Diamonds, Diamonds, Diamonds


Oshitari Yuushi.

Even before she first met him, the name of his family was a frequent dinner conversation. They were the notorious parvenu - the noveau riche - from somewhere in Kansai. Every cocktail dinner she went to, buzzed with the outrageous behavior of the Oshitari family which the upper society of Japan find unacceptable. The Oshitari couple go around dinner parties dressed in the most garish gowns and suits, laden with jewels of every kind – rings on every finger, heavy chains on their necks, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, baroque pearls, the list goes on and on. They were the perfect tableaux of the modern day rags-to-riches fairy tales. In fact, if their son, Yuushi, was a girl, everyone would have referred to him as Cinderella. Yet generally, they were disliked by the other prominent families of Japan, hers included.

So imagine ’s surprise when she suddenly found herself ensconced between her parents inside a five-star restaurant sitting across the infamous couple and their son…

…discussing marriage.

All the while, while both their parents exchanged pleasantries, she and the young man remained perfectly quiet, chewing on their steak as if they care nothing about their lives being planned by their elders.

The deal was simple; the Oshitaris would financially provide for the s in exchange for the use of their surname – Yuushi would be marrying into her family.

You see, is a grand old name. ’s grandfather was a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet and was very popularly known as an honest and honorable politician. During his time, he fought for the sanction of various agricultural land reforms which had molded the present-day Japan. Her grandfather lived a hero’s life and in his death, he was honored as one.

Her father, though, is another matter altogether.

Every family’s bound to produce one bad egg but Grandpa never thought his only child would be one. He tried to raise him with pride, dignity and honor as his father before him, however, ’s father proved to be a different species. During his teens which he considers his heyday, he was a rake. He slept with a different woman every night, impregnated a lot of them and had all of his fetal children aborted. When he finally decided to settle down, he squandered what’s left of his family’s money in gambling, even sold their ancestral home where his father grew up and his father before him.

’s mother is worse – she gambles twice more than he does.

So the name is really nothing more than that – a name.

The prestige of their name allows them to rub elbows with the country’s crème of the crop but in truth, they are nothing more but an impoverished family pretending to still be in the inner circle of the Japanese elite. Which technically, they are, really. They’re constantly getting featured in various broadsheets’ society pages, always getting described as some of the country’s most prominent socialites. But this farce charges a high price - does moonlighting every night apart from her nine-to-five job as an accountant. She takes on anything that comes to her – bartending, babysitting, housekeeping, anything as long as she can do it. After all, she has to pay for her mother’s Valentinos and her father’s Armanis and their penthouse condo which she can ill-afford but rents anyways because her parents says so. It doesn’t matter that she’s chin-deep in debt – her mother would still want new Jimmy Choos.

Oh, by the way, her parents do not work.

Her father went straight from college graduation to a life in the casino and never remained in a single job for more than a week at a time. Her mother was a daughter of a very wealthy family and never did a single day’s work. Too bad she’s also gambled her fortune away.

From the time got into middle school, she was expected to take care of herself. And by the time she reached eighteen, she was expected to take care of the whole family. So she worked while studying, putting herself thru college on canned beans and instant noodles. Never once did she complain for she’d always thought her family, her responsibility.

Yet when she heard her parents discussing marriage with the Oshitari heir, she can’t help but feel, to a certain degree, relieved. Here was a personification of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the silver lining at the edge of the cloud. Marrying him would mean she wouldn’t have to do a day’s job in her life if she didn’t want to. The Oshitari heir is three years younger than she is AND still a senior in college but who cares? Sure she feels guilty about using him, her grandfather would never approve of that; it’s just that she’s so tired. So VERY tired. And being tired at her age is a bad thing seeing as, theoretically, she has only lived a very small part of her life expectancy.

She thought that, true, but in truth, she was horrified. That was the worst thing her parents ever did to her – more than them not attending any of her graduation ceremonies ever. She worked for them ‘til her tongue lolls out her mouth but clearly, it wasn’t enough. They wanted riches beyond what she could give them based on her present capacity and it pained her that her efforts, as always, have gone unappreciated. But even then she didn’t complain. She sucked it in and smiled while both their parents shook hands on the deal.

The next time she met Oshitari Yuushi, it was at their wedding rehearsal. They didn’t speak to each other, barely looked at the other’s direction and didn’t even bid each other goodbye afterwards. The wedding was grand and lavish and aside from some press people, only those of Japan’s upper crust were invited. The next day, the rest of the country was hailing it the wedding of the century and every teenage girl was dreaming of meeting their prince charming like they lead them to believe did.

After the reception, they were driven back to the Oshitari mansion where they were ushered to Yuushi’s room, only to never utter a single word nor look at each other in the eye except to say “good night” and drop to a deep slumber.

No worries. After all, the deal was to be married for five years only. Oh, and producing an heir. Afterwards they’d file for a divorce and the s will be paid two billion yen in settlement and she’d have to sign a complete away custody of her future child.

Simple, isn’t it? In merely five years the Oshitaris would have an heir with her surname and the s will be getting their money. Fair trade, right?

Sure, hypothetically speaking. But hypotheses should be kept to scientific experiments where they belong.

* * *

Life is never simple.

It turns from being a gigantic roller coaster to a capsizing boat in a split second. Oshitari Yuushi (now technically Yuushi), at least, doesn’t believe in things that are generally considered as life’s simple pleasures. Everything comes with a price. For example, eat half a gallon of ice cream today and weigh ten pounds heavier tomorrow.

He knows that for a fact because he got into a compromising situation for wanting something so simple that a lot of people are taking it for granted – freedom.

He asked his parents for emancipation and they agreed to give it to him on the condition that he’s to be married for five years and father a child with a complete stranger. He didn’t bother escaping from them; he’s already done that more than once – he always gets caught in less than a week. ALWAYS. Money really can do anything – faking his name and identity never worked.

But a week after his marriage, he’s had half a mind to pack his bags and taunt the power of money once again. Before his wedding with , he was ill-at-ease that he didn’t even know one bit about her. Several days later, he’d give anything in the world to remain not knowing anything about her.

He’s never seen anyone so condescending and conceited, he felt sickened in the pit of his stomach. Just a few days after her family moved in their mansion, he saw her dousing one of their nicer maids with orange juice (because it wasn’t the sugar-free kind) and hit another with an ashtray (because she felt like it). According to some of their older help, she’d also slapped a driver and pushed an under-gardener into a wagon of fresh fertilizer.

When things really started getting hairy, he decided to confront her because his parents would sure as hell won’t do so. Unfortunately, he ended up more riled up than before because all she did the whole (goddamn) conversation was make fun of his Kansai accent.

A couple of weeks into the marriage, she took things to the next level. One day, he came home to a mansion filled with space-age multi-colored furniture because apparently, SHE had them all replaced. She called their interior decorator a frump and proclaimed that this look is the new “in” thing among the rich crowd. The drapes and beddings were replaced with oranges, neon greens and shocking pinks. Every fixture in the house looked like it was beamed right from an episode of The Jetsons. When he tried to point the ludicrousness of it out to his parents, they laughed him aside and told him that is a woman of taste and consequence and should not be questioned.

Ah…the lengths she’d go to just to spite his family.

If she only knew just how much he hated her in return.

But then, last night already happened so he surmises she already knew.

When he went into his room and saw her in her silk bathrobe, brushing her long black hair in front of the mirror luxuriously, he had the sudden urge to provoke her. Grabbing her waist from behind, he took off her robe to reveal thin black lingerie, kissing her neck deeply.

“What are you doing?!” She panicked.
“Well,” he purred, “since we’re supposed ta make a child within five years, why not start right now?”
“I don’t think so.”

She twisted away from his grip and faced him evenly.

“I do not think I shall be liked being touched by a dirty parvenu unless I’m either insane or drunk. Right now, I’m neither,” she scoffed.
“How dare ya,” he seethed. “Ya live at my expense.”
“And you gain favor in society at mine.”
“Ya think I like bein’ Yuushi?!”
“You think I like YOU, using my grandfather’s surname?! You think I like being married to YOU while your parents flaunt your wealth so openly? You people disgust me.”
“And what of ya? Acting like ya’r the queen of us all. We disgust ya?” He snorted. “I abhor ya.”
stared at him, dumbfounded. And just like that, without uttering a single word, she left his room and would probably never come back if she gets her way.

Yuushi was brought back from his musings as he felt his cellphone vibrate. He proceeded to answer the incoming call.

“Yo, Yuushi!”
“Gakuto? Where the hell were ya during the wedding?”
“Sorry, I couldn’t make it back from Australia.”
“Whacha doin’ there anyways?”
“Bungee-jump, sky-dive, parasail, the works. But never mind about me, what about you? How’s married life treating you?”
“Horrendously,” he growled. “My new wife’s quite the dominatrix.”
“What? You mean, whip, thigh-high boots, candles – the whole nine yards?”
“No! Not THAT kind of dominatrix. I meant she acts all superior all the time, like she thinks she’s better than us all put together. It’s like we’re merely dung at the balls of her feet or somethin’”
“I see,” Gakuto answered quietly.
“What do ya mean, ya see?”
“Well, you know, Yuushi…it’s just that when people make an effort to act superior, it’s because they have something they feel inferior about that they wanna hide.”

Yuushi raised his brows in surprise, not thinking about the situation that way at all. It took a while for him to digest this new suggestion before he could finally answer.

“No…” he whispered quietly. “Not her. Impossible. She’s the daughter of Satan.”
“Yuushi…everyone has reasons for acting like they do.”
“Since when’d you become so wise?”
“You were the one who told me that when we were in high school, remember?”

“Well you know, Gakuto, that was before I met her,” was what he wanted to say but he knew his old friend was right from the get-go.

“Fine. Whatever.”
“Good. Listen, I gotta go. I have a scheduled sky jump in thirty minutes. I’ll call you again sometime, Yuushi.”
“Okay.”
“And Yuushi…you’ll try and work it out with her, won’t you? No matter what you say, she’s your wife now.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he barked into the receiver.

Easy for Gakuto to say.

He wasn’t the one living with her under the same roof, the one witnessing her abuse of the people he’s become close to, the one in close proximity with her intolerable air, and most of all, he wasn’t the one who’d have to impregnate her.

He knew from the very start living with her would be no cakewalk at all but he hoped at least that they won’t turn out to be enemies. It’s hard hoping the same thing now that they’ve already clashed a number of times and that the mere presence of her in the same room makes his blood pressure go through the roof.

But Gakuto was right.

He would have to find a way to make it work – for his own sake. Thinking about it, five years in hell in exchange for a lifetime of freedom seems like a bargain. So Oshitari decided that if he really intends to make things better, he’d have to start right at that very moment or risk losing his resolve much later. He took a deep breath and tried to walk as casually as he could, looking for her around the house. Before he could advance much further though, he heard voices – angry voices – coming from her parents’ room not far from where he was. Not intending to eavesdrop, he was nevertheless commanded to a standstill by her mother’s booming bellow.

“Have you really been pleasing your husband, ?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then why hasn’t our monthly purse been reimbursed?”
“But…they just gave you ten million yen three weeks ago,” he heard his wife answer meekly which was contrary to what he would expect of her.
“You dare talk back after all we’ve done for you?! We raised you and fed you, you ingrate!”
“No ma’am. I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Amazed and at the same time befuddled by ’s abrasively passive replies as if she wasn’t worth much from the beginning, Yuushi peeked thru slightly open door and saw his wife sitting gingerly atop the bed, looking like a third grader being chastised by her parents.

“Start treating your husband better from now on,” her father authoritatively asserted.
“Yes, sir.”
“And we better get our next ten million soon, understand?”
“I’ll do what I can, ma’am.”
“That’s NOT the answer I expect to hear from you!”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’ll make sure you get your ten million soon, ma’am.”
“Good,” her mother, a big bulldozer of a woman, sniffed. She waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal and , recognizing her cue, crisply stood up, bowed and briskly walked towards the exit. At the other side of the door, Yuushi forced himself to get over the initial shock of what he’s witnessed and quickly hid from view.

From his unobtrusive place behind a humongous (and expensive) jar, he watched cross the threshold in sure and quick footsteps, clacking heels echoing throughout the silent hall. He followed suit, treading his steps quietly in cat-like grace.

He followed her out of the terrace, across the lawn and into the white-washed glass gazebo far from view from the mansion. And then he watched her wrack into loud sobs, tear the creepers along the gazebo walls and sink down to her knees, chests heaving deeply like she was a hair away from having a stroke.

He didn’t know how long he watched her cry. It was like watching a soap opera on TV except that he more than could see and hear her, he could smell her – smell her despair, her hopelessness, her pain and for a moment he fancied that he could feel what she felt and he too was brought to the brink of tears.

Staring at her all dressed in black crumpled on a pristinely white floor, he beheld an image of the darkness inside her. It was small because it was forced to be so, because her life held no slack enough for the darkness to spread like a drop of ink in a glass of milk. It was small and compact and saturated and he sensed its desire to break free of its boundaries and engulf her completely. It would swallow her whole. Swallow what’s left of her and eat at her insides like a virus until what’s left of her is merely an earthly shell.

, , .

He was wrong when he thought he despised her, for at that very moment, he had the strongest yenning to soothe her head and ensure her that everything would be fine, like she was a five-year-old child who didn’t know any better. But she DOES know better and no amount of head-patting will ever make her feel all right in such a circumstance. This is one of those times when Yuushi wishes life had been much simpler. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if patting people’s heads makes things okay?

lifted her body off the floor heavily. She slowly stood up and slumped heavily atop a garden seat, reaching into her pocket for her case of Sobranie Black Russian* - the only luxury she allows herself. She fumbled all over her suit to find her precious cigarettes in vain, laughing aloud bitterly as she realized they weren’t on her. How cruel can the world get? All she needed was a smoke and everything would go away. Yet even that is denied her.

She noticed a shadow by the entrance of the gazebo earlier on but decided to ignore it. Now though, it was hard to do so, not when the shadow started becoming bigger and coming closer.

“Here.”

She blinked at the shadow before realizing it was her husband offering her a lit Marlboro.

“It ain’t your brand, but it’ll do for now.”
“Since when have you been here?” She asked him accusingly, taking the lit cigarette in his hand nevertheless.
He shrugged and faked a nonchalant expression. “A while.”

stared at him. She stared at the way his lips were gathered into a prim line, the way his hands fidgeted around his pockets, the way his eyes averted hers – and she knew.

“Have you been listening in on my conversation with my parents?”
“…Yeah,” he nodded guiltily, deciding to come clean. “Sorry.”
She shook her head and took a drag on her cigarette. “I can imagine anyone within the fifty meter radius could hear my mother’s voice. So?” She raised her brows at him.
“So…?” He stared at her questioningly.
“Do you pity me now, Yuushi?” She sarcastically hissed. “Do I evoke emotions from deep inside you? Is it pathos you feel, my husband?”

Yuushi, taken aback by her unexpected reaction, merely gaped at her mutely, brain still processing her malignant tone and rancorous stare.

“I pity myself for having to live with you for five years!” He suddenly croaked, catching her by surprise.

found herself consumed in a fit of giggles and she buried her face on Yuushi’s denim jacket, alternating between sobs and laughter.

“Great, now you’ve gone mad.”
“Sorry,” she replied in a muffled voice. “Just let me stay like this…for a while…”

She didn’t say anymore but Yuushi understood. And from that moment on, husband and wife had finally become friends.

Her face still buried on her husband’s jacket, savored the smell of his cologne mingled with the scent of fabric softener and mint kept inside one of his pockets and thought that it was the probably the best, most comforting smell in the world.

“Yuushi?”
“Yeah?”
“Marlboro sucks. Can’t you at least get a Dunhill?”

Yuushi guffawed before reaching out and fulfilling his strong yearning of patting her head and imagining that he made it all better.

“Don’t be choosy. It’s a free cigarette.”
“Yeah, but it sucks. Yuushi?”
“Yeah?”
“…I’m sorry…”
“…Nevermind. I never expected much of ya from the beginnin’.”
“What the hell does that mean?!” She lifted her head and glared at him.
“It means I ain’t expectin’ ya ta be anythin’ ‘cept what ya are when ya’r with me.”
“I don’t need to be anything when I’m with you?”
“That’s right. Just yarself, lil missy. Don’t be puttin’ on airs when ya’r with me.”
“Okay,” she smiled softly. “That’s good…I like that.”
“Then we’re goin’ to get together just fine from now on.”

buried her face in Yuushi’s jacket once again, inhaling the smell of his cologne mingled with the scent of fabric softener and mint – the best smell in the entire face of the earth.


END OF CHAPTER 1


//by MitsuiSelphie © May 2007


*Sobranie Black Russian – an expensive Russian brand of slim cigarettes especially designed for women. The cigarette’s color is black with gold trim.
**Yuushi speaks like that because he’s Kansai. Enough said.