Her name is Ahma Chiyo. Which literally means, ‘A thousand generations of black rain.’ And her name fits her personality perfectly. She swept into my life like a flood, and I was dragged off my feet and whirled into her crazy world unexpectedly.
Chiyo is the only daughter and heir of the fearsome Ahma Inagami. The leader of Inagami-Kai.
Inagami-Kai is a group of gangsters. More like a syndicate. An organization, but to make it short. Let's call their group the Yakuza.
And this… this is the story of how I died. Just kidding! It’s the story of how a stupid 21 year old me had enough guts to break into a Yakuza’s home. The reason why? To tell Chiyo how I feel.
“Vince, are you fucking sure about this man?” My best friend, Anne hissed as she stood behind me.
I rolled my eyes and looked at her, a look that judged her whole being. “Shut up and follow my lead!” I hissed at her. “I thought you’re in this with me? You told me I have your full support!”
“Well, yes…” She paused then looked at me with piercing eyes. “But you never said anything about breaking and entering, Vince! I thought your plan was all about flowers and chocolates and teddy bears! The usual things girls like!” She stopped and gestured at everything like a drama queen. "...not this! Jesus, man!"
“Chiyo is no ordinary girl, though.” I replied absentmindedly. “Plus she never liked that kind of stuff.”
In the dark I watched the shadow disappear as one of the guards finally walked out of the door. I’ve waited for this moment for so long, the figure outside finally disappearing somewhere Anne and I couldn’t see.
"Fine..." Anne murmured. "Let's just get this over with."
“Ready?” Was my last warning to Anne, and my heart started to beat double time. So this is what it feels like to enter someone’s home without their consent. Usually burglars wouldn’t dare to even think about robbing a Yakuza’s house.
But I’m no burglar… I just want closure. But with my luck, maybe even I cannot have that.
With careful gestures so as to not attract any attention, I slowly walked towards the door and reached for the handle.
“Fuck…” I hissed at myself. Perfect, it's locked. But good thing I kept the pocket knife Chiyo gave me as a gift when I accompanied her a few weeks ago in Japan. I kept it in my bag just in case of emergencies like these. But mostly I use it for unlocking my busted door when I couldn’t find my keys.
With my fist wrapped around the handle of the knife, I picked on the lock of the door like a burglar on the loose.
Click.
I heard the familiar sound of the door being unlocked.
“Jesus… finally.” My heart was pounding so fast that I did not hear Anne sending curses at me.
“Fucking hurry man!” Anne hissed at me. Her screams sounded much like a frightened little girl. “Hurry and go inside so I can fucking leave! You did not tell me this would be like one of those Jackie Chan movies, dude! Those dudes are gangsters! Gangsters!”
My eyes widen, breathing struggles. I close my lips together. “Shut up, Anne!” I looked at Anne’s crazed expression. “Now go out there and act as a distraction!”
If looks could kill, Anne could have me dead twice with the daggers she shot me from her eyes. “A distraction, really?.” Anne retorted. “I’ll die out there! They have guns and knives and stuff!”
I placed my finger against my lips, practically begging my overly-dramatic best friend to shut the fuck up. “Just please… be useful to me this time around. I swear I’ll owe you forever.”
Anne cleared her throat. “Fine.” Anne’s voice was low and serious. “But if I die today… make sure to delete all the history logs on my browser. Got it?”
“Got it…”
And with a deep breath, Anne threaded lightly and did something so stupid that I was able to enter the room without anyone noticing. From a distance I heard someone scream.
“Hey! Who are you, how were you able to get inside this mansion?!”
And then I heard Anne’s familiar screams and ramblings.
I entered the room in a hurry, and when I did, a familiar emotion hit me. My movements slowed down and I closed my eyes and tried to replay all of the times I’ve spent inside this room.
Scenes of when she held me in this very spot, her touch leaving an invisible trail of warmth on every part of me that she touched, kissed, sucked. I used to have the thought of missing her, but now I miss her so much that it renders me motionless, almost incapable of moving.
Swallowing the lump against my throat, I managed to conquer my nerves.
I looked around the office and eyed the familiar black door. It may look like a simple office where Chiyo sits and sign contracts and over view's the so-called family business... but inside this office, was a door that leads to a secret room.
I looked behind my back, double checking if Anne was still able to work her wonders. And when no one was there, I walked towards the secret room where she and I used to play house.
The room where I had been kept a secret for so long. Where our relationship had been hidden from the world, where judging eyes cannot see us.
The place where Chiyo and I can do whatever we want to.
And there it is, the bed where we used to make love. I placed my hands on top of the covers, feeling the fluffy comforter surrounding me. In one fell swoop, I grabbed the hem of the comforter and slipped myself in the bed.
I could stay here forever. Just replaying every moment with her. Just Chiyo and I.
I looked around the room. I knew every single piece of furniture in this room even though it isn’t and never was my own.
And when I turned to my head to smell the remainder of her scent lingering on the pillows, that's when it hit me.
“I miss you,” I said again. Closing my eyes as if I were wishing for her to appear and that it would come true. “I miss you. I want you. I…. I.. love you.” I grabbed the pillow and placed it against my chest. I imagined it was her, and I held the pillow even tighter. “I love you, Ahma Chiyo.”
Her name, although I tried to forget it by not saying it, remained in my mind. I didn’t want to think of her name because then it would remind me of her face, then her face would remind me of her smile, her smile would remind me of her lips, her lips would remind me of her touch. And her touch—
“Chiyo… my Chiyo…” I breathed in her scent, and the familiar feeling of rushing of electricity run swiftly through my body at the memories of our love making. “Chiyo...” My lips kept speaking her name. It seems as if they missed him as well. “Chiyo… I miss you, my Chi —”
The sound of the main door opening and closing threw me off and broke me off my imagination. Shit. Someone noticed that I’m in here.
Chiyo, it must be her. Why is she home so early?!
Or maybe Anne’s acting must’ve failed. Or worse, maybe she ratted me out to save herself.
Adreline coarse through my veins and I practically jumped out from the bed. I quickly scanned the room for somewhere to hide.Soon resounding footsteps from outside made it difficult for me to breathe or think. I decided to squeeze myself underneath the bed and just a few milliseconds after I did, I saw the door being pushed open and I saw many people walk inside the hidden room.
The sound of the soles of their feet hitting the floor almost matched the pounding of my heart.
I’m so fucked.
My eyes widened when I heard someone speak in a language I can’t understand. Great, from the sound of their voices, it’s her father’s underlings. Perfect, cool! What a life indeed.
Once they caught me hiding under Chiyo's bed, for sure her father is going to order for my death and he’ll feed my remains to his pet dog.
As I prayed for the gangster to go away, I placed the palm of my hands against my mouth.
If ever I escaped with my life, for sure this will be one story to tell.
How did this happen? What the fuck did I get myself into this time?
==========================
*****Six Months Earlier*****
I woke up at 7:15 in the morning when I heard that someone had sent me a message. I immediately grabbed the phone next to my bed and immediately looked at that instant message. I smiled when I saw that it was just Anne.
As always she sends me a reminder not to be late for class. I never was the type of person to send text messages, so I decided to give my childhood best friend a call.
“What is it about this time, Anne?”
“Did you use a condom this time? I know your type, Vince.”
I could practically hear her snickering through the other end of the line.
“I was sleeping you perv.” I replied with a smirk, yawning right after.
“Right… right… so sleeping is your new terminology for 'one night stands', huh? That's pretty smart.” Anne said in a sing-song manner. “Don’t be late for class. Or else, the professor’s going to be pissed at you again.”
I groaned as I recalled the face of my Psychology professor. God, I never liked that wicked wrench. “Yeah, yeah… thanks for reminding me, Anne. I love you.”
Again, I heard her signature roaring laughter which sounds more like a mad woman on the run. “I love you too, psycho.”
"You know, this is the reason why everyone thinks you’re my girlfriend." I told her before I ended the call.
But even though everyone thinks that Anne and I are an item. It’s totally untrue. Though it can be, I simply don’t see her like that. The two of us grew up together and I can only see her as a sister.
And the reason why we cannot be together is the fact that Anne is gay. Meaning, she’s only into girls. And she told me since we were 16 that she’s only attracted to women.
It's because Anne is so close. We can hardly be separated. Plus, she hasn’t outed to her parents yet. That’s why she finds it convenient that we are an item in school. She can lie to her parents that I’m her boyfriend, while she’s actually seeing somebody else on the side.
It's fine for us to be misunderstood, it's really fun to make our classmates believe that we’re actually dating when we are not. At least I knew in my heart that Anne would never like me. Plus, dating is not my priority as of the moment.
