The moment Sakura stepped across the threshold of the large, modern kitchen, loud chattering voices greeted her. To be sure, the atmosphere was indeed lively and busy. There was Beth along with the two maids, as well as Akira, Jane, and Ms. Ruka, busying themselves with preparing the evening meal. Sakura thought they looked like a bunch of housewives.
As she headed toward Jane and Akira, she noted large platters of raw seafood as well as expensive cuts of red and white meat, sausages, and an assortment of vegetables for the barbeque. Already, her mouth was watering at the sight of such a delicious feast, and her tummy growled knowingly.
“Hi, everyone,” she said, as she came to stand between Akira and Jane, who were preparing the vegetables.
Akira was chopping red bell peppers into bite-sized pieces, while Jane did the button mushrooms. On the other side of the bench, Ms. Ruka was skewering the chopped peppers, button mushrooms, and onions, while one of the maids was marinating the chicken with soy and honey sauce. On the other side of the kitchen, the other maid was skewering marinated beef into kebabs.
“What can I do to help?” Sakura asked, eyeing the array of bright-red pieces of juicy steak before her. She’d have to have some of those tonight, once they were cooked, since she needed to top up on her iron levels. Being anemic and getting tired so easily wasn’t fun, and she certainly couldn’t afford to trouble Mr. Tachibana and his staff when the photo shoot started.
Beth, who was on the other side of the kitchen busily cleaning and deveining the king prawns, answered for them. “Sakura, won’t you be a dear and take those platters outside? The men can get started with the cooking now. If we wait any longer, I’m sure the Princeton brothers will turn into some wild beasts, due to hunger, and to be honest, none of us wants that. They’d make a racket.”
Sakura couldn’t help but chuckle at Beth’s comment. She could certainly imagine the Princeton brothers shifting themselves into wild creatures because of their hunger. After all, it was already half past seven, and their last meal had been on the plane a while back. Besides that, hadn’t Sebastian already complained that he was hungry since they had returned from their beach walk some half hour ago?
Akira said with a chuckle, “I can certainly imagine that. Tristan and Logan would be the worst of the lot, I would think.”
Sakura smiled as she pulled a large silver tray toward her. On it was an assortment of mussels, king prawns, and squid—all cleaned and ready to be barbequed.
She said, “I agree on that one.”
Jane chuckled as she nodded in agreement, too.
Ms. Ruka said, “Well, I wouldn’t mind if they turned into wild beasts. In fact, I would love to see them turned. They’d be so hot and wild. Shirtless, and with muscles everywhere.” She smiled dreamily. “That gives me ideas.” Then she giggled.
Akira eyed Sakura. As if they found Ms. Ruka’s obsession amusing, the two girls laughed.
“What sort of ideas, Ms. Ruka?” Sakura couldn’t help but ask, arranging the seafood properly on the platter so they wouldn’t fall when she carried them out.
Ms. Ruka giggled and then said, “If we have time, I will certainly suggest to Tachibana-sensei to do an extra photo shoot. There are some scenes I think Tachibana-sensei would definitely approve, though they wouldn’t be suitable for the magazine.”
Akira raised a brow and said, “I can already guess what they are.”
Jane, curious, asked Akira, “What are they?”
Akira, being rather blunt, said, “Guys doing hot and naughty things together. In Japan, it’s call Yaoi. It’s Ms. Ruka’s favorite form of literature.” She even winked.
“Yaoi?” Jane asked, looking rather blank. “Literature?”
Akira nodded. “Yes, literature. Gay stuff.”
Jane blushed bright red immediately. “Oh.”
Akira continued. “It’s very popular in Japan, especially the manga, light novels, and CD drama. I must admit I’m a fujoshi. I binge read the manga and light novels. Very entertaining. And of course, who wouldn’t want to listen to some hot, sexy CD drama, especially when two guys are in the midst of some hot bedroom scenes, with all that moaning, groaning, and heavy breathing?”
Sakura said, “And here I thought you were some innocent chick.”
Akira chuckled and said, “Far from it.” She sounded rather proud, actually.
“The Princeton brothers? Posing? Like intimate scenes? Like bedroom scenes?” Jane asked, looking rather embarrassed all of a sudden.
Akira nodded. “Something like that. You know, brothers’ complex sort of stuff.”
“Brother what?” Jane couldn’t help asking again.
Akira chuckled and decided to enlighten the apparently innocent Jane. “Brotherly love,” she said. “Something forbidden, and oh-so-hot and sexy at the same time.”
Jane looked flustered at the explanation, while Sakura smiled with amusement. When she saw that Jane still couldn’t decide whether this was okay or not, Sakura said, “Jane, those things are only fictional.”
Akira leaned closer to Jane and teased. “If you want to know more, just ask. I’m only too happy to help you learn about that beautiful, exotic world.”
Jane shook her head. “I…I don’t… Not really… I don’t know.”
Akira was amused by Jane’s reaction and couldn’t help but chuckle.
Sakura said, “Stop teasing Jane, Akira. Can’t you see she’s embarrassed?”
Akira only grinned at that, but she did stop teasing Jane, who was still bright red as she furiously prepared the mushrooms.
After she had finished with arranging the seafood into their proper sections, Sakura picked up the platter. “Right, I’m taking these now.”
Akira, who had just finished with the red bell peppers as well, said, “Wait. I’m finished with these. I’ll help you with those.”
Sakura nodded, and a moment later, the two girls started heading out with platters of seafood in their hands.
Outside, the night air was cool and refreshing, and Sakura sighed pleasantly. “Ah, it’s nice out here.”
Akira agreed. “It is, isn’t it?”
As they came into the courtyard garden, with perfectly mowed lawn and marble pavement, she noted the place was breathtakingly mystical and beautiful, with colorful lamps, lights, and lanterns hanging from the branches of tropical fruit trees and placed along the structure of the mansion. It felt rather like Christmas in the park during summer.
Sakura had no doubt this must be the Princeton brothers’ creation, though she didn’t know which of them had made the decorations. She knew she could count Sebastian out, as he had been walking along the beach with her and Michael and wouldn’t have been the one responsible for all this work. She could also check both Tristan and Logan off the list as well, since she couldn’t imagine them doing something like this. As far as she knew, they weren’t the type to be involved with the behind-the-scenes work where they and their effort weren’t likely to be acknowledged. They were more of the performer, the showman type.
Sakura noted that the barbeque house was located to one side of the lawn, which apparently Daddy James was currently manning. She wondered if he intended to be the head chef tonight. Scratch that. He was indeed the chef. She just noticed he had on a cute apron, which was designed with a tropical floral pattern. Very Hawaiian indeed. Not to mention he had on a chef’s hat, one of those small, black ones.
Next to the barbeque house was an outdoor bar where Tristan and Logan were busily making cocktails and serving drinks. She wondered if that had always been their responsibility whenever the Princetons had a gathering like this. They looked rather good at what they were doing, with all the mixing and shaking. Meanwhile, sitting on the barstools, casually chatting and drinking cocktails, were Peter and Jim, Mary’s and Katherine’s husbands, respectively.
In front of the barbeque house were several outdoor tables perfectly set up with tropical flower arrangements as centerpieces. Around the exotic bouquets were wineglasses, plates, and cutlery. Everything was arranged so perfectly and beautifully that Sakura would have thought this was a setup for a fancy wedding reception instead of a down-to-earth affair with family and friends.
As she and Akira headed toward the barbeque house, Sakura noted that two of the tables were already fully occupied. Seated at one of them were her biological mother, Haruka, her adoptive mother, Brenda, and her friends Mary and Katherine. Mary, as usual, was the center of attention and chatting away animatedly as she showed the women photos of her honeymoon in Europe, which Sakura hadn’t yet seen. Of course, they’d be making time for that a bit later, which hopefully would be tonight, if she or Mary weren’t too tired.
At the other table sat Nicolas, Sosuke, Mr. Tachibana, Luke, and, not so surprisingly, young Michael who was beside Nicolas. Sakura wondered if Michael had already asked Nicolas to be his partner for tomorrow’s games. From the starry eyes and big grin she noted on the boy’s face, she assumed he had done so and that his proposal had been accepted, which, of course, pleased Sakura.