Page 23 of The Awakening
If I go down that path, though, I’m not sure he’ll follow me, so I keep it light and flirty and he doesn’t dissuade me. When he comes back next weekend, it’ll be all I can do to not wrap myself around him and lick him the moment I see him.
“Three minutes.”
It’s Sunday, and I’m at the local temple where I play shogi with the old men. The temple is tucked in the back of a woodsy park here in Himeji, and the players are nice. Harmless. I haven’t been in two Sundays because of the gala and then dinner at Sora’s house.
Hiroyuki—he runs the matches—told me someone new is vying for the top spot. A young vampire has started coming each week, and he’s already beaten the two best players beneath me. I have to play him today to potentially reclaim my spot. Just as I’m beginning to wonder where the hell he is, I realize someone is standing over me. I look up. My jaw drops.
“Haruka?”
He blinks his owly, burgundy eyes. I swear they’re always glowing. “Hello, Doctor Davies. What a nice surprise.”
“I didn’t know you played shogi?” He sits on the cushion across from me, with the shogi board in between us.
“Of course, I have played privately, in the past,” he says, neatly folding his long legs. “Never competitively, like this. I am here at your recommendation. Remember?”
I think back to our last conversation. It was only a few weeks ago, but it feels like forever. “Right. Getting out and doing something you enjoy…” I frown, because I’m an idiot and realize we’re speaking English. I have never spoken to Haruka in English before this moment. “How did you know I spoke English?”
Haruka casually pushes the sleeves to his black jumper up his forearms, examining the board. “Your last name is Davies. And Sora told me that you transferred here from England. You always initiate conversation in Japanese. Is that your preferred language?”
“I—No. It’s fine—”
“Ready—start!” Hiroyuki calls out. There’s a hush of concentration over the room.
“Shall we begin?” Haruka smiles coolly. The confidence radiating from him is thick.
I nod. Confident myself. “Yes, let’s.”
* * *
I’m exhaustedby the end of the tournament. I literally have a headache. But I ask Haruka if he’s willing to have a cup of tea with me at a nearby café. It’s built into the temple grounds, and a lot of the tourney players go there afterward. There’s a garden, a bamboo grove and a lovely rock waterfall outside the open patio. It’s a very peaceful, Zen atmosphere.
Once we’re sitting and we both have our tea, I share the good news. “I plan to submit the proposal to Junichi this week. My goal is Wednesday. I still have a lot of finite details to work through, but if he approves, we could launch the test program as early as December.”
He smiles, and it reaches his mesmerizing eyes. “That is wonderful news. You were able to complete the proposal in an impressive amount of time.”
I shrug. I’ve been making the most of all these sleepless nights. “I know it’s important to you and Nino, and I’ve been thinking about doing this for so long. Junichi helped me a lot, too.”
“Junichi is an impressive vampire,” Haruka says, bringing his teacup to his mouth. I nod. He really is. After our first phone conversation, I searched him on the Internet. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought to do that before. Junichi is a private designer with notable clients all across the world. There were pictures of him with politicians and celebrities I actually recognize—historical figures as well. He made an outfit for David Bowie, for God’s sake.
He also owns and manages the hospital solely out of his own pocket. The hospital, Gianna Gracia Medical, is named after his mother, like he told me. But there’s also a picture of her at the main entrance. I’ve been walking past it almost every day for the past four months without even knowing the connection.
It’s a black-and-white portrait and she’s magnificent in it—long dark curly hair falling over her shoulders, mocha skin and a bright, wide smile. Sora saw me staring up at the picture one morning and told me Gianna moved here from Santo Domingo to marry Junichi’s purebred father in a political arrangement. His mother is Dominican. Mystery solved. It always is if you wait long enough.
“Doctor Davies?” Haruka asks.
“You can just call me Jae.”
“Jae, what is your biological ancestry? Do you know your family history?”
I blink. That’s a random question. “Well, are we talking racial ancestry?”
“Bloodlines, specifically.”
“Human. My father is a South Korean, human. No vampiric ancestors as far as I know. My mother was orphaned. She… I don’t know her biological ancestry.” That’s a can of worms that I would rather not get into. I like Haruka, but I’m not ready to drop my maniacal conspiracy theories on him.
“Your mother was orphaned…” Haruka considers, folding his arms. “Where is she now?”
“She passed away a really long time ago. She was sickly her whole life, but she managed. She got much worse when she got closer to forty.”
