Heartfelt - An Arranged Marriage with a Billionaire

Chapter 16 - His Past

Naomi pov:

"How was your day? Still hectic?" Kazuo san asked, glancing at me as we ate dinner. I sighed inaudibly but smiled and nodded.

"A little but it's settled down."

"That's good...but I'm sorry I caused you trouble," he added with an apologetic smile.

"Don't apologize, Kazuo san. Everyone was going to find out sooner or later anyway," I responded softly, returning his smile wholeheartedly. I couldn't express how happy I was when he showed so much care and concern for me.

The incident that happened at the engagement, followed by Kazuo san saving me and kissing me had become big news. Having come in the papers thanks to the Press that had taken photographs of the incident, almost everyone now knew that I was the wife of Toyama Conglomerates' CEO. I received stares and whispers from people I passed by on the streets as well as a lot of attention from those in my university.

What was even more uncomfortable though was some from my class and even from other classes asked me if I could get them a Toyama laptop or cell phone for free in the name of friendship – even though more than half of them were people I had barely spoken to before.

I was first bombarded with questions on whether it was true or not and then being treated as a celebrity of sorts. I suppose being the wife of the CEO of Toyama Conglomerates did make me a celebrity but the attention was a little uncomfortable. The attention was a little overwhelming but I had been doing my best to not get too bothered by it. I just smiled at everyone, mostly awkwardly, and hurried past them before any sort of conversation could start and end with me being asked for a free laptop again.

Well, the attention and the gossip that went around was sure to quell in time and I just had to hold out with it until then.

A few days after the engagement party, Kazuo san had sued the three girls who had pushed me into the swimming pool since I had almost drowned because I didn't know how to swim. They were sternly warned and their fathers were ordered by the court to pay us several millions as compensation and apology. In actuality, I thought that suing them was a bit too extreme but Kazuo san had told me that it was necessary to be as ruthless as possible with them to make sure another such incident didn't happen because of them or anyone else – the people Kazuo san was surrounded by weren't exactly ones who would take a simple verbal warning seriously after all.

"You should sleep first, Naomi. I have some work I need to finish so I'll be sleeping late," Kazuo san said when we were done with dinner. He stood up and so did I and we walked out of the dining room together.

"I'm going to be staying up for a while too – to study for my finals," I stated when we reached our room and a light blush crept up to my cheeks as a rather deranged thought went through my mind.

"I see. Well, I guess we'll both be awake for a while then. But if you get sleepy, you should sleep first, okay?" he said and I nodded. He smiled, pushing a few strands of hair behind my ear lovingly – it was a gesture he seemed to like doing often – and then turned to head to his office.

"Um, K-Kazuo san!" I called before he could leave and he turned to look at me curiously. Swallowing thickly and summoning some confidence, I rushed to him, pushed up onto my toes and pressed my lips against his in a chaste kiss.

He was most definitely surprised by my gesture, all the more since this was the first time I had kissed him first, and he had gone stiff. I didn't linger on his lips for long enough for him to respond because I was sure I would be way too embarrassed if I had to meet his eyes after doing something so daring. I pulled away, mumbled a soft 'see you later' and scurried into our room. When I was inside, I shut the door and leaned back against the door while covering my face with my hands. I was thoroughly flustered by what I had done, but happy too, and I bit my lip while giggling softly. I pushed away from the door, twirled once in joy and then decided to get some studying done.