Chapter 4

Hayato barged into the room for his meeting.

"Ah, Mr. Ikeda. Fashionably late as always?" One of the administrators asked.

"Yep. Shall we start the meeting now?" Hayato smiled.

"Of course."

***

The meeting was quiet as heck. It felt like one of my father's meetings with the ambassadors. I wasn't too terribly interested in what they were talking about, however.

"We can't spend too much on furniture. We will end up losing money."

"But if we are going to get customers, shouldn't we buy nice furniture?"

Ah, that's right. I need to move into my new apartment tonight. Hopefully, I could get a day off tomorrow to move in my things. Or maybe I should wait until the weekend. I should probably ask Kinosuke to help me with the heavy things.

"Thank you so much, gentlemen. We will discuss more tomorrow." Hayato finished the discussion.

"Yes, Mr. Ikeda."

"Secretary Kim. Write on my calendar that we have an appointment with the administrators tomorrow at 4 p.m. We will be eating at the sushi joint around the corner." Hayato explained.

"Yes, Mr. Ikeda." I nodded and took out the schedule that Hayato handed me earlier. His schedule was pretty empty. I wonder how his secretary before me was at keeping calender.

"Time to head home now, Secretary Kim. Would you like to join me for dinner?"

"Ah, I'm sorry, Hayato." Of course, I used his first name after the other men left. "I need to move to my new apartment tonight."

"New apartment? Did you move?"

"Ah, yeah. My dad kicked me out of the house."

"I see. Then would you like some help?"

Without hesitation, I rejected his offer. "I'm sorry, my younger brother is helping me, so I think I'll be fine."

"Ah, is that so? Well, then. See you tomorrow, secretary Kim." Hayato nodded his head.

"Yes." I lowered my eyes. "Good evening."

I then left the building and headed home.

***

After arriving at my old family apartment, I headed inside. "Dad? I'm here to pick up my things."

"Ah, so you came back?" My step-mom averted her eyes from her fashion magazine and looked at me.

"Yeah. I'm just here to pick up my things. Is Kinosuke here?"

"He's in his room, studying. Don't bother him right now." She shook her head and went back to reading her magazine.

"I see." I tried my best to hold in my sigh.

"Mom!" Kinosuke then ran out of his room. "What are you telling Chisa! I'm not studying!"

"What? Then what were you doing?" She glared at him.

I glanced over at Kinosuke. I already knew what he was probably doing. "He is going to help me move to the new apartment, so I'm going to borrow him for a bit." I grabbed Kinosuke's hand and pulled him towards my room.

"What?" My step-mother questioned. She probably didn't like the fact that I was "forcing" her poor son to help me.

"These are the boxes." I pointed.

"Oh, ok." Kinosuke picked up the boxes.

I also picked some up to help him out. "I will return him by 8:00 pm. I'll give him dinner." I said as I walked out of the room.

"But, that's too late!" She exclaimed.

"It's fine mom. I'm sure I'll be ok." Kinosuke nodded his head.

I could hear her screaming my name in the distance. Oh boy, was she angry.