Falling For Sakura: A Secret Proposal (Part 1) (6 page)

Nicolas checked his watch and said, “I’m having a quick meeting with Mr. Lloyd in my office in five minutes. Tell Sosuke I’m in my office when he arrives.”
 

Sebastian nodded, and Nicolas left them, walking briskly to the lift. Once Nicolas disappeared, Haruka, Sosuke, and Akira came through the front door. Sebastian paced over to them, along with his brothers and Luke.
 

“Sebastian-san,” Haruka greeted. “Ohayo.”
 

Sebastian bowed and his brothers followed suit.
 

“Ohayo,” Sebastian greeted.
 

“Sebastian-san, perhaps you should introduce your dear brother to us,” Akira suggested, smiling, sneaking a peek at Sosuke to see his reaction. She chuckled when she saw him frowning at her.
 

“Glad to,” Sebastian said and turned to his brothers. “This is Tristan, Logan, Hayden, and Conrad.”
 

Akira nodded and bowed her head to greet each one in turn.
 

“And this is Lady Haruka, her nephew Sosuke, who you’ve already met, and of course, Akira, Lady Haruka’s niece.”
 

Tristan took a step forward instantly and took Akira’s hand. “So glad to meet you, Akira,” he said.
 

Akira laughed, pleased. Sosuke scowled. Logan hid a smile. Sebastian shook his head. And Conrad looked heavenward, as if to say,
There he goes again
.
 

“This is Luke Hamilton,” Sebastian said. “He’ll be looking after you, Lady Haruka, Sosuke.”
 

“Thank you, Luke-san,” Haruka said, bowing her head politely at Luke.
 

Luke chuckled and bowed awkwardly.
 

“By the way, where’s Nicolas?” Sosuke asked.
 

“He’s up in his office,” Conrad supplied. “Said you should go and meet him there.”
 

“Thanks, Conrad-san,” Sosuke said. “Now if you all will excuse me.” He bowed and then headed toward the lift.
 

“Nicolas?” Akira said. “Is that your eldest brother, Sebastian-san?”
 

“Yes,” Sebastian replied.
 

“But he’s not as interesting as us,” Tristan put in, drawing Akira’s attention.
 

“He’s a bore,” Logan added, giving her a handsome smile.
 

Akira chuckled. “I’m not interested in boring men who are only interested in work.”
 

“Good for you, my dear,” Tristan said, winking at her.
 

During this time, on the other side of the lobby, Sosuke was just about to get into the lift when he bumped into somebody very hard as she was rushing out.
 

“I’m so sorry.”
 

Sosuke gained his composure and looked up. He sucked in his breath once he laid eyes on the exotic beauty with two different colored eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t as his brain was momentarily frozen.
 

The beauty politely smiled at him, thinking he might not have understood her considering the fact he looked rather foreign.
 

“What country are you from?” she asked.
 

Sosuke blinked. Did he really look that out of place here for her to have guessed he was a foreigner? He cleared his throat and said, “Japan.”
 

She seemed almost glad for him to have said that particular country. She bowed her head and said, “
Moushiwake arimasen
.”
 

Sosuke was impressed. She knew how to speak Japanese, and very well, too.
 

“
Daijobuda yo
,” he said, chuckling. “I can speak English just fine.”
 

The beauty lifted her head and blushed a becoming pink. Sosuke nearly choked on his breath, gazing at her. He’d always thought women with blond hair weren’t to
his taste, but apparently that now had changed. And the fact that this woman wore two different contact lenses—one a sky blue and one an odd gray color, almost a pale lavender—only fascinated him even more.
 

“Then I’m sorry for bumping into you,” she said again, bowing her head. “I was in such a rush. I’m helping my friend out for the show, you see. She works backstage, and they’re shorthanded. It’s my first time, so I actually have no idea what I’m doing.” Then she laughed.
 

It was a beautiful laugh, and Sosuke found himself smiling at her with delight.
 

“Er,” he began, wanting to know what her name was.
 

“Here I am mumbling on about nonsense to you. Sorry about before, but I have to run,” she said and rushed off in the opposite direction.
 

Sosuke watched her pacing off, her heels clicking on the marble floor, her long hair swaying about her back as she rushed.
 

Back on the other side of the huge lobby, Akira said as she watched Sosuke walking into the lift, “Look at him, flirting with some blond while he tells me to stay put.” She turned to Tristan. “Do you think that’s fair?”
 

Tristan chuckled. “Nope. Not at all.”
 

“That blond looked familiar though,” Conrad said, cocking his head to one side. Even though she had her back to them and was a good distance away, he had the nagging feeling he’d seen her somewhere before. But for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out when and where.
 

“Well, I suppose I shan’t need looking after,” Akira said. “And I might have to hurry before Tachibana-sama
gets upset with me being late for his show.” She turned to her aunty and gave her a tight hug. “I will see you after the show, Oba-chan.”
 

“Do your best, Akira-chan,” Haruka said softly.
 

“Yes,” Akira replied. Then she turned to the brothers. “Nice to meet you all.” She bowed at them, to which the brothers nodded back. Then she elegantly sailed away.
 

“That’s a model walk,” Tristan said to himself. He turned to Haruka. “Is she modeling for Mr. Tachibana?”
 

“Yes,” Haruka replied.
 

* * * * *

Sebastian Princeton, Knight of Hearts

“Mr. Princeton, sir?”
 

Sebastian jolted back to reality with a start. He turned to look at the blond-haired, green-eyed woman with thick glasses addressing him.
 

“What is it?”
 

Jane Hamilton bit her lip and told herself to stop shaking so hard in front of the handsome billionaire who was scowling at her. She glanced up at him again, her eyes large.
Oh shit!
She shouldn’t have done that. He really did scare her, and she totally didn’t understand why every female in the world wanted to date him. Yes, he was very hot. Yes, he was very rich. And no, she didn’t find herself attracted to him in the very least, like every other female.
 

She took a deep breath and said, “Sir, I was told you wanted to inspect the stage.”
 

Sebastian sighed. He’d been in such deep thought moments ago that he’d forgotten about his request. Nicolas had asked him to inspect the stage, to make sure everything was fine. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings since they’d entered the hotel.
 

No, actually, he knew why. It was because of that blond woman Sosuke had bumped into when they arrived. Why had he found her so fascinating? Why couldn’t he stop himself from thinking about her? Even though she’d been at such a great distance from him.
Even though he hadn’t at all seen her face. But her figure really did remind him of somebody. The long hair, though a pale golden-blond color, was also oddly familiar. Then there was the way in which she’d walked briskly away. It was her gait that attracted his attention. It was as if he’d seen that gait somewhere before, on someone he’d known very well.
 

God!
Why couldn’t he get her out of his mind? The only woman who had ever done that to him was Sakura.
 

Suddenly, his heart ached.
 

Sakura! Sweetheart. Where are you?
 

“Sir?” Jane squeaked again.
 

Sebastian snapped his eyes to her. “Yes.”
 

“Should we go?” she asked meekly.
 

Sebastian nodded and strode ahead, leaving Jane to quietly follow him.
 

They came to the first floor and then into the great open space of the great hall where the show was going to take place. Staff were everywhere, setting up the scene, placing chairs along the rows, setting various equipment, and testing the lighting and sound.
 

“As you can see, sir, everything is going according to plan so far,” Jane said. “That’s our runway there.” She pointed to the long T-shaped raised platform in the middle of the great hall. There were bright white lights on all sides that would shine on the models as they did their catwalk, showing off the beautiful gowns and jewelry they wore.
 

“And the sound?” Sebastian asked.
 

“It’s good. It’s going to be classical Japanese music mixed with pop. I think it’s called
Sakura Sakura.
”
 

“What?”
Sebastian snapped, turning his azure-blue eyes to Jane, his face tense.
 

Jane was taken by surprise by his abrupt query. She swallowed nervously and said, “It’s called
Sakura Sakura
.” Then she had to explain further, thinking he didn’t know or understand. “The song depicts springtime, when cherry blossoms bloom, sir.”
 

“Yes, of course. I know that,” Sebastian said. He took a deep breath then.
Shit!
Why was he in such a bad mood? Why was he so agitated?
 

Sakura.
Her name kept ringing in his head.
Sakura. Sakura. Sweetheart. Where are you?
 

“Please continue, Ms. Hamilton,” he said.
 

Jane blinked.
Holy shit!
He knew her name?
 

She cleared her throat. “Yes, of course, sir.”
 

She turned and led him to center stage. They were at the end of the raised runway when Jane’s phone insistently rang.
 

“Sorry, sir,” she said apologetically. She hastily turned on the phone. “Hello?”
 

“Jane, it’s me, Sakura.”
 

Jane bit her lip and peeked up at Sebastian. “Where are you? Are you lost or something? Did you get that list from the wardrobe assistant?”
 

“I did. Where are you? I’m bringing it over.”
 

“I’m in the great hall on the first floor where the show is going to take place. Come quick. I have to get that list to Chris before he kills me.”
 

Jane heard her friend laugh.
“It’s your fault, Jane. Now who said she’s very organized?”
 

“Don’t tease me. Not now. Please hurry.”
 

“All right. On my way.”
 

Jane sighed and hung up. “Sorry about that, sir. It was work.” She gave him another apologetic smile.
 

Sebastian simply nodded.
 

Jane phone rang again. She grunted under her breath. “Sorry, sir,” she said again to Sebastian.
 

“Take your time.” Sebastian turned and started walking away to inspect the stage.
 

Jane sighed in relief and turned her attention to her phone. “Yes?”
 

“Jane? Where the heck are you?”
 

Jane grunted under her breath. It was Adam Somerville, the backstage manager. After taking a frustrated sigh, she said nicely into the phone, “I’m with Mr. Princeton, Adam. What do you want?”
 

“Showing him around, are you? Why didn’t they ask me to do that instead?”
 

Jane thought he sounded pissed. He just loved to rub shoulders with the rich and famous. She took a bit of delight at the thought that he’d missed out.
 

“Did you want me for something?”
 

“Come backstage for a minute, will you? I need you here.”
 

“Okay. Be there in a few seconds.” She hung up and rushed to Sebastian, who was busy staring up at the lights.
 

“Sir?”
 

Sebastian turned to her. “Hmm?”
 

“I have to go backstage for a second. I’ll be right back.”
 

“Take your time,” he replied, dismissing her.
 

Jane nodded and rushed away, her feet light.
 

Alone, Sebastian continued to look around him, though his mind was elsewhere.
 

Sakura!
he thought.
 

Clung!
And then blackness.
 

Sebastian blinked. What just happened? Why was the whole place suddenly flooded with darkness?
 

“Oi! What the hell is going on there?” he heard a man shout.
 

“Yeah, where’s the light?” another yelled.
 

“Sorry!” A voice echoed through a speaker. “We’re just testing the lights. Please be patient. It’ll only take a moment.”
 

The mumbling and grumbling continued from the staff. Sebastian shook his head. He had enough inspecting the stage and headed toward the door. Only he couldn’t quite see properly in the darkness and smashed into a small, soft body.
 

“Huh!” the female made a sound, falling into his arms, her face hitting his hard, muscular chest. At the same time, his feet tripped on cords lying on the floor and he fell backward, taking the woman with him.