito added.

"You're the one who hurt her but I see you hurt here." Aaron stared at him amusingly.

"How the hell she got her hands on that when I already hid that file in my room? She wasn't supposed to know about the very existence of that thing." He banged his fist at the bar table. "Wait a minute, I forgot to hide the copy. Damn! How can I be so stupid?" Rihito scolded himself and then banged his head at the table.

"Hey, are you drunk already?" Aaron stopped his friend from further hitting his head.

"She'll hate me forever now." Rihito kicked the table.

"hey! stop it!" Aaron shouted at him, "Since when did you care about hurting a girl?"

"Oi, I'm a gentleman, I don't hurt girls," Rihito defended himself.

"All the girls fall for you that outer gentlemen, your inner self that hates all the womankind, hurts them emotionally, I can't even count the number of women you've hurt till now. Getting worried over hurting someone, since when did you start feeling guilty? Wah! for you to get married even if it's fake, to let a girl mess you up like this, don't tell me you're serious about her?" Aaron shook his head in disbelief.

"How many times should I tell you she's a friend? not just any girl but a girl and a friend and the only girl who opposes me and my charms with all her might, who I enjoy messing with, irritating her has become my favorite past time, she hit me, disliked me, and because of that it was more fun teasing her, I didn't want to mess this relationship but now I've given her a big fat reason to despise me. " Rihito scoffed.

"Are you an M? you like getting hit? that was fun? and what? she's a friend? when did you start being friends with a girl? I guess you're very drunk, Rihito. This is it for today, we're going home." Aaron snatched the glass from his hands.

"I told you she's not an ordinary girl... she's.... she's special."