S C A N D A L

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Days became a week. A week became a month. Before Shiro knew it, everyone was so fixated with his mother's upcoming nuptials. In spite of Shiro's apprehension, Satoshi Miyake seemed to be just the man that his mother needed. He had been a bachelor all of his life and had been so focused on taking care of his nieces and nephews that the idea of marriage had never entered his mind. Although he dated a few women, he never thought he would ever settle down until he met Shiro's mother, Kumiko.

Their first meeting was in a posh diner in Chuo City called Tapas Molecular Bar. At first, Satoshi thought Kurou was the son of Kumiko given how bubbly and chatty he was that Shiro's mother was practically laughing. Shiro was a bit distant at first, trying to gauge the man's character. But as time passed by, he was convinced that Satoshi was an honest gentleman, very down-to-earth and he couldn't help but find certain similarities between him and his Kurou.

Satoshi enjoyed an above-average lifestyle and was astonished to learn that Kurou was the youngest son of Takeo Matsumoto. He didn't expect him to be so humble and luckily, he wasn't fond of social media or gossip magazines that he was genuinely unaware of Kurou's reputation. This was something that Shiro appreciated and he could tell that Kurou liked it too. It was refreshing to see someone who had zero knowledge of his existence and it reminded him of Shiro when they first met. Shiro too didn't know about Kurou's scandal until it was brought to his attention by Yoshihiro, his secretary, and his driver-bodyguard.

As expected, Azumi was the bridesmaid and she had taken this role quite seriously. It irritated all of her sons and even her husband but she was the 'Mistress of the Matsumoto" household so neither one of the male residents could even complain about it. Kurou complained to Shiro every night though but he was all praised to Satoshi which Shiro found adorable.

"A bar?" Kurou repeated what he heard when Shiro told him that his mother Azumi organized a bridal shower in a members-only bar for Kumiko and they invited a couple of friends aside from Yoshihiro and Shiro.

"Yes," Shiro explained as he was busy folding Kurou's clothes and hanging his dry-cleaned ensembles in the closet. Unfortunately, Kurou had a habit of having Isamu or one of the maidservants organize it for him, or else he would throw it away! Shiro felt bad for the clothes so he volunteered to do it himself. "I won't go if you don't want me to go."

Kurou quickly looked at him. "I'm fine with it," he clarified this and moved to sit beside his husband on the bed. "I should have Shichiro go with you. Masaru and I need to be in the office that day."

"Your brothers and father will be there too."

"Maybe I should cancel the meeting and---"

"---move it again another day? No. You and I are supposed to visit Grandma next week. She's already grumpy for not being able to attend Oka-san's bridal shower because Tetsuya nii-san won't allow her to travel."

Kurou's lips puckered. "But I want to attend too..."

"Finish your meeting early. I'm sure you'll be able to catch up. Bridal showers usually take time."

"Hey, no strippers, okay?"

Shiro glowered. "Your father is going to be there! Do you think he would allow your mom to hire a stripper?"

"I know my mom and dad won't say no to any of her requests. I'm just warning you---"

"YOU warning me? May I remind you that between the two of us, you're the one who was always seen with a companion!"

"That was in the past and before I met you!" Kurou reasoned, "Also, some of it isn't true, you know."

Shiro exhaled and turned to his husband with a calm demeanor. "I get it, okay? I know you went out with some of those people and probably dated a few and that's normal since you were single back then. As long as you're loyal to me---"