"What? No! You can't do this!" Leon fumed at Hiroshi.
His eyes could not believe seeing Hiromi and her belongings being brought to his house that same afternoon.
"Hi, Leon sweetie!" Hiromi batted her eyelids and blew a kiss at him. She was dressed in her cutesy tight colourful fashion and had neon-coloured long nails. "I can't wait for us to be good housemates!" She was carrying her little pink leopard-print handbag while her father's servants helped move her luggages and arrange her new room, which was located on the second floor below Leon's top room. Sky sniffed Hiromi and wagged her tail at her.
"Is that your doggy? So cute!" Hiromi scratched Sky's chin below, making her even more excited.
"I thought you don't like animals?" said Leon.
Hiromi giggled, "Dogs and cats are the only animals I love, cos I grew up with them." She trotted up the stairs to her new room.
Leon turned to Hiroshi and demanded an explanation.
"Since you refused to pay double the rent or move out, you'll have to accept she's gonna live here with you."
"This is madness! I can sue you for this!"
"Go ahead and sue. Fujita Corporation's after all, the owner of this house, not you. We can argue our case that you're a difficult tenant who's breaking the law," Hiroshi smirked at him.
Leon clenched his teeth.
"You got along quite well with my sister during the Yellowstone trip, so this won't be an issue, right?" Hiroshi went near to his ear, "Or, you can just move out, move far away from here."
"You cunning little snake. You know I won't budge," said Leon. He was not going to give up on Ariel that easy even if Hiroshi tried.
"Cunning? That's what we Fujitas are known for, for our excellent business skills. But hey, we're not breaking any rules. We just create new ones," Hiroshi chuckled.
——-
Having Hiromi living in his house was the worst housemate experience Leon had in his life.
Not only was she lazy in cleaning up after herself, causing Anna to work extra hours and to which Fujita Corporation agreed to pay extra for, she was also an annoying little spoilt brat who could not keep her hands off his stuff that he shifted many of his belongings into his own room. Hiromi also tried to flirt with him and wear revealing clothing in the house, which was cringe-worthy. Even while Leon was doing his workout or doing his own thing, Hiromi often pried in and disturbed him with silly questions. She was all over him like a clingy parasite. Leon ended up walking Sky out more frequently and staying outside longer, just to avoid her. He also made sure his room door was locked at all times, even when he was around, for he could not trust her to not sneak in and do whatever to her heart's content.
Hiroshi did not state how long Hiromi would be in the house, except to say that it was for "a while".
Tongues were wagging that Leon' Waltz's new housemate was his former client's daughter, and speculations were rife that they were a new couple. Whenever Leon came out of the house, he treated Hiromi like a total stranger even when she tried to pose with him for the paparazzi's cameras.
Hiromi's Instagram was filled with pictures of her new room, and she entertained her followers by showing Leon's favourite hang-out spots in the common areas of the house, even though Leon refused to be seen in her photos or videos. How he hated her letting the whole world see the inside of the house without his permission. But as long as she was video-shooting the common areas, there was not much he could do. Leon had sternly warned Hiromi that he would not tolerate her trying to sneakily photograph or video him without consent, otherwise, he threatened to leave the premises for good, which was not what Hiromi wanted.
Ariel was unamused by Hiroshi's arrangement. She knew that Leon could not stand Hiromi one bit, and neither was she fond of her.
If Hiroshi thought that this would keep Leon away from Ariel, it was having the opposite effect. In fact, ever since Hiromi moved in, Leon frequented Ariel's place even more despite her warnings not to do so. But he did not care. If the Fujitas wanted to conspire against him, he was going to rub more salt into their wounds.
"You know you can just move," said Ariel
"I was here first before they bought the house. I like this area and I don't wanna be far away from you guys," Leon admitted. "Besides, how am I going to get my soups?"
Anna was within hearing range while cleaning Ariel's house.
"I agree. Hiromi's the worse, even worse than Jasmine Ferne when it comes to cleaning!" Anna added.
Sky often accompanied Leon whenever he went to her house so that the dog could entertain Andy too.
The doorbell rang and Ariel went to open the door.
"Hiromi-san! Hi," Ariel was surprised to see Hiromi. "What brings you here?"
"Is Leon here?" she brushed past Ariel and walked inside the house.
"Hiromi-san, I'd appreciate if you'd wait for me to invite you in first before you just come in like that," said Ariel.
"Wait?" Hiromi scoffed. "This house belongs to Fujita, so it belongs to me. I don't need your permission to enter in cos I'm the big boss's daughter." Hiromi scanned the interior surroundings. "Ooh, what pretty flowers." She touched the floral decoration put up by Rita.
Next, she observed the display shelf. "How cute," she picked out a Lego character from a lego display set belonging to Andy. Ariel folded her arms and sulked, not pleased with Hiromi's rude meddling. She put down the Lego character without placing it back in its original place.
"Do you have something to drink? I'm thirsty," Hiromi went into the kitchen and opened the fridge.
"Hiromi, please don't," Ariel pleaded with her as nicely and calmly as she could to this rude guest.
"Don't what? Aren't you gonna pour a drink for your guest?"
Ariel reluctantly took out a carton of orange juice that Hiromi pointed at and poured her a cup. Without thanking her, Hiromi took the cup from Ariel's hand and drank a few sips, then she left the half-empty cup on the kitchen counter.
"By the way, I know Leon's here," Hiromi walked out to the staircase landing and Ariel followed her. "I can smell dog smell. Where's he?"
Ariel's eyes shifted to the top of the staircase where Andy gestured his mother not to reveal that Leon was here, for he had rushed to hide in his room.
"He left not too long ago," she lied.
"You sure? How come Sky's here?" She noticed the dog in the living room. Sky barked and rushed to Hiromi. "Good girl," Hiromi stroked her head behind her ears.
"Well, Andy likes Sky very much so Leon left her here while he went out to run his errands."
"I see," Hiromi sighed and looked at Ariel in the eye. "Ariel-san, how do I get Leon to like me?"
"Like you?" Ariel frowned.
"Yeah, like me?" Hiromi got curious. "I'm doing what you did before staying with him in the same house. Is he always like this, easily irritated and unfriendly? He's always cold towards me and I don't understand why! I'm pretty, cute and young and rich! I can even help him with money if he needs. So why can't he fall for me like he did to you?"
"Erm...that," Ariel gave an uncomfortable laugh. "I was only his employee, not his girlfriend."
"But you two kissed! How do I get him to like me and kiss me?"
"Well, that's up to him. I can't answer that for you."
Hiromi scanned Ariel from head to toe, "Even though you've transformed from plain jane to beauty queen, you're not as pretty as me. So why is Leon not falling for me? Is it because of you? Is he still in love with you? How did he fall for you when you were so ugly then?"
Ariel set lips in a tight line with her hands clenched behind her back. If she wasn't the big boss's daughter, she would have trashed this rude spoilt brat and kicked her out. How did ever she turn out so opposite from her well-mannered and disciplined brother?
"We're not an item," said Ariel.
"Then why does he still come to your place?" Hiromi narrowed her eyes at her.
"Well, we're good friends now and Andy loves to hang out with Leon. After working for him for almost a year, he feels like family to us."
"I see," Hiromi sighed. "Then I better stay long enough with him to get him to see me as part of his other half. What else do you think I should do?"
"Just let him be and don't pry into his private life. Leon hates that."
"I don't think I've pried into his life. I've been pretty respectful to him all this time."
Ariel was doubtful at her claims.
"Does your dad approve of you being with him?" she asked, remembering how Mr Fujita warned her not to hang out with Leon due to the risk to their name's reputation. So, why the double standards for his own daughter?
"Oh that," Hiromi blew out her cheeks, "That's why I moved out, just to get away from Otousan's suffocating control. He knows I live with Leon and disapproves, but he can't do anything to me anymore, since I keep reminding him that I'm already an adult and I can do whatever I want. I even threatened that if he tried to scare Leon away, I'll never want to see him again. Most of the time, he relents to my demands."
"Oh..." Ariel saw how Mr Fujita's perfectionist ideals drove one child to be ambitious like him, but drove the other child to go in the opposite direction. She felt sympathetic to Hiromi for a while.
"Anyway, I gotta go home. If you see Leon, please tell him to come home quickly. I'm already missing him. It sucks that he still refuses to give me his number," she headed out through the door.
"Okay...bye," Ariel waved at her but Hiromi walked off without waving back. Once she was out of sight, Ariel rushed to Andy's room to check on Leon and both of them were relieved when Hiromi's gone. They even gave each other a hi-five with a laugh.
"That was truly suffocating!" Ariel complained.
"Now you know what I go through every day!" said Leon.
"Did you hear what she said?" asked Ariel.
"Yup, every word" Andy nodded. "She's loud!"
"I had to cover Andy's mouth to stop him from laughing," said Leon.
Ariel facepalmed. "By the way, she wants you to come back home soon."
"What is she, my mother?"
Andy giggled at Leon's answer.
"I'd rather sleep in the street than to be in the same house with her!"