Tokyo Hearts: A Japanese Love Story by Renae Lucas-Hall Page B

person. With that in mind, he returned to his apartment much happier than when he leftfune.

CHAPTER 6
     
    To become wealthy at a single bound
     
    Haruka watched Takashi leave from the entrance of the house. He looked so despondent. Was it because of the sticky, oppressive weather? Was it because of Jun? Could it have been that they’d spent such a great day together and he hadn’t wanted it to end? She thought to herself.
    This was the first time Takashi had met Jun, and Haruka could see how it had unsettled him. After the wonderful day they’d spent together, she’d hoped that he’d realise how much he meant to her as a friend. Haruka was determined not to dwell on this as she went back into the living room. No matter how much she liked Takashi, it was very flattering to receive so much attention from Jun. She paused at the doorway of the room where everyone was seated and watched her mother fawning over Jun with a quiet satisfaction.
    Thinking that Jun and the others might be a bit peckish, Haruka decided to replenish her guests’ refreshments and without a word, headed into the kitchen, half-listening to the friendly chatter emanating from the living room. She found a packet of rice crackers on the kitchen shelf above the sink. Next, she took out one of her mother’s good sculptured wooden bowls from the cupboard above the dishwasher and poured half the packet into it. Haruka reached into the bag to steal a few for herself, wondering whether Yuriko, sitting so happily on the sofa in the next room, would dare to eat even one. Rice crackers were very low in calories, but since Yuriko had developed such an obsession about losing weight over the past few months, she would most probably frown upon placing anything between her lips.
    Haruka picked up the bowl, headed back into the living room and sat down next to her mother.
    ‘There you are, Haruka,’ said her mother, turning to her. ‘Jun was just telling us how his father’s real estate company is set to expand overseas next year.’
    ‘Your family’s firm really has done very well for itself, hasn’t it?’ her mother said to Jun. ‘Do you think you’ll be travelling overseas in the future with your work?’ she asked him. Haruka’s mother had been dreaming about travel to foreign countries for a long time. Her parents had been to Paris and London many years ago, but it was a short trip, and her mother really would’ve liked to visit a dozen other countries. As her father’s hospital bills had cost them so much, there really wasn’t a lot of spare money left to be spent on travel.
    ‘Oh yes,’ replied Jun. ‘I may even have to live abroad if everything goes as planned.’
    Haruka’s mother’s eyes lit up. The look on her face and the gushing display of enthusiasm she expressed for Jun were evidence that the idea of him as a future son-in-law was once again becoming more and more appealing to her.
    Haruka’s father leant forward to pick up his glass, and just as quickly her mother jumped to her feet and perched her arm across Yuriko to pass the drink to him.
    ‘Stop fussing over me, woman,’ Haruka’s father barked at her. His voice was gruff, but his eyes showed both an appreciation and gentle affection for his wife. This made Haruka feel warm and fuzzy inside. In a strange way, her father’s illness had brought her parents together, so that they were a lot closer now than before the ordeal.
    Haruka shifted her gaze and studied her friend Yuriko as she swayed the conversation in her direction and started babbling on to Jun and Haruka’s parents about her shopping experiences in Paris the previous year. Jun nodded attentively while Haruka and her mother watched Yuriko with concern. Her face, covered thickly with makeup, was painfully thin. Her eyes were hollow and her hip bones were jutting out from under her white jeans, giving her body the symmetry of a coat hanger.
    Yuriko hadn’t touched the rice crackers Haruka had put on the coffee