Sebastian saw the dark look in Darcy's features and nodded. "Let me get my wallet first." He walked out of the living area, his mind on Sakura. He just couldn't believe it. Finally, they found out where Sakura was living, and oddly enough, he felt relieved. Soon, very soon, he'd see her again and then... And then what?
He turned the knob, opened the door slightly, and slid in. He headed straight to the sleek desk facing the large window that overlooked the exotic garden outside. If he were to look up, he would have seen the beautiful cherry blossoms dancing in the breeze. If he were to look up, he would have seen the woman he was desperately searching for across the garden, gazing at the cherry blossoms falling. But he didn't. He was too consumed with his own hurt, confusion, and relief that they had finally found the whereabouts of Sakura, the woman he desperately loved and cherished.
Sebastian released a deep sigh, a hint of a smile on his face. "Sakura," he whispered between his lips. "Sweetheart."
He grabbed the keys and his wallet and then lifted his head. It was then he saw a glimpse of Jane and another female on the other side, leaving. He didn't quite see who the other woman was and quickly dismissed them from his mind.
Three sleek Mercedes-benz arrived in front of Tanaka Gallery some twenty minutes later. Of course, this drew a lot of attention from the streets as the seven hot residents got out of the cars.
Tristan raised his head to look at the sign above as he drew away his sunglasses. He whistled and said, "My darling sister is doing pretty well for herself."
Conrad shoved him to the side and headed straight to the door.
"What a hotheaded young buck," Tristan said, shaking his head.
One by one, the brothers came in through the double doors into the gallery. Melissa, who was at the counter, busy inspecting her painted nails, looked up and nearly fainted with joy. The delight in her eyes was immeasurable, and she shot up, grinning from ear to ear. From her spot, she watched as the men entered. The one leading was blond and wearing glasses. He was tall and very good-looking. But the one to his left was even hotter, with pale-blond hair and a body to die for. She shivered at the thought of seeing his naked body. The one to the right was Darcy Princeton, the dreamy one she hadn't been able to stop thinking about. Then there were the other four behind them, and they all were simply eye-candy to her.
They came up to the counter, and Melissa prepared herself to greet them properly. She tucked down her pencil skirt and pulled her blouse about her person so it sat just right on her to show her curves.
"Sakura Tanaka," Nicolas asked, his voice firm and hard. "Is she in?"
At the commanding voice, Melissa suddenly lost her mojo and shrank back with a little bit of fright. Holy Shit! These guys looked like they were here for serious business. So she straightened herself and said, "I'm afraid not, sir. She's out."
Darcy frowned at her. "Where did she go?"
At Melissa's hesitance, Tristan made his way to her and leaned on the counter with ease. He gave her a devilish grin and said, "Listen, sweetheart."
Melissa was indeed listening. She licked her lips and returned the smile with eagerness.
"We're here on a mission. So I'd be very grateful if you'd tell us"--he paused--"or find out for us where Sakura went."
"Well, I don't know, sir," Melissa said. "I just saw her leaving this morning with a friend."
Logan decided to help out and came to lean on the other side. "Well then, how about you take us up? We have all day to wait for Sakura to return." He winked at her.
Melissa blushed. "Of course. I'm sure she won't be too long." She licked her lips again and then made her way from the counter to stand before them. "This way, please," she said. "I'll take you to the back and then I'll give Miss Tanaka a call. May I have your names?"
"No names," Sebastian said abruptly as they turned the corner. "Just tell her she has guests waiting."
Nicolas said, "And do it quickly."
"Of course," Melissa replied timidly. A few moments later, she showed them to the private waiting room where Sakura frequently received her guests, mainly her clients, and of course, Jane and Luke when they came to visit for a cup of coffee.
The brothers made themselves comfortable on the few sofas and chairs. Hayden couldn't help being drawn to the smell of coffee that was still brewing in the pot on the counter.
"It smells nice," he said loudly.
Conrad perked up in his chair. "Give me a cup."
Logan rushed up to stand beside his brother and stare at the dark liquid. He sniffed, his eyes closed. "It's Sakura's all right. No one can brew such a wonderful smelling coffee."
Hayden picked up the pot and poured the black brew into a cup. He quickly took a sip and sighed with pleasure. "Oh, brother! Do I miss this."
Conrad was impatient. He headed to the counter as well. He poured himself a cup before returning to his seat. It wasn't long before every one of the brothers had a cup of steamy hot coffee in hand and were sipping pleasantly.
It was then Melissa returned. "Oh, you all liked the coffee?"
"Have you made the call?" Nicolas asked as if Melissa were one of his staff.
And Melissa did behave like one by saying, "Yes, sir. She said she'd be back soon. She told me to make you comfortable. She just has a short meeting to go to."
"With whom? Do you know?" Logan asked curiously. He also gave her a handsome smile to please her.
Melissa was stoked. "I'm not sure, sir, but I saw a wrapped gown with her when she left with her friend."
Darcy and Sebastian looked at each other. They knew where Sakura was heading.
"Anything else I can get for you?" Melissa asked pleasantly.
"We're good," Conrad said, dismissing her.
"Are you sure?" She wanted to be their amazingly wonderful hostess. In fact, she wanted to serve all seven of them all the way into bed, of course. It was then that a bell rang, indicating the entry of customers, and Melissa, annoyed, headed back to the main gallery.
Sebastian turned to Nicolas. "Mr. Tachibana?"
"I'm on it," Nicolas replied and dialed the number.
The brothers waited patiently while Nicolas listened to the phone ringing. After a few rounds, Mr. Tachibana's voice came over and said, "Konnichiwa, this is Tachibana. I am unavailable right now. Please leave a message and I will reply as soon as I can. Sayonara, and have a nice day." A long, merry laugh followed.
"Shit!" Nicolas snapped. "He's not picking up." He tried again and waited. It was the same. Mr. Tachibana didn't pick up.
"Oh shit!" Hayden said. "He can't be that busy."
"Try again later," Logan suggested.
It was then that Conrad perked his ears. "I think I hear a dog barking."
"Are you hearing things?" Logan teased.
"Shut up," Conrad snapped. He got up from his seat as his brothers watched him curiously. He disappeared out the door, and a few moments later, he said loudly, "Holy shit! It's Toby!"
Sebastian and Darcy came rushing out the door to see Conrad cradling the Westie in his arms. The dog was licking Conrad's face whilst Conrad was laughing like he'd never laughed before.
"It's Toby," he said again.
Toby stopped licking Conrad and then jumped out from the young man's arms. He raced to Darcy and jumped about him a few moments, wagging his tail in excitement. Darcy got down to his knees and stroked the dog's head, smiling. "Where's your master, Toby?"
"She's out and won't like it if she finds out you boys are here," came the reply. The brothers turned to see Ned coming up the stairs, a smile on his face. "Didn't take you long to find out where she lives, did it?"
Toby was so excited at seeing the brothers again that he barked loudly and then rushed over to Sebastian and then Tristan. Before Tristan could pick him up, however, he rushed over to Logan and let the man pat him. He wasn't satisfied with just that either and raced over to Hayden and then to Nicolas. Finally, he settled by going back to Sebastian and let the man pick him up. He barked loud
ly again and begged the man to pet him, which Sebastian happily obliged.
Ned said, "I've never seen the little bugger that excited since we left St. Joseph Island." Then he laughed.
Sebastian and Darcy looked at each other. So they had been right. Sakura had Ned helping her all along.
"Come on," he said. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask. And here I thought that wouldn't happen until Sunday." He led them upstairs to the loft. The brothers followed, and a few moments later, they came to a much more homey area, with wooden floor laid with warm rugs and odd carpets, a bright, warm tone paint on the walls that were covered with Sakura's paintings and photographs.
Ned led them into the living area and told the brothers to make themselves comfortable. The brothers took their preferred seats: Sebastian and Nicolas on the sofa near the window, Conrad and Darcy on the other one diagonal to that, Logan and Hayden on one cozy chair each, and Tristan leaning by the window.
Ned closed the door. "That should be private enough."
Toby chose that moment to change his cozy couch by rushing out of Sebastian's arms and into Logan's. Logan petted him as Toby made himself comfortable.
"How long have you and Sakura been here?" Conrad asked.
"Since we left St. Joseph Island," Ned said.
"Why did she leave?" Conrad couldn't help himself. "She didn't even tell any of us. Just up and gone. And she was supposed to be in the hospital. She was supposed to be recovering from the accident."
Darcy fisted his hands at the mention of this and fired one of his own questions. "Did you know before that accident if she was leaving?"
Ned nodded. "She had always planned to leave since before you boys returned to St. Joseph Island for Mary's wedding. She wasn't going to stay there forever."
Sebastian frowned at this. Of course, he remembered that time when he'd taken her for a ride on Hayden's motorbike after Lauren's birthday party. She'd mentioned something about leaving St. Joseph Island.
"She was planning to find her biological mother," Ned supplied. "Those few weeks you boys came to stay, I found out some background as to who her mother is."
"What's her name?" Nicolas asked.
"Haruka Tanaka," Ned said. "That should make sense of what happened on Saturday."
Nicolas looked at Sebastian and then both nodded in understanding. "She thinks Ms. Ruka, whose real name is Haruka Tanaka, is her mother?"
Conrad wanted to know. "Who's Ms. Ruka?"
Nicolas turned his attention to his other brothers, who looked a little confused, and said, "Ms. Ruka works for Mr. Tachibana. She's his assistant."
"But she's a transgender," Tristan said from behind.
"Sakura didn't know that," Nicolas said. "And thank goodness for that."
Logan started laughing then, loudly, in which case Hayden and then Conrad followed. Darcy couldn't help but shake his head at the whole odd situation as well and smile. It was the first time Sebastian had seen his younger brother lighten up, and he himself laughed. It felt so good, and he rested his back against the sofa.
Nicolas nudged his glasses up the bridge of his fine nose, as was his habit, and said, "I suppose there's more than one Haruka Tanaka in the world."
Ned sighed. "Yes, and she went all the way to the hotel just to take a peek at the wrong woman. Mind you, I did tell her not to go. She knew fully well you boys would be there. But she just didn't listen. And now look where it got her. Stuck in a muddle of mess."
Sebastian said, "We're glad she didn't listen to you."
"That's our Sakura for you," Logan said. "Our darling sister couldn't wait to meet us."
The brothers understood the irony of Logan's words and chuckled.
"Why is she taking so long?" Conrad asked, flicking his eyes to the door.
"Look," Ned said, serious all of a sudden. "You boys know where she lives now and what she does. You knows she's in good health and that she's fine. You mightn't like what I'm about to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. She doesn't want to see you boys yet. She needs time to come around. If you know what I mean."
Conrad didn't like the sound of that. "What if she doesn't come around?"
"She will," Ned said. "I know her better than you boys do. I've been with her since she was a little girl. Whilst you boys were running around trying to please Tara and Alaina and then gone off to your fancy private school, she was with me, learning how to cope with the bullies from school and at home."
At the reminder of their childhood, the brothers immediately fell quiet and tense with guilt.
"So my suggestion is to leave her be for a while. You can trust me."
"We trust you, Ned," Sebastian said. "How long do you think she needs?"
"A while," Ned replied. "Trust me. You can't rush her. Her priority right now is to find her biological mother, and her seeing you boys again just doesn't help."
"What if we come to visit once a week?" Conrad asked. "I mean like casually? Or coffee?"
Ned laughed. "I'll see what I can do."
"So you'll try to make her come around?" Darcy asked.
"Yes," Ned said. "But it will take time."
Nicolas stood. "I'll give you a call sometime this week."
Ned couldn't help but laugh again. "With reports? Sure." In which case, he opened the door, ushering them out.
When Logan put Toby down on the floor, the dog groaned in displeasure.
"Can we come and take Toby home sometime?" Conrad asked Ned as they came down the stairs.
"Why not? I usually take him out for long walks while Sakura works," Ned replied. At this offer, Conrad couldn't stop smiling.
*
CHAPTER 16
An Unexpected Contract
"Do you realize, darling, you've completely ruined my masterpiece, yes?" Mr. Tachibana said, eyeing Sakura with a dark look.
Sakura nodded. "I really, sincerely apologize, Mr. Tachibana. I'll pay for the repairs."
The designer just gave her a look and then laughed loudly, almost insanely. "Darling, are you kidding me? Not just anybody can fix this! Only I can fix this because it is my masterpiece and I don't want anyone to ruin it, again!"
Sakura jumped a little in her seat at the exclamation. Jane, who was sitting on the sofa beside Sosuke, jumped as well.
Sosuke said in Japanese to Mr. Tachibana, "Tachibana-sensei, you're frightening her. If you must know, she's Mr. Princeton's adoptive daughter."
Mr. Tachibana widened his eyes at Sosuke with a questioning look. "What?" he replied in Japanese.
"Yes, or haven't you seen how the Princeton brothers were chasing after her backstage on Saturday night after the show?"
"Really? Yes, but I thought they were chasing her because she was stealing your aunt's necklace and my gown."
Sosuke couldn't help himself and laughed, which drew Jane's undivided attention. She was in awe of his laughter and simply stared at him with delight. She also loved the way he spoke Japanese, and she couldn't stop herself from gazing at him.
Sakura could only understood a little Japanese, so she couldn't quite make out what Sosuke was talking about. Though, she did know it was something to do with the Princeton brothers.
When Sosuke managed to calm down, he said, "She's their missing sister, and that night was literally the first time they've seen her since a year ago."
Mr. Tachibana turned his eyes to Sakura and looked at her closely, as if he were scrutinizing her. Sakura blinked, wondering why he was staring at her the way he did all of a sudden.
"Then why did she run away from them?" he asked Sosuke.
Sosuke nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said, "I think she wants to run away from them."
That was, of course, a very obvious statement, and to be honest, Sosuke hadn't a clue as to why either. For that, they'd had to ask Sakura herself. But of course, none of them was going to do that.
When Sosuke looked up to Mr. Tachibana again, he saw the glint within the man's dark-brown eyes and thought, Shit
! The man was up to something. Sosuke panicked and was about to ask when Mr. Tachibana said to Sakura, "Do you think, darling, that I have time to fix that ruined gown when I need time to design more beautiful gowns that could sell in the hundreds of thousands?"
When Sakura was about to utter something, he stopped her and continued, shaking his head adamantly. "And even if I do, do you know how much I'd charge you to fix my own gown?"
Sakura held her breath because she knew he was going to tell her any moment now.
Mr. Tachibana took a deep sigh and said, "At least eighty thousand US dollars, darling."
Sakura hung her mouth open, quite shocked.
Jane shot up. "Eighty thousand? Who has that type of money to pay you to fix your own gown, Mr. Tachibana?"
Mr. Tachibana raised his brows at Jane and said arrogantly, "Well, my dear, that gown alone took me at least three years to design. On the market and with my label on it, it'd cost at least nine hundred thousand."
Sakura swallowed at this news. Sosuke didn't like the sound of that and said in Japanese, "Tachibana-sensei, what are you up to?"
Mr. Tachibana gave Sosuke a grin before turning his attention to Sakura. "If you don't have money to pay, how about paying me by becoming my model?"
At this proposal, Sakura's brows shot up. "Your model?"
Jane said, "Mr. Tachibana, you're not thinking of casting Sakura as your female model for the upcoming photoshoot in Hawaii, are you?"
With Mr. Tachibana's grin, Jane continued. "But I thought you already have the females cast. Akira is one of them, right?"
"Yes," Mr. Tachibana said. "But I need a female main." He turned to Sakura. "And you're perfect, darling. Besides, you have no choice in the matter. Either model for me or pay the eighty thousand."
"Sakura," Jane said. "I saw the casting file. Tara and Alaina are models as well."
Sakura straightened her spine at this and said, "I'll do the modeling, Mr. Tachibana."
"Ah, marvelous," Mr. Tachibana shrieked with delight. He rushed over the table, came around to Sakura, hauled her into his arms, and hugged her tight. "Thank you, darling. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." When he finally released her, he instructed, "Now, Ms. Ruka and Jane will be preparing the photo shoot, and Jane will brief you in the process."