I was nearly sprinting when I arrived to work the next morning. Erika saw me run through the double doors of the lobby.
"Hey! You're late."
"Yeah, I got held up on the subway."
Lie. I slept through my alarm because I couldn't sleep for hours after Ran and Rindou left. I kept thinking about my letters that they apparently never received.
"They already went up." Erika informed me as I jogged past the front desk.
"Who?" I asked her over my shoulder, panting.
"The investors."
"Shit!" I forgot about that.
In the elevator, I smoothed a hand down my pencil skirt, fixed my hair and checked my makeup in the mirror. By the time I stepped off the elevator, I looked presentable.
I dropped my purse on the chair behind my desk and grabbed a notebook that I clutched to my chest as I stopped in front of my boss's office. I knocked twice and waited.
My boss's voice came muffled through the door after a few seconds. "Come in."
I opened the door and stepped into his office, finding him and his three guests already settled on the left corner of the room where a glass coffee table was surrounded by four black leather armchairs.
"This is my assistant, Y/N." I heard my boss introduce me to the three men as I closed the door behind me.
Ugh. Can't you at least introduce me with my last name, asshole- I paused as I turned around, my gaze meeting the eyes of one of the investors who was staring over his shoulder at me.
Rindou.
I almost dropped the notebook I was holding against my chest as a cocktail of feelings rolled through me, a cross between anger, dread and excitement.
What the hell is he doing here? Guess he didn't lie when he said we'd see each other again very soon...
I brought my eyes to my boss as I crossed his office, but while I did so, I was aware of the way Rindou's gaze followed me through the room.
Stopping next to my boss's chair, I could now see the faces of the three investors. As expected, Ran was one of them.
"Pleased to meet you." I greeted them, slightly bowing my head down and feigning not to know them.
My boss jerked a thumb at me, smirking. "I trained her pretty well, haven't I?" He joked.
The third man snorted, and I looked at him for the first time since I had entered the room. His eyes were a piercing blue and his hair was dyed pink and styled in a mullet. There were two rosy scars on the corners of his mouth.
My boss flicked a gaze up at me, and I looked down at him as he spoke to me. "I was just telling those gentlemen how important it is to surround yourself with people that are both good workers," He dropped his eyes to my thighs, letting them linger there as he continued. "and pleasant to look at."
The man with the pink hair grinned as he leaned back in his armchair. I couldn't tell if he was amused by the way my boss was treating me or if Rindou's not-so-subtle reaction entertained him, because it was clear that Rindou wasn't fucking laughing. His face remained impassive as he ran a thumb across his sharp jaw, but his eyes thinned as he stared at my boss, and I wondered if, just like I had every day since I had started working here, he was imagining every way he could beat my boss up.
A rectangular tattoo on Rindou's neck drew my attention. I hadn't noticed it yesterday in the darkness of my bedroom, but now in broad dayligt, I could study it. It had seen the same design as something I had seen somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where.
My gaze sought Ran's neck to see if he had the same tattoo, and indeed, he did. My eyes slid from the tattoo on Ran's neck to Ran's lips which were curled up in a grin, and then a little higher to his eyes which were gleaming as he observed me.
"Earth to Y/N?"
My boss's voice snapped me from my daze, and I glanced down at him, finding him staring up at me. He chuckled at my expression and, condescendingly patting the back of my thigh twice, he turned to the three men. "Sometimes I forget I can't ask too much of her. I mean, she is just a woman after all."
Yeah, a woman who could beat you to a pulp in a matter seconds. I might have left Toman years ago, but the fighting instincts Izana had instilled in me had never left.
My boss then waved his hand at me with a dismissive gesture. "We won't need you for now, sweetheart."
I locked my jaw and forced a professional smile on my face as I slightly bowed my head down before making my way back to the door.
My pulse was racing as I sat to my desk right outside of my boss's office.
What the fuck are they doing here?
An hour later, my boss's office door opened and the four men walked out.
"Y/N, walk those gentlemen back to the entrance." My boss instructed before turning to the three men. He shook hands with Ran, Rindou, and the third man I still didn't know the name of while I rose from my seat and got around my desk. I led the way down the hallway, the three men falling in line behind me.
Reaching the elevator, I paused and pressed the button, silently praying that the doors would slid open quickly so I could stop feeling their gazes on my back. The next few seconds were the longest of my life, but when the elevator finally opened, I stepped to the side to let them walk in first. Rindou and the man with pink hair stepped on first, followed by me and Ran. I found myself standing in front of Rindou while Ran stood in front of the third man. I pressed the button and the doors slid shut.
Luckily for me, we didn't stay alone for long because the elevator stopped one floor down, and four people from the human resources department of the company walked in. They were all chatting together, filling the silence that had settled in the elevator between me and the three men before their arrival.
I had no choice but to back away to make room for them, but I tripped as I did so, and two hands gripped my waist before I could fall backwards. My stomach somersaulted as I was pressed against Rindou's chest.
"Does your little boyfriend know you hate your job?" He whispered the question in my ear.
The other people continued chatting, completely unaware of the tension sparking between Rindou and I at the back of the elevator.
"I don't hate my job." I whispered back, staring ahead of me.
"But you hate your boss." He stated.
He must have taken my silence for a 'yes' because he sighed. His fingers grazed the back of my neck as he slid all my hair over my left shoulder.
"If you were with me," He started, whispering against the now exposed right side of my neck. "you'd never have to work another day in your life."
I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "Oh, yeah? And what would I do, hmm? Clean your house, cook little meals for you, warm your bed every night, and bear your children?"
My words had the opposite effect I wanted them to have; I felt him smile against my skin as if he was picturing what the kind of life I had just described would look like.
I nudged him with my elbow, forcing him to let go of my waist, and he chuckled at my attempt to put more distance between us in such a confined space. At that moment, the elevator finally reached the ground floor. The doors slid open and everyone walked out except for me as I would go back up to my office right away.
Rindou was the last one to step off. He turned around to face me again, slipping his hands in his suit pants pockets. "You seem to trust your boyfriend an awful lot."
My body stiffened, immediately going into protection mode. Ran and Rindou could come for me all they wanted. As long as they didn't hurt Mitsuya, I couldn't care less what they did to me.
"Even when he leaves you home alone so much," Rindou continued. "Only to go spend time at his studio with his manager. What's her name again? Yuzuha?"
I know that if I reacted, I'd just expose my weaknesses to him and he'd just prod more because that's what he did best. Yet I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at him, crossing my arms over my chest defensively. "What are you implying?"
He shrugged, an infuriatingly smug smirk teasing the corner of his mouth as he eyed me. "If I were you, I'd pay him a little surprise visit at his studio from time to time, just to see how close him and his manager are."
"Rindou." His brother called out to him, and Rindou tore his eyes away from me before walking away.
I wasn't annoyed he was trying to make me question Mitsuya's fidelity. I was annoyed it was kind of working.