Ernest Apology!

“ What did you just say? Did you say forgive me just now, or did I misunderstand? Josiane exclaimed.

“ You didn't misunderstand, add Ryuji.”

…

“ I understand how surprised you might be! You must be asking yourself a lot of questions. How can I be here apologizing to you? You may not believe it, but it's not a trick!”

…

“ I'm Ryuji Fujimiya! The same spoiled brat that misbehaved towards you yesterday. The same Ryuji who told you all these atrocious things. The same Ryuji who hurt your feelings just because you were being nice to him. Please, forgive me for how badly I treated you. Please, forgive me! I'm truly sorry!”

Josiane stared at him as he said all that. She couldn’t believe it was the same Ryuji Fujimiya who was so rude to her the previous day. She couldn’t believe how someone could change in just a day and for some reason, she couldn’t believe his apologies were sincere.

“ What are you apologizing to me for, exactly? You don't need to do that. A rich kid like yourself shouldn't do that. You're an important figure in our society. You're the heir of the Fujimiya family and one day, you'll take over the family business. Your future is all set. Unlike you, people like us don’t have our future set for us. We're going along with the flow of things. I'm not from a wealthy family like yourself, but I take people's feelings to heart. We're not destined to understand each other. There's no need to apologize. That was my mistake, to begin with, and I shall not repeat that mistake. Please, leave at once! You're disturbing my training! Josiane exclaimed once more!”

Ryuji tried in vain to get Josiane to forgive him. After trying merely enough, he left. After school, Josiane reunited with her friends, so they could leave together.

“ How was it?” Sabrina asked.

“ What?”

“ Ryuji Fujimiya came to see you, didn't he?” Patricia asked.

“ How do you girls know that?”

To Josiane’s question, Sabrina and Patricia narrated to her how Ryuji came to them to ask for her whereabouts and how they told him where to find her.

“ I hope you’re not angry with me telling him where to find you.” Sabrina looked apathetically at Josiane.

“ Why would I be angry about something like that?”

Seeing that she wasn’t angry, they asked her about Ryuji Fujimiya once more, to which the latter narrated her conversation with him.

“ Aren’t you going to forgive him?” Sabrina asked.

“ You don’t think his apologies are sincere, am I right?” Patricia exclaimed.

…

“ It’s not that. I wouldn’t have difficulty forgiving him had he not made another blunder which I’m unable to forget no matter how hard I try.”

“ Another blunder?”

“ What are you talking about?”

Josiane told the girls what happened yesterday right before the day ended between Ryuji Fujimiya and her. At the end of her narration, the girls had a better grasp of the situation.

“ How could he offer you money to shut you up? Rich kids are all but the same.” Patricia uttered in anger.

“ Not all rich kids? There’s an exception to the equation.” Josiane uttered, smiling as she looked at her friends.

“ Right!” Patricia grinned innocently.

With no further discussion, Sabrina, Josiane, and Patricia left school, and each went in the direction of their respective houses. Meanwhile, Ryuji encountered his fiancé at the school gate as he was waiting for his chauffeur.

“ Ryuji, why haven’t you waited for me today? What was so important that you had to leave ahead of me?” She exclaimed.

Ryuji was in a sour mood, and adding to Sasaki’s baseless interrogations worsened it. Having his hair covering most of his face, Sasaki couldn’t see his indifference as he answered her question.

“ Sorry, Sasaki! I should have waited for you, but unfortunately, I couldn’t because I had some unfinished school work to do.”

“ I understand!”

With her questions answered, two high-class cars approached the school. Ryuji sighed to himself, which Sasaki didn’t see. A beautiful and bashful young lady exited one of the two cars.

“ Good afternoon, my lady!”

The bashful young lady was Sasaki’s chauffeur, Erika Sotonashi. She’s half American and half Japanese.

“ Take my bag!”

“ Right away, my lady!”

Erika opened the front seat for her while she had her bag in the back seat. Ryuji was still in the same position, not having moved a muscle. When Erika greeted him, he simply nodded without uttering a word.

Thomas Albertini parked the car, and before he had the chance to get out, Ryuji silently advanced toward the parked car. He opened the front seat and entered. Sasaki was stunned as she was watching all that from her rearview mirror.

“ Let’s go!” He ordered.

Sasaki watched as they left not a minute later. Still shocked by what she saw, it wasn’t until her chauffeur ignited the car that she finally came back to her senses.

On the way back home, Ryuji didn’t utter a single word. Thomas wondered whether something unpleasant happened at school, but didn’t dare ask him about it. The atmosphere was silent until they finally reached their destination.

“ We’ve gotten home, young master!” Thomas uttered as he parked the car.

Not waiting for Thomas to open the car seat for him, Ryuji got out of the car and left directly for his room. Fortunately, his father wasn’t home when he arrived.

A few minutes later after landing in his room, Ryuji heard a knock on his door but didn’t answer.

“ Young master, may I talk to you for a minute?”

…

“ It won’t take long, I promise!”

…

“ Come in!” He uttered in response.

Thomas entered the room as he’d been permitted to do so. He found Ryuji seated on the bed with his face covered with his hair as it was previously.

“ Young master, in front of me, you don’t have to hide your feelings.” He uttered.

Hearing that, Ryuji arranged his hair and his face could visibly be seen. Thomas saw as his expression was decomposed and empty.

“ Why did you come here? Did you want something?”

“ I know it’s not my place to say this, but I’d like to share your burdens if you allow me to.”

“ Why would you want to do that?”

“ I know you always have your guard down around others; You never speak out your true feelings to anyone and keep all of it buried deep inside you. More than your chauffeur, I’d like to be there for you whenever and whatever you may need.”

…

“ I promise not to reveal any of our conversations to your father. Whatever you may tell me will just say between us.”

…

With everything Thomas uttered, for the first time, Ryuji felt he could trust somebody else besides Anthony.

“ Do you remember that I had to leave earlier for school today?” Ryuji inquired.

“ Yes, I remember!”

“ The reason I had to leave early was that I had to apologize to someone. There’s a girl I misspoke to yesterday simply because she was being nice to me. I misjudged the situation and said some harsh things to her without thinking.”

“ Would it be alright to tell me exactly what happened in detail?” Thomas inquired for a thorough explanation.

Ryuji narrated to Thomas yesterday’s events in detail. He told him of the two instances he misspoke to her, having misjudged the situation.

“ She would have forgiven you had you not wanted to buy her silence, young master.” He uttered.

“ I didn’t mean to. I panicked and acted without thinking.” He uttered in return.

…

“ If you’re truly sorry, you’ll have to show it to her,” Thomas uttered suddenly.

“ What do you mean?”

“ If words aren’t enough to convince her, you’ll have to show it with your actions; actions speak more than words.”

“ Okay, I’ll follow your advice. Thanks, Albertini-San!” Ryuji slightly grinned.

“ You’re very welcome!”

The following morning, at lunch break, Ryuji was searching for Josiane in the cafeteria but couldn’t find her anywhere inside it. Josiane on the other hand was on the roof with some unpleasant girls.

“ What do you girls want? It’s lunch break, so you better be quick.”

“ Why are you circling Fujimiya?” One of the girls inquired.

(Are these girls his fan club or something?)

“ We saw you go to him yesterday. What did you want from him?” Another one inquired.

“ What’s it to you? Why should I answer your questions?”

…

Ryuji, who was still searching for Josiane, came upon the roof by mistake and witnessed Josiane and the girls’ conversations.

“ You’ve got to give us an explanation as to why you went to him. What did you want from him?”

“ As I stated previously, I don’t owe you any kind of explanation. If you want answers, why don’t you require them from your master?”

…

The girls felt offended by Josiane’s words. One of them reacted in anger as she uttered:“ Who do you think you are to speak to us as such? Why would we be working for someone just because we asked you a question?”

…

“ Don’t be offended, little birds! Do you seriously think no one knows what’s happening?”

…