Chapter 23 - The Possessive Man
"No. I'm not worried at all."
Ming Yue sounded firm and resolute as she spoke with an aloof face which totally contradicted Tora, who was agitated by her inconsiderate behavior towards him.
"Huh?"
"Yes, Mr. Taketora Hamada. I'm not worried that you will leave me one day." She stopped in midsentence and nodded before continuing,
"Well, if you had any intention to call it a quit and leave me, then you would have left earlier. But instead, you are vowed to marry me even after knowing that I'm a terrible person." She added with a playful tone which totally won over Tora's fuming anger and left him with no choice to yield in.
No matter how many times he has experienced it, he wasn't still familiar with her eccentric ways of playing with his feelings.
"I agree...But..but instead of getting married, you ditched me and went on a vacation...alone." He confessed with a pair of sad puppy eyes even though it wasn't completely true. He wished to accompany her, but leaving the clan unattended, even for a week would cost them more.
"You were the one who refused to come with me, quoting that staying away from you would make me realize how much you meant to me. I have never asked you anything like that." She put the blame on the man and acted as it wasn't her fault for spending the new year in different parts of the world instead of celebrating it under the same roof as how they did it for the last few years.
"Your choices, your decisions-I don't have a say in it. If you want to stay, stay...If you want to leave, leave. Feel free to go and marry your Yuki or Riko or Sumire whoever is considerate, caring and dying to talk to you." Ming Yue scoffingly stated and tilted her head a bit, as if she was totally cool about it.
However, Tora who heard her quoting the names of all the women who confessed their love for him, couldn't help but notice the hidden jealousy in Ming Yue's eyes.
"Michan, are you perhaps angry at me... for saying that you are inconsiderate?" He asked, while a bright smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.
"Why would I be angry at you? Inconsiderate people don't have any time for that bullshit." Watching her using the same phrases that he used earlier, Tora finally realised that he has successfully managed to get onto Ming Yue's nerves.
"Michan, I was worried about you." He stated, look on his eyes, and his voice softened at the very sight of his Tsundere girl. It was true that she was cold and stone-hearted, but on some extremely rare occasions, he has seen how she allowed others to take a glance at her vulnerable side.
"I'm not a child." Hearing his concerned voice, she huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Yes. exactly. You are not a child but a woman, and you looked extremely pretty. I was just worried that some wolfish foreigner might hit on you." Tora defended himself in the light of the effect Ming Yue leaves on people who came in contact with her. He was totally whipped for Ming Yue from the very first moment he saw her that he was even willing to fight for others who claimed her as their own.
If they lived in an ancient world, kingdoms would have fought wars for her.
Her existence itself was like a forbidden fruit that lured everyone towards doom.
"Speaking of foreigner men, I did meet someone today." Ming Yue pointed out when she suddenly recalled the man whom she met. "He was so willing to listen to me that he even offered to drive home."
Though she casually mentioned it, the response she received from the man who was on the call.
"You said you went with Kousuke and Yoji?" Tora coldly asked when his biggest nightmare was on the verge of becoming true.
"Yes...I went with them. But I don't need to return with them as well, especially if you go clubbing." Ming Yue shrugged her shoulders as if it was a normal thing, only to annoy a certain someone who was madly possessive over her.
"You returned with that guy?" He fiercely pressed on the issue that require immediate attention.
"Hmm."
"Didn't I tell you to stay away from men?" Tora almost snarled his fangs at the girl, who acted as if it got nothing to do with her. "All these men in clubs, all of them got only one thing in their mind. I'm damn sure he also approached you with the same nasty intention."
"It's not nasty, Tora... It is called the basic primal urge. The animalistic behaviour to mate when they find someone attractive from the opposite sex. The insatiable hunger that burns your body and soul," Ming Yue dramatically paused to infuriate Tora, who was innocently falling prey to her merciless trick.
"And I'm damn sure that's what I saw in your eyes a while ago."
"Huh?" Unable to comprehend what he just heard, Tora stared blankly at the phone screen. "You saw..it on me?"
"Hmmm. I saw it on him, too." Ming Yue stated as a matter of fact when she recalled Wan Yi Jun's conflicted face while they were together in the Wisteria gardens. She could literally sense the struggle he had to go through to hide his inner desires until she came up with the tear-jerking story of an orphan who grew up in a courtesan house.
Breaking the last chains of his self restain, Tora exploded in anger when he could no longer listen to her words,
That was too much.
He was her fiance, for God sake!!!
No man was tolerant towards his woman being approached by another man to court her.
And Tora was no different from the wide majority of those men who were possessive and equally obsessed with the woman they like.
"That bastard, how dare he!!!!" He growled without any sense about his surroundings and went on with his monologue about how these feral men approach women just for pleasure. "Nah... you are the one who is responsible....you gave me a word...you promised me that there won't be a man in your life other than me..how can you forget that and...and...make out with a stranger?" He was going crazy when he remembered all the promises Ming Yue has given before leaving for the trip. Even he liked her for years, he never made a move on her until last spring when both of their family began to discuss the potential marriage aspects.
More than anything else, how can she forget everything he has done for him and let a complete stranger take away her virginity? Tora couldn't stop his thoughts that were running wild in his head.
"That's too many questions to answer." Ming Yue yawned and leaned on the head rest of her bed, totally brushing off his anger and frustration.
"Are you kidding me? You....you..." Tora struggled to come up with appropriate words to express his disappointment at the woman who was literally giving no importance to him.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Ming Yue stared deep into him and raised her index finger.
"Okay. Just answer one question...Only one of mine and I will answer yours." She finally called for a truce and to which Tora gave a cold shoulder. He was so done with her mind games. What he wants now is definite answers- did she cheat him or not?
"You claim that I met a man in the club, went home with him and made out with an absolute stranger. If I did that then why would I appear half-naked before you?" She inquired with a calm face that resembled the tranquillity of a deep icy lake, so unperturbed and even.
"What?" Tora's fair forehead creased when he finally figured out that he just misinterpreted the whole situation, just because of his possessive and highly overprotective nature of him.
"Did you see any hickey or "so-called" afterglow or any other signs that I have "made out" with a man?" She asked again to calm down the chaos in his mind.
Pausing at her words, Tora tried to recall the very first sight he saw when he picked up her video call.
Did she appear half naked beforehand was because she oversaw his tantrums upon hearing that she met a man?
"No."
"Yes. I agree that he was one of the appealing human beings I have ever seen. But all I did was to cook up an extremely tormenting story so that he would feel nothing but pity for fellow humans."
She paused and broke into a self depreciating smile that was too bewitchingly beautiful and painful to watch at the same time.
"I didn't do it and trust me, Tora that man...he is the last person whom I will ever "make love" even if he was the last man on this very earth." She proclaimed in an unflinching voice, just to reassure Tora that none of his nightmares has turned true....yet.
Because the following morning came up with the 'unexpectedly expected' news of Captian Wan Yi Jun, the chief of the eagle team, the emergency task unit of the imperial police force, being appointed as the investigator in charge of the cold blooded murder that took place on the new year eve in the center of capital city.