Ruki's Guide to Love and Fear (A JO1/Shiroiwa Ruki Fanfic)

Chapter 15

Ruki looked up in shock to see Toyama in front of him. Before Ruki or Momoko could react, Toyama lifted Ruki off the ground by the collar. Ruki instinctively struggled in Toyama's grip but couldn't break away. 

"Let me go," Ruki managed to choke out. 

He could see Momoko was also trying to pull Toyama away from him unsuccessfully. "LET HIM GO!" she screamed at Toyama. 

Toyama stared at Ruki with venom in his eyes, his jaw clenched as if he was grinding something between his teeth.  Finally, he released Ruki from his grip, but not before lifting his hand and slapping Ruki hard across the face. 

The impact was so strong that Ruki fell on his side on the bed behind him. "Ouch," he groaned into the bed's comforter. 

Why am I the one who gets slapped all the time? is the only thing he could think of as his cheek started to sting. 

"TOYAMA!" Momoko screeched. "What the f*ck? How the f*ck did you even get here?" 

"That's not important right now!" Toyama cried. "This loser's just lucky I didn't do something worse!" 

"Well, no one asked you to be here, so you can just leave!" she replied, rushing to Ruki's side and trying to help him sit up. Ruki felt her hand slip into his. 

Toyama forcefully grabbed Momoko's arm, making her stumble away from Ruki on her injured ankle. "No, you're coming with me!" 

Ruki heard her curse under her breath. 

"Stop! You're hurting her!" Ruki yelled after Toyama, trying to run after them. "She just twisted her ankle, idiot!" 

Unfortunately, Ruki's vision was blurry because his swollen cheek was partially blocking the vision of his left eye, so he unceremoniously tripped on the corner of the bed and fell on his chest on the floor. 

He watched the door to the hotel room close after them. He tried to get up but slipped again, landing face first on the floor this time. 

Shit. That wasn't very prince-like. 

The pain in his face intensified at his fall. He groaned into the sudden silence of the room. He wanted to get up and try to follow them into the hallway, but he couldn't muster up the strength, so he just lay there, stunned by the sudden turn of events. 

What the hell just happened? 

Momoko had kissed him, then Toyama had shown up literally out of nowhere. Toyama had slapped him, and managed to take away Momoko. 

And what did I do except fall? I didn't even open my mouth to defend myself or Momoko.

He replayed the scene over and over in his mind, scolding himself for not being able to break out of Toyama's grip or to act quickly enough when shit went down. 

Ugh, but this wouldn't have happened if not for Toyama. What an absolute a**. How dare he try to control Momoko like she was his possession?  

Anger surged through Ruki, and he was suddenly energized enough to get up and go after them. With some effort, he stood up and walked to the bathroom to splash cold water over his swollen face. 

Grabbing his coat, room key, and phone, he ran out into the hall, determined to find them. He took the elevator down to the lobby where he asked the desk clerk if he had seen Ruki's female "colleague." 

"Yeah, she left like fifteen minutes ago with a tall guy. They were being really noisy," the clerk said candidly. 

"Thanks," Ruki said politely, and took off toward the front doors. 

"Oh, I wouldn't go out there if I were you!" Ruki heard the clerk calling out just as he opened the door, revealing an unrecognizable white world. Snow was falling so hard that he couldn't see in front of him. 

"Shit!" he swore unapologetically. He could run out there, but it was useless if he couldn't even see where he was going. Stepping back into the hotel, he pulled out his phone and dialed Momoko. The phone rang several times only for Ruki to hear the dreaded words, The person you are trying to contact cannot be reached at this time...

He hung up the phone and began texting her. 

Are you okay? Sent at 6:23pm

Where are you? Sent at 6:23pm

I'm really worried about you Sent at 6:24pm

He paced around the lobby waiting for a reply until he noticed that other patrons were giving  him weird looks. He remembered his red cheek and instantly grew self-conscious and made the decision to head back to his hotel room. 

He didn't realize how tired he was until he reached his room. He artlessly collapsed on the bed in defeat. 

As much as he wanted to fill his thoughts with Momoko and what their interrupted kiss had meant, he was too worried to think about anything positive. He just hoped Momoko was okay. Closing his eyes, he soon drifted off to an uneasy sleep. 

******

He awoke again to the sound of his phone ringing. As soon as he saw that it was Momoko calling, he picked up. "Momoko? Are you okay?" 

"Don't you worry, Momoko is perfectly fine," a gruff male voice came in reply. 

"Hideki?" Ruki shouted, suddenly horrified. 

"Don't you dare hang up!" Toyama commanded, "I have a deal for you, pretty boy." 

"What makes you think I want to deal with you, you misogynist pig?" he blurted out without thinking. 

"I'm the misogynist?" Toyama hissed back, "You're the one taking advantage of vulnerable women!" 

"For your information, Momoko kissed me," Ruki said smugly. "Now, hurry up and say whatever you're going to say before I hang up on you." 

Toyama was silent for a second before continuing, "Listen, you punk, I've come to the decision that I'm going to keep Momoko away from you forever. So you have two options, but both of them result in you leaving Lapone."

"Wait, that's not—" Ruki started to protest. 

"I'm not done speaking yet, baka. I'll tell you when you can talk again, but right now you're just listening, is that clear?" 

"Fine," Ruki said through gritted teeth. 

"Good. I'm going to give you a week to make a decision. The decision is this: either you leave the company yourself, or, as soon as the week is up, I'm going to tell the company that you and Momoko are in a relationship—forcing both of you to leave the company drenched in scandal. Even though I know acting is important to Momoko, it's more important to me that she stay away from you permanently.  So the choice is yours, Shiroiwa. You're going to take a fall either way. You just get to decide if you take Momoko down with you or not. If you try to contact Momoko in any way—texting her, calling her, going to her house, talking to her at the company—before the week's up, I will find out and immediately tell the company about your 'relationship.' Do you understand what I'm saying to you?" 

Damn, this guy is way worse than I initially even thought. 

"I understand, but you're still a bastard," Ruki snapped. 

"I wouldn't push me, if I were you," Toyama snarled. "Just remember, you have one week." 

With that, Toyama hung up. 

Ruki stared into the darkness of the hotel room in disbelief. 

Toyama isn't playing around. He really doesn't want me around Momoko, even if that means destroying Momoko's acting career. Yabai. 

It's not like he could just abandon JO1 either. JO1 was his family and the culmination of all his dreams. He couldn't just leave them. 

On the other hand, he would also feel terrible if he was the reason Momoko's acting career went up in flames basically before she had even done any acting. It was beyond unfair. 

What am I going to do?