S C A N D A L

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dinner was a miserable affair. It became more tense at the arrival of Raiden, Kurou's brother, whose sole purpose of visiting was none other than Shiro's cousin, Yoshihiro. Of course, they all pretended that nothing happened but Raiden could clearly see and feel the stiffness in the air. Shiro did try to make a conversation but after a futile attempt, he couldn't get Kurou to engage. He didn't even respond to his brother's query and simply mumbled an agreement.

This atmosphere was very wrong in Raiden's mind. Usually, Shiro was animated and happy and Kurou would dote at him in every way he could. Now, they were acting like complete strangers. Worse than the way they acted on their wedding day. At least then, a sarcastic banter would've been preferable to the gloomy ambiance they were presenting now.

After the dinner, before he sought the attention of Yoshihiro, Raiden decided to turn his cool façade on his younger brother, following him in his office. "Kurou, care to explain to me why this house seemed like it went through a funeral?"

Kurou didn't speak for a moment and went around to sit on the high-back chair behind his desk. "It's nothing..."

"How can it be nothing? Don't you dare lie to me! I've caught a glimpse of Shichiro and Masaru exchanging knowing glances."

"Then, why are you even asking me? Why don't you ask them?"

"Fine. I'll ask them now."

"STOP."

Raiden's hand that was on the knob of the door paused and glanced slowly at his brother. "Well, are you pleased with yourself? You've upset Shiro."

Kurou scoffed. "You're already judging me before I could even explain myself. What's the point of you even asking?"

As he realized the equally miserable tone in his younger brother, Raiden felt guilty. "I'm sorry. I saw the news. Dad is taking care of it..."

"Dad is taking care of it to not upset Masahiko and his business deal with Izanagi-san. I doubt he even cares about what I feel..."

"Hey, don't say that. You know he loves you. But Masahiko always felt that Otosan had always been lenient to you and---"

"Yeah, I know he hates me. Look, I don't want to talk about them. If you must know, Kei came into my house unannounced."

Raiden was stunned that he didn't press the other subject to his brother any longer. He returned to sit on the chair in front of the office's desk. "But...how?"

"He did it on purpose," the younger man crossed the room to pour them some brandy. "I felt like all those hard works of evading him, and treating him with civility went nowhere," he added and handed his brother a glass. "He still managed to get under my skin and in a very unpleasant way."

Raiden thought for a moment. "What does he want this time? He's married to Eri, his father-in-law is a diplomat, and he has access to a lot of money than before..."

"I don't care what he wants," Kurou remarked as he gulped the brandy in one go. "I only care about Shiro...I didn't mean to hurt him."

The intonation was calm but Raiden was almost certain that he heard the unmistakable melancholy in Kurou's tone clearly. "I'm impressed...you've never been discreet about your affairs."

Kurou leaned in his chair and closed his eyes. "I never wanted to live up to it. All the scandals...you know I was never involved in any of it."

Raiden nodded with a soft chuckle. "You're always in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Yeah...like when I first met him."

Raiden thought that he was referring to his previous flame and only shrugged. "I always thought you had bad taste, but you fell in love with him and suddenly the whole family was in turmoil..."