Masaaki walked up. "He's here for the same reason you are. How is Shaundra?"

"She came to a few minutes ago, but she dosed off again."

Harper looked good, had lost a pound or two, but everything else was solid muscle. He was dressed expensively as usual in a tailored suit, accessorized from tie clip to cuff links. Maybe if he hadn't insisted that Shaundra accompany him last year to Japan for a promotion, he'd be married to her and not Ichiro.

Everyone knew that he loved her too. What was it about Shaundra that drew men to her like flies and made them fall in love with her?

"What happened?" Harper asked, eyeing him coolly.

"I found her lying unconscious on the floor in his room. I got concerned after I hadn't seen her all day. Normally she comes down for lunch to get a break from writing, but I hadn't seen her since yesterday."

"I bet her pressure shot up again," Harper replied. "If I told her once, I've told her a million times to make sure she takes her medicine, drink plenty of water and stay away from stressful situations."

Satoshi frowned. Harper seemed to know a lot about Shaundra and her condition.

"She nearly scared the heck out of me the first time she blacked out at work. Her pressure spiked up to two hundred."

"How long has she had this condition?" Masaaki asked.

"Since she was a teen. It's hereditary. Her mother and her sister have it, and I think her brother does too."

"Shaundra has a sister?" Ichiro asked.

Harper nodded. "A younger sister named Deirdre."

Satoshi tried to pronounce the strange-sounding American name in his mind.

"I wonder if she ate too much salt."

"I don't think so," Satoshi said, pushing his cell phone back into his pocket. "Ichiro prepares her meals and he refuses to cook with salt, so we're on a salt-free diet too."

"Then she's getting it some other way. Fast food, sodas, foods from cans."

She did drink soda at the club, but only one. He couldn't be sure of that though.

"Or something or someone stressed her out. Has she been particularly aggravated lately?"

"Define aggravated. She lives in a house with these guys,"

Masaaki said. "I'm lucky I haven't had a stroke yet."

Satoshi sneered at his manager.

"She's married to Ichiro," Satoshi replied.

Masaaki smirked this time. "No I don't think that's the cause. She got into a bit of a row the other night with Yori's wife."

"What?" Harper asked.

"The two of them have never gotten along, and then they got into a fight in a club the other night. Apparently Amaya caught Shaundra dancing with Yori and she slapped her."

"What, just for dancing with Yori? What were they dancing to?"

"'Freak Me Baby,' by Silk," Satoshi replied.

"Ooh," Harper said giddily, as if he was envisioning dancing with Shaundra to that song. "Oh," he groaned.

"That's one provocative song. But that's still no excuse to slap her. I've danced with Shaundra before and nothing like this ever happened."

Masaaki cleared his throat. "It was more than just a slap.

Apparently there was some hitting and pulling of hair."

"Don't sugarcoat it, Masaaki. Shaundra beat the hell out of Amaya, and then Yori tried to stop them. They were brawling like professionals."

Harper raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me she was fighting a young woman in a club? Where were you guys and where was your security when all of this happened?" Harper asked. "I thought they couldn't go to such places without security."

"Oh, they were there," Masaaki replied. "Cheering the women on. I reprimanded them, but technically they're only supposed to protect Aomori."

"Shaundra is Ichiro's goddamn wife. She needs protection too, or have you forgotten about her fans? You should see her fan page. Some of them are still riled up that she married Ichiro." He turned to Satoshi. "Where the hell were you?"

Satoshi lowered his head in shame. "Watching," he answered.

Harper glared at him. "I knew something like this would happen if she married Ichiro," he said as he paced the pavement outside the hospital. People walked by, stared and went into the hospital or to their cars. "I trusted you guys to look after her. God, she's fifty. Why didn't she listen to me when I told her not to marry him? A pretty face and a stiff you-know-what are not reasons to leave her family and her country."

Masaaki bowed in embarrassment. "It is my fault. I should have looked after her better. She and Ichiro were supposed to have the farmhouse to themselves when they came home, but we were in Korea and hadn't made arrangements for the guys to move out, and then Yori couldn't take Amaya's parents interfering in his marriage so he came back to the farmhouse too."

"You mean they are all living together? No wonder she's stressed out. Shaundra is used to an empty nest.

Togetherness might be fine for Aomori because they have lived together since they were kids. But you can't put two dominant females in the same house. There is bound to be trouble."

"Three," Satoshi corrected. "Our publicist stays there too."

"Miss Gentry?" Harper asked.

Masaaki and Satoshi nodded.

"Her father is a good friend of Mr. Niigata, and he asked Mr. Niigata to look after her when he returned to the United States," Masaaki explained.

"Just great," Harper said as he walked away from them and entered the hospital.

"He's awfully upset about an employee," Masaaki said, straightening his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

Satoshi nodded. "Yes, you would think she's his wife or something."

Cristal called Yi-jun and updated him on Shaundra's condition after she received Satoshi's telephone call. Yi-jun had made it back to Korea and had a couple of guest appearances scheduled, and then he would be leaving for China in a week. Aomori too was scheduled to leave around that time. The commercials were airing, the tickets were sold out and no one knew if Ichiro was going to participate or not now that his wife was ill. So far no one had told her to cancel anything. If Aomori backed out of this, they would take a big financial hit. Advertising and publicity wasn't cheap, and Mr.

Niigata didn't except failure.

Amaya had gone up to her room.

Cristal had ordered pizza for dinner since Ichiro wasn't there to cook, but Amaya wouldn't touch it. She just grabbed a can of some nutritional drink from the refrigerator and went upstairs without saying a word. Selfish twit.

Cristal didn't mind getting the silent treatment from her.

Everything that came out of Amaya's mouth was hurtful anyway. And she didn't know how long she could bear being under the same roof with someone like her. Maybe it was time for her to get her own apartment again. Mr. Niigata's offer was nice, but she needed her own space. She missed her independence and her freedom, and she was tired of being grounded. Tomorrow she'd go out and start looking.

Anyway, sharing a house with so many adults was no way for Shaundra and Ichiro to begin married life.

Cristal thought about her own problems as she soaked in a bath later, after going up to her room. She was still as confused as ever when it came to her feelings for Yi-jun and Satoshi. Both men had so much to offer. With Yi-jun there would be exotic trips, great sex and moonlight carriage rides.

He'd keep her in the lap of luxury, buy her the best clothes and smother her in jewelry.

Satoshi, on the other hand, would keep her smiling, fill her days with companionship, serenade her with beautiful love songs and always treat her as an equal. Like Yi-jun, she'd probably have to share him with thousands of adoring fans, but when it came to getting intimate with Satoshi, she had the feeling that behind that standoffish personality was a man with deep, raw emotions. The woman he'd finally dropped his guard for would be one very lucky lady and the recipient of his passion.

Cristal splashed her hand in the water. Either way, her life would definitely change. But just as Shaundra had tried to teach her, material possessions and sex did not make or keep a relationship. If a man wouldn't risk his life walking through a pit of fire to save her, then he wasn't the right man for her.

Cristal got out of the tub, dried off and slipped into her nightgown. She glanced over at the clock. Ten p.m. She heard a couple of cars pull up outside, then walked over to her window and looked out. Everyone had returned except Ichiro. She donned her robe, pushed her feet into her slippers, and went down to greet them and to find out more about Shaundra's condition.

The guys looked tired, worn out and worried. Harper Kehoe hadn't returned with them, so Masaaki must have dropped him at a hotel after leaving the hospital.

Satoshi grabbed her and pulled her to him. He hugged her tightly.

"How is she?" Cristal asked.

"She's finally conscious but she's not talking. Ichiro is still there with her."

"Do they know what happened?"

"The doctor thinks she just collapsed from too much stress, but they're running some tests." He released her and she missed his warmth.

"She's not speaking?"

Satoshi sighed. "No, but she's alert and probably can hear the conversation. The doctor said sometimes a body will shut itself down if too much stress is put upon it."

"I better go check on my wife," Yori said. He bowed and walked out of the room.

Masaaki and Takumijo followed soon afterwards, leaving the two of them alone.

"Amaya seems to think Shaundra overdosed," Cristal told him once she was sure that Yori was out of ear range.

Satoshi shook his head. "Her stomach content was empty,"

Satoshi replied. "I found that much out by sneaking a look at her chart."

Cristal walked up the stairs, and Satoshi followed her into the house and locked the door. They headed toward the den to continue their talk. She sat down on the sofa, and he sat next to her.

"Poor Ich must be beside himself." She put her head down on Satoshi's shoulder.

"Believe it or not, he's taking it surprisingly well. Harper seems more upset than Ichiro. He kept fussing at us for not taking good care of her."

"But that's ridiculous," Cristal said. "You guys see to our every need."

"Harper is just upset. He is still very attached to Shaundra.

I think he has delusions of her leaving Ichiro and that she will turn to him for comfort."

"Do you?" Cristal asked.

"Do I what?"

"Do you think Shaundra will leave Ich and go to Harper?"

Satoshi shrugged. "Shaundra loves Ich very much. And as far as I know this is the first argument they've had. But whether they will stay together is anyone's guess."

"It's a shame this had to happen so close to the tour."

Satoshi nodded. "We're already behind with rehearsal, but we're starting tomorrow with or without Ichiro."

Cristal raised her head. "You don't think he'll make it to China?"

"I don't know. I think it depends on Shaundra's health.

Ichiro wanted her to accompany him on the tour. That's why she had herself hypnotized - so she would be able to go."

"Maybe he should hire a nurse to look after her until Shaundra is ready to travel. Or have one of her daughters fly here to be with her."

"Ichiro would never agree to a nurse even though it is the best answer. Shaundra's eldest daughter is married and has a set of twins, and her youngest is in her senior year in college.

Neither may be able to just drop what they're doing and fly over here even though they want to."

Cristal rose. "I believe things have a way of working themselves out." She yawned. "But I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to bed, and you should too."

Satoshi looked up at her. "You're dressed for bed already.

Do you want me to tuck you in?"

Cristal smiled at him. "If only you were serious about that." She bowed and left him in the den.