Chapter 159: Bargaining with a Tiger

Kaoru Hoshitani walked ahead, holding the thin room card in his hand.

His pace was a bit hesitant, his footsteps making almost no sound on the dark-carpeted corridor.

Several abstract paintings hung on the walls of the corridor, and the ambiguous warm yellow wall lamps cast a soft glow on the frames.

Everything seemed quiet and private, yet it carried a suffocating sense of oppression.

Behind him followed the grim-faced yellow-haired woman, who was naturally Rika Kawasaki.

Her footsteps were much heavier than usual. Every step felt as if she were stepping on cotton, yet also on the tip of a blade.

Her gray eyes were currently clouded with gloom, staring fixedly at the slender figure ahead.

Her lips were tightly pursed into a straight line, and she radiated a low-pressure aura that warned others not to approach.

Not only Rika Kawasaki, but even Kaoru Hoshitani himself felt that the atmosphere today was a bit strange.

After all, every time they had come to a place like this before, Rika Kawasaki would walk ahead boisterously, use her never-ending credit card to open a room, and then grab his wrist to lead him into their private space.

She was always the leader, the one in control, the person who naturally paid for everything and naturally enjoyed everything.

But today, the roles of the two seemed to have reversed.

Kaoru Hoshitani’s hand tightened slightly around the room card. The edge of the card pressed against his palm, bringing a slight stinging sensation.

He knew what it symbolized to pay for a room with a woman other than his girlfriend — it was more than just a simple room fee.

It was a subtle crossing of boundaries, a quiet change in their relationship.

However, with so many people watching at the hotel front desk and those in line starting to complain in low voices, even he felt so embarrassed that he wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

He really could not care about that much anymore.

As for why Rika Kawasaki did not even have the money for a room — although she had not said anything, Kaoru Hoshitani, who had heard Chinatsu Ayase’s “plan,” roughly understood what was going on.

‘It seems… her mother has already deactivated all of her cards…’

He thought silently to himself.

All the money Rika Kawasaki had spent in front of him before — the dinners at high-end restaurants, the shopping bags from boutiques, that dazzling supercar — those were things she certainly could not afford on her own now.

At the time, he had not thought much of it. After all, family strength was part of one’s power, and being born into a good family was a skill in itself.

But yesterday, after Chinatsu Ayase told him many “truths” about their family, Rika Kawasaki’s already poor image in his heart plummeted completely.

In Chinatsu Ayase’s narrative, Rika Kawasaki had been very rebellious since childhood, hanging out with delinquent girls every day since middle school.

Smoking, fighting, skipping classes — she did it all.

Even now, a group of “friends” still lived in her other villa.

That group, a mix of men and women, would have casual sexual relations and even used illegal drugs. It could be described as extremely chaotic.

Chinatsu Ayase even produced several photographs to prove her words — they indeed showed a group of young people in exaggerated outfits throwing a party in a villa.

Unidentified powders and pills were laid out on the table, and men and women were huddled together in unsightly poses.

When Kaoru Hoshitani saw those photographs, his stomach churned, and he nearly threw up on the spot.

However, Chinatsu Ayase did not explicitly say whether her sister was involved in these activities, and Rika Kawasaki did not appear in those photographs.

She simply “presented the facts” and left the rest to Kaoru Hoshitani’s imagination.

And this was exactly the most lethal part — that blank canvas for imagination would be filled with the darkest colors of fear and disgust.

After hearing the girl’s words, Kaoru Hoshitani had only one thought:

He wanted to go to the hospital for a check-up…

Although Rika Kawasaki once said he was her first man.

Looking at it now, those words were clearly just sweet talk used to coax men.

Even if she had not truly played around, someone as skilled as her in bed could not possibly be a novice who had never touched a man.

Those techniques, that expert control, that precise offensive as if she knew every sensitive spot on his body — how could that be possible without sufficient experience?

So now, in Kaoru Hoshitani’s heart, Rika Kawasaki’s image had completely transformed into an ignorant delinquent girl who fooled around all day.

A parasite who did not earn her own money and instead used her family’s wealth to pick up men.

A repulsive slut who had no merits other than being slightly better in bed.

This realization made Kaoru Hoshitani, who had been somewhat falling for her and wavering, suddenly clear-headed.

He even felt… as if he had been chewed on by a dog.

Disgust, lingering fear, and a trace of unspeakable humiliation.

This also made him more determined to get rid of this yellow-haired woman.

—

The two walked into the bedroom.

The door closed automatically behind them with a soft click.

This was a standard hotel room with a king-sized bed, a spacious layout, and modern decor.

Soft light spilled from the headboard and the ceiling, coating the entire room in an ambiguous warm hue.

The large bed was covered with white sheets, and the pillows were fluffy and soft, silently inviting something.

Kaoru Hoshitani stood by the bed, looking at Rika Kawasaki as she followed him in. In truth, he did not want to have sexual relations with her even one more time.

He was afraid of catching some terrible disease, afraid that the invisible, potentially existing viruses were quietly invading his body through every contact.

But in order not to enrage this yellow-haired woman who was on the verge of explosive fury, and in order not to ruin the plan Chinatsu Ayase had carefully designed, he was forced to continue playing with fire.

He comforted himself in his heart.

‘I’ll just treat it like… a hookup with some foreign woman. Anyway, I paid for the room tonight…’

Thinking this way, his gaze toward Rika Kawasaki unconsciously took on a subtle change that even he had not noticed.

In that gaze, there was contempt, disgust, and a trace of a superior scrutiny that said, ‘I paid for tonight, after all.’

As for Rika Kawasaki, she was already frustrated to the extreme.

Being threatened by her mother, having her bank cards frozen, her supercar taken away, encountering the first embarrassment of her life at the hotel front desk, and being bailed out by this little man with his money — this series of blows had shattered her self-esteem.

After entering the bedroom, before she could even catch her breath, she saw the little man sitting on the edge of the bed.

Then, she met his gaze.

In that gaze, there was actually a trace of… contempt and disgust?

Rika Kawasaki’s brain buzzed, and the string of her rationality snapped instantly.

“You little bitch!”

She crossed the distance to him in a few steps. Her powerful hand lunged out, her thumb and fingers accurately clamping onto the man’s delicate face.

She applied pressure, nearly crushing his cheekbones.

Her face was extremely close, her gray eyes burning with a raging fire. Her voice trembled, raspy with anger:

“Is this the expression you show now that you see I have no money?!”

She stared fixedly into his eyes, squeezing each word through her teeth.

“Is it true that as long as other women give you money, they can sleep with you? Huh?!”

Faced with Rika Kawasaki’s sudden rage and humiliation, Kaoru Hoshitani’s face was squeezed so hard it hurt, nearly deforming.

But he did not resist, nor did he explain.

He simply followed Chinatsu Ayase’s plan, letting those pure little deer eyes fill with tears almost instantly.

Those tears came so quickly and naturally, as if he had truly suffered an immense grievance.

The rims of his eyes reddened rapidly, moisture gathered at the bottom of his eyes, and with a slight tremble of his eyelashes, large teardrops rolled down his cheeks and dripped onto Rika Kawasaki’s hand that was gripping him.

They were scalding and wet.

Rika Kawasaki looked at that face instantly drenched in tears, looked at those watery, innocent eyes gazing back at her, and saw the way her favorite face slightly distorted in pain —

The strength in her hand unconsciously loosened quite a bit.

That fire seemed to be half extinguished by these tears.

Kaoru Hoshitani took the opportunity to speak.

His voice was somewhat muffled due to his cheeks being squeezed, carrying a sob, and sounding pitiful:

“So… what exactly happened? Why did you suddenly… run out of money?”

In that voice, there was concern, confusion, and a perfectly measured, small-animal-like grievance.

Looking at him like this, the fire in Rika Kawasaki’s chest died down several more degrees.

She released her hand from his face, somewhat irritably pulled a cigarette pack from her pocket, took one out, and lit it.

White smoke filled the room.

While smoking, she explained what had happened today — her mother wanted her to go to Osaka for one month, she refused, and then her mother froze all her cards and took back the villa and the car.

She was brief, and her tone was sharp, but at least she spoke.

Kaoru Hoshitani listened quietly.

He had known all of this from Chinatsu Ayase long ago.

But he still furrowed his handsome brows, an appropriately distressed expression appearing on his face.

Then, he did something that was beyond Rika Kawasaki’s expectations.

He gently pulled the smoking woman into his arms, letting her face bury itself against his chest.

The movement was very light and soft, carrying a cautious hint of testing, yet also a firm tenderness that brooked no refusal.

Rika Kawasaki’s body froze instantly.

Her face was pressed against the man’s warm chest, her nose filled with the pheromone unique to Kaoru Hoshitani that haunted her dreams.

The scent was clean and crisp, mixed with the faint smell of laundry detergent and a certain reassuring pheromone that was uniquely his.

That scent acted like the most effective sedative, instantly calming her frantic heartbeat.

Then, she heard his voice coming from above, light and soft, like a feather brushing past:

“If that were the case… how could I have abandoned my girlfriend and firmly chosen to be with you…”

In that voice, there was a trace of helplessness, and seemingly a trace of… an unspeakable, complex emotion.

Rika Kawasaki’s eyes widened instantly.

She jerked her head up, wanting to press him for more — to ask what those words meant, to ask if it was true, to ask —

But her mouth was gently covered by a soft, small hand.

Kaoru Hoshitani looked down at her in his arms.

Those little deer eyes that had been filled with tears a moment ago were now calm, yet they held a trace of a strange light she had never seen before.

He looked at her and said softly, word by word:

“I don’t want to hear you say anything. I only want to see… what you do.”