The way back was boring.

Naoki couldn't bear to be awake on the journey, yawning at every drop of guard when he recalled his stay at Villa Romance.

He was groggy when he imagined Kotoko hugging him, stuck like gum on his back, telling him how much she loved him.

How he wished that would happen.

He gave a heavy sigh of frustration, causing his brother to be shocked by his action.

"Onii-chan?"

"It's nothing" He muttered, proclaiming to silence himself if he didn't want to be evident with his feelings.

"Onii-chan!" His mother darted to revive them ecstatic to see them arrive.

"Mother" He greeted cold.

"How did it go?" She smirked.

"Good" He muttered seriously.

"Super good, we saw the Baka and her friend" Yuuki continued with the orbs of his eyes open. "Her friend is very funny, better than Ryo, who is very scandalous"

"Friend?" His mother made a gesture of confusion.

"Don't be alarmed" Naoki replied.

Why do you tell her about Nozomi? Insolent tadpole!

"It was supposed to be a few days off and" She caught herself before screaming. "Of action!"

"Zero action for you" He scoffed, feeling triumphant.

"Don't tell me you didn't do anything with Kotoko-chan." She looked more worried than upset.

"Absolutely"

I kissed her asleep, but that's a secret for me and nobody else. He boasted in his mind. Yuuki is not so big as to understand the reason for the kiss, he will only be silent because if he tells someone about it, there will be no tomorrow for him.

His mother squealed in irritation at his behavior.

"How could you do nothing?" She yelled angrily.

"Because I didn't want to" He said simply.

"You are bad, Onii-chan." She pouted.

If you only knew mother, if only you knew, he sighed ruefully.

"Nao-kun, welcome" His father greeted, coming down the stairs.

"Father" He greeted him with a sideways smile, to which his father was shocked by that gesture.

"Come on, let's talk" He said, recovering.

"Sure." He sounded positive despite not having made much progress with Kotoko.

Once settled in his father's study, they resumed the pending conversation.

"Tell me what you thought." He grouped his hands on his big belly, smiling at him.

"I want Kotoko to do her practices at Pandai" He snapped, taking his father by surprise.

"How?" He exclaimed. "But I wasn't talking about Kotoko-chan, I wanted to talk about you"

"That interests me to assure" he said as an order. "I want Kotoko to have a safe place to work and feel comfortable"

"I didn't know Kotoko-chan mattered so much to you" He sighed, puzzled by the scene.

Naoki blushed immediately, his gaze drifting momentarily to the floor.

"Well" He stuttered nervously.

"Okay, I will make sure that Kotoko-chan has a job at my company and we will send her to the corresponding area, the creativity area or the commercial area, where she could film one or another commercial of the company" He assured with his soft and confident voice, smiling pleased with the theme. "Now tell me the rest"

Naoki took a deep breath, realizing that it was time to reveal his desire.

"I want to be a doctor." He released that great weight that hovered him.

It took his father minutes to recover from the scare, a very intense and important confession of the chestnut, while he rubbed his fingers between them as a gesture of nervousness.

"Explain that to me, please" He narrated almost as a plea, a desperate and ephemeral one. "I don't understand"

"I want to save lives, dad, that is my vocation" Naoki expressed that from within. "I already took the transfer exam and I was accepted into the medical career; in fact, I already started my classes since spring"

"And why wasn't he aware of that?" He wanted to know, appalled. "Nao-kun, since when do you do things on your own?"

"It was a scream in the air that made me realize that I need this race, that I want to do it and I have given my best effort" He admitted feeling a hunch. "It's the first time that I want to do something on my own and succeed in it"

"It's a very difficult career, are you sure you want it?" He sounded undecided, his very gaze expressed it.

"Yes, definitely." He made a serious gesture, but sure.

"At least you would have warned me in advance of this change." He seemed overwhelmed with Naoki's decision. "It bothers me that you don't trust me, since I'm your father" He said disappointed, bowing his head sadly.

"I'm sorry." He bowed in reverence, but his father held him back.

"Don't do that," he denied. "And with the situation of the company I wanted you to help me, in short, I can do nothing about it but support you in your decision"

"What is the situation of the company?" He asked, intrigued.

"It's none of your business, Nao-kun" His father snapped, looking disturbed by the apparent talk between the two of them.

"Father, I'm interested" He demanded to know.

If he chose a career he liked without considering his father's wishes for the future, the least he could do was take an interest in his father's life.

In the strangest way, he was taken up by a groan from his father, putting his hand to his chest, leaning to the left side. The heart.

"Father?" He tried to tell him something, but it was late as soon as he saw him collapse on the ground in a rush. Naoki instead of paralyzing, ran to help him, taking advantage of his studies he acquired during the study period for the exam. He deftly positioned it in a way that the pain decreased slightly.

"Mother!" He yelled with a crash, trying with all his might not to panic. "Dad, you'll be fine, trust me." He saw that his father, amid the great pain he suffered, frankly agreed.

"Onii"

"Call an ambulance" He ordered as a desperate cry for help. His mother, therefore, paled when he saw his father collapsed on the ground, but he didn't despair in not obeying the orders of Naoki who tried to make his father move as little as possible. "Soon! Don't you see dad?"

"Yes." She picked up the home phone and dialed trembling as he punched each number.

Yuuki looked completely pale, stuttering and worried at the same time.

"Yuuki, don't panic, Dad will be fine" He assured within the atmosphere of tension that surrounded the three of them.

This can't be happening.

Upon arrival at the hospital, the minutes of waiting added to the tension and nervousness about the Irie family, while at the same time being surprised to see Mr. Irie, the head of the family, in a vulnerable state. The worst pain that could happen, the worst catastrophe and on top of that the problem of the company that was going downhill.

Things couldn't get worse, but he didn't add that his relationship with Kotoko was wrong, if not, they were on good terms but he had not yet reached the peak where he wanted to be.

He shook his head, now is not the time to think about my love life.

His mother was biting her nails in amazement.

"Mother, if you continue like this you will run out of nails"

"It doesn't matter, what matters is your father" She replied furiously with his comment.

She really was at the boiling point.

Yuuki was like an ice floe, not a blizzard caused him to move, even his position looked static.

He is the one who is having the worst time, especially he is a child and seeing his own father collapsed on the ground due to a heart attack must be the worst thing in the world.

Naoki was between sword and wall, a position unsuitable for a young man his age. At just twenty years old, he would have to take charge of the company in what his father improved. Heart attacks shouldn't be treated lightly and much less, let them pass as diseases of little concern, so he would return the favor his father did to him by respecting his decision as a medical student and going to work when it was not his career yearning.

He would sacrifice himself for the good of the company, even though they had not been given the results of his father's health.

The doctor appeared almost like a ghost, from how quickly he entered the waiting room.

"How is he?" His mother interrupted what the doctor was going to say.

"Mother, let the doctor speak" He said shaking his head. "Tell us, what is my father's condition?"

The doctor was the same one who treated Kotoko when she had appendicitis.

"Yes, well." He adjusted the small lenses, which drop on the pendulum of his nose. "The condition is not pleasant, moreover, it is worrying to say that he almost suffered from a massive heart attack, due to the immense amounts of triglycerides and cholesterol. The figures are alarming, so I recommend a lot of rest and a soft and balanced diet to prevent one of these collapses"

So the situation is not the most optimal, yes, I imagine, my father eats worse than a pig and never takes care of himself.

Yuuki and his mother were slumped on the floor of the waiting room, pale and without signs of life.

Naoki rocked the hair of his brown hair, overwhelmed by the situation.

"I understand" He managed to say.

"By the way, I know it's none of my business, but how has the young lady been?" He was referring to Kotoko.

"In good condition" He commented. The impression he got was that the doctor did have a good memory, partly for remembering Kotoko after having spent quite some time since that disastrous event.

"And she's your girlfriend already?" He asked curiously. "I mean, you said last time that she wasn't."

"She isn't." He ducked his head downcast.

"Well, I know your father is in terrible shape, but" He cleared his throat before specifically approaching him. "Secure your place in the girl's heart"

He was gone in the blink of an eye.

Even a doctor scolds me for my slowness, it is the last straw!

He bumped into his head, frustrated even with himself for his lack of initiative.

No, this is not the time to think about these trifles until I make sure that my father's company is in good condition, otherwise he would not be brave enough to declare himself once and for all to Kotoko.

Before sunset, they were given the opportunity to go see his father.

He saw him resting like a cocoon, wrapped between the blankets and tired eyes, he was in a position to want to talk to Naoki.

"Let me speak to Nao-kun, excuse me for being rude, but it's necessary" He commented, in an overwhelmed voice.

"Honey, don't force yourself" His mother dissuaded.

"It's not that, it's nothing of the other world" He asserted tired.

Once his mother and Yuuki left, he took a seat in the visitors' chairs.

"What do you want to talk about?" He inquired with respect.

"Nao-kun, could you arrange to hire Kotoko-chan? I say my condition is that it's deplorable even if the doctors don't tell me, but I want you to take care of that matter until I improve" He asked quietly, intertwining his fingers.

"Sure, whatever you say." He accepted that condition.

"You said you wanted that and Kotoko-chan is important in the family." He looked proud to speak of her. "And can you ask Kotoko-chan if she can bring me the movie Back to the Future?"

"Yes, I will tell her"

Things didn't go according to his expectations, since when the Aihara heard of his father's event, they exploded in a sea of concern for wanting to visit him.

Shigeo was much more optimistic, despite being concerned.

Kotoko took it as a direct blow to the heart, it hurt to know that her Oji-san was in bad condition.

Naoki suppressed his selfish desires to want to hug her and tell her not to be mortified, and that as long as he was present, things would be on track.

He hated not being able to do anything and above all things, not being able to take her in his arms and comfort her as he should.

After a few days, he paid a visit to Pandai.

It had been years that he didn't set foot on the floors of his father's company, and that bothered him because he felt that those were not his directions.

His father's secretary greeted him politely, offering him a cup of coffee and the documents proving the collapse of the company.

"If we don't do something right away, we will be bankrupt" He said urged to do something about it. Naoki raised his hand to silence him.

He read the documents noting a decline in finances, the result of his father's unnecessary expenses having spoiled employees with meals included in their working hours. Oh dad! He bumped into seeing the red figures on the paper.

The company had also not released a new product in what had been Pandai's six months of inactivity in the market, the product losses mean only one thing: Pandai will be bankrupt in less than a year.

He rubbed his forehead, overwhelmed that he had found out why his father looked tired, but he kept himself in line so they wouldn't notice.

"I see the situation, I am aware." He returned the documents in a subtle way. "Tomorrow we will start to solve this problem and we will have a new employee so don't be rude to her"

"But we need to see her file to see if she's qualified for the job"

"Shut up!" He raised his voice impatiently. "Don't talk about people you don't know, she is part of the family so treat her with respect, she is an excellent element for the company. I assure you that she has many ideas that will benefit the company"

"How can you assure me of that?" He sounded indecisive.

"Because she is an important person to me, if she goes through my judgment it means that she is in my total confidence"

"I see, then we will hire her" He stated, looking defeated at Naoki's coldness.

Nobody judges Kotoko without knowing her, don't you see how adorable she is?

Well you don't know her, but if you did, see how adorable she is. And I don't plan to go to Pandai alone, I want to be accompanied.

If he sacrificed himself, at least he would take Kotoko with him, to keep him company and divert his tension to a favorable point.

"I need your details to make the call and let you know you're hired" The secretary siad.

"I take care of that"

The beginning of his sentence began with the left foot.

.

.

.

.

.

P.S. This is the end of the second part, the third part will be called "The songs that define our love (3)"