Naughty Ceo’s Secret
Chapter 87

"You." Kenzo said. My eyes widened. "M-me?" I asked.

"Yes Opal, you." Kenzo said. "I thought that I was hiding you well from him. I didn't plan to hide you forever, just until you made a decision about us. Then I would be telling the world that I was taken. Everything else would have come with time." Then Kenzo's smile fell, and anger took over his expression.

"Then Haru started to pressure me about marriage. I hoped that you would make a decision about us soon. I knew you wanted to be with me, I just needed you to say it. But then Haru took it to the board of directors. They agreed that it was time for me to settle down." He said.

"Th-they can't do that. This is the 21st century. They can't just demand you get married." I argued.

Kenzo shook his head.

"In my culture, it's still normal in high society families. Of course, I can still decline. I do have free will. I spoke with more than half the board members. They told me that as long as I could prove I was in a serious relationship, they wouldn't push marriage. It just looks better that the head of Suzuki Industries can show that he is a family man." He told me.

"So.. we don't have to pretend to be engaged?" I asked, confused.

Why would he go that far if he didn't have to? Unless that was his way of showing that we are serious?

"I suppose we don't." Kenzo muttered.

Suppose?

"Listen Opal, I spoke with the directors before I went to see Haru the other night. I told him what they said and Haru didn't care. He wants to see me married to a woman of his choosing. That's why he set me up the way he did." He said.

"Haru found out about you somehow. I knew that he would go to great lengths to break us up. I think he still will. He knew you would see that article, and that it would cause us to fight. So, I decided to give him exactly what he wanted." He continued. Kenzo gave me wicked smile.

"I am sorry that I sprung the news on you so suddenly. Had you just come to work, perhaps things would have turned out differently. Telling Haru that you are my fiance was purely to pi.ss him off. The board isn't going to make me marry, but we do have to come out to the public if you still want to be with me." He told me.

"And the engagement?" I asked.

Kenzo sighed as he looked down. He grabbed both of my hands in his, and looked back up at me. I could drown in those deep black pools.

"I'm not saying we have to get married any time soon, or at all. You can say no to any of this, but.. There is a big part of me that was serious about everything that I said, Opal. I want to be with you. I want to marry you. For the first time in my life, I replace myself dreaming of a family. With you." He told me.

When I just stared at him with my mouth agape, Kenzo sighed softly.

"I gave up on having my own dreams when I was very young. I spent my whole life doing what Haru wanted me to so that I could keep my sister safe. When she married, and got out from under our grandfather, I changed things here. But I never dreamed of a future that I wanted." He said.

"Shortly after meeting you, after you told me about Jed, after I found out that you broke free from your family to follow your own dreams, even if you did just end up here as a secretary.. I started to wonder about myself. I thought about what I would have wanted to do if I didn't become a CEO. I wondered if there was anything else that I wanted to do even now. The only thing I kept picturing about my future, was you." He told me.

My eyes widened again as Kenzo smiled at me.

"I could see myself coming home to you after a long day. You in the kitchen waiting for me. Our kids running around. I saw holiday's where we get together with Akane and her children. Game nights with Beck, Marc, Kendra, and Jed. I could see myself lying in bed next to you every night, and waking up with you every morning. It was all small things, a simple life. And for the first time since my parents had died, I found myself looking forward to my future." He said.

Tears started to fall from my eyes. Kenzo reached out to grab my face again. He wiped my tears away with his thumbs as he stared into my eyes.

"I didn't mean to make you cry." He said.

I shook my head in his hands.

"They're happy tears." I told him.

"Kenzo.. I had no idea things were so.. rough for you." I said. "I'm so sorry for the life you had."

I reached my own hands up to grab his face.

"If I can make things better, even just a bit, I want to. I meant it when I told you that I love you. I want to be with you too. And I'll keep doing the fake engagement, only for your grandfather though." I said. "Opal, you don't have to do that. We can-"

"It's fine." I interrupted him. "I mean, we can be engaged for as long as we want, right?" I asked.

Kenzo nodded.

"Yes we can. Haru can't rush us. The board only wants me to prove a serious relationship, so he has no leverage." Kenzo told me.

"Then I have a few conditions." I stated.

Kenzo raised a brow at me.

"Alright kitten, make your demands." He said teasingly.

"One, you cannot push me away anymore. No matter what. I don't care what is happening, or how much you are trying to protect me. I want to know everything. That's how a relationship works. You're my Dom, but you said that we compromise. That means I need to know things." I said.

"Okay kitten." Kenzo said with a nod. "No more secrets."

I smiled.

"Two, I get to keep my job. We act professionally at work, but you can't ignore me. I'm not saying you have to give me a ton of attention, but a kiss here and there shouldn't be a problem." I said with a pout.

Kenzo chuckled as he leaned in to kiss my jutted out lip.

"Done. What else?" He asked.

"Three, we still date. I still want to go out, and I want to know more about you. You never talk about yourself." I said.

Kenzo smiled at me.

"That's because my life has been sad." He told me.

"Are you saying no to my condition?" I asked.

Kenzo chuckled as he shook his head.

"No I am not. Of course, I still want to take you out and shower you with affection. It's just hard to talk about my life sometimes." He said.

"Not everything has to be though. For example, what's your middle name?" I asked.

"Joesph." He told me.

"Joseph?" I asked with a giggle.

Kenzo shrugged.

"My mom wanted me to have an American first name, but my dad was set on Kenzo. His name was Kenji, and he apparently had had my name picked out before he even met my mother. So, they compromised." He told me. "And got Kenzo Joseph Suzuki." I said with a laugh. "I like it actually."

"Yeah yeah." Kenzo said.

"Okay, what about your birthday, and how old are you?" I asked.

I feel like these are questions I should already know the answers to.

"I am 28. My birthday is October 8th." He told me. "And yours?" He asked.

I smiled.

"Well, you know that I'm 27. My birthday is July 1st." I said.

Kenzo frowned at me.

"What?" I asked.

"We missed your birthday?" He asked.

I gave him a bored look.

"It was before you promoted me, so I don't think that it counts." I said.

"Let's have a late celebration. I can throw you a party." He said.

Kenzo moved to lean onto me. I lay back on the chair, and Kenzo lay on top of me between my legs. I wrapped my arms around him, and tangled my fingers in his hair.

"No, I don't want that, Kenzo." I said, laughing. "Next year maybe."

"Fine, but I am making up for it next year." He said.

"Great," I replied.

I'm sure that it'll be too much for me.

"What else do you want to know, kitten?" Kenzo asked.

"Hmmm, what's your favorite animal?" I asked.

"I don't have a favorite." He told me.

Of course he doesn't.

"Okay, how about you tell me something else then?" I asked.

"Like what?" He asked me.

"Something happy. Like... maybe something about your parents?" I asked. "You don't have to, and it doesn't have to be anything important, or-"

"It's okay kitten." He said.

Kenzo lay his head on my chest. I started playing with his hair. He started talking, and I kissed the top of his head.

"My dad had left his family when he had finished high school. He wanted to be a chef. He made that dream come true with pure hard work. Eventually, he opened his own restaurant here in New York City." He told me.

"Is it that place that you took me to? The one that you said you knew the owner of?" I asked.

"Yeah," Kenzo said. "My father's Sue Chef, was his very best friend. He was like an uncle to Akane and I growing up. He took over the restaurant when our parents died. Because of Haru, Akane and I weren't allowed back there. When I first moved back to the city, my very first stop was that place. I asked if Chef Tony was still working there. That was when I found out that he had taken over the restaurant. It looked the exact same as when my dad owned it." He told me.

I smiled as Kenzo continued to tell me all about Tony and his father. He told me how his parents met. What their first apartment had looked like. And many more memories of his parents.

I worried at first that these memories would have dragged up some bad emotions, but they didn't. Kenzo and I sat like that for what felt like hours as he recalled all of his precious memories. I actually think that Kenzo needed this. He needed to remember the good parts of his childhood, and remember his parents.

I listened intently as the man I love told me about what he was like as a boy. I started to wish that I could have met Kenzo's mother and father. I think that we would have gotten along wonderfully.

One day I hope to be a part of Butsudan, and thank them for giving me such a wonderful man to love.