Thorns and Roses

Chapter 2

Kimura Riku, President and CEO – read the long plaque on the desk.

"Report to me, Arisu." Yui's brother commanded in his firm calm voice from the head of his bodyguard, who's in his 30s, after hearing what happened to his little sister.

The man towered his elbows on his desk to support his chin as Arisu played the surveillance video on his laptop of the event that happened earlier in front of their hotel. As the video played, Arisu also briefed him of what occurred.

"According to the police report, the assailant mistakenly thought Ms. Kimura to be someone whom he'd been assigned to assault. So, he waited for Ms. Kimura to come out from the hotel and started attacking her. As you can see here..." Arisu leaned down to point Kei on the screen before he continued. "...this delivery guy intercepted and eventually saved your sister." the bodyguard stopped the video after the event played out.

Yui rose from the couch and walked to her brother's side. "Everyone just stood there! Even those security guards who even pulled their guns out. Only Kei helped and saved me."

Riku leaned back on his swivel chair as he looked at his sister. "You must be terrified. Did you go to the hospital and get checked?"

Although calm, Riku was used to violence in his nature of his work. But his chest was pounding inside seeing how the man in the video almost hurt his sister. He really tried his best not to bring any danger to his sister as much as possible.

"I did. I brought Kei, too. I thought he's going to die." she sadly pouted.

Riku gently held Yui's hands together and grabbed some wet tissue from his drawer to wipe the blood off of her. "You could've washed your hands at least."

"Can you get Kei for me?"

A minute of silence befell inside the office. Yui pressed on her lips seeing the serious face of her brother. She could feel the worry from him even without saying any words. She knew her brother too well.

"Isn't it inappropriate for you to address your savior by his first name? You just met him. You should show respect to him, hmm?"

Riku smiled and raised his head to look at Yui. She nodded and helped her brother wipe the remaining blood stains on her hands.

"I'm scared to go out alone now. Kei... I mean, Mr. Sakai Kei is very good in fighting. He can be my personal bodyguard. As you can see, he doesn't feel any pain."

Her brother subtly sighed and signaled Arisu to clean his desk from the bloody tissues. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. We have a lot of bodyguards here. I will assign you one, okay?"

"I don't want any of your bodyguards, 'Nii-chan. I don't want your mafia bodyguards."

"Exactly. I've given you bodyguards so many times, but you don't want one. That's why this happened."

"It isn't my fault some crazy man didn't get his assignment right."

"Yui!" Riku scolded her.

Even though she's Riku's favorite person and her brother loves her more than anyone else, even more than their father, Yui could still get scolded from time to time because of her temper and being a spoiled one by her brother. Regardless, Riku still knew how to discipline her.

"Fine. But... I want Sakai Kei. I... will feel much safer with him around. He wasn't scared to save someone who he doesn't even know. That makes him a good person, right?" she said in her serious tone, although she's still pouting on her brother to grant her request.

Yui rarely asked Riku for anything. So, this is one of the firsts from his sister; he couldn't just ignore. A sigh escaped from him and looked at Arisu. The bodyguard just slightly nodded, as if understanding what's inside his head, he excused himself and left the siblings inside the office.