Fifty-seven days until your boyfriend, Kaoru Hoshitani, is taken.
Aina Saiten did not know if it was just her imagination, but these past few days, she kept feeling that Kaoru seemed to love her more than before.
Of course, Kaoru had loved her before too, but it had been a calm, steady kind of love.
Like breakfast every morning, like a hug at night, like countless days and nights spent together.
But these past few days, his love felt as if something had suddenly been added to it, making it so intense it almost overflowed.
Even she, the one receiving it, felt a little overwhelmed… and faintly uneasy.
Every morning, before the alarm even rang, while the sky outside was still dim, Kaoru would quietly get up from beside her.
He would busy himself in the kitchen, preparing a balanced breakfast for her, along with a delicate bento for lunch.
Eggs cooked just right, vegetables cut into cute shapes, and all her favorite side dishes.
After finishing everything, he would return to the bedroom, sit gently by the bed, then lean down and wake her with a soft morning kiss.
The kiss would fall on her forehead, her eyes, her nose, and finally her lips.
Soft, lingering, carrying the fresh scent unique to the morning.
Aina Saiten would open her eyes in that kiss, and the first thing she would see was Kaoru’s smiling face.
In those clear, deer-like eyes of his, her reflection was completely reflected.
After she finished breakfast and changed clothes, ready to head out, Kaoru would stand in front of her and carefully help her straighten her tie.
His movements were focused and gentle, as if he were completing something extremely important.
Afterward, he would step back, look her up and down, nod in satisfaction, and place another kiss on her lips.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Mm, I’m off.”
Then, at the foyer, she would turn back and see him standing there, watching her leave.
When she returned from work and pushed open the door, Kaoru would already be waiting at the foyer.
He would take her briefcase, hand her slippers, and give her a warm hug.
On the dining table, a rich spread of dishes would already be laid out, steaming and fragrant.
After dinner, Kaoru would accompany her to the gym.
He would change into a simple workout outfit, holding her water bottle and towel, sitting quietly to the side as he watched her exercise.
His gaze followed her the entire time, carrying an almost reverent focus.
It warmed Aina Saiten’s heart, but also brought her a bit of trouble.
Whenever Kaoru appeared at the gym, the women who had been focused on their workouts would inevitably have their attention drawn to him.
It was instinctive, uncontrollable. After all, his face would be the center of attention anywhere.
In just these three days, Aina Saiten had personally witnessed no fewer than ten women, clearly regulars at the gym, directly approach her boyfriend right in front of her.
These women were tall and strong, their tan skin covered in signs of training. It was obvious they were experienced gym-goers.
They would walk up to Kaoru, completely ignoring Aina as if she did not exist, and strike up conversations directly.
“Hey, handsome, working out alone? Want to train together?”
“You’ve got such a great figure. Do you practice yoga? I’m actually a yoga instructor…”
“Want to exchange Line contacts? We can work out together sometime.”
Every time, Aina felt a surge of anger rush to her head.
Several times she wanted to rush over and tell them, “He’s my boyfriend!” but each time, Kaoru gently held her wrist.
He would pull her slightly back, then look up at those women with his clear, innocent eyes, his tone cold and distant.
“Sorry, I already have a girlfriend.”
His attitude was so firm, so unyielding, that those women could only leave awkwardly.
Aina watched, feeling both sweet and sour.
Sweet, because of how decisively he rejected them.
Sour, because… what gave those women the confidence to flirt with her boyfriend so boldly?
What she did not know was that one time, when Kaoru went to the restroom at the gym, he ran into one of those women outside.
That woman was even taller and more muscular than Rika Kawasaki, like a small mountain of muscle.
Seeing he was alone, she blocked his path and forced him into a corner, looking down at him from above.
“Pretty boy, what’s so good about your weak girlfriend?”
Her voice was rough, filled with domineering certainty.
“Why not come out with me? I’ll show you what a real woman is like.”
If it had been the old Kaoru, he might have trembled, unsure how to respond. He might have been afraid, at a loss, letting the woman push him around.
But he was no longer the same Kaoru.
He did not panic. He did not feel fear.
He simply raised his head, looked calmly at the muscular woman, then took out his mobile phone and dialed the police right in front of her.
Then he looked at her and said seriously,
“If you don’t leave, I will have the police handle this. This is a public place. There are surveillance cameras.”
The woman froze for a few seconds, her expression shifting from disdain to annoyance.
She clicked her tongue, muttered “No fun,” and turned to leave.
Kaoru put away his phone, leaned against the wall, and let out a long breath.
He did not know when he had learned this—how to refuse firmly, how to use rules and the law to protect himself.
Maybe it was after that yellow-haired woman forced him again and again.
Maybe it was after those moments of helpless despair.
He had finally understood something:
For certain people, weakness and fear only made them more reckless.
Of course, he had never told Aina any of this.
His coming to the gym with his girlfriend was, in the end, also for himself.
If Aina had satisfied him before, he would not have endured for so long.
The appearance of that yellow-haired woman, though a disaster, made him realize certain truths about his own body—those deeply hidden desires and needs he had never faced.
So supervising Aina’s workouts also served as motivation for her.
And he understood that one should not exhaust a resource completely.
So these past few nights, he had forced himself to endure, not clinging to Aina like before, letting her properly recover.
Even though he knew he might have to endure for at least one month, for their future happiness, he had to persist.
Aina, however, did not know that the reason Kaoru seemed to love her so deeply these days was actually because of his guilt after cheating, and because only after encountering a bad woman did he realize that she was the one who treated him best.
She only felt that her life was already close to perfect.
In her career, she had switched jobs to Quansheng, and her income had multiplied several times, with a bright future ahead.
In love, she had the best boyfriend in the world, and Kaoru seemed to love her more and more.
She had already decided to formally put proposing to Kaoru on her schedule and had begun looking for a ring.
Her plan was:
First, propose to Kaoru, to prevent him from feeling insecure.
Then wait one year, until her job stabilized and she saved some money, before holding the wedding, going on a honeymoon, and officially becoming husband and wife.
She had even begun imagining the scene in her mind—
She would be wearing a white suit, standing in the sunlight, smiling at Kaoru.
And Kaoru would be wearing a wedding dress, walking step by step toward him, toward their future.
But could her beautiful plan really come true?
That afternoon, Aina Saiten was busy at the company.
She stood outside an office cubicle, going over some data with a subordinate.
People came and went in the office.
The sound of typing, phone calls, and quiet conversations blended into a familiar background noise.
Suddenly, she sensed a subtle change in the atmosphere.
The previously noisy background gradually quieted down.
The typing stopped, the phone calls lowered, and the quiet conversations seemed to be cut off abruptly.
It was as if everyone had stopped what they were doing and, without prior agreement, turned to look in the same direction.
Aina found it strange.
She stopped talking with her subordinate, raised her head, and followed everyone’s gaze—
She saw Chika.
The young woman in a light gray suit was walking from the other end of the corridor, her steps elegant and composed.
She had her hair tied in a neat ponytail today, revealing a smooth forehead and delicate features.
She seemed to have just returned from outside, still holding a folder in her hand.
Aina instinctively wanted to greet her—
“Junior Chika, over here—”
But just as she was about to speak, her gaze fell behind Chika.
There was someone else following her.
A man.
A man wearing a perfectly tailored black suit.
The suit outlined his slender, graceful figure perfectly.
His waist was sharply fitted, his trouser legs straight, his leather shoes polished.
His hair was carefully styled, revealing a face that was unforgettable at a glance.
“Kaoru…”
Her voice squeezed out of her throat with difficulty, trembling with disbelief and deep confusion.
“Why are you here?”