Page 49 of Room One Hundred and Twenty Nine

I finish my business and as I’m about to leave, Elijah comes in.

“Uh, you’re in the ladies' room.”

He nods. “Yes. I’m aware. I need to talk to you.”

He seems out of breath, like he’s been itching me to tell me something the whole dinner. The look in his eyes is so full of guilt and regret my mind goes to the worst.

Is this too much for him? The lies? That I’m his best friend's daughter and his assistant?

God, is he going to break up with me?

Chapter 19

Elijah

“Haruko. I’m so sorry.I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you I was friends with your dad.” I say. It’s what I’ve been wanting to say for ages now, but never found the right time.

“What?” Her eyes furrow.

“I was going to tell you, but I was just so busy today and I wasn’t sure if you were going to get mad or not.”

“I knew,” she says.

“What do you mean, you knew?”

“I knew you were my dad’s friend. Did you not know that?”

I run my hands through my hair as both relief and guilt wash over me.

“I didn’t. And all this time, it was tearing me up I was keeping this a secret from you.”

She puts her hand on my chest, and it sends a shiver down my spine. Fuck, a single touch from this woman disarms me completely. In a way that’s never happened before. And there’s a massive wave of relief coming from her, as well.

“Holy shit. Thank God.” she says under her breath. “I thought you were going to break up with me or something.”

“What?” I say, cupping her cheeks. “No, baby. I never want to break up with you.”

She pats my chest. “I know. I just had a crisis of confidence when you looked so guilty and my dad’s here and I just… freaked out.”

“You have no reason to freak out. I’ll always choose you, Haruko. Over everyone and everything.” I say.

“Well,” she says, her voice thick with emotion, “I appreciate how much you didn’t want to keep a secret from me, but you weren’t. We’ve also met before, but I think you were drunk.”

“When was that?” I ask, running through every moment of my life to find Haruko before she came to work for us.

“You and Dad went to some new fancy restaurant, The Pelican, I think it was called. And he didn’t want you to drive hammered, so you slept on our couch. Remember?”

It comes flashing back as soon as she mentions the restaurant.

“Oh, I remember. I saw you in the kitchen before I bolted.”

“Yeah, I was like nineteen or something with a serious case of bed head. I was so embarrassed that some hot guy saw me like that. And then even more when I realized I liked you.”

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about, baby girl. You were beautiful. You’re always beautiful.”

She smiles and goes on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. When she lowers down to her heels, I feel myself needing to come completely clean.

“All this time, me avoiding you, it wasn’t because I didn’t like you. If anything, it was because I liked you too much.”

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