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I laugh and have some drinks. Hana, Annika and I do some lame karaoke and throw an impromptu dance party, even getting Kir out on the floor.
This is what I need—normalcy. Friends. A night of fun without constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I just can’t shake the emptiness that lingers.
Mal’s absence feels like a weight that pulls me down even when I don’t want it to.
Kenzo and Annika are standing at the far end of the garden, wrapped up in each other like they’re the only two people in the world. There’s something about the way they look at each other—unspoken, easy. It tugs at something deep inside me that leaves me feeling hollow.
Love should be simple.
But with Mal… Nothing ever is.
I force a smile and walk over to grab Annika’s hand, pulling her toward the dance floor. “You owe me a dance, bitch.”
She laughs, glancing to Kenzo before letting me drag her away. “God, I’ve missed this,” she says, her eyes sparkling. “Just us, having fun. No drama.”
I grin, spinning her around as the music picks up. “Yep, no drama.”
No Mal, either.
Fuck.
After…okay…alittlebit of drama involving Sota’s business manager Tengen getting seriously drunk and saying some disgusting shit to Annika, the party keeps going. But eventually,once Kenzo and Annika—unsurprisingly, given how cozy they’ve been all night—disappear, the party starts to wind down.
Takeshi is off in the huge garage, which he apparently lives above, showing off his bikes and cars to Kir and Isaak. Sota bids us all goodnight and heads back to his place in Nakagyo-ku in central Kyoto with his guards.
Eventually, it’s just Hana and I sitting in the garden, each with a glass of wine as we gaze up at the stars overhead.
“I really needed a night like this,” she sighs, turning to glance at me. “You?”
“Same,” I nod. “Tonight was fantastic.”
I swirl the drink in my glass, trying to lose myself in the quiet, but my mind is elsewhere. Hana eyes me for a moment, the weird silence dragging on. Suddenly, she clears her throat, and when I glance over, she’s smirking at me slightly with a raised brow.
“If you’re looking for Mal, he’s in the guest house.” She turns and nods across the gorgeous landscaping and gardens of the Mori estate, to the faint light of a smaller house in the distance. “He’s basically taken it over as his spot, like Tak has coopted the garage.”
I tense, my heart skipping a beat.
“Why would I be looking for Mal?” I ask, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
Hana raises a perfect eyebrow.
“I’m not,” I insist, but the denial sounds weak even to me.
Hana just laughs, giving me a knowing smile. “It’s none of my business.Anyway, I’m off to bed. Night, Freya.”
“Night,” I mutter, watching her head indoors.
Malishere. I’ve been biting back the urge since I got here to askanyonewhere he might be, assuming he’s away on a business thing.
And he’s been right here all night, a hundred feet away.
I should feel relieved—or maybe angry—that he never even popped his head out to say hi. But all I feel is my chest tightening at the prospect of seeing him again. At the idea of him being so close, yet so far away.
I take another sip of my wine, trying to ignore the ache that never seems to leave. I could go find him, confront him, ask him why he always disappears, why he’s put me through this twisted game over and over.
Instead, I sit back on the outdoor lounge chair, staring out at the soft glow of Kyoto’s city lights.
Why should I be the one to go to him?
