Forget me not

Dull thuds of glossy shoes stepped on wooden planks. The footsteps stopped at the edge of the ship, and a pair of large hands lightly gripped the metal railing. This yacht was worth three times the amount of the jewelry he'd tried to give Kimiko. The woman he'd attempted to shanghai into being his fiancée. Well, if he could even call her that still.

Now that he thought of it, maybe he should have offered her the ship instead of a bracelet. But, it was too late for "what-ifs" now.

His sharp eyes spotted the woman in question walking down the dock. She stopped to speak to a captain tending to his ship before continuing on. Even from here, he remembered all over again both why he had picked her and why her refusal incensed him.

Long red hair flowing freely in the breeze, her blue skirt untamed and following its lead. The tie of her white shirt left a hole at the front to expose a peek at her small waist. This wasn't the Kimiko he'd known at all. Her confident walk, like she knew exactly how to handle him. Head held high.

What happened to that dorky little doll who doted on him and craved his every attention? Had he really taken her affections for granted?

“Daichi!”

Her voice struggled to carry over the sea breeze and the distance between them but he managed to hear her even so. Her dainty hand waved up at him.

The stoic man held up his hand in acknowledgment before walking down to the lower deck to greet her. “You look lovely.” He said.

“Oh um, thank you.” She said. “I didn’t realize we were going on such a fancy boat.” She admitted.

“Hm?” He hummed, looking back as if he'd forgotten which ship was behind him. He’d actually thought that it was one of the simpler dates that he could have set up. “Right, well… shall we step aboard?” He asked, sidestepping her statement in the process.

Once he guided her along to a lounge section, Daichi instructed the captain to get them ready for departure. He found Kimiko at the front of the ship, her knees on the seat as she let the salty breeze blow her hair back, hands on the railing. He sat beside her with hardly a sound except for an anxious tap of his foot. “You’ll fall that way.”

“Eh?” She turned to look at him, then sat down normally, her hands in her lap. “I have good balance though.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do actually.” She said with a playful face to challenge him.

He sighed and looked away from her.

“You should try to have fun more often, Daichi.” She teased with a nudge to his arm.

“I thought I did.” He said, and the silence fell awkwardly between them. No more graceful than a neglected meatball falling off the edge of a plate.

Splat.

A few strangers Kimiko had never met before emerged from inside the boat. A clatter of giggles and snooty talk. It was two women, one wearing a designer bikini and the other wearing a dress that was likely worth at least one-fourth of the boat they were standing on.

They stopped their chatter when their eyes simultaneously caught sight of Kimiko.

The sudden silent eye of two tigers wanting to make her their prey made her tense, but she tried to cover it up with a funny smile.

“Ah-ha um hi!” She said with a little wave, realizing that she might have picked up on Makoto’s laugh at one point.

“Hello.” Designer bikini said, her accent of an unknown origin.

“Mmm.” The other hummed, taking her sunglasses off of her head and clipping them on the front of her dress.

“This is Vera and Nari.” Daichi introduced, standing for a moment before sitting back down.

Kimiko stood up and gave the women a big smile. “Nice to meet you, Vera and Nari! My name’s Kimiko. Nakano, that is.” She said, mustering a friendly demeanor despite her anxiety.

“Nakano? Never heard of you.” Vera dismissed before sitting down beside Daichi with Nari following suit while Kimiko remained standing.

“Eh? Well… we just met, of course you haven’t.” Kimiko pointed out humorously.

“I suppose you wouldn’t know me either. Given your little world. How lucky.” Vera said, then flipped her long dark red hair back. “My father owns the company intending to merge with the business of Daichi’s family.” She explained, somewhat patronizingly, her accent thick and its origin shrouded.

“Oh?” Kimiko voiced with a soft bite of her lower lip, a sign of concern. “That must be very stressful.”

Vera blinked a few times, her eyebrows furrowed. “Yes, it is.”

“But also, quite amazing. Do you like working in your family's business?” Kimiko asked.

“Working?" Vera let out a haughty laugh. "Darling, I don’t work.” She scoffed with a wave of her accessorized hand.

“Oh, sorry. Do you like not working, then?”

“Quite. Any man who allows me to do so, I will fall in love with immediately.”

Kimiko chuckled. “I think you’ve got that covered already though, don’t you?”

“Nyeh. Not really. Father says I lose money if I don’t make grandchildren.” She explained.

“That’s not really fair though is it?”

“When so wealthy, who can complain?”

“I don’t know, I’d probably complain a lot.” Kimiko said. “It’s very important to me that I marry someone I love very much.”

“And what about Daichi, do you love him?” Nari asked, playing with her long blonde hair that covered half of her bikini top.

Before Kimiko could muster a reply, Vera interrupted. “Love him? She is in love with that man, Terada. Didn’t you see?”

Kimiko’s cheeks burned hot but she hoped it wouldn’t show. Was she really that obvious?

Daichi spoke up then. “Kimiko is not in love with that swine. He’s got a reputation for sleeping with multiple women.”

“To be fair Daichi.” Kimiko spoke up with a gleam in her eyes. “You’re the one who brought me here without telling me you’d have two other women onboard.” She said, just barely hiding her snicker.

“If you’re jealous you can speak plainly.” He countered.

“Is that why you brought me here?” She sassed, causing him to not only stand up, but take her hand and lead her away to the privacy of the side of the staircase.

The two women were left rolling their eyes and sipping their expensive wine.

“Since when do you talk back to me?” Daichi warned, low.

“I thought we already went over this?” She sassed.

He pressed forward, his hand against the wall on the other side of her head but still she didn’t shrink as his eyes glared into her own. “Damn it Kimiko. You’re the only one who can get away with this.”

“That must be a joke because you smacked my hand for sipping my tea wrong.” Kimiko glared, and this time, it was Daichi who backed down, removing his hand, posture shrinking.

“I shouldn’t have done that. I’m… I’m sorry.”

“Well, you should be.” Kimiko mumbled, trying not to back down as easily as she felt her instincts leading her to. She turned her head to the side, arms crossed.

“For what it's worth…” Daichi sighed, running his hand through his hair. “I’ve given it some thought and… maybe I’m not as like-minded to my family as I pretended to be.” He admitted quietly, as if they might hear if he spoke too loud. “Maybe I wanted to marry you because you act in a way that they’d approve of outwardly but deep down you aren’t anything like them… or me.”

She turned to look at him then, ponytail flipping to the side and eyes wide with surprise. “Just marry one of those two women. Please. Stop pretending that you care about me.”

Daichi frowned. “Now who’s rehashing old talks. I already told you that I do.”

Kimiko shook her head. “No you don’t.”

She'd expected his temper to flare but it didn't. Instead, Daichi sighed heavily. “All of those little things you used to gush about me, they were real. When I’d lend you my colored pencils and ignore you when you tried to give them back to me, it was because I wanted you to have them. I ate every lunch you made me even if I always told you they were terrible, they weren't. If I thought that, why would I keep eating it?”

Kimiko shook her head as if it would rattle his words out of her brain. “I found the crafts I made you in the trash.”

“I only did that because I’m uncomfortable with affection and you… can’t help but give it.”

Kimiko's defiance was weak but still she tried. “That isn’t true.”

“It is.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not.”

Daichi exhaled again, letting his pride go with his breath and continued. “You weren’t a girl I was supposed to fall for. I had to distance myself. That’s what I was trying to explain before.”

“I don’t believe you.” Her eyes were a little scared despite her defenses.

“Then don’t believe me.” The words along should have been harsh but they were delivered like honey and coated sweetness to her ears. His fingers drifted down and guided her hand to wrap around his neck. She let him. It felt so good to hear his true emotions. To have him acknowledge her after all these years… too tempting of a payoff to dismiss right away. It was dangerous.

“Why did you bring those women here?” She asked, but the bite to her voice was fading, much to his chagrin.

He didn't respond right away, debating whether or not to tell the complete truth before he settled on vulnerability once more. Slowly, he brought her other hand up to his neck as he murmured, “To make you jealous.”

She felt a sharp conflict of emotions, one softened by the feeling of his large hands gently pressing against her lower back, sloth-like movements to avoid startling her with his sudden affection. His face buried into her neck, nuzzling close. “I want you as mine… I don’t want you to be with him.” He mumbled.

She pushed down the warmth in her stomach that his sentiment gave her. “That’s not the same thing as loving me Daichi.” Her voice was soft.

“Do you want me to love you?” His voice was low and sweet.

“I… I used to.”

He pulled away slightly then and looked into her eyes. “Why not now?”

“I… I don’t know. I guess I’m different now.”

“Just say it’s him.”

“It’s not just him.”

“Then tell me what it is. Please." He was certain him openly begging for her would break her. That his humiliation would be enough to show that he's genuine.

But her eyes… only shone pity through them.

"I'm sorry. I… I really don't want to talk about it. Let's just have a good time today, alright? Besides, it's rude to keep your guests waiting." Kimiko said, starting to leave, only to be caught by his hand.

"I don't care if they think I'm being rude." He said, then pulled her closer to him. Her eyes looked up into his, such a contrast. A summer field gazing into the dark shadows of night.

"Don't worry Daichi. For things like this, sometimes… what's meant to be will be." She said.

Her hand slipped away before he could grasp it. He was left to watch as she walked over and made friends with the two women who originally seemed to hate her.

Kimiko’s words were meant to comfort him but all he felt was hollow. In that moment, his mind didn't think of what he'd have to tell his family or if he would. He didn't think about the money he stood to inherit once he married. All he saw was a path of his life, what could have been, drifting further and further away from him.

Trouble was… he had no one to blame but himself for it.