Love and Truth (11 page)

“It was
Juku
. Nothing special.” She sidestepped me and walked through the gate.

“Hello to you too, Emiko,” Jonathan said, smiling and shrugging. We watched her walk through the front door without looking back.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked. “Man,
Juku
must’ve been terrible.”

“Um, Jonathan? I don’t think Emiko likes you very much.” I grew nervous because I didn’t want to get in the middle of her business. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding, and they could work it out. “What do you mean, she doesn’t like me?”

“I mean, the first night I mentioned you at the dinner table she got all upset and called you a womanizer, saying you use your good looks to take advantage of girls. Then she got up and left the table abruptly last night when I told her about spending the day with you today. It was really uncomfortable, even though her parents stood up for you profusely.”

He shook his head and stared at the front door.

“They mentioned something about her paying attention to rumors. Do you know what they’re talking about?”

His jaw dropped and his forehead twisted. “No, I have no idea. I sure as hell do not know what rumors they are talking about and I have no clue why Emiko would dislike me or have a problem with you spending time with me. It makes no sense at all.” A moment passed before he spoke again. “I’m going to go talk to her and find out what this is all about.”

I grabbed him by the hand. “No, Jonathan, please don’t go in there. I have to live with her for a year and I was really looking forward to bonding with her. I always wanted a sister and I was hoping to find that with her. I don’t want to jeopardize that.”

He stopped and ran his fingers through his hair. “Listen, I’m not going to repeat anything you just told me. I can just ask her why she was so shitty to me just now and see if that opens things up. I need to get to the bottom of this because you live with her. I don’t want her putting lies or doubt into your head about me. Plus you shouldn’t have to feel like you have to skate around the subject of spending time with me.”

Before I could stop him, he walked up the steps and rang the doorbell. I shook my head and wanted to shrink into the ground. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to him. There was a good chance this would go really poorly and I would be stuck with the aftermath. I watched as Ms. Nobuko came to the door. Her face lit up when she saw Jonthan. They bowed and Jonathan began speaking Japanese. Ms. Nobuko invited him in and I followed behind. We removed our shoes and placed them in the
tansu
.

“Jonathan san, what a pleasant surprise,” Mrs. Nakamura said. “How are you? It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you around here.”

He bowed and smiled. “
Konbanwa,
Nakamura san. It’s good to see you as well. I’m doing great. How have you and your husband been? I know that my
obasan
has been meaning to stop by for tea. She’s been busy volunteering down at the community center.”

“Oh, yes. I know. Your mother’s a very hardworking lady. I’m sure they would not know what to do without her.”

“Yes, ma’am. I agree.”

“So, I understand that you‘ve made fast friends with Nicole. It’s very generous of you to make her feel welcome to the island. I feel terribly that Mr. Nakamura and I have to work all day and I’m happy that she’s had someone to show her around.”

“It’s been my pleasure, Nakamura san,” he said, smiling. “Nicole makes for great company.”

I blushed and looked down to hide my embarrassment. I looked at Mrs. Nakamura, who raised her eyebrows and smiled like a Cheshire cat.

“You two make a very cute couple,” she said with a humorous lilt in her voice. “Young love. Oh, how I remember what it was like to be your age!” My jaw dropped and I was mortified.

“Mrs. Nakamura, we’re not a couple and this is not young love,” I stammered. “We’re just friends, I assure you.” I looked at Jonathan for help. He stood and held his hands out, shrugging and rolling back and forth on his heels. His shit-eating grin made me want to smack him.

“Okay, Nicole San. Whatever you say. But please know that you do not have to be embarrassed. Any smart girl can see that Jonathan is a catch. I certainly will not fault you if you are smitten with him.” She turned on her heels and walked back toward the living room. “Good to see you, Jonathan. I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of you over the next twelve months.”

I glared at him. “Thanks a lot,” I whispered. “That was so embarrassing. You could have helped me out a little. Geez.”

He smirked and stepped toward me, leaving just a few inches between us. “Why would I help you out? Because I know just as well as you do that we are more than just friends. I’m just not afraid to admit it.” He stepped back and smiled in his mischievous, seductive way.

Damn, he was bad
. He knew that I was powerless against him, and it drove me crazy. Ms. Nobuko walked back down the stairwell and said something to him. She nodded at me and walked back into the kitchen.

“Emiko is going to meet me out back by the karesansui Garden,” he said. “Do you mind waiting here for me while I go talk to her?” He saw the worry on my face. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. We’ve known each other for most of our lives. I’ll talk to her and it’ll all work out. Okay?”

I nodded and he kissed me on the forehead.

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

He walked out the back door, and I went to the kitchen and got something to drink. Ms. Nobuko offered me a cup of black tea and I sat down and sipped it slowly, trying not to let my mind run wild. Finally, I walked upstairs so I could peek out my window. I didn’t want to be sneaky. I simply wanted to see if their body language was positive or negative, so I would know what to expect when they came back inside. I softly tugged one of the blinds and looked down to the garden. I could barely see their expressions beneath the soft moon. I saw a pained look on Emiko’s face as Jonathan paced back and forth and talked. I couldn’t tell what he was saying, but she looked to be on the verge of tears. He stopped and ran both hands through his hair. He looked up away from the house and anxiously rubbed the back of his neck. She walked closer to him and spoke. He turned slowly and looked at her with an agonizing expression. He threw both hands in the air said something back to her. He dropped his hands and stared into the ground. Emiko put her face in her hands and I could see her shoulders quivering.

Oh my God
. I saw that she was crying. I wondered what the hell was going on. My mind was spinning and I felt sick to my stomach. I had no idea what I was seeing, but I knew it was bad. A cloud of catastrophe hovered over me. I forced myself to look back outside and my eyes betrayed me, because Jonathan was suddenly holding Emiko. She had her face buried in his chest and he was stroking the back of her hair. I knew I was going to be sick. I couldn’t look anymore. It was too much.

This was exactly why I couldn’t get involved with guys. This was precisely why I stayed away from anything resembling a relationship. Even if I had no idea what I was witnessing, I knew that seeing him holding her, stroking her hair and comforting her, infuriated me. Jealousy rose through my gut, sabotaging all of the happy moments I had with Jonathan Hayes. I fought back the tears, hating everything about how I felt right now. Suddenly, there was a knock at my door and I froze. I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. I ran my fingers under each of my eyes to make sure a tear wasn’t escaping. I slowly opened the door and saw Jonathan. My mouth went dry and I felt nauseated. I stood and stared at him for a brief moment before motioning for him to come in.

“Nicole, why didn’t you wait for me downstairs?” he asked as he sauntered into my room. He looked calm, as though I imagined everything I saw out my window.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“What’s wrong? You look pale. Are you not feeling well?” He stepped closer to me and I recoiled. “Hey, what is it? Were you that worried about me talking to Emiko?”

Was he kidding me right now? I just witnessed some heavy drama go on between them and he was acting like there was something wrong with me.

“Yes, Jonathan. I was worried. So why don’t you tell me what she said? What happened? Did you work it out?” I tried to disguise the disdain in my voice but failed miserably.

“It was nothing,” he said. “Just some silly rumors at school. We straightened it out and it’s all good now.”

And that was it. I couldn’t believe him. I wasn’t going to stand there and let him railroad me with a bunch of deceitful bullshit. I wanted him to leave immediately. I never wanted to see him again. I hated liars, and I wasn’t going to let him manipulate me that way. Anger surged inside of me, finding its way to my throat.

“Get out! Go right now, and I never want to see you again! Do you understand me, Jonathan Hayes? I saw you.” I pointed to the window. “I saw you right out that window. I saw what happened between the two of you and it was most certainly not
nothing
.”

He tried to talk, but I put my hand up, stopping him. I was afraid that if another line of crap came out of his mouth I would slap him.

“No, don’t you dare say another word to me. I saw Emiko crying. I saw the looks on your faces. I’m not an idiot, Jonathan. Whatever just happened out there was much more than nothing.”

His brow creased and he dropped his head. He ran his hand through his hair and looked up me. I walked to the door and yanked it open.

“Go. Please, just go.” I looked over at him and he stood unmoving. “I’m serious, Jonathan. I want you to get the hell out of my room right now because the vision of you holding Emiko while she was sobbing uncontrollably in your arms as you stroked her hair makes me want to slap the shit out of you. That was definitely not
nothing
. So please walk out of here right now and don’t look back because this…” I motioned with my finger back and forth between us “…is over. Whatever
this
was is no more, because I will never be able to trust you again and trust is something that I highly value.”

He walked out of my room without looking back.

Lying in bed, I could vividly see the look on his face as he walked out. It was agonizing, and I knew right away that look would haunt me for many nights to come. Jonathan Hayes broke the tiny piece of my heart that I had given him. I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow. I cried until I had no tears left to shed and I decided to call Annie. I felt so alone and just wanted to hear her voice.

“
Nic
!” she screamed after picking up on the second ring. “Hey, chica. How the hell are you? Are you calling to tell me all about your torrid love affair? Because I can’t wait to hear all of the juicy details, so spill it!”

I sighed and wondered why I called her to begin with. I wasn’t in the mood for this.

“Listen, Annie. this isn’t a happy call.” I paused. I wasn’t sure where to start. “Jonathan is a lying asshole, and has already proven my point that relationships aren’t worth all of the drama and pain.”

“Oh no, Nic. What happened? What did he do? Do I need to get on a plane and come cut his balls off?”

“No, that’s the last thing I need.”