Delmire Hart - The Most Eligible Bachelor

Takumi could think of several places he would rather beright now than a limo filled with over-dressed and overenthusiastic people.Its not like he had even signed up for this.

His mother was the one to blame for this entire affair.

Japan had been taken by storm by the American reality TVshow when the producers announced that they were getting their very ownversion. It had been all over the media, news, papers, magazines and theinternet.

Why?

Because it was the worlds first ever openly bi bachelor.

Poor little conservative Japan was torn apart by thenews. On one side, people were applauding equality and the production companyfor going ahead with it while on the other hand people were claiming it was alljust a disgusting publicity stunt.

Takumi had been keen to keep out of the debate, to behonest. Something that had proven to be exceedingly difficult because everysingle person seemed to have an opinion on it. The models he took photos of forfashion shoots were the worst, they had been going on about it for months. Itseemed like everyone he knew was putting forward a damn application to get in.

All for someone who was supposedly the most eligible bachelorin Japan. A reclusive billionaire that swung both ways. He had to admit thatthe man was attractive, what with the chiselled body and confident golden eyesstaring out from the advertisements. But it was none of Takumis business.

Except that his dear mother had decided to catch her recently-come-out-gayson the biggest fish of them all.

You can imagine his surprise when he got the call.Worse still, the producers wouldnt listen to his protests and told him in nouncertain terms he would be on the show. His mother was thrilled. Takumi hadcontemplated faking some horrific illness to get out of it but he knew he wouldnever live it down. Because his damn mother had blabbed to every single personshe knew that he was going to be on the show. His friends were certain that Takumiwould be the one normal person there, most likely chosen just to highlightthe crazy.

This was only emphasized by the ride in one of twolimos that chaperoned twenty participants to the mansion where they would spendthe next two months.

Ten males, ten females. Apparently, the producers hadchanged the way some of the show worked and now they would all be living in thesame mansion as Mr Big Hotshot Bachelor for two whole months. Worst still, theentire place had been rigged with cameras for livestreaming as well as thecameras that will no doubt be stalking them everywhere. No communication withthe outside world except for once a week with one hour of computer time undersupervision. Something about avoiding accidentally leaking information. No voteoffs, just two months of dating hell.

Group dates, solo dates. Bitch about other peoplesdates.

It was going to be hell. At least he could sit in thecorner and ogle at the man in question for some of it. He was eye candy.He also couldnt remember the mans name.

What a great start this was shaping up to be.

His aversion to the whole thing was not helped by thepeople sharing his ride. A woman sat with a freaking chicken in her lap; it wascute but it had already shat on the limo floor once. Another was downing allthe champagne she could get her hands on and exclaiming about how she wouldsweep this man off his feet while sneering at the men in the limo.

Another blond man wailed on about unrequited love. Apparently,he was a manager at one of the bachelors establishments, and Takumi was surehe had heard the mans entire life story by now. A famous idol sat next to Takumi,Miyara, who seemed sweet, if a little air-headed.

The limo pulled to a stop, idling for what felt like anage before it moved again and a vibrant voice came over the intercom.

Are you all ready to meet Mori-san?

Mori; that was his name. Takumi winced as everyonescreamed their enthusiasm. A laugh sounded over the intercom as they pulled toa stop and they were told to wait their turn until they were called to exit thelimo. Then they would be formally introduced to Mr Bachelor. Theirs was thesecond of the two limos and Takumi was one of the last to be called forward.

He was oddly nervous. Its not like he expectedanything out of this, other than what would probably be the most stressful allexpenses holiday he had ever had. Still, he was meeting a rather intimidating man,the one he was supposedly dating for the next two months.

Finally, he was called forward.

Taking a deep breath, Takumi gathered his nerves and carefullystepped out of the limo. He nearly tripped over his own feet on the exit, barelycatching himself on the door, and he walked unsteadily toward the dark figure standingnear a garden with decidedly warm cheeks. He hoped that the man hadnt seen himbut no doubt the camera that followed him had caught everything.

Perfect, first view on national TV was him barely savinghimself from falling flat on his face.

Takumi stopped in front of this Mori person and looked up.And up.

Damn he was tall.

And holy shit was he good looking.

Those photos really didnt do him justice. Takumi hadnever felt so out of place as he did in his ill-fitting suit while standingnext to this perfectly put together man. He didnt even realise he had beenstanding there wordlessly staring until an eyebrow rose. Takumi cleared histhroat to hide his embarrassment before holding out his hand and finally introducinghimself. Ugh, he wanted to sink through the floor right then and there.

Soon enough he was heading into the mansion proper andhe honestly did not remember a thing he said or even what Mori had said inreturn, all he could remember was that his voice was deep and smooth.

They really did pick the perfect man for this.

His thoughts were interrupted when he walked into alarge room filled with chattering people and immediately felt most of themdismiss him out of hand. Well, that made it easier for him, he supposed. Itwould give him a way to carry out his plan to ogle Mori from the corner of theroom and not get drawn into cat fights.

Accepting another glass of champagne, he felt like hewould need a few to get through the night, Takumi moved to the side of the roomonly to be stopped dead in his tracks by a pretty white pony.

What the hell.

Turned out one of the women had brought her in to makea play on the whole white knight princess thing. Takumi didnt entirely get itbut took a few minutes to pet the mild-mannered pony. The others reminded himthat there was some first impression guaranteed a solo date thing he had completelyforgotten about. Well, that was out for him. Unless him tripping on his own feetcounted as memorable to Mori.