Bab 3: Asahi Sato

More than the start of a relationship, it was like the start of a contract, however, luckily enough, it seemed that Ayami Watanabe was quite fond of Akira and Akira also felt that Ayami was a good person who would make an excellent wife.

Ayami had always been nice to him and although she would shout and scold him sometimes, he knew that she did it because she was worried for him.

Whenever Akira looked at her, the only thing he would be able to say was "Perfect".

She was simply perfect in every way.

She was born into aristocracy and was naturally raised like a princess. She was intelligent, had a beautiful face, an awestrucking body, and a wonderful personality. As if all that wasn't enough, it seemed that God had generously given her the talent of being good at everything she did.

She really was perfect and would sometimes even make Akira jealous of her perfection even though he was a man.

The chance to marry her through this 'hidden business contract' was really not bad for him at all.

However, there were still times when Akira felt uneasy and guilty toward her. He felt that she deserved better and that this contract was unfair toward her. At times like that, he would even think about breaking their engagement, but Ayami would always stop him.

After all, although this was arranged by her father, Ayami had personally agreed to this marriage because she liked Akira...

Akira sighed as his eyes glanced up at the clock. He didn't want to disappoint her and he was also low-key scared to know what her reaction would be if he managed to be late to his own birthday party today, so, he decided to wrap everything up as soon as possible.

But was he able to make it in time?

Unfortunately, not.

He had tried to be as fast as possible, but he was still late to the party.

Akira took a moment to calm himself down before he got out of the car and was immediately bombarded with people wishing him a happy birthday.

With a warm smile plastered on his face, he thanked them all and pushed through the crowd to head to the main event hall where Ayami would probably be waiting for him.

"Hey there!" A cheerful familiar voice of a man came and Akira felt someone's arm wrap around his shoulder.

Akira chuckled softly as he side-glanced at the man called Asahi Sato.

"Happy birthday!" Asahi happily exclaimed and even his eyes turned into two little crescents, seeming to be smiling.

"Thank You," Akira genuinely smiled as he responded with a nod.

Asahi playfully ruffled the man's hair before he commented, "I can't believe you're already 29. By this time, next year, you're going to be officially entering your thirties."

Akira couldn't help but chuckle as he heard this and responded, "I'm certainly getting old but you're no different."

"Aren't you already 29 years old?" Akira tilted his head as he questioned and Asahi pursed his lips as he heard this.

"..."

"You're late!" Before the two could talk about more things, they were interrupted by a female voice that sounded impatient and annoyed.

Akira lifted his head to look at Ayami-san who was slowly making her way toward the two of them.

"I tried to be as fast as possible," Akira immediately raised his hand playfully as he explained before the woman could even start questioning him.

Ayami frowned as she heard this and it seemed that such types of excuses weren't going to work on this woman, however, since it was Akira's birthday today, Ayami was willing to make an exception.

"Well, at least you made it," Ayami sighed as she shook her head in disbelief.

Akira smiled brightly as he heard this and nodded his head as he replied, "You were the one who personally called me here so how could I dare disappoint you?"

Asahi chuckled as he heard Akira trying to use flattery on the woman, however, if someone were to pay more attention to this man, they would surely come to notice that there was no joy laced with that empty chuckle.

Ayami had a small smile on her face as she heard this and from this smile alone, Akira was sure his flattery had worked.

Ayami sighed as she tried her best to hide her happiness and spoke, "I organized all of this for you. I really hope you can enjoy it!"

Akira looked around and was a bit surprised as he heard this.

She had clearly hired some organizers for such a grand party, however, there were a lot of things here that could only be done if requested by Ayami personally so Akira was sure the woman was not lying.

She did indeed organize all of this just for him and she had even paid attention to every single detail. For example, the dress patterns that were all over the cake.

Someone else might not be able to notice it, however, with just a single glance, Akira would surely be able to tell that the patterns were actually inspired by the actual 2011 KS spring collection which was the first collection that Akira had released and worked on.

"I like it already," Akira beamed.

Ayami looked to be quite happy and satisfied as she heard this response.

"You're not allowed to dislike it so of course, you have to like it!~" The girl sang and Akira chuckled as he nodded his head in understanding.

At the very next moment, some of the guests came up to Ayami and in order to greet and talk to them all, Ayami sadly had to part from Akira and Asahi.

"I have a feeling that you would have preferred a simple party at home with a single-layered cake and a few friends over," Asahi commented in a low volume that was only audible to Akira.

Akira sighed as he kept the smile on his face and spoke, "You thought right."

Akira appreciated such a grand party and all the effort put in by Ayami-san, however, if it was him, he would have preferred a smaller event at home with just a few friends over and a small cake that was just enough for them to eat.

Asahi chuckled as he heard this response.

As expected, they really knew each other a bit too well.

After knowing someone for more than twenty years, it was only natural that you would know all their habits, likes, dislikes, preferences, talents, and weaknesses as well.

"Let's go," Asahi smiled as he pulled Akira along and they both went together to greet all the guests that had come to wish Akira.

Rather than seeing Akira with Ayami-san, it was more normal for everyone to see Asahi and Akira greeting everyone together.

Their friendship was quite famous since it was not every day that you would get to see friends like these two. They had grown up together and struggled to reach the top together, the trust that they had built in between themselves was something that people could not help but be a little envious of.

Sometimes, they were rumored to be brothers, other times people would say they had the same soul with different bodies. If these two rumors weren't surprising enough, there was a third one that sounded even more ridiculous to hear. Some actually speculated whether these two were secretly dating or not.

They were always joined together by the hip and even though Akira was engaged to Ayami, not many had any hopes for this marriage. Even an outsider could easily be able to see that their marriage was going to be a marriage of convenience where both parties liked each other but would never come to love one another.

A romantic relationship between Asahi and Akira would seem to be more plausible than one between Ayami and Akira.

Some felt pity for Ayami because of this while others felt envious of the woman.

Even if it was just a marriage of convenience, the fact remained that she had lucked out with this marriage contract.

Akira was perhaps the best husband one could wish to get.

He was a kind-hearted man who was both polite and successful in his life.

He had the face of an idol and the body of a model because of which he had often been nicknamed 'the shining star of KS'.

If there ever need to be a last-minute model in any of the KS fashion shoots, Akira was always around to save the day.

If they truly loved each other then they would have certainly become an envy-provoking couple. A couple that was just too perfect, both individually and together.

"Happy birthday!" There were a lot of people wishing Akira and the gifts that they had all brought had been piled up to make a small mountain in one corner of the main hall.

More than twenty minutes passed and Akira felt his whole face hurt after keeping that business smile on his face.