King's Prize (Kissed By The Baddest Bidder)

Chapter 19: Her Choice

"Why didn't you save me then?"

Rino's face fell at the question, and I waited desperately for what he had to say.

"I was... Disoriented. I couldn't believe my father doing what he did that I was lost in my own misery, for there was this other girl..." His voice choked on that and his eyes rimmed, but he exhaled and continued. "I did date a lot but before I met you there was a girl I liked more than the others. She disappeared soon after and it broke me, but I never thought my own father had a hand in it until he asked me for you. I couldn't even look at you, Satine. I was a coward and I only realized that when he told me he gave you away so soon. I threatened to tell the police about him but he had me beaten, locked and guarded in my room for days." Rino looked at me, his eyes were bloodshot, daring me to believe him but I just stared back, willing myself to remain impassive. The others were standing a little ways from us, but I knew they could hear everything.

"I couldn't stop thinking what happened to you, and I realized I had to know. I didn't eat for days, and pretended to be unconscious that they had no choice but take me out, and that was how I escaped. I went to the police and soon Mr. Kishi found me."

I looked at Mamoru, puffing on his cigarette like he always do, but his eyes never left us and when he nodded a little, I heaved a deep breath and exhaled.

"Who bailed you?" I asked, torn at what he just told me and what I have thought of him for so long.

"Mr. Kishi did."

"What?"

"I also told you to leave Tokyo and not show your face in these parts again," Mamoru said, his voice dark and menacing.

I looked at Mamoru, nodding in agreement, for I just couldn't bring myself to believe Rino even if his words did ring of truth. "You have to leave, Rino. If what you said was true, then thank you. But I only got lucky, the others didn't. I would never forget how you merely stood there as I cried for your help."

"Satine..."

"Just go, Rino. Make a new life somewhere."

Rino looked stricken and merely shook his head. "I'm staying for a while, Satine. I will leave as soon as you told me you've forgiven me."

"I wish I can say that so you can leave in peace, but I really don't know what to think right now." I turned my back on him and Honey immediately stepped towards me. "Do what you please, Rino. Just don't bother me again."

***

Rino was left standing there, his eyes on her retreating figure, his resolve stronger now than before.

Satine had changed in ways he would never have guessed, but she was the only girl who saw right through him, the only one he really cared about since Mina's disappearance. He never found out what happened to Mina, and his guilt on the part his father played made him more determined to protect Satine.

The detective was looking at him, brows furrowed. "You heard her."

"I won't leave, Mr. Kishi. Not until she forgives me."

"Stop wasting your time, kid. She will never turn around." The detective stared him down, saying, "Don't go near her if you know what's good for you. She belongs to someone else now."

Rino didn't say anything and Mamoru left him to go back up the penthouse.

***

Rino seemed relentless to have my forgiveness, though.

I didn't know how he knew it, but he became a regular sight during my rehearsals that the girls had started teasing me about him. For Rino was goodlooking in a boyish sort of way which the models seem to dig, and the attention was starting to piss Ota and Baba off. I've seen them threaten Rino to stay away but Rino paid them no heed, his eyes always seemed to be glued to me every time I look at him.

I didn't speak to him for I have no reason to, but still he would be there watching me, leaving only after an hour or so.

His presence bother me a little for I know now that he is alone and without family, and a long talk with Mamoru one afternoon confirmed every word Rino said, which only made it doubly hard for me, thinking how the guys had disposed of his father.

Eisuke knew everything from the beginning and yet he didn't tell me; he merely allowed me to cry my eyes out thinking the worst of Rino.

The night of the fashion show, I knew I had to speak to Rino once and for all.

"Rino," I called out to him when I saw him at the backstage a few hours before the show was set to begin, the flurry of activities drowning my voice that I had to call his name a second time. His face lit up in a smile when he heard me, and in a few steps he was already standing next to me.

The other models kept giving us malicious grins as they walk past us, and one even went so far as to give me a poke in the ribs.

"If you're done with him, maybe you can give him my number," Lana, one of Ota's most sought-after models, said with a wink.

I laughed shakily and nodded.

Rino merely smiled at the banter and as I look up at him I could understand how the girls seemed to lose their minds around him. "Uhm, would you like to have dinner with me after the show?"

***

Eisuke clenched his teeth; he had guessed all along that it was only a matter of time.

Ota's fashion show was again, a success, but Satine left soon after, a smiling Rino in tow. He saw her get into a cab with him, the young man looking extremely pleased with himself, and though it was unusual for him, he followed the cab in his Ferrari. Rino had been stalking her for many nights now that Satine pitying him was almost inevitable, a fact he found most disagreeable.

Though her kiss had kept him awake most nights to the point that he couldn't endure anymore, he stayed away to give her time, for he had an uncanny feeling she was angry with him, too.

But he didn't give her time just to be with someone else, and he was not the cold hearted millionaire for nothing.