• WATTYS 2022 WINNER •
When Iris Monet married millionaire Jared Darling, she had only one rule - that he could cheat on her with anyone except the household staff. This arrangement of theirs would have gone on quite happily if she hadn't caught him...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I find Akai where I expect him to be, down by the lake. The rough middle point of the farm, where he can be next to Gacho, west from Riku, southeast from the barn and southwest from the horses. Neither too close nor too far from any of the animals. No wonder it's his favourite spot.
He has his back turned to me, crouched. Hands busy at work – pull out a knotweed, toss it in a waste basket, and repeat. With summer coming into full swing, the garden has simply been exploding with knotweed patches.
"Akai?"
He doesn't turn. My feet, earlier so rushing, so hasty to arrive, now slow down until I eventually come to a halt.
I call his name again. He stops. Then he stands up, dusting dirt off his farm gloves. Turning around to face me.
"Miss Iris," he replies. "How can I help you?"
That voice, cool as a cucumber. Neither friendly nor angry. Neither welcoming nor hostile. I search his face and it tells me nothing.
"I ... I was wondering if you've seen Imelda."
"Why?"
"Just – Tomiichi said you might have."
Something flickers across his face. An expression so brief it couldn't even have filled a nanosecond, and yet speaks volumes.
He knows.
"Akai," I start, my voice almost in despair, "I'm sorry – "
"There's no need to explain anything to me, Miss Iris." The glove is yanked off his left hand and dropped to the ground. A jerky, ugly motion. "I have been well-informed."
"But you don't know the whole story!"
"Oh?" Ice in his words, a solar storm in his eyes. "You want my cousin's money, thought he was me, and chase after me with every womanly wile in your arsenal. The flirting. The innuendos. You didn't think I got the double meanings? And of course, your confession."
Thunder cracks in the distance, but still Akai's quiet voice carries over. "I told you about Niko. Something I never told anyone. Was that also part of your strategy? Telling me the sob story of your life?"
"No!" I cry. "How can you think that? That was real! Me telling you about my mom was real!"
"But your feelings for me were a lie. And that discounts everything we've ever gone through, does it not? So go on then."
There's the taste of salt on my lips. My cheeks are wet, but it's not raining, not yet. I can feel an ache in my chest, throbbing, growing even more painful with every inhalation and exhalation of breath. It takes a moment for me to realize that that pain is my own heartbeat.
Akai is so cold and distant he might as well have been standing on Mount Everest.
"Go find your rich husband. Tomiichi would be more than happy to have you. The millionaire and the gold-digger. What a pair."
