The Missing Composer

Day 07: Proxy

"Oh, it's Miharu Kagami, right?" a slim, middle-aged woman wearing a fur coat over her black dress approached my table. I stood up from my seat to greet her properly.

"It's Mrs. Fukuyama, right? It's nice to see you again." I bowed slightly and smiled at her. I once saw her in one of my Dad's meetings. Her image reminded me of one of those popular ladies during the 1940s.

After giving me a curt smile, she subtly looked around, "Wait, are you alone? Is Mr. Kagami not attending tonight?" her voice was quite exaggerated and high pitched. It was irritating.

"Unfortunately, no. Dad caught a bad cold, fever and sore throat. He can't even sit up properly." I smiled sadly as I remembered Dad's image.

"Even so, how can he send his adopted daughter to such a place? It would have been better if he sent his secretary instead. Tsk, tsk, this is not going to reflect well on his company." She said it as sweetly as she can but, I can't help myself from feeling insulted. More importantly, I don't like the way she talked about Dad.

I breathe in and smiled, "Dad is a very thorough man. I'm sure he thought about sending me here, at least, more than four times. He might have seen some benefits in sending me here. I believe, the only thing that he was not able to think thoroughly was his business partners. Maybe I'll help him with that next time. I'm sure he'll be glad with an additional hand." Her face started to stiffen. It would have been enough to leave it at that but, I was not satisfied enough. "By the way Mrs. Fukuyama, how is Mr. Fukuyama? I heard that you're not spending as much time together as before. Is it because you're doing too many things and you're busy? Or is it because you're actually not doing anything? I also heard that he was quite the ladies' man lately. You know, a couple of months ago, he asked me to have coffee with him. Obviously, I declined." I watched as her face turned from stiff into horrified. I won't deny it, I was gaining satisfaction from what I did.

"I suggest that you keep an eye on him..." that dealt the final blow. I saw her clench her fist and grind her teeth.

"Why you little- are you threatening?!" She raised her right hand, I was expecting a slap on my left cheek when I heard my name being called.

"Kagami! There you are! I was looking for you!" to my left, I saw a man approaching us. He was wearing a white and gray themed suit that fitted him well.

"Tsk, tell Mr. Kagami to get well soon." Mrs. Fukuyama quickly made her escape towards the other side of the room. I can hear her stiletto click loudly as she hastened away from us.

"R-Ren-san? W-what are you doing here?" I was quite perplexed to see him approach me. The only encounter that I had with him was during my morning jogs and when I was introduced to STARISH.

"I was about to ask you that. When my father told me to accompany the representative of the Kagami group, I was expecting a strict old man, not our temporary composer wearing a rather seductive dress." Ren-san eyed me from head to toe. I instinctively crossed my arms over my chest and lowered my head.

"My Dad's supposed to be the one here, I'm just sitting in as a proxy." I murmured, still avoiding his eyes. I don't know what to make of this scenario. This will be our first real talk. I'm glad though, that he's acting comfortable, if he's uncomfortable as I am, I don't know what I would do.

"Haha~ when I asked the doorman if someone under the name of Kagami already came in, he pointed at you. I was at loss for words. I knew that your family name was Kagami but, I never thought that you'd be directly related to him..." I was leaning on the wall by this time and he leaned on the wall beside me.

"Hard to believe right? By the way, why are you tasked to accompany the representative our family?

"Our family and yours are planning on a partnership. My brother wants to know what your family is like, and since I'm the one on the field of music, the same field as your company is on, he thought that I should be the one to talk to him." Ren-san stated everything with humor in his voice. I started to smile seeing him in a good mood.