Kaoru Hoshitani remembered clearly that the first time he learned Rika Kawasaki was the daughter of the Izumisei Company’s chairman, his girlfriend Aina Saiten had already completed all preparations to transfer to Izumisei and was just waiting to officially start.
Back then, he wasn’t sure if this yellow-haired woman knew — maybe she did, maybe she didn’t — it was like a sword hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment.
But he understood better than anyone that with Rika Kawasaki’s utterly wicked personality, if she really knew Aina worked at her family’s company, she would definitely use it without hesitation, turning it into another lethal weapon to threaten and control him.
Now, that suspicion had finally been confirmed.
Rika Kawasaki truly hadn’t known until now — through the information he had personally spoken in the stairwell just now, she had pieced together the complete picture herself.
But there was no major emotional fluctuation in Kaoru Hoshitani’s heart; there was no surprise, no breakdown, and not even that “just as I thought” realization.
Because he had known from the beginning that this matter couldn’t be hidden forever.
From the moment Aina Saiten officially joined Izumisei, another piece of leverage had been handed over to another woman by his beloved girlfriend, who only wanted to protect him.
He no longer had the strength to dwell on this fated irony.
At this moment, Kaoru Hoshitani just watched Rika Kawasaki quietly.
In the dim stairwell, only the emergency light emitted a faint green glow, outlining the woman’s unabashed, almost gloating expression.
Her gray eyes narrowed slightly, the corners upturning, and a meaningful curve hung on her lips as if wordlessly saying: So your girlfriend has already fallen into my hands.
“I thought so. You seem to have become quite a bit more well-behaved lately, Kaoru. So you were worried about this…”
Rika Kawasaki spoke slowly, her voice echoing in the narrow, enclosed space like a cat toying with a mouse that no longer had the strength to run.
She raised her tanned right hand, the pads of her slightly calloused fingers gently pressing against Kaoru Hoshitani’s cheek, beginning to stroke it slowly, almost caressingly.
His skin was as delicate and smooth as milk, forming a sharp and erotic contrast with her rough and powerful fingers.
Her movements were slow, sliding from his cheekbone to his jaw, then from his jaw to the corner of his lips, as if playing with a cherished object.
“So…” she smirked, leaning in closer. Her warm breath fanned over his face, carrying a faint scent of tobacco and a shivering pleasure.
“Would you say you’re… proactively offering yourself to your girlfriend’s boss’s daughter for the sake of her job, Kaoru?”
The moment those words fell, Kaoru Hoshitani’s face flushed crimson.
But it wasn’t out of shyness, of course — a spark of anger clearly burned in his eyes, the kind of resentment ignited by extreme shamelessness yet with nowhere to vent.
He glared at the woman before him, his chest heaving violently, but he couldn’t refute a single word.
Because what she said, though twisted, eerily corresponded to the facts in a horrifying way — he had indeed become more submissive because of this, and he truly didn’t dare to act rashly to protect Aina’s job.
Rika Kawasaki looked at the small man’s face, flushed with anger, and the fire burning in those moist, little deer-like eyes, finding him even a bit more adorable.
She stopped teasing him and put away her mocking expression. Her tone became calm, yet even more unsettling.
“Don’t worry, we are ‘friends’ with a very close relationship now.”
She intentionally emphasized the word “friends.”
“I won’t do anything to that useless girlfriend of yours. In fact, I’ll… take good care of her.”
She dragged out the last few words, the meaningful trail of her voice like a cold snake slithering into Kaoru Hoshitani’s ear.
Rika Kawasaki wasn’t so foolish as to actually mess with Aina Saiten’s job.
She knew very well — if she really drove his useless girlfriend away, wouldn’t she lose her most lethal piece of leverage?
That woman was the perfect bargaining chip to control Kaoru Hoshitani, the strongest chain to bind this little bird.
So not only would she not do that, but she would also take every opportunity to promote the woman named Aina Saiten.
She would make her feel eternally grateful, make her feel her career was tightly bound to Izumisei, and make her afraid to quit or cause any trouble.
As long as Aina Saiten sank deeper, Kaoru Hoshitani would sink deeper… until he could never break free.
Kaoru Hoshitani watched her gray eyes darting around in the gloom and knew she must be plotting some agonizingly wicked idea.
The feeling was like being stared at by a cold snake; he knew exactly what it was going to do, yet he had nowhere to run and could change nothing.
A deep sense of helplessness submerged him once more.
“Alright, let’s stop talking about that.”
Rika Kawasaki seemed quite satisfied with this “harvest,” and her tone became light, carrying a sated laziness.
“Isn’t your useless girlfriend going to the office for overtime this weekend? You must be very lonely at home by yourself, Kaoru…”
Before she finished, she had already bent down, one hand passing under Kaoru Hoshitani’s knees and the other steadily supporting his back.
Before he could even react, he was easily lifted off the ground in a prince carry.
With the sudden loss of weight, he instinctively reached out to grab something, only catching the rough leather texture of the woman’s jacket on her shoulder.
“Ah! Wait… wait a minute!” Kaoru Hoshitani shouted in a panic, his voice echoing in the empty stairwell.
He knew exactly what would happen next.
Rika Kawasaki would carry him like this through the stairwell, open the door leading to the hallway, and then… enter the home he shared with Aina.
She would place him on the bed where he and Aina slept together, on the sheets filled with their warm memories, and have her way with him.
‘No matter what… at least not at home… at least not in that place…’
This thought surged from his heart like the final struggle of a drowning person.
He was unwilling to let that small, warm home, full of beautiful memories with Aina, be defiled by this yellow-haired woman’s scent or permanently branded with those disgraceful memories.
It was his last sanctuary, his final refuge.
Thus, with a voice almost as faint as a mosquito’s hum, he forced a few words from his throat with great difficulty: “Change… change the location…”
The moment the words left his mouth, he felt a deeper sense of shame — he was actually proactively discussing the location with this woman.
But this shame was quickly suppressed by the stronger obsession to protect that home.
Rika Kawasaki looked down at the small man in her arms, his cheeks flushed and eyelashes trembling, having used all his strength to squeeze out those words.
The light in her eyes grew even deeper.
She smirked, her voice carrying clear teasing and pleasure: “Oh? Sure, Kaoru. Where do you want to go? To a hotel? Or…”
She paused on purpose, leaning close to his ear, her voice as low as a lover’s murmur, “Back to ‘our’ home?”
She said the word “our” with extreme ambiguity, as if that villa were truly their shared love nest.
The ashamed and annoyed Kaoru Hoshitani finally couldn’t take it anymore.
He jerked his head to the side, closed his eyes, and threw out a sentence with his last bit of strength: “Whatever you want!”
Then, he shut his eyes tight, his eyelashes trembling violently, as if this could isolate him from the world, escape the woman’s naked humiliation, and pretend all of this was just a nightmare he was about to wake from.
Rika Kawasaki watched him like this and let out a low chuckle.
The laughter echoed in the silent stairwell, carrying satiety and pleasure.
“A hotel it is, then.”
She made the decision, her voice returning to calm but faintly revealing a hint of anticipation.
“Come to think of it, you and I haven’t been to a hotel yet, Kaoru.”
After saying this, she adjusted her hold to make the small man in her arms more comfortable, and then she set off, carrying him through the stairwell and pushing open the door to the hallway.
Rika Kawasaki carried Kaoru Hoshitani toward her bright blue Lamborghini parked in a hidden spot, her movements composed and certain, as if she were simply taking away an object that naturally belonged to her.
A breeze blew past, bringing the chill of early winter.
Kaoru Hoshitani kept his eyes closed, curling up in her arms and feeling that burning body temperature and steady heartbeat.
Like a young deer held in a predator’s mouth, he had no power to resist, only able to let fate carry him toward the unknown darkness…