Beautiful Affection

CHAPTER 28

WARNING: Longer chapter because I didn't bother to make it short :P

CHAPTER 28

Last night, he fought with his wife.

No, it was not really a fight. His wife, Maaya was a gentlewoman with the tendency of bottling up what she felt. Unlike him who was really straightforward, Maaya was prone to burst into tears before asking him who was the women he went out with. Meeting Tomochika frequently was still acceptable since the idol was also her close friend but not other women who were sexy and popular. He could not answer her for a reason so their relationship ended up strained.

I am sorry, Maaya. After tonight, you'll understand why I met them, Ren thought. He rested against the sofa right after his office hour finished, accompanied by his laptop. Apparently, even years had passed since he gave up on his ladies' man status, it was hard for others to simply accept that. Sometimes, the ladies appeared again in his life and devastate his marriage. The fact that some people still doubted his loyalty towards Maaya had always been slurring and that was when he understood Tokiya the most.

It's hard, right, Tokiya? You want to make yourself clean but somehow, people love to dwell on your past instead of giving you second chance, he thought. He hunched forward as his cyan eyes scanned the pictures from his laptop pensively.

STARISH's sleepy faces when they were cast for 'Good Morning, Idols!' variety show...

STARISH when they won the decisive concert for Triple S event...

STARISH's smiling faces during Syo and Natsuki's birthday party...

All of them smiled. All including Tokiya who sadly no longer felt to do such thing with them, let alone for them. It took only one painful blow to ruin everything. When he meant everything, he did not simply refer to how Syo and Natsuki were fired from their beloved jobs and how Otoya almost lost his children for good. If Saotome thought that they simply would give up because of the tortures, he was wrong.

But he could not help but feel lost at what to do when he learned Tokiya's attitude regarding his own circumstance. For someone who was strong-willed and stern, he now gave up to fight for his self-worth. Instead, he was willing to continue being The Stripper just like how Saotome wished.

Ren frowned as he stared at Tokiya's smiling face which was during their debut performance. It was soothing and this guy should smile more instead of looking miserable continually. Seeing how young all of them looked in the picture, it reminded him of how cold Tokiya was at the beginning of their friendship. Their seats in the class were just next to each other but most of the time, Tokiya treated him worse than a wall. Later, when they got closer especially after debut, he concluded that Tokiya had extreme trust issue due to his upbringing and what he had gone through as a young celebrity. Ren was glad when Tokiya slowly opened up to them and coolly showed how much he cared about them.

But now, the trust was broken again and it was their faults. They almost wanted to get rid of Tokiya from still being one of them and now they had a taste of their own medicine. Now, Tokiya himself did not want to have anything to do with them anymore and it seemed like he was resolute with his decision. Judging from his personality, he might do it so that everyone was safe. Tokiya simply did not want to take a risk anymore.

Now, a question just crossed his mind. Should they give up, then? But they did not start anything yet, though. Just organized a plan here and there...

"Ren? Ren?" A few pats on his broad shoulder managed to drag him to reality. He slightly turned, only to meet eyes with his brother.

"Nii-san," he exclaimed, wondering what brought the CEO of the company to his room at this hour. "I wonder what brings you here. Something happened?"