Chapter 71 - Vol. 3: Noah To Haru - 71

Haru

“Oh, thank God, it’s Toby!” a female’s voice came my way. I glanced around to see a plump woman rushing over to me. “You found him, honey?”

I nodded. “He was injured.”

“Oh, poor thing,” she said, stroking the dog’s head. Toby barked her a happy greeting, which told me he knew her.

Suddenly, the woman turned all professional. “I’m Katy, and I’m the receptionist here at The Princeton Apartment. Wait here, all right? I’ll buzz you in in a second.”

I waited as Katy headed back to the reception area and picked up the phone. When she hung up, she said, “Okay, you can go on up, honey. It’s on the top floor.”

“Thanks,” I said.

A moment later, the elevator door dinged open, and I emerged, along with Toby in my arms and Aki in front of me on a leash. My eyes were wide as I scanned the place. As I walked down the hallway, my gaze was fixed on the penthouse across on the other side of the floor-to-ceiling glass wall. Not to mention that massive cherry blossom tree, blooming so brilliantly with clouds of pink petals. The sight reminded me once again that it was spring and that spring break was just around the corner.

“Wow!” I was more than a little impressed. I had never been in a penthouse before, let alone one this opulent and with such a beautiful indoor garden.

I pushed the glass door open, wondering if I should cross the lavish courtyard and garden to the penthouse or just wait here until someone turned up.

I glanced at Toby in my arms, and the dog started barking excitedly. He probably knew he was home.

“I guess I should take you in,” I said and then headed toward the penthouse with Aki trotting along. He, too, was curious of his new surroundings. He kept running off to inspect any little thing that took his interest.

“Toby!” I heard a feminine voice say loudly.

I came to a stop then and stared at one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. If Snow White was real, this was her.

In front of me, the woman said, “Oh, you poor thing. You’ve injured yourself, haven’t you?”

Toby barked again and then stuck out his tongue. The woman eagerly took him into her arms. Stroking the canine’s head, she said, “Thanks for finding Toby and bringing him home.”

I chuckled. “No worries. I took him to the vet, so he’s all good now.” I pointed to Toby’s two front paws which had been bandaged up.

“Oh, wow! Thank you for doing that,” she said.

Aki took that moment to coming rushing back to me and started barking excitedly at the woman. He probably wanted the woman’s attention, too, wanting her to acknowledge he was the one who found Toby.

The woman chuckled, her eyes twinkling. “What’s its name?”

“Aki,” I said. “He’s a Havanese. He found Toby first.”

The woman got down to her knees and reached out to stroke Aki’s head. “Thank you for finding Toby.”

Aki stuck out his tongue and wagged his tail. He looked damn pleased.

When she stood again, she said, “I’m Sakura. What’s your name?”

Sakura? As in the Japanese Sakura? As in cherry blossom Sakura? I must admit the name fit her perfectly.

“You’re half-Japanese, right?” she asked. “I’m half-Japanese, too.”

Wow! What a small world. I said, “Yeah, I’m half-Japanese. I’m Haru.”

“Oh, wow, Haru, as in spring,” she said. “We kind of go together, don’t we?”

I nodded, still a bit stunned at her beauty.

“Want to come in for a drink?” she asked. “Aki looks like he’s eager.”

She was right. Aki was already paying so much attention to the penthouse, barking at it as if he’d like to go inside.

“Okay,” I said. Why not? I wanted to see what the inside of a fancy penthouse looked like.

As we strolled, I asked, “That cherry blossom is beautiful.”

Sakura chuckled. “It is, isn’t it? My adoptive brothers planted that when they renovated this building a couple of years back.”

Adoptive brothers? Did that mean she was adopted into the family who owned that penthouse?

We were almost at the door when a man appeared. Tall, lean, aquiline features, and dark hair, this guy was gorgeous. He asked, “Oh, wow! Toby is back.”

Sakura chuckled. “Yeah.”

The man wrapped his arm around Sakura and then leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips. I didn’t know why, but I felt a little embarrassed watching them smooching.

The guy must be Sakura’s boyfriend. Or husband.

When he moved back, Sakura said, “Thanks to Haru and Aki over there.”

The man turned his attention to me. With a smile on his face, he said, “Thanks for finding Toby. Sakura was losing her mind over the dog since he was gone for over half a day.” He chuckled.

Sakura frowned at him. “Of course I’d get worried if Toby isn’t back before too long.” To me, she asked, “Wouldn’t you be, too?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’d freak out.”

“By the way, this is Darcy. He’s one of my boyfriends.”

I blinked. Huh? Did she just say one of her boyfriends? She has more than one?

Darcy reached his hand out. “Hi.”

I stammered, “Hi,” as I took his hand.

Moving back, he said, “Come on in.”

I followed him and Sakura into the penthouse, Aki beside me. Thank God the pup was very obedient and didn’t go barging in.

The open-plan living area was extravagant, as expected of a penthouse. On the wall, there were various paintings and photographs in fancy frames. Wow! They were very well done. I wondered who the artist was.

“Hello?”

I jumped at the voice and turned to see another hot guy. He chuckled when he saw me.

“What’s this? A beautiful boy in our home. Where did you pick him up, Sakura?”

Sakura said, “I didn’t pick him up, Tristan.”

The guy named Tristan came over to me and proceeded to wrap his arm around my shoulders. Damn, but he was friendly. Way too friendly, in my opinion, and my alert was up immediately.

“You’re cute. Want something to drink?”

I moved his arm away from me and said, “Juice would be nice.” I felt a bit thirsty, after all.

“What? Juice?” Tristan looked flabbergasted. “What are you? Ten?”

“Nineteen, actually,” I said. “And I like juice.”

The man burst out laughing, his eyes twinkling. “Nineteen. Legal. But you don’t look it.”

I frowned at him. Was he hitting on me? Gosh, I had encountered so many men hitting on me and stalking me now that I started having suspicions about every guy that got too friendly with me on first meeting.

A deep, timbre of a voice said, “Stop flirting with our guest, for God’s sake, Tristan. Leave the boy alone.”

As I had suspected, Tristan was truly hitting on me. I better keep a distance from him.

At the door stood another hot guy. This one had pale-blond hair and azure-blue eyes. He descended the few steps from the hallway into the living area. To me, he said, “You the one who found Toby?”

I nodded, staring at him. Damn, but he reminded me of Aiden.

He cracked a smile. “Thanks.”

“No worries,” I said.

Aki rushed over to the guy and started barking excitedly, his way of saying hello. I tried to make him come back to me by holding firm on the leash but the pup kept wanting to go to the guy. I wondered if Aki confused this man for Aiden.

“Your pup?” he asked, kneeling on the floor and stroking Aki who had his tongue stuck out, looking pleased.

“Yeah,” I said. “Aki.”

“He’s cute,” the man said as he undid the leash from Aki. Freed, he picked the pup up and cradled him in his arms. Aki was even more pleased and started to enthusiastically lick the guy’s hand. Wow!

A glass of apple juice appeared before me then, followed by an arm wrapping around my shoulders, again. I turned to see Tristan giving me a dashing smile. He’s hot, and a little strange, in my opinion.

“That’s Sebastian,” he said. “Why don’t you sit down?”

I took the glass of juice and then shifted out of his arm. “Yeah, thanks.”

I moved and took a seat on the sofa. As I sipped, I watched Sakura on the opposite sofa, Toby in her arms and Darcy next to her. Then Sebastian took the other side of her. I nearly spurt juice from my mouth when Sebastian leaned down and planted a solid kiss on Sakura’s lips.

Tristan plopped himself beside me and, once again, had his arm around my shoulders. “What? Never seen a guy kiss his girlfriend before?”

I felt my cheeks flushing hot. “No... I mean...”

“Toby!” a voice shouted out. In a whirlwind, a guy rushed from the door, and then he was bending over from behind the sofa, his hand stroking Toby’s head.

“That’s our youngest, Conrad,” Tristan said to me.

Because I wanted to know, I asked, “How many brothers do you have?”

“Seven,” Tristan said. “Our oldest is Nicolas. Then it’s us triplets: Sebastian over there, Logan, and me. Next are Hayden, then Darcy, and lastly Conrad. We have a sister, too, Alaina. She’s Darcy’s twin. And of course, our beloved adopted sister Sakura.”

“Wow!” I said. “I thought I had lots of brothers.”

“Oh?” Tristan asked. “How many do you have?”

“Five,” I said. “There’s Aiden, Noah, Reo, Mason, Isaac, and then me. I’m the baby of the house.”

“Cute,” Tristan said, pinching my cheek.

What was with this guy?

“I see you’ve found yourself a new target, Tristan?” a male voice said as if in exasperation.

I watched the man as he came to take a seat on the armchair. This guy looked powerful, and I bet he was probably the oldest of the brothers.

“Nicolas, our eldest,” Tristan said.

I was right.

To me, Nicolas said, “Thanks for finding Toby.”

News traveled fast in this family, huh?

“No worries,” I said, shifting my gaze to Aki. The pup looked way too comfortable in Sebastian’s arms. After taking another sip of the juice, I said, “I should get going. My brothers are probably worried about me.”

“What’s the hurry?” Tristan asked, tightening his arm around me.

Conrad looked heavenward. “It’s because you’re freaking him out, stupid Tristan.”

Tristan narrowed his eyes at Conrad.. “Who are you calling stupid, you little brat.”