Jay POV.
"Her only responsibility will be to produce an heir to the Hanamitchis. I expect a baby within the first year. That's a non- negotiable."
My head snapped up. My patience, which had already been hanging by a thread, snapped completely. "No."
His face went angry. "No?! Excuse me? You have to do it! That's not up for debate."
"I said NO, Yoshiko Takumi." I said, using the name- his name- that he had buried years ago. The name nobody else has ever found, or lived to tell the tale after finding it. His face paled. For the first time, something close to fear crossed his face, before he quickly masked it.
That's not a normal reaction to a buried name. There's something else here. What is he hiding? What's going on here?
"H- how? No one has ever-.... Who are you?"
I slowly raised my hand, and dropped my chocolate brown eye colour contacts to the table. I was done pretending. I was done hiding.
As the contacts droped to the table with a faint thud, the whole room froze and collectively drew a breath, for sitting in the place where it was once warm chocolate brown- was now a pair of piercing hazel eyes.
They were a beautiful amber brown surrounded by green, and rimmed with gold-like specks. It looked beautiful, dangerous, and breathtaking. People who I knew thought It looked like summer sunlight peaking through the hues of the trees.
I thought it made me look abnormal. Because hazel- green eyes was very rare. Translation: Its abnormal. And I didn't want to be oddly unique. Also I didn't want unwanted attention.
Welp. Too late for that I guess.😭✌️
"A no. Is a no. Yoshiko. Get that in your head. I'm 18. I'm working. I'm studying. And I'm NOT having children. I'm NOT someone you can control and use whenever you feel like it."
I turned to look at Yuri.
"You were my friend. And I care about my friends very much. For that reason, I'm giving you one last chance. Cancel the engagement."
"But Jay, I love you. I was trying to protect you from him-" he started pointing at Kiefer.
"No." I cut him off. "You don't love me. You love winning. You hate losing. Especially to him. This is not your love Yuri, it's your ego. And I'm not a thing that you can take and pass on with each other when you want to. CANCEL. THE. ENGAGEMENT."
His face hardened. "No." He said.
I am already hungry. Actually, I'm always hungry. And now I'm angry. Good luck dealing with me now, world.
"Then you can choke on your contracts." I said, pulling out the engagement ring and slamming it down the table. I stood up from my chair. "I'm cancelling this engagement."
"You can't do that! I will-"
"Ruin Fer corp? Yes. We know. Everyone is using me, aren't they?"
"You used me for revenge." I said to Kiefer. "You hate me for reasons I still can't seem to understand." I said to Aries. "You used me to rectify your own company, and I don't blame you, you had no other choice. But that doesn't mean it makes it hurt any less." I told to Kuya Angelo. "And you manipulated me into a forced engagement, by using my family as a blackmail." I said to Yuri.
I was tired. I was so damn tired of pretending I wasn't angry. Pretending I was weak. Pretending people could get to me without consequences. I was hiding. Hiding from my past and my power. But what will I do if the place I'm hiding in- my place of peace- is starting to turn poisonous? Is starting to get polluted?
I need to stop hiding before it's too late to come out...
"You're all using me as a tool,"- I looked at kuya."a toy,"- I looked at Kiefer "a trophy to be won."- I looked at Yuri. My gaze swept over the entire table. With my before demeanor, where I was just a poor chaotic little girl, nobody would have taken my anger seriously. But now? Now, my gold- green laser sharp eyes pierced through every single person who had underestimated me. A few people shifted uncomfortably under my glare.
I sat back down, crossed my legs and leaned back.
"But you all don't seem to realise one thing, I'm not a pawn in the game you're playing, I'm not even the player. I'm the one who controls the board. No, scratch that. I'm the one who owns the damn game. I'm the one who decides who plays, honey."
Mrs Hanamitchi laughed. "You? You are an insolent little filthy, ungrateful, and uneducated bitch. What can you do about any of this. Even if you cancel the engagement, it's your loss not ours. Good riddance."
A slow smile spread across my face. "My loss? Honey, you just proved you're dumb. Yes, the Hanamitchis gave Fer corp an investment, but they were already partnered before that. If this engagement breaks, it's going to cost a huge loss for your damn company. You call me uneducated? I'm the most educated person you've ever been near." I replied.
"You- you can't break the engagement. Have you no sense of gratefulness? We helped you! We helped your kuya Angelo's company when it was failing. He was-"
"Failing? You mean sabotage?" My voice dropped to a dangerous level that made the hairs stand up on their arms. I turned to look at kuya "Kuya, when was the time the stocks started going down?"
He frowned. "Somewhere around June?"
"And when was the time you partnered up with the Hanamitchis?"
His eyes widened as realisation hit. "June." He said.
I raised an eyebrow and leaned slightly forward. "Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidences."
"Jay.. I'm sorry. I did it because I lo-" Yuri started saying.
"Sorry? Why the hell are you sorry to this filthy ungrateful girl? You should be happy she's leaving you. She probably just seduced you." Mrs Hanamitchi Cutt him off.
The minute I heard the word seduced, all hell broke lose...