Help from the OtherSide

25. Water-Water everywhere

Yumiko's POV

I've never felt so mad at anyone before. My parents used to tell me not to interfere in someone else's fight. And it made sense, because at that time camera's used to follow my family wherever they went.
And I wouldn't dare so much as to sneeze the wrong way without making headlines for 'Showing disrespect to the rival company by sneezing during their speech.

I'm not kidding, it had happened once when I was four or five. The adults were in the conference room 'closing a deal' and I was made to sit outside with the receptionist. The silence and the fact that I was kept away from mom for long made me cranky. 

I slipped away from the receptionist and pushed the glass doors of the conference with my feeble little hands and wailed on seeing my mom stand with a huge screen behind her. They were comparing the conditions of World War II and how the workforce and resources had reduced with the current times.

The screen had no graphic content yet I was triggered for some reason. I cried until the clients excused my parents to look after me for a while. Mom was pretty understanding then, considering I was still a child. But as I grew they joked of it every dinner we had together. It was funny to some extent, but then I realized they were hinting on something. Later my mom revealed that they had lost the contract. Apparently I took too long to quieten down which upset the older gentleman in the conference. 

My parents and their advisers did everything they could to convince the old man, but he never budged from his decision. His investments were worth hundreds of millions which is why they tried their best to keep him happy.

 I thought it was very immature of him to get upset over a four year old child. From the age of seventeen onwards my parents started involving me in the minor affairs of the company, to see whether I was fit to be the next heir. Thankfully I was able to prove myself. During those years, I had to do my research on the adversaries, the shareholders and investors to increase my knowledge on them and their line of business.

When I came across the portfolio of the older gentlemen from when I was four (I had totally forgotten about him), but seeing the name and picture reminded me of the incident.
 Only when I read his file, did I understand that his father had sacrificed his life for the Japanese army during the war. Before the enemy could torture his battalion for answers he hid his soldiers in a faraway safehouse and turned himself in claiming to be the only Japanese military person in the area.

And the presentation had a slide dedicated to him as a tribute, for his services to my country. 

This taught me never to form harsh opinions on someone I don't know. His actions might have been uncalled for but his reasons were understandable.
I mean, I wouldn't want a child throwing tantrums at my fathers' memorial.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I have always succeeded in keeping my anger in check. After that incident, no matter how rude people were to me, I would forgive them. Everyone is busy battling their inner demons. 

When we reunited with Deccan and Liam the latter told me what had happened in our absence. How much his wound hurt, how Deccan tried to feed him the fruit and snippets of the conversation he heard between the other two men when he was unable to communicate.

Apparently Deccan got all scary and threatened Hex to search for us. Despite the resistance from Hex he obeyed Deccan and came to us. And I believe him. 

Deccan did look frightening when he cornered Hex during our argument. Hex's unwillingness to help them during distress and the his impudence to declare that we would not survive without him was the final straw. I too, ignored all his comments passed on Deccan and us, thinking this was his way of releasing some pent up anger, but the series of events that happened before my eyes made me realize that he didn't deserve any of my sympathy.