The Billionaire Princeton Brothers and I - Chapter #68 Sakura, with no last name, was found in spring on the doorstep of Queen Mary Orphanage in a small town called

Jane thought of something rather interesting. There was something in Sakura Tanaka that reminded her of Haruka Suzuki. Perhaps it was in the way they walked, the way they talked, or even the way they did things. They were oddly similar. Then again, Jane thought that was of course stupid and brushed the very idea off her mind.

“You’re being nosy, aren’t you? Well, I don’t blame you. If you happened to meet her, remember to always refer to her as a her and call her Ms. Ruka. Got it?”

Sakura didn’t get it, but nodded anyway. She thought her biological mother sounded a bit weird, but then again, who was she to judge?

She decided to change the subject. “What’s the inside gossip?”

Jane took another sip of her coffee and sighed. “Mr. Tachibana is totally at a loss. He’s tearing his hair out trying to find eight perfect male models to cast for his new menswear collection.”

Sakura cocked her head to one side. “But there are plenty of hot male models out there. Surely it wouldn’t be that hard, right?”

Jane laughed. “You don’t know Mr. Tachibana. He’s very specific. The title of his new collection is—get this—Young Men in the Business World.”

“Whoa, that sounds like something,” Sakura said.

“Yeah, if you ask me. He said those young, super-hot male models aren’t real enough for him. He wants real businessmen. He especially wants young businessmen who have already accomplished so much as to earn at least a couple billion a year.”

Luke laughed. He simply couldn’t help himself. Once he’d gained his composure, he said, “Good luck with that.”

Jane frowned. “What about your boss and his brothers? They’re young, hot, and billionaires. And I heard from a very reliable source that Mr. Tachibana has been begging them to model for him.”

“Naturally, they refused, of course,” Luke put it mildly.

“Well,” Jane said, finally finishing her very delicious cup of coffee. “He better find those eight male models soon, because the date for the release of the catalogue is in a few weeks’ time. Not to mention the fact that some of those photos will be going into New Men’s Magazine and Vogue next month, too.”

“Sounds like a lot of hard work coming up,” Luke said, putting his cup down.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll get to have some fun in Hawaii,” Jane said dreamily. She turned to Sakura, her green eyes large and brilliant. “That’s where we’ll be doing the photo shoots. Hot summer. Eveningwear. Office wear. Swimwear. Totally hot. Hot. Hot.”

Sakura chuckled. She could see it, Jane having heaps of fun in Hawaii after a long day of hard work. Then maybe she’d even throw her glasses away, unbound her lovely blond hair, and wear a bikini. She’d absolutely turn heads—that Sakura was sure of.

It was fifteen minutes later when the brother and sister left, and Sakura returned to her studio. She stood, staring at the painting she’d started last spring back on St. Joseph Island. After that incident, after she’d left the island to start anew, she hadn’t the heart to finish this particular painting. She’d left it sitting in the attic of the apartment for quite some time, almost a year in fact, letting it gather dust, until last week. She didn’t know why, but she just wanted to finish it now. Hence, here it was, sitting in her studio, ready for her to complete the finishing touches.

She sat and took a deep breath as she eyed the unfinished painting. Even in its incompleteness, it still looked beautiful, at least to her anyway.

The painting was of the cherry blossom tree on St. Joseph Island. It was the very same tree she’d taken the photo of that day when she first reunited with the Princeton brothers. It was the very same tree she’d slept under and then awakened to find Darcy there with her. It was the very same tree Darcy had kissed her under. It was also the very same tree where she’d lain and cried her heart out when she’d found out Darcy had been in a relationship with Kate.

Her heart suddenly ached at the thought of him. She gritted her teeth as she felt tears burning within her eyes. No, she mustn’t think about him. She mustn’t. She’d tried so hard to forget about him, about them, Darcy and Sebastian, the two men who had stolen her heart last spring.

Why did I run away from them?

Sakura felt her heart thumping furiously within her chest. The reason? Because she loved them too much. Because she didn’t want to hurt any of them. She’d known by choosing one, she would surely hurt the other. Then there was also the fact that she didn’t want to cause conflict within the family, especially where Alaina and Daddy James were concerned.

It had been obvious that Alaina and Tara had never liked her and had done whatever they could to get rid of her. She knew Daddy James loved her, but Sakura didn’t want to be the one responsible for the rift between Daddy James and Alaina. With Sakura out of the picture, the family could live peacefully—that much Sakura knew—hence, she had left.

Then there was also the fact that Sakura herself had wanted to live her own life and find her biological mother. Those alone were reasons enough for her to leave the Princeton family. She’d known it was heartless of her to leave them without saying a word, but she also knew they wouldn’t let her leave just like that if she’d told them.

Subconsciously, she touched the sakura pendant on her necklace, caressing the pink gem.

Sakura, you’ve done the right thing, the little voice at the back of her head said.

With a nod of agreement, she picked up the brush and continued with her painting. She worked long and hard, only eating snacks when she was hungry. By midnight, she was finally finished. Yes, she thought, standing back and gazing at her masterpiece. She had done it. The painting of the sakura tree was finished. Tears burned in her eyes as she gazed at her new baby.

“You’re going to be mine forever,” she murmured under her breath softly, lovingly. No one was going to steal this baby from her. That she’d make sure of.

She moved forward and scribbled her initials, ST, on the bottom right-hand side of the canvas.

“You’re really done now,” she said, satisfied with her initials claiming the painting. Then, just to see what it’d look like on a wall, she lifted the canvas and took it into the gallery at the front of the building.

“Where should I put you?” she asked herself a moment later, looking around with interest. “Ah!” She rushed over to the featured wall near the front of the counter where anyone who walked in would immediately see. There she held it up and cocked her head to one side as she examined it with an artistic eye.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t quite see properly due to the fact that she was alone and couldn’t possibly walk back to stand at a distance to inspect the painting. There was also the fact that her arms were quite short, so she couldn’t stand back to take a proper look, either. Then she wondered if she should drill some holes in the wall and hang the painting just so she could take a good look at it. But it was getting rather late. She was tired, and she had to get up early the next day for the fashion event.

“Tomorrow morning,” she said to herself. “I’ll do it tomorrow morning.” She’d rise early and put it up just so she could see what it really looked like. With that, she laid the painting on the floor, letting it rest against the wall. Then she rushed up the stairs, showered, and went to bed.