𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚂𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜

Chapter-54

"I'm coming to Monaco again." I yawned. Kenji had called me to congratulate me for my movie, unfortunately it's like he never studied time zones. It was 3am for me, and he wanted me to give him life updates.

"You are? That's great! Stay at Baba's, come help Laura and I decorate our apartment, this will be so much fun!"

"So you want me to come assemble furniture in your new apartment? Nice."

"It's not like you're going to spend all day having fun. Make yourself useful!"

"Take one more jab at me and I'll stop covering for you." I smirked. He hadn't gotten around to telling our parents that he had moved out of Baba's house and was leasing a place with Laura now. They were still under the assumption that he was living a Baba and crushing on his boss.

"I don't need you to cover for me anymore. And if possible don't come to Monaco right now. Book your tickets later."

"What do you mean?"

"I've already planned a trip to Osaka. Book your tickets along with my return tickets."

"WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING TO TELL ME. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH." I yelled.

"I wanted to surprise you but you were planning this whole thing and I didn't want you to waste all that money." He said.

"So what's your plan?" I asked him.

"I've applied for a three week leave, I'm getting Baba and Laura ready-"

"Baba and Laura?"

"Yes of course! Siya will be coming to."

"Explain. Everything."

"Baba hasn't been to Japan in ten years, I think it's only right for her to come see her childhood home, meet her sisters and everyone while she still can."

"That's so thoughtful of you, three weeks won't be nearly enough time for that though." I said.

"Three weeks is enough for me, she can be here as long as she wants."

"Now explain bringing Laura along. You haven't even told mom and dad that you're dating her." I pushed for answers.

"She's the one Emi. With her, I've felt the way I have never before. Life is split into two. There's before her and there's with her. With her is probably the happiest and most stable I've ever felt." I could hear the devotion in his voice.

My head was still trying to process how Kenji, my brother. Who has never had a relationship that's lasted for longer than two weeks make all of this work. "Whipped MF." Is all I managed to say.

"I heard that!" He exclaimed.

"It was for you to hear. I just can't believe, YOU are ready to commit to one person for the rest of your life."

"I've never been so certain about something in my life. She balances me out so well, she's rational, she's intelligent, she's beautiful and she's a wonderful mother to Siya.

"When I'm with them, I feel content with life. I want to do everything I can to give them the best life I can, I want to be there for Laura's ups and downs, I want to talk to Siya about how her day was after school. I see family in them." He said.

"It's just so unusual to hear you talk with so much depth. It's honestly adorable."

"Are you saying I'm not a person with substance? How dare you!"

"I'm not saying that! I think it's wonderful to see you be so serious about something that makes you so happy. But what are you going to do? Just show up at the door with them?"

"No I'm going to tell my mom that I'm dating Laura, in a few days. Then I'll tell her we're coming here. I've already picked out a ring to propose with. I couldn't meet her parents in person but I do have their blessings. If everything goes well, we'll plan a trip to their place too."

"Look at you. All grown up." I laughed.

"I don't mean to kill the mood..."

"But you're going to anyway." I rolled my eyes.

"I genuinely didn't see myself here just a year ago when I took this whole thing up. But I'm happy things panned out the way they did." He continued,

"Honestly, I thought you would have finally gotten with the love of your life and already gotten engaged to him by now. And like, this winter, we'd get together to plan your spring wedding." He laughed.

"Well, I did meet him. But he gave me a story to tell everyone instead of an engagement ring. Word around town has it that he's back with Giada."

"It sounds like you're not taking it too badly."

Truth be told, a little piece of him in my heart refuses to leave. But it's not like I could do anything about it, the more I tried to push it away, the harder it fought to stay just where it was. I told Kenji that I wasn't taking it too badly, who was I to get mad? At this point they'd been through it all. I was just someone that happened to pass by, now I was to just stand on the sidelines and watch things as they happened.

"Since you're not so upset by that, let me spill some more tea."

"Give me all of it." I clutched the phone tighter.

"Charles stopped by a while ago, trying to convince Baba to sell something to him. Can you guess what it was?"

"What?"

"Guess!"

"All of the piano sheet music?"

"No! What did most people come to buy?"

"Jewellery." I said plainly, and then it suddenly struck me. "THAT ENGAGEMENT RING!"

"Yup. The engagement ring."

"People didn't even look at it because of the price tag. Geez!"

"Well it's priced that high because you know Baba, she's a hoarder, sometimes she gets things and then wishes they won't be sold." He laughed.

"Did she sell it?" I asked. "I mean he is like her most favourite person on this planet."

"No. She refused. Told him to not come to her with such ridiculous requests."

"She confuses me so much." I shook my head, "how is therapy going? Is she liking it?"

"It's been great help! Yesterday she came home with all the pieces she's painted so far. They're beautiful."

"She's always had a knack for arts hasn't she?" I smiled.

"Really! And the colour choices and composition literally give away what they discussed and how it made her feel." He said.

"So what are you planning to do with the paintings?" I asked.

He explained that one of Laura's friends was an event organiser, and Laura suggested that they could organise an art show. Kenji quite liked it, provided there was no pressure to have a certain number of guests or anything. He'd pay for it all, he just wanted Baba to have a good time and display her work.

I liked the idea, I told him I'd be more than glad to help out in any way I could. He joked that I should coerce my whole filming crew to visit the show, I mean. I even seriously considered it because anything to make Baba happy.

So it was confirmed, Kenji would be here next month with the whole group, we'd spend roughly a month here and then I'd fly back to Monaco with them. I was excited. For once I could go to Monaco with nothing on the agenda. No deadlines. No trying to claim back the place. I could go to just have fun. To meet friends, spend time with my family and get to know the new soon to be members.

What got me even more happy was thinking about the future that lay ahead for Kenji and Laura, I had never seen my brother be so sure about something in his life. From the way he spoke about her, I knew he was going to be committed and devoted for the rest of time. And there was no feeling more beautiful than to be able to witness love so pure. At least one of us got what we truly wanted and deserved.