The basement carpark was hollow and empty that only the sound of footsteps echoed throughout the place.
She turned around to observe her surroundings to make sure that no one was following her.
A blurry image of Darryl Crews walking towards her crystalised before her. She stood still, swallowing hard. Instead of running away, her fists clenched, ready to take him down...
"OEI!"
The loud cry caused her to open her eyes immediately and throw a punch to the front, jumping to the side and kicking her opponent to the ground until he laid down, subdued by her elbow locked around his neck.
"Very good," Hiroshi praised.
"Arigatoo, sansei." (ie. in Japanese - "Thank you, teacher")
She pulled Hiroshi up.
"That's the end of your training for today," said Hiroshi as he removed the protection guards on his body and gulped down water from the water bottle. "How do you feel now?"
"Feeling better each day, and it does help me overcome my fears too," she replied, removing her helmet wiping the sweat from her forehead with a towel.
"Good to know. Keep up your Krav Maga every week and I promise you, you'll get better each time."
Hiroshi was committed to helping her both in her professional life and in her one-to-one training in Krav Maga with him, partly stemming from the guilt of not accompanying her to the ladies on that fateful gala night. The self-defence arts was heavily recommended by Evan and Hiroshi, who also had a black belt in Karate. She agreed to the training, but not after eight weeks from the head surgery had passed. Hiroshi insisted she wore a helmet so as to take extra precaution.
Ariel was relieved that the news did not go as far as revealing Darryl Crews' past connection to her and Andy, due to the police's tight lip of not revealing anything further at the request of Mr Fujita, who finally knew about it.
Ariel was profusely apologetic to him and Hiroshi about the inconvenience and shame caused and explained her life story, but Mr Fujita assured her in an almost fatherly manner, that she was in no fault whatsoever, to which she was eternally grateful for his kind understanding.
Since the day she called Hiroshi, Ariel and Andy were immediately and secretly escorted to Osaka in Japan to start their new life. The sensitive furore of what happened at the gala and the constant watch from the paparazzi meant even greater security and secrecy of her whereabouts. They had to conceal them in public donned in unrecognisable disguises.
Mr Fujita knew the media would follow her every move, so in order to clean their tracks, he had his assistant accompany her and Andy fly to India, change the flight to China, then take a train to Seoul in South Korea, drove for a few hours to the ship harbour to the south and take a small ship to Japan. The journey was very exhausting and very confusing but they finally reached to their destination.
The three months in Japan saw her training intensively for her new position as the head chef for Fujita's upcoming restaurant with the use of their sauces and as their spokeswoman for Fujita sauces, with plans to expand its chain nationwide and worldwide - all shrouded in secrecy.
In order to prepare her, she was trained in management, speech and presentation, and was given basic Japanese classes. Her entire wardrobe was replaced with luxury wear, as Fujita was grooming her to be their new celebrity spokeswoman. An image consultant was hired to teach her on grooming and etiquette, as well as train her eyes for fashionable wear and proper makeup. Her waist length hair was trimmed to her bosom, coloured in light hazelnut and styled with toussles.
Far from the simple life she used to live, Ariel was now staying at one of the most luxurious apartments in Osaka with Andy, and her son was being homeschooled by some of the best private tutors, fully reimbursed by Fujita Corporation. Her living expenses were all absorbed by Fujita, and once she was ready to emerge in her new role, her monthly salary would be more than ten times her previous salary with Leon.
Even though it was not a million dollars, her new salary would allow her and Andy to live a comfortable life unimaginable. She would also be assigned to her own bodyguards and her own makeup artist. In return, she was to work full-time for Fujita for at least a year or risk compensating all of their training costs.
Living in Japan was both challenging and fascinating for her and Andy. Andy still missed his schoolmates back home but he already suffered so much from the overwhelming attention that he was unfairly teased, scorned and hated in school due to what happened to his mother and Leon. The language barrier for the both of them in Japan remained a struggle and the culture shock was still sinking in.
Occasionally, Ariel would cook North American cuisine just to have a taste of home every once in a while, despite western groceries being very pricey here. But being in a new place with a new beginning was what she needed to get away from the furore back home and clear her head of Leon Waltz.
Work culture in Japan was so much stricter, organised and precise. She learned the ropes quickly on bowing, addressing seniors as "sanbei" and getting involved in company culture and parties, leaving her little time for Andy. The drinking culture was quite heavy, but she was exempted due to Hiroshi's kind understanding and she got to go back early more so than the local employees. The staff at Fujita who knew her were also sworn to secrecy about her whereabouts.
Those three months of disguising themselves each time they went out of their house was necessary as Fujita had grand plans to groom and launch Ariel as the new face for Fujita sauces the following week. Leon Waltz was dropped and no more.
She felt dreadful replacing her former boss, but it was Fujita's decision, not hers. She was much cheaper than a multi-million dollar endorsement and gained a year-long in-depth knowledge of cooking with their sauces. Aspiring chefs around the world were looking up to her. She was the perfect fit.
News from back home was flashed all over the world about Leon's life spiralling downwards. He was pictured with a different squeeze on certain nights. Despite Ariel's refusal to read any news about him, it could not be helped if news were shoved right in her face no matter where she turned. Leon was after all, public property.
Sigh...he never changed his destructive habits.
She should feel relieved to escape from being with such an unstable and untrustworthy guy, but it still agonised her to see him this way and she could not help but feel some sense of worry, no matter how hard it was for her to resist calling him or any of his loved ones.
Andy continually pestered his mother if he could get in touch with him despite her insistent refusal.
"But mum! Wasn't Leon your boyfriend? Why did you guys break up so fast? I really like him." Andy lamented one day.
"We were not - well, adult things which I'll explain when you get older," Ariel replied carefully.
"Then can't you be friends with him again?"
"Well, it's more complicated than that. Getting in touch is just not right."
"You really mean I can no longer see or contact him anymore?"
Her silence was her response.
"I read about these strange girls saying nasty things about him. He's acting mean to everyone around him and -"
Ariel slammed her hands on the table. "Enough now! You shouldn't be reading such things! One more mention of that dreaded name called Leon Waltz and you're grounded!"
Andy stomped back to his room and shut the door. He clearly missed Leon and his good company. To suddenly cut ties with him felt very awful and he still could not understand why his mother made such absurd insistence. From love turned to hate...adults are truly weird.
Most painful of all, Ariel missed her friends dearly. She felt sorrier that she left without a word and disabled her email for the time being. The utter confusion, broken trust and misery that had plagued her forced her into deadly isolation. She wanted to make her own decisions and not be coerced into the pressure of other people's opinions like the world did in ushering her and Leon as the new couple.
Next week would be the launch week and Ariel grew nervous as the days grew shorter.
The whole world would soon find out where she had been the whole time.