Paired With Fate

Chapter Eighteen

Elizabeth Kobayashi was generally a plain looking woman, quite lanky and tall but with silken long hair that flowed down her back like a waterfall.  Otherwise her eyes that were a muddy brown were uninteresting and her features that were not ugly did not stand out in any other way.  Her height was likely the only other thing to make her noticeable in a crowd, otherwise, she would have blended completely within it.  However, this woman now stood in a spotlight of controversy as she had paired and married one of the hottest Hollywood actor's currently in existence.

In a photograph of the pair standing side by side, she was as tall as her boyishly handsome man while wearing kitten heels and a silver sheen dress that hung from her narrow shoulders and managed to make her look quite formless. The matching silver collar about her swan-like neck was very obvious as well. The comments from critiques and her husband's fans, both green-eyed and otherwise open minded were the same; this pair just did not seem to match well.

And yet, in the same photograph, the woman's plain eyes seemed to come to life as they beheld the man standing beside her with his genuinely joyful smile and Ichiro believed that she looked beautiful.

The not so flattering photograph, paired with a few other pictures of both man and woman happened to appear in a magazine along with a question and answer type interview from them. In it, Torin mentioned his fans; thanking those who continued to support him and also offered in turn support for his marriage and bride, while spurning those who would send his wife disgusting hate mail and troll messages. "I do not need that type of fan," he stated.

Ichiro closed the magazine and placed it back on the shelf with the others before opening another package of magazines and filling the spot where they were located. The excess magazines were placed upon a narrow trolley and wheeled into the small warehouse attached to the back of the store.

After more attempts than he could count, Ichiro managed to find himself a small part time job in a convenience store. The shop was owned by a man and his wife, the former happened to be particularly stingy, happy to flout laws such as minimum wage and income tax, just to scrap as much profit from his small store as possible. Thus Ichiro was paid a pittance in cash at the end of each week with no wage slip. However, Ichiro had been desperate, his savings were now empty due to a flurry of bills and the new rental payment.

Having finished filling the magazines, he gathered boxes of confection and crisps next, before the owner yelled at him to look at the section of canned goods. Ichiro agreed without hesitation, ignoring the ache in his feet as grabbing a break was pretty much impossible in this store. Only the owner, as he sat at the register reading a paper or watching clips of comedians on his tablet, was allowed to rest during his shifts.

The man's wife entered the store, heading straight for the register to wheedle some money from her husband; she wanted to go shopping with 'the girls'. The owner looked reluctant, not even wanting to part with the cash in the til on the request of his 'beloved' wife. Ichiro didn't know if the woman actually worked, only that he'd never seen her work in the store. In fact, this was the second time he'd seen her and both times she was after funds for her purse. And just as the previous time, she wheedled her husband out of a handful of notes before leaving satisfied.

The owner was clearly not satisfied and pushed Ichiro to stack shelves faster, while he returned to reading his paper.

*****

A tired and weary Ichiro locked up the Hall after leading a small group of women and a young man, through self-defence exercises.  Glancing up the road, he couldn't help but feel sorry for himself as he pushed his body into a slow run, thinking that the distance between the dilapidated Hall and his apartment never seemed so long.  And wouldn't you know it, the elevator had broken down again.  His muscles complained bitterly as he dragged himself up the numerous flights of stairs.