“Kaoru, just now on the subway… did something happen?”
Aina Saiten held her boyfriend Kaoru Hoshitani’s hand, squeezing out of the crowded, stuffy subway carriage with the flow of people, and stepping onto the slightly empty and cool platform of their destination station.
She didn’t walk toward the exit immediately but stopped, turned around, and tilted her face up slightly, her gaze carefully scrutinizing her boyfriend’s expression.
Her brows furrowed unconsciously, and her tone carried a trace of imperceptible seriousness and worry.
Just now in the carriage, she seemed to feel that Kaoru’s body, which was pressed close to hers, had stiffened unnaturally a few times.
Although he relaxed quickly, that subtle abnormality didn’t escape her perception.
“I…”
Kaoru Hoshitani’s heart skipped a beat. He subconsciously avoided his girlfriend’s probing gaze; his thick eyelashes drooped, casting a shallow shadow on his pale cheeks.
He knew that Aina was exceptionally sharp in certain aspects, and a simple dismissal would probably not pass.
He pursed his slightly dry lips, his voice pressed extremely low, almost like a whisper, carrying an embarrassing distress:
“Just now… it seems someone… accidentally… touched, touched my… behind…”
He vaguely chose a relatively mild verb, omitting the uncomfortable tactile memory that carried a clear intent.
The temperature and strength of that strange palm that suddenly pressed against him through the thin fabric in the crowded crowd made his hair stand on end instantly, and nausea surged up his throat accompanied by a familiar fear.
However, as if afraid that his girlfriend would get angry or react too drastically, he quickly raised his head and hurriedly added an explanation, his tone carrying a deliberate underestimation:
“I thought… maybe it was just too many people, accidentally squeezed… so, so I didn’t tell you immediately, Aina…”
He tried hard to make his expression look just a bit troubled, rather than frightened or violated.
However, even though Kaoru Hoshitani tried to minimize the matter, when Aina Saiten heard with her own ears that someone dared to touch her Kaoru, whom she cherished like a treasure, a strong emotion mixed with anger, heartache, and protectiveness instantly rushed to the top of her head.
Her brows locked tighter, and her face darkened.
Without any hesitation, she extended her arms and tightly embraced her boyfriend’s slender, thin body, her arms hoop-like and firm, as if to thoroughly separate him from that unpleasant memory just now.
She rested her chin on the top of his soft hair. Her voice was not loud, but it carried a decisive, unquestionable firmness, solemnly saying every word in his ear:
“Kaoru, if this kind of thing happens again in the future, even if you just think it’s ‘possible’ on purpose, you must tell me immediately, do you know?”
She loosened her embrace slightly, cupped his face with both hands, and forced him to look at her. Her gaze was burning, filled with unmistakable determination.
“I will definitely protect you. I absolutely won’t let anyone touch a single finger of yours.”
Hearing his girlfriend’s resounding promise, Kaoru Hoshitani’s little deer eyes, which were originally shifting due to uneasiness, appeared somewhat dazed at this moment.
He stared blankly at Aina’s face, which was written with seriousness and concern. Deep in his pupils, a faint light seemed to flicker, then was quickly covered by a deeper haze.
It took several seconds before he seemed to finally digest this sentence, and asked back extremely softly, nearly in a breathy voice:
“Really…?”
“Of course it’s true!”
Aina Saiten answered without hesitation, her tone decisive, carrying a solemnity almost like an oath.
“I am your girlfriend, and in the future, I will be your wife. Protecting you and letting you suffer no harm is the most important thing to me. I promise.”
“…Mm.”
Kaoru Hoshitani finally just gave a soft hum, buried his face in the crook of her shoulder again, and hugged her back.
However, if it were in the past, hearing such a firm and affectionate vow of protection from Aina, he would probably have been moved to tears, his heart filled with the safety and happiness of being cherished.
But at this moment, the cold and heavy truth buried at the bottom of his heart made this promise only ripple into a boundless bitterness within him.
Because, right at this moment, the body hidden beneath his exquisite makeup and decent clothes was covered with countless, indelible marks belonging to another woman—love bites, bruises, bite marks…
Those were all ‘injury’ evidence forcibly branded by Rika Kawasaki that could not be refuted.
And Aina’s solemn promise to protect him from “any harm” appeared so pale and powerless in the face of such a cruel fact, even carrying an irony that stung his heart.
She wanted to protect him, but she knew nothing about where the harm came from or in what form it existed.
And he, the one who should be protected, had already been thoroughly defiled and occupied in the dark.
Even the qualification to ask for help and confess seemed to have been lost in repeated submission and concealment…
“Good evening to you two. One of your friends is already waiting in the private room. Please follow me.”
When Kaoru Hoshitani followed his girlfriend Aina Saiten to the reserved, elegantly decorated high-end restaurant and gave Aina Saiten’s name to the front desk, a polite waiter wearing a neat uniform smiled, bowed, and led the way.
They passed through the main hall filled with the aroma of food and soft piano music, stepped on the soft and thick carpet, and arrived at the end of a relatively quiet corridor.
The waiter gently pushed open a heavy dark wooden door and made an inviting gesture.
The light inside the private room was softer than outside.
The warm yellow wall lamps and the decorative chandelier hanging low in the center of the dining table created a warm and private atmosphere together.
The light, like a delicate brush, clearly outlined the slender yet unusually upright figure already seated at the table.
Chinatsu Ayase.
Unlike her usual professional or simple attire at the company, tonight she had obviously dressed up with great care.
Under the soft light, her skin presented a texture as fine and smooth as porcelain, as if not a single pore could be seen.
She inherited her biological father’s excellent genes; her facial features were as exquisite as a meticulous painting—a high nose bridge with delicate lines, full lips with a natural moist pink color, and the corners of her mouth naturally carrying a hint of a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.
The most striking feature was those eyes; the ends of her eyes were slightly upturned, adding a bit of near-sharp charm to that exquisite face that did not match her age.
Her pupils were a deep gray, like a winter lake; beneath the stillness, there seemed to be a cold light capable of gaining insight into everything, carrying a natural, inadvertently revealed sense of looking down on others.
She was wearing a custom suit skirt with an extremely strict cut, obviously from a famous designer.
The upper body was a bright black woolen short jacket.
The shape was crisp and neat, the lines so tough they were close to a military uniform.
The double-breasted buttons were meticulously buttoned to the very top, rigorously wrapping the curves of the young girl who had just started to develop.
The cuffs were embellished with small, low-key gold anchor cufflinks that flashed with a cold luster.
The lower body was a pleated short skirt of the same color.
The hem was just three fingers above the knee, perfectly displaying the balance of youth and a thread of restraint.
A pair of straight, long legs were wrapped in sheer black silk stockings, and on her feet were a pair of seemingly low-key but actually valuable black patent leather shoes; the metal butterfly knot decoration on the toe glowed with a cold shimmer.
She had no superfluous accessories on her body, only wearing a platinum mechanical watch as thin as a cicada’s wing on her slender left wrist; the dial was simple, and the hands slid silently.
Her hands were elegantly folded on her lap, which was covered by the white tablecloth.
Her knuckles were long and distinct, and her nails were trimmed clean and round, revealing meticulous refinement.
‘Did I… make a mistake? Shouldn’t have brought Kaoru along…’
Although during their contact at the company, Aina Saiten often felt that Chinatsu Ayase, as a woman, was a bit “too” good-looking, and even occasionally caused her a vague, subtle pressure belonging to the same sex.
But at this moment, seeing the other party obviously carefully groomed, exerting that unique temperament between a girl’s greenness and female charm, and between androgynous handsomeness and exquisite magnificence to the extreme, Aina Saiten was still solidly stunned for a moment.
Immediately, a strong sense of unease and regret surged in her heart.
While reflecting with a somewhat bad taste in her mind whether bringing her boyfriend to meet such a “junior” was a wrong decision, she subconsciously turned her head quickly to look at her boyfriend Kaoru Hoshitani standing beside her, carrying a trace of nervous voyeurism.
And the scene before her seemed to instantly confirm her worst guess—
At this moment, Kaoru Hoshitani seemed to have been cast with a detention spell, standing straight in place, his gaze locked deadly on Chinatsu Ayase sitting in the private room.
His eyes didn’t blink, his pupils clearly dilated under the warm yellow light, and the blood on his face faded at a speed visible to the naked eye, leaving only a patch of near-transparent pallor.
But what Aina Saiten didn’t know was…
That wasn’t appreciation attracted by beauty or a daze; that was a kind of… shock and fear as if seeing something extremely incredible and extremely terrifying.
His lips parted slightly, seemingly wanting to say something, but he couldn’t make any sound.
Only a tiny tremor started from his fingertips and quickly spread to his whole body.
‘Why… why is it her?! That woman’s sister… Chinatsu Ayase… how is she here?! And the junior colleague Aina talked about… is… is the same person?!’
Recently, Kaoru Hoshitani had repeatedly heard from his girlfriend Aina Saiten:
In the company, there was a junior who was younger than her but had a deep background and outstanding ability, who had given her vital help in many aspects, and could be said to be the “benefactor” of her career turning point.
He naturally also learned the name of this “benefactor” from Aina—Chinatsu Ayase.
However, trapped by huge chaos, fear, and physical and mental torture for days, what Kaoru Hoshitani had completely forgotten was that Rika Kawasaki had also mentioned to him that she had a younger sister with the same mother but a different father, with whom she had a complex relationship, and her name… was also Chinatsu Ayase.
Yesterday at the restaurant, Rika Kawasaki had only casually addressed the other party as “Chinatsu” the whole time.
Kaoru Hoshitani was in a state of great confusion then, with shame and fear occupying everything, and simply had no time to delve into the name “Chinatsu” and more background information.
In his cognition, “Chinatsu” was just a common female name. There were thousands of people named “Chinatsu” in Neon City; how could it be such a coincidence?
Therefore, when he followed Aina into this softly lit private room and clearly saw the face of the young girl sitting there without any psychological preparation, as well as the subtle similarity to Rika Kawasaki—especially those identical pale gray eyes…
All the clues, all the names, crashed together and pieced together in an instant!
An unprecedented huge panic, like the coldest lightning, ruthlessly struck the top of his skull, instantly freezing all his blood and thinking.
Only one crazy screaming thought remained in his heart—
‘It’s over! I’m discovered! Aina is about to know everything!’
Despair came like a black tide, drowning him…
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