I’M A BRAT AND I’M IN LOVE
Written by Authoress Covenant.
(The lawyer and his brat)
(Aftermath of the 50th anniversary ??)
Chapter 11
Rika sat on the bed, Levi sitting beside her. A thick silence hung in the air between them. Rika stood. “I guess I should get going to my room now.” She said, wrapping Levi’s jacket tightly around her bare body.
“Are you going to walk all the way down to your room dressed like that?” Levi asked quietly, and Rika took a look at her body. Levi’s jacket was short and it only covered the top half of her body. Most of her legs were still completely exposed. She sniffed.
“Well, it’s not like I can put my dress back on now.” She said as she grabbed her ball gown off the bed. She then began looking around. “Where are my heels?” She asked.
“In the other room.” Levi replied, standing up beside her.
“I’ll walk you to your suite.” Levi said again, staring at her with hooded eyes. Rika regarded him silently for some seconds before looking away. “Okay.” She responded.
As they walked silently back to her suite, Rika couldn’t help but feel weighed down by the atmosphere between them. It was so thick with emotion and unsaid words, and Rika felt herself caving under the pressure of it all.
Levi had thwarted her plan of sleeping with him, but he had also opened up to her, admitting that he didn’t really understand what he felt for her.
It was such a vague and ambiguous confession, and it didn’t give her any form of comfort at all. She just felt really tired and fed up af it all. She had cried like a baby back there in Levi’s suite. Normally she would have hated herself for shedding tears in front of another person and showing weakness, but now, she didn’t really care.
They finally arrived at her suite and she unlocked the door. She stood silently in front of the slightly ajar door, trying to construct a plausible sentence.
She took a deep breath and turned back. Levi was still standing behind her, his eyes softened. Rika gulped, wiping her eyes and smudging her mascara.
She licked her lips which were now dry and struggled to find her words.
“Rika.” Levi called out, and she rose her eyes to meet his deep gaze. His face wore an extremely soft expression, an expression that Rika had hardly ever seen on him in the few months she had known him.
“Goodnight.” He said finally and Rika heaved a sigh of relief.
Once again he was very accurate in reading her.
He noticed that she was having a hard time finding the right words to say to him, so he had bailed her out by ending the conversation himself. Rika smiled sadly at him, before entering the suite and shutting the door.
Inside, she was too exhausted to even shower, so she simply took off Levi’s jacket, washed her face and put on a pair of pyjamas.
The jacket smelled a lot like Levi’s cologne, and she lay on the bed, holding it close to her chest, imagining that it was Levi she was holding close. Tears flowed from her eyes.
Rika was tired, oh so tired.
Didn’t she deserve a break? She had been strong for too long.
She glanced at Levi’s jacket which was now soaked in tears, and laughed bitterly.
She was pathetic, and shameless, just as Levi had said she was.
She couldn’t remember the last she had shed tears of self pity like this. When last had she cried so freely like this?
It was liberating.
The tears that fell from her eyes felt like chains that were being broken from her mind, temporarily freeing her from the prison she had long locked herself in and thrown away the key.
Yeah, she had thrown away the key. But Levi Akabane had found it. He had unlocked a side of her that she had kept buried for so long.
The side of her that was weak. The side of her that cried when she got hurt. The side of her that allowed herself to get hurt.
Now, Rika knew that once day broke, this side of her would disappear again, buried in the deep recesses of her cold heart.
But for now she would enjoy it while she still could, as she continued crying profusely, soaking Levi’s jacket.
Her heart was full of Hope. The hope that someday, Levi would find that key once more, and unlock her heart completely, so that she would never be able to shut it again.
The Sato family’s 50th anniversary Gala was something that had been planned for several months, but now it was over in just two days. Rika soon found herself homebound on their private jet, traveling far away from the beautiful Tenji Mountain.
Her father had questioned her about her whereabouts during the last few hours of the party, but Rika had managed to weasel her way out of the conversation. She knew her dad wasn’t satisfied though, and would be keeping a watchful eye on her as usual.
She honestly couldn’t care less.
Rika arrived home to surprising news. The University she had applied to had scheduled her entrance exam date.
Rika sighed.
Things were moving fast.
From the email she had received, it looked like she would write the exam before her graduation ceremony from high school. Amd the exam was also a few days before her Nineteenth birthday.
Rika opened up her laptop, writing a mail to the University, confirming the acceptance of her exam date.
She had deliberately chosen a University in another state, one that was at least a two hour flight from here. She wanted to be as far away from home as possible. Well, she did regret her decision a little bit now, as she had made it before she got to know Levi.
It would be a strain on their relationship since she would be so far away, but she could work with it. After all, that was what technology was for. As she sent the mail, her phone rang. It was Hunter.
“Hey Rika! My mom just told me that you’ve gotten your exam date!”
Rika rolled her eyes. News sure travelled fast in the world of the elite.
“She’s using you as a lecture for me to start preparing for my own exams. So when is it?” Hunter asked.
Hunter had chosen the local University right here in their state, where he would be studying business administration. Unlike her, he preferred to stay close to home, as he was a Mama’s boy.
“Next month. On the 25th.” Rika answered, picking at her nails. She would need to have them manicured soon.
“Woah! Thats so close! And it’s even before graduation!” Hunter exclaimed over the phone, amd Rika hummed in response.
“I shouldn’t worry about you though, I’m sure you’ll ace the exams, you big smartie.” He said again, and she laughed.
Rika heard him sigh from the other end.
“Wow. It’s all happening so fast isn’t it? It feels like just yesterday we started senior year. Now look at us. We’re soon gonna become undergraduates. I’m so excited. It’s like starting life anew!”
“Yeah.” Rika muttered, missing over Hunter’s words.
Starting life anew.
Did she really have a right to that?
She felt so selfish, because she was ready to grab at the new life, and no one on this Earth could stop her.
“Anyway.” Hunter continued. “Our mock exam results are coming out next week. Are you ready?”
Rika smiled to herself confidently.
“You bet.”
??????
Levi sat in his office, reviewing a client’s case e file. There was a knock on the door ,and he answered fo whoever it was to come in.
Yuri walked in casually, flashing him a smile.
“Oh, it’s just you Yuri. Did you need something?” He asked, directing his attention back to the files on his desk.
“Nope.” Yuri answered, taking her seat on the chair before him. “I just came to see you.”
Levi threw her a quick glance. “You must not have much to do then.” He replied, scribbling something down on a notepad and Yuri laughed. “You’re still as blunt as ever.” She said quietly, and then paused.
“I missed you at the 50th anniversary Gala. Didn’t see you again all night. What happened?” She asked after some seconds.
“Are we still talking about that party?” Levi asked cooly but Yuri didn’t answer. He looked up at her. “Rika Sato had a little too much to drink. I took her up to her room.” He replied and watched Yuri’s shoulders flinch.
“I…..had a feeling you were going to say something like that.” She said quietly, her voice strained.
Levi remained silent. Yuri looked up from her knees and stared Levi straight in the eye, a pained expression on her face.
“Levi, I know you don’t like when people ask you too many personal questions, but I’m gonna do so anyway, because if I don’t find out now, I might go cr@zy.” She took a deep breath.
“Are you and Rika Sato, in some kind of a r0mantic relationship?” She asked, choosing her words carefully.
Levi narrowed his eyes. “No.” He responded curtly.
Yuri laughed. “Of course you aren’t. I know you. You wouldn’t be involved with a high school student that way, regardless of whether she was a legal adult or not. But……you have feelings for her, don’t you Levi?”
Levi stared at Yuri intensely but didn’t reply. She sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes.
“You don’t have to answer that. I can tell, even if you can’t. I just….don’t understand. You’ve only known each other for what….three months? It took me almost ten years just to get this close to you, but Rika Sato…she broke down your walls in just three months. Was it…..that easy all along? Was it that easy to gain your affection? What did I miss? What did I do wrongly?” She choked out, holding back tears.
Levi’s eyes softened. “Yuri……” He began but she cut him off with the raise of her hand.
“Don’t bother Levi.” She smiled. “I’m pathetic aren’t I? As you would have guessed from all I’ve said, I do have feelings for you, I’ve had them for years now. I should be ashamed for burdening you with them now. You’re an amazing person Levi. And you don’t need to carry my weight on your shoulders along with your own. You’re strong, a great leader, and you’re charismatic. I just hope…..I hope that Rika Sato will make you happy, happier than you’ve been in all the thirty four years of your existence.” Yuri took a deep breath as she finished her statement, then gave Levi a smile through tearstained eyes.
“I never said I had feelings for her.” Levi said, his brow furrowed.
Yuri smiled sadly at him. “I told you. You don’t need to. It’s very obvious from your actions alone. You’re not a man of many words Levi, but anyone can crack your code if they watch how you behave instead of waiting for you to speak. You care about her. More than you know.”
Yuri stood, her smile never leaving her face as she exited the office, leaving Levi alone with his thoughts.
??????
The days passed by quickly, and Rika’s mock exam results came out. She passed as expected, but now she was faced with preparing for the coming entrance exam into the University. Rika was determined to give it her all.
Due to the fact that she was practically already done with high school, they had no more classes so she had ample time to prepare. Her plan was to pass well enough to get a scholarship, so that she wouldn’t have to completely rely on her family’s money for her upkeep, especially since her dad was adamantly against her schooling so far away.
He had, on numerous occasions, tried to dissuade her, telling her it was not too late to choose another University closer to home. He compared her to Hunter who was going to school near home, asking her why on Earth she wanted to school so far away.
Rika rolled her eyes each time he made that argument. It wasn’t as if she was going to the North Pole. The University was just a two hour flight to and fro which her family could most definitely afford. Her dad was just being possessive because he wouldn’t have her at his beck and call anymore, and he knew that was the major reason she had chosen a school that was far away from home. She wasn’t running from home, she was running from him.
Her father had also warned her to stay away from the college boys she would come across.
To the average person, it would have seemed like normal advice a doting father would give to his precious daughter.
But Rika knew better.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Her mother on the other hand, didn’t care where she schooled, as long as she came back to inherit the company.
Rika checked her calendar. Her exam was two days away.
She picked up her phone and dialled Levi’s number. Ever since the 50th anniversary, the aftermath of their fight had done wonders to their relationship. It was easier to communicate with each other now, and Levi seemed to relate more comfortably with her. Rika had given up on her hopes of getting him to fall in love with her, and was now content with their current relationship, it was easy come, easy go.
The phone rang for awhile before it clicked.
“Hey.” Levi’s deep voice greeted from the other end.
Rika smiled. “Hello, old man.” She teased, and heard him sigh.
“I’m not that old.”
Rika laughed. “Yes you are old man.” She replied again, continuing to tease him.
“If I’m an old man, then you’re a brat.”
Rika burst into hearty laughter.
“So, is anything wrong brat?” He asked and she giggled.
“No, I just wanted to hear your voice. My college entrance exam is in two days.” She said.
“Hm. Looks like you’ll soon be starting your own life.” Levi paused. “So what do you plan on doing after college, brat?” He asked again.
Rika rolled her eyes, smiling. Levi was one stubborn guy.
“Well, my parents’ plan is for me to take over Sato Enterprises. I will do that, but once I’m in power, I’ll burn the whole Godforsaken company to the ground.” She replied frankly.
There was silence.
“You want to ruin your family’s company?” Levi asked.
“Yep!” Rika replied cheerily.
“Do I even want to know why?” Levi asked again.
“I’ll tell you why….when we’re married.” Rika teased. She heard Levi scoff.
“Unlike you Rika, I’ve got work to do. Goodnight.”
“Night.”
As Levi ended the call, Rika fell back on her bed, feeling refreshed, and she soon fell into a blissful sleep.
Two days later, Rika stood at the venue for her entrance exam. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. Her hands shook as she knew she had to get into this University. If she failed to gain admission, her father wouldn’t even bother bribing the University officials to get her in, he would rather enroll her in the University closest to home, and she wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.
She had to do this.
But she was scared.
What if after all this, she still failed? What would she do then?
Her phone buzzed with a message. It was from Levi.
“Good luck, brat.”
Was what it read and that was all Rika needed.
Her confidence shot up and she walked boldly into the Hall, ready to take down the exam.
??????
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