Page 25 of Blossoms of the Heart
I’d love spending time walking around the beautiful scenic gardens that were covered with cherry blossoms, but best of all for me was the proximity to the beach.
The land had private access to Hayama-Isshiki beach, one of the most beautiful beaches on the prefecture of Kanagawa.
That was where I spent most of my days when I was here, as a child and an adult. There were some cool caves and caverns down there that Akito had modified for upkeep and safety, and our enjoyment.
My enjoyment.
“It’s good to be back, and I will be at work tomorrow.” I nodded.
“Only if you’re up to it.”
“It’s a journal that only I can read Akito, okay I’m sure you could have found someone else. I won’t claim to be the only living person who can read it, but it feels pretty darn cool.”
“It is cool, and for the record dear Phoebe there aren’t many academics who can claim to be able to read the extent of languages you do. There’s a reason why I picked you. So please be proud. You’re allowed to.”
“Arigatou.” I smiled.
He gave me a curt nod of approval. The gesture reminded me of when I was little and he was teaching me how to speek Japanese. He’d nod just like that when I got the pronunciations correct.
Dad taught me a lot. It was cool to have our own language that we could share between us, the side bonus was pissing Mom off.
While Dad taught me all the modern languages and most of the old world ones like Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Egyptian it was Akito who taught me Japanese.
“What did you think of today?” he asked.
“It was great. I had a browse over the journal. Looks like it’ll be a challenge because of the way the languages jump around but I love challenges.” It actually more than jumped around in places.
The journal was just over five hundred pages long and had been divided up into sections. The first part seemed fine but then it swapped between Arabic and Egyptian hieroglyphs that ended up confusing the meanings of the sentences. That was where I would struggle.
“Whatever you can do will be appreciated, my love. We have a good length of time too.”
“Thank you for the opportunity.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” He nodded and then concern filled his eyes. “I hope you don’t mind me asking but I have to because I care. Your father told me what happened with the lake house. How are you doing with that?”
It was just like when Tai asked me how I was today. I felt shit about the whole ordeal. Unlike the gloss over my life that I’d given Tai, I knew I could be real with Akito.
“I’m furious, livid even.”
“Of course. Do you see Jason much?”
“I see him more than I would like. It’s actually quite awful and would be less aggravating if he didn’t have any influence with the institute.”
He sighed and pressed his thin lips together, eyes searching mine as his wide shoulders slumped.
“I wish there was something I could do or say.”
Seeing Jason was completely aggravating. We hadn’t been together in just over three years but I saw him perhaps once every two months, and sometimes more than that.
It was too much.
“You’ve done this.” I tried to push the whole Jason talk aside. “Invited me to spend six months in Japan. It’s a six-month break.”
“Minimum, my girl. So you could be here longer, and longer still if I can convince you to stay.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“I have a few ideas that could use someone of your skills and expertise. I’ll have more info over the next few days maybe, but yes. Think of it this way, at least you wouldn’t have to see Jason.”
