“Not at all. In fact, Hiroshi was just asking about you. Hiroshi, meet Gabriella.”
“Gabriella, you are as beautiful as Logan has said. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“Thank you! It is so nice to meet you as well.”
“Logan was just telling me how he is going to work for his father.”
“Hiroshi—”
The news obviously took Gabbie by surprise, but only Logan could tell. She raised her eyebrows at Logan, trying as hard as she could not to look hurt. Ah, the burden of knowing someone so well. Fuck.
“Is that so? He was still on the fence the last I heard.”
“It seems Japan has helped him come to his senses.” Hiroshi laughed, obviously delighted by the fact.
“Now, Hiroshi,” he eyed Gabriella, “that’s not exactly what I told him, Gabbie.”
“Well…it’s fine. It’s your decision, right? Only you can decide what is best for you. I’ve told you that over and over.”
Hiroshi excused himself to take a phone call, leaving Logan and Gabbie alone. “Look, I was going to tell you. I have a whole plan I want to run by you and see what you think. Don’t be hurt.”
“I’m not hurt. I’m happy for you…really.”
Was she really trying to lie to him? He could hear the hurt in her voice although she tried to sound happy. It was her fake voice. When something was bothering her and she didn’t want to tell him what it was, she sounded much like she was sounding now.
“Let’s talk later. Let me say bye to Hiroshi. Our meeting is over.”
Logan watched Gabriella’s shoulders half-slumped as she walked away from Logan, out into the lobby to wait. Damn it, Hiroshi. Nice of him to take it upon himself to tell Gabriella about Logan’s decision. All he could do now was make sure Gabriella knew his half-formulated plan and understood his decision.
Chapter Seventeen
Gabriella knew what she was being selfish. Logan moving? All the way to New York? Her stomach ached thinking about it. When Hiroshi told her that, she thought he was joking but when Logan didn’t deny it, she felt like she wanted to run and hide. Pout like a baby. She didn’t want to feel this way, she did want Logan to be happy…it was harder than she thought to hear the actual words out loud.
Logan was going to move to New York.
It was like she felt a sense of…jealousy maybe…she couldn’t exactly name all of the emotions she was feeling. She was a bit hurt because he hadn’t yet chosen to say anything to her. She was already starting to feel…left behind! And he hadn’t even gone anywhere yet.
This was ridiculous.
Logan’s decision wasn’t all about her. It was about him and what was best for his life. They’d been so close to one another it was easy for her to get caught up in his life being their life.
“Let’s go explore, Cinderella, and discuss our future.” Logan had snuck up behind her and squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t be so depressed.”
“I’m not,” she lied.
He held the door open for her and as she passed, he playfully swatted her ass. “Don’t lie to me. I know when you’re lying to me. Where do you want to go first?”
“Let’s walk down by the train station and see what’s around. We could always catch a train to somewhere.”
As they walked, Gabbie could feel the tension radiating from Logan. She wished he would just speak. Tell her about his decision.
“I have this handy booklet the front desk gave me. Do you want to sit on this bench and look through it really quick?”
They both sat down and Logan began thumbing through the booklet. He would read aloud anything sounding remotely interesting or anything he thought Gabbie might want to try. As they sat on the bench, Gabbie had no problem getting sidetracked watching the massive amounts of traffic weaving in and out, and how no one used their horns. It was calm chaos. Black taxies were everywhere. People would cross the street in droves heading to and from the train station. Logan pointed out one thing he wanted to see, and they agreed to get up early in the morning and go to the world-famous Tsukiji Market where people could buy tons of fresh meat and fish.
“But that still leaves us with today. See anything you like?”
“Let’s walk to here.” She pointed to the map. “We could visit the temple and then find some Ramen noodles to eat.”
“Whatever the lady would like.”
He stuck the brochures in his pocket, and they started off, crossing the street and heading through the train station in order to get to the temple. “Listen, Cinderella, I’m sorry about earlier with Hiroshi. I didn’t want to spoil our trip by discussing my decision.”
“Have you made a decision, Logan?” She hated how she could hear the own hurt in her voice.
“I have. I’m going to move. It’s going to be a huge process. This is only if my father will accept my offer. I’m not comfortable with him giving me the company and any of the clients that will stay onboard. I’m sorry. I should have mentioned this sooner. Perhaps while we were flying over.”
She stayed silent. She didn’t know what to say.
He stopped, grabbed her arm and faced her. “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”
Tears started welling up in her eyes. “No,” she shook her head. “I’m not mad.”
“You’re going to cry. Don’t cry, just tell me what’s wrong.”
How could she explain every single emotion she was feeling when she wasn’t sure what every single one was? “I’m hurt you didn’t tell me, but I’m crying because you will be moving away. Away from me. Like, you’re just…leaving me.”
Her tears spilled over and Logan reached for her. Right there in the middle of Shinagawa Station, he pulled her into his warm embrace and comforted her. People flooded out
