"Good morning, Hiromi," he said, deliberately intimate, offering the rose in a feigned gentle tone. "This flower is just like you in the morning dewradiant and lovely. Please accept my feelings."
The cheesy lines and the cheap rose turned Hiromi's stomach. A clammy, heavy gloom settled over her heart. A few early coworkers glanced overcurious, sympathetic, or detachedwhich only made it harder to breathe.
~~~
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Chapter 962: Crazy Co Worker and Rei Ao is Here!
Kato Hiromi didn't take the flowershe didn't even look at it. She drew a deep breath and forced herself to stay calm, then said in the most businesslike, emotionless tone she could manage:
"Oda-san, I believe I've made myself very clear, and more than once. I'm not going to accept your confessionnot now, not ever. Also, we are only coworkers. We're not nearly familiar enough for you to call me by my given name, so please address me as Kato-san from now on."
She paused, hardened her tone, and delivered the line she'd prepared. "And as I've already said, I have a boyfriend, and our relationship is stable. Please stop doing things that can be misconstrued."
But Oda Toshita seemed immune to rejection. He even let out a derisive chuckle, wearing an obnoxious, all-seeing confidence on his face.
"Hiromi, drop the act, will you? Like I wouldn't know whether you have a boyfriend." He stepped closer, lowered his voice, and spoke in a creepily leering tone. "Heh, I've been watching you for a long time. In the years you've worked here, aside from your little sister dropping things off, what man has ever come to pick you up after work? You say you have a boyfriend? Yeah rightwho are you trying to fool? You're obviously single. You just have high standards and look down on ordinary guys."
That "I've got you all figured out" look sent a wave of disgust through Hiromi. This presumptuous surveillance and relentless pestering was already outright harassment.
She fought the urge to smash her folder into his face and fixed him with a long, level lookcold, with the weight of a final warning. "Sorry, Oda-san, your 'observations' are inaccurate. I've already told my boyfriend about your harassment, and he's furious. He'll be picking me up after work today. This is your last warning: stop harassing me, or deal with the consequences."
"What? He's coming today?" Oda was clearly taken aback. The smug smile froze, then he frowned, eyes full of doubt and disdain. "Hmph, fine! I'll be here to see what kind of 'mystery boyfriend' he is. Don't you dare try the old 'overtime' or 'last-minute emergency' excuse."
Grudgingly, he withdrew the rose, muttered "such a show," and went back to his deskthough his eyes kept darting her way, clearly planning to verify it at quitting time.
Watching him leave, Hiromi exhaled in reliefthen her heart leapt right back into her throat. Rei Ao will he really come today? Someone like himwould he forget something this trivial? Or change his mind at the last minute? If he didn't show, after all she'd said, how much worse would the pestering be tomorrow?
The whole day, Hiromi was on edge, barely getting anything done. Oda's sickening gaze crawled over her like maggots on bone, sweeping past now and then and making her squirm in her seat.
Time crept by in a mix of anxiety and hopeuntil finally, quitting time!
Hiromi packed up right on the dot and hurried toward the doors. Her heart pounded. She both longed to see that familiar figure immediately and dreaded an empty scene.
And of course, what she feared came first. She had barely stepped outside when that clinging voice sounded behind her.
"Hiromi, what's the rush? Aren't you waiting for your boyfriend?" Oda had, predictably, followed her out, wearing a taunting, spectator's grin. "So where is he? Stuck in traffic? Or is it that he doesn't exist?"
Hiromi ignored the sneers and scanned the street, franticnothing. Her heart sank bit by bit, her face darkening with nerves and disappointment. Had he actually forgotten? Or decided it was too tedious to bother?
Seeing her silent and searching with an ugly expression, Oda felt even more certain she was bluffing. He grinned triumphantly, grew bolder, and stepped in closer. "Heh, nothing to say now, huh? I knew you were lying."
Her cheeks, flushed with anger and embarrassment, looked especially enticing in the sunset, stoking his lechery. "Since you don't have a boyfriend either, you must be lonely after being single so long, right? Why not be my girlfriend?"
He started toward her. Staying composed, Hiromi pulled out her phone and dialed the police. "Stop!"
Hearing the emergency call, Oda panicked instantly.
Just thenVROOOOM!
A deep, muscular engine roar rolled in, closing fast like a beast's bellow, tearing through the after-work din. The sound reeked of money and power, and every head at the entrance snapped around.
At the end of the street, a dark-blue supercarsleek lines, an aggressive silhouette, paint gleaming with expensive luster in the sunsetshot toward them like a bolt of blue lightning. It threaded between cars with surgical precision, then, with a gorgeous, domineering slide, came to a steady stop right in front of Hiromi and Oda. The tires sang a soft, satisfying squeal against the asphalt.
The scissor doors lifted like an eagle's wings, drawing every eye. A beat later, a figure stepped out of the driver's seat, unhurried.
He wore a well-cut, label-less but exquisitely made casual suit that flattered his tall, straight frame. His looks were almost unreal, features chiseled and deep.
His eyes were calm and unreadable, yet seemed to hold starry seas withinhard to look at directly. He casually smoothed the stray hair at his brow, the motion natural yet carrying an indescribable nobility and pressure.
"!!"
Delight flashed in Hiromi's eyes. Who else could it be but Rei Ao?
Chapter 963: Annoying Fly
"Rei Ao-kun!"
Seeing who it was, Kato Hiromi couldn't help blurting it outher voice full of stunned delight and palpable relief.
Looking at the man before her, as if he'd stepped off a fashion magazine cover, her heart hammered so hard it felt like it might jump out of her chest. He was nothing like the casually dressed Rei Ao she usually saw.
That stark contrastplus the overwhelming aura he was giving offmade Hiromi panic for a second, two spots of color blooming on her cheeks.
Rei Ao walked straight up to her as if no one else existed, his gaze settling on her face with gentle warmth. He ignored the shocked, envious, and curious stares around them. Some people were gawking at how expensive his supercar was; others were jealous that Hiromi had such a handsome, well-off boyfriend; and of course there were those who simply resented her.
Rei Ao disregarded them all. He reached out, naturally tucking a strand of hairblown loose by the car's slipstreambehind her ear. His fingertips brushed her slightly hot earlobe, sending a tiny shiver through her.
His movements were tender and intimate; his voice carried just the right touch of pampering.
"Hiromi, you look surprised. Did you forget I said I'd pick you up today?"
"Uh" His touch and words made her heart skip several beats. Her mind went blank, but what little reason she had left told her he'd slipped perfectly into the boyfriend role. Flushing even redder, she hurried to follow his lead.
"N-No, I didn't forget! I just just didn't expect you to show up like this"
She pointed at the ridiculously cool supercar. It had genuinely stunned her. She'd thought he would just show up like a normal pretend boyfriend to walk her outshe hadn't expected an entrance like this. Impeccable clothes, effortless poise, and that flashy cartextbook tall-rich-and-handsome.
Rei Ao smiled lightly, the expression like a spring breeze skimming an icy lakelazy and indulgent.
"Think it's a bit too high-profile? Sorry, I just happened to take this one out today. If you don't like it, I'll bring something more low-key next time."
He sounded as casual as if he were discussing what to eat for dinner.
"No! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Off to the side, Oda Toshita finally snapped out of his shock and jealousy. His face went chalk white, then flushed crimson with humiliation and rage. He couldn't accept what he was seeing. How could Hiromi actually have a boyfriendand one who crushed him in looks, presence, and wealth on every front?
It had to be fake.
Clinging to that straw, he jabbed a finger at Rei Ao and the car, shrilling, "It's a scam! All of it! Hiromi, you really went all out just to turn me down, huh? Where'd you hire this actor? And the carrented, right? Bet the day rate isn't cheap. Why bother!"
He tried to paint the worst motives he could think of to prop up his pitiful pride.
Only then did Rei Ao seem to notice the noisy fly nearby. He frowned, clicked his tongue, and slowly turned his head. The eyes that had just looked at Hiromi with warmth went glacial in an instantSiberian permafrost, staring straight at Oda.
"Huh. Why do I hear an annoying fly buzzing around?"
He didn't raise his voice, yet it carried a heavy, invisible pressure. That formless aura descended like solid ice, enveloping Oda in a heartbeat.
"!!"
Locked in that gaze, Oda felt a chill shoot from his soles to his crown. Those eyes were terrifyingnothing like a human's. More like some god on high surveying an ant.
Under that look, all his bravado and doubts evaporated. His knees buckled, and with a thud he collapsed, trembling so hard his teeth chattered.
Rei Ao didn't spare the crumpled mess on the ground another glance. Instead, he turned back to Hiromi.
"Hiromi, I hear there's a rule-ignorant fly at your company that pesters you every daythis non-recyclable trash lying here, right?"
His tone returned to gentle, but the content brooked no argument and dripped with disdain.
Blanketed by Rei Ao's suffocating presence, Hiromi felt both safe and a little scared. She nodded meekly, voice barely more than a whisper.
"Y-Yes that's him. Oda Toshita."
"Good."
Rei Ao clapped lightlyan elegant gesture, yet as indifferent as if he were deciding the man's fate.
"I didn't expect anyone to be dumb enough to covet someone who belongs to me."
He walked over, step by step, to the quaking Oda, looking down at him with a cold, contemptuous gazeas if at garbage. His tall frame blocked the sunset, casting a wide, despairing shadow over Oda.
"Looks like life's been too comfortable. You were itching for a little thrill?"
His voice was flat, but the chill in it was unmistakable.
Oda's courage shattered. Tears and snot streamed down as he babbled for mercy.
"I-I'm sorry! I was wrong! I really was! I didn't knowdidn't know Hiromi-san was yours! Please, spare meI won't do it again. I'll leaveright now!"
Rei Ao hadn't even done anything; his aura alone had gutted the man. It wasn't that Oda wanted to be this patheticit was fear from the marrow out, turning his legs to jelly.
Even his pleading was pure instinct. He himself didn't understand why, as a grown man, he became so disgraceful in front of Rei Ao.
~~~
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Chapter 964: Disappear or Die...
Oda Toshita dropped to his knees at once, begging for mercy.
But Rei Ao clearly had no intention of letting him off so easily. He could hear the man's inner voice as plain as daythe malice hadn't faded at all. For scum who only learn their lesson when they're staring at the coffin, you have to make it cut to the bone.
Under the frightened, shocked, and conflicted stares of everyone around, Rei Ao slowly lifted his footand with a force that looked casual yet was impossible to resist, he stomped on Oda's head, grinding his face hard into the cold, rough concrete.
"Ugh!"
Oda let out a muffled groan of pain. His glasses shattered. His cheek was scraped raw. Blood, mixed with dust, ran down his facea sorry sight.
Looking down from on high, Rei Ao said, "If you don't want to mysteriously disappear one daypoured into a concrete pile and sunk at the bottom of Tokyo Bay to feed the fishyou'd better behave and disappear from Hiromi's sight for good. Do you understand?"
His voice cut through the air like a cold wind from hell, every word reaching Oda and everyone present. That brazen, yakuza-style threatbacked by Rei Ao's unquestionable aura and the very real pressure of his footshattered the last of Oda's defenses. Death had never felt so close.
A rank stench rose from his crotchhe'd wet himself. He curled up, trembling, unable even to form words of supplication, wheezing like a broken bellows.
Seeing this, a flicker of boredom crossed Rei Ao's eyes. Dealing with this kind of trash just dirtied his shoes. He drew his foot back and, as if he'd stepped in something filthy, lightly scraped it on the ground.
Then he ignored the reeking "garbage" on the pavement, turned, slipped an arm around the still-stunned Kato Hiromi's shoulders, and flipped back to gentle mode.
"Come on, Hiromi. I'll take you to get something to calm your nerves."
Hiromi was already dazed by the whirlwind of events, her brain basically crashed. Half held by Rei Ao, she let herself be led toward the flashy supercar.
After opening the passenger door and seeing her safely in, Rei Ao seemed to remember something. He turned his head toward the still-shaking Oda and, in a voice not loud but clear enough for all to hear, added offhandedly:
"Oh, right. I forgot to mentionyou're fired. As it happens, I currently hold all the shares in this company. From now on, don't let me see you within a kilometer of Hiromi. Otherwise, what I said just now won't be a joke."
With that, he slid into the driver's seat. The scissor door lowered, cutting off every outside gaze. The dark-blue supercar let out a deep, powerful growl, then shot into traffic like an arrow and vanished at the end of the streetleaving a cluster of dumbfounded coworkers at the entrance, and Oda sprawled on the ground, ashen and reeking.
Several seconds ticked by before Oda jolted as if waking from a nightmare.
"Aaaah!!!"
A cry of despair tore out of him. He had lost all face. Deep hatred welled in his eyeswhen
Riiiing!
His phone shrilled. Puzzled, he fished it out: the caller ID showed the HR department.
