Heartfelt - An Arranged Marriage with a Billionaire

Chapter 10 - Cold

Naomi pov:

I stared at the ceiling in a daze, my eyes dry and tired from the lack of sleep. I hadn't been able to sleep that much after what happened yesterday and I had no energy or enthusiasm to get up and pull through the day. I was still shaken from what had happened, my heart beating rapidly when even a moment of yesterday's events flashed through my mind. I was glad yet troubled that today was a Sunday. I was glad that I could rest but nervous because Kazuo san would be home for most of the day as well.

I couldn't summon courage to be anywhere close to Kazuo san. I didn't want to see him and I didn't want to join him for meals. I felt thoroughly abashed and scared and I knew that I wasn't willing to do anything besides stay locked up in my room for the whole day.

I glanced at the clock to see that it was just a little past nine in the morning. Sighing, I got off the bed and went to the bathroom to wash up for the day. I then returned to the bed and sat down, my head hurting and my heart feeling heavy. My stomach grumbled in hunger and it snapped me out of my daze. I got up and walked to the door and hesitated to open it while I held the handle. I exhaled deeply though and opened it just a bit to look into the corridor and make sure Kazuo san wasn't in sight.

I then called out to one of the maids passing by and requested her to get breakfast to my room. She returned in less than ten minutes and once the trolley of food was inside, I locked myself in again.

I ate slowly, barely tasting the food, and I was unable to finish all of it. I decided to eat it later on if I felt hungry and I got under the covers again to sleep, though I only felt a tight lump in my throat and a burn in my eyes as silent tears fell from them.

I felt terribly homesick. I missed the life I had before and wondered if I would ever have half the happiness I had had then. Sure, life was tough with managing jobs and money and everything else on my own but I was free. I was my own person and I didn't have to be so tense in my own home. I wasn't scared in every minute of my life and I never felt suffocated with whatever happened around me.

I inhaled deeply to ease the tightness in my chest as I sat up to lean back against propped up pillows and looked through pictures on my phone – pictures of when I went out with Kori and my other friends and pictures with Reiko san and Shojuro when at the café. I smiled just a tiny bit as I looked at the last picture I took before I was found by my father and forced into this loveless commitment. I looked so radiant then, so unaware of how much my life was going to change in just a few days. Oh how I missed those days....

The rest of the day passed dully. I walked around the room every now and then, occasionally gazing out the window, sleeping whenever I felt tired and occasionally looking at the scanty pictures in the books kept for general reading. When it was just around seven thirty and I was staring out of the window blankly again, I jumped out of my skin and felt a chill rush through every cell of my body when I heard a knock on my room door.

"Y-yes?" I called out softly, hesitantly.

"It is Asahi, Naomi sama." I heard Kazuo san's secretary speak and I sighed in relief. I walked to the door and opened it to let him inside.

"Good evening, Naomi sama. I'm here to pass on a message from Toyama sama." He said and my heart skipped a beat. I nodded though, and he continued. "He says you are to get dressed and join him for dinner with his father."

"His father?" I asked airily, already dreading the thought of being with not one but two overwhelming people.

"Yes. I believe you haven't met him since the wedding – well, he didn't attend the wedding either because he was traveling. He wished to meet you and have a family dinner tonight." Asahi san explained.