Chapter 174
Yeonhui-Dong, Korea
Blue Lantern and Seishu-Sushi House
Rain skipped up to the ticket booth with a smile. “Three please!” she beamed, sliding some money on the counter to the attendant.
Mauri leaned into his son. “Is she always so happy?” he asked.
Kita nodded. “Usually. I warn you now, tonight Seon Rain will try to hug you. It is a given when this theater is involved.”
“I am not a fan of K-Dramas,” Mauri reminded him son. “Or what your brother calls ‘chick flicks’.”
Kita merely patted his father on the back with a reassuring smile. “I know.”
Rain hurried back over to them and held up the novelty tickets. “Ready?!” she asked, excited.
“After you, Father,” Kita said with a bow.
Mauri forced a smile for the smiling young woman then took the novelty ticket and followed her through the gates.
“I hope you’re ready for a double feature,” Rain teased. She spun around under the swaying trees, enjoying the sun coming through the leaves.
Mauri stopped and waited for his son. “Why does it look like Japan?” he asked. “Is this some kind of cultural appropriation?”
Kita shook his head with a small smile. “It is a themed theater, one Seon Rain frequents when needed. She took me here on our first date that was not a date-”
“If not a date then why did you keep the novelty ticket just as you are the one you put in your jacket pocket for safe keeping?” Mauri interrupted when his son slipped the ticket into his inside jacket pocket.
“I am a sentimental creature, much like my parents,” he said with a slight bow then chuckled when his father glared at him. “I promise, Father, you will like this much more than dinner at the hotel.”
Mauri eyed him suspiciously. “I better,” he warned. “Your mother promised aggressive dessert later if I was a good boy.”
Kita shivered, making a face, but didn’t press it.
They followed Rain to her private teahouse.
“You bring two handsome dates this time,” Ayaka teased, bowing.
Rain bowed in return. “Yes, they are handsome, and one is rather charming, but the other is a work in progress,” she teased, looking over at Kita and he gave her a disapproving look.
Ayaka smiled. “A special double feature then. I will have the meal brought in soon. Please,” she said, motioning towards the door then bowed again.
Rain bowed as well then headed inside and slipped her shoes off then took a seat on the floor.
Kita followed her lead and hung his jacket up then slipped out of his shoes and joined her on the floor.
Mauri stood there, watching the two.
His eldest child was acting very strange since taking this assignment, and it was concerning in his opinion. Evie wasn’t as concerned, and told her husband to see for himself how their son has changed. Seeing firsthand would be help put his mind at ease or confirm that his concerns had merit.
Mauri saw more than enough while on vacation with the kids. Kita was a completely different person than the one he was used to, but he couldn’t be sure if it was just for show or if it was something more.
He hoped it was something more because his son deserved to be happy, and strangely enough, the young woman with them made him happier somehow.
“Join us, Father,” Kita said, looking over his shoulder. “It is not a K-Drama, I promise.”
Mauri sighed and joined them, sitting on the other side of Rain.
“I hope you’re hungry,” she teased when the staff brought in the tables then the servers covered them with platters of sushi and an arrangement of sake.
Mauri smiled, rubbing his hands together, eying the spread.
It has been too long since Mauri had traditional sushi and sake in a spread like this.
“The movie better not disappoint,” Mauri teased, picking up a pair of chopsticks.
Rain looked over at him and smiled. “Oh, they won’t,” she promised, the doors closing and lights dimmed, rendering the interior dark.
Instantly a hand was resting on Rain’s knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze, and she rested her hand on Kita’s.
When the projector clicked on, illuminating the small teahouse, Mauri lowered the bite he had brought to his mouth and his eyes widened before he started laughing when the credits started.
“Yojimbo?!” Mauri asked, looking to the others and instantly confusion washed over him.
Kita and Rain were holding hands, looking at each other.
Apparently their impromptu romance didn’t end when their vacation did as Evie had feared it did.
“This is one of my favorites,” Rain said, looking from Kita to Mauri. “And it’ll be followed by Sanjuro, of course. I have to warn you now, Mauri Yasuhiro, I get huggy after a two bottles of sake-”
“And after three she will start to reenact fight scenes with chopsticks,” Kita finished for her.
“And after four bottles Kita will barely be able to stand, and after five bottles he will require a short nap,” Rain teased.
Kita sighed. “Evil. You are beyond evil.”
“And adorable,” she added.
“Sometimes,” he grumbled and she giggled, offering him a piece of oshizushi with her chopsticks and he leaned in and took it then chewed. “Thank you, Seon Rain.”
Rain blushed. “You’re very welcome,” she said before shoving a piece of kakinoha-zushi in her mouth then chewed with a smile.
Mauri shook his head; this would not end well for anyone, especially his eldest child.
It couldn’t be real.
It was just an act they were putting on for their own benefit.
When the charade is over, when the assignment is wrapped, where will it leave his son?
Alone and nursing a broken heart?
Never had Mauri seen his son smile and laugh so much as he has in the past few weeks, and it was testament that Seon Rain was different and someone his stubborn son needed in his life and heart for longer than the assignment. It warmed his old heart that his son, the one he had failed time and time again, was happy, finally happy for the first time in his life.
But it wouldn’t last forever.
It couldn’t.
Myo Mi-Sun was Korea’s sweetheart and an actress. Kita Yasuhiro was a solider and an Imperial Guard…
This would only end in heartache, and that was something Mauri couldn’t allow to happen.
Now, all Mauri had to do was figure out a way for Kita and Seon Rain to actually fall in love so they could have a legitimate engagement then, hopefully, marriage if they were lucky.
That wouldn’t be so hard, would it?
The chemistry is already there. Kita was handsome, Seon Rain was the girl next door that demanded the attention of all those that met her.
Case in point, her multiple stalkers.
All Mauri had to do was coordinate for romantic dates, dinners, maybe some dancing since he knew his son could cut a rug better than even he could. Never had he played matchmaker before, and never did he think he’d have to with his children, but it was his job to make this right.
Since Mauri’s expectations for his eldest son are what made his son’s existence miserable for nearly his entire life, it was his job to fix it so the next thirty years make up for the previous thirty.
That was the responsibility of a loving father.
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