Life Without You

Chapter 63 - Ignoring Leon

As soon as the notice was given for Leon to move out, he rushed Vinny to arrange some house tours for him.

While the paparazzi continued to harass Leon over the alleged relationship between him and Hiromi, Ariel was still recovering from her illness. Hiroshi visited her every day to check on her progress, but Leon was barred from entering the premises by their bodyguards, much to his frustration and dismay that all he could do was walk past with Sky and glance to see if Ariel was ok. This was caught on cameras, and splashed on the news about rumoured love relationship between her and Hiroshi was set off once again, and the exciting love triangle going on with Ariel, Leon and the Fujita siblings.

Leon tried to call and message Ariel multiple times, but she refused to answer him. With little choice, he turned his attention to finding his new abode, but not without thinking of Ariel every day.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi hired a temporary top-notch chef to cook for Ariel and her household every day at her house while she was recovering. Ariel saw the sweet and caring side of Hiroshi surfacing once more, the one that she missed. But the person she missed even more was Leon, and she was starting to wonder if she was over-reacting now that it was known in the media that he was moving out of the premises but no news of where, and he never hid his hostility and disdain towards Hiromi even in front of the paparazzi. After all, the person who put Hiromi in the house was Hiroshi. Was it true that they had set him up? She did not want to believe that Hiroshi was capable of such conspiracy but she had to find out.

"Hiroshi?" Ariel asked him while eating her food from her bed.

"Yes, Ariel?" Hiroshi replied.

She swallowed hard, "Did the tryst really happen between your sis and Leon?"

"Well, it's no secret that Hiromi fancies him and they've been staying together for some time. Anything can happen and the pictures speak for themselves," he said nonchalantly. "They are two consenting adults."

"But, Leon said that you and Hiromi set him up."

"Ariel, do you really believe I would do such a thing?" he frowned.

"I don't know..."

"Look," he sighed heavily. "I honestly don't know why Leon would cook up such a thing, without hard evidence. All I know is that my father and I are hurt by this whole thing, especially Leon taking advantage of my young sister. That's why he needs to move out ASAP. Makes no sense that I wanna drag the name of Fujita by being complicit in doing such a stupid thing." He feigned looking hurt at her accusation.

Ariel lowered her eyelids, embarrassed that she insinuated that her boss and friend could be involved in doing such a thing.

Hiroshi placed his hand on her hand and said, "Ariel, let Leon go. I know you still hold him dear in your heart, but can't you see he's no good? How many times do you need to be shown his playboy true colours before getting hurt again and again? Do you wanna be this stupid?"

Ariel winced at his last word. She needed time alone to digest the harsh truth.

"I need some rest. You don't need to trouble yourself to come and see me every day. You're a busy man."

"No matter how busy I am, I want to make sure you are well," Hiroshi squeezed her hand. 

Ariel gave him a smile.

Hiroshi stood up and peered through the gap between the curtains to make sure the bodyguards kept Leon out of the premises like they always did for the last few days. Instead of Leon, he saw Paolo, the ice cream man walking towards the gate of the house with an ice cream delivery. Rita answered him at the gate and exchanged a few words before happily taking the ice creams from him and exclaiming loudly "Thank you, thank you!".