“How did you find me?” Ryosuke walked two steps ahead of the girl he was talking to while making sure that she’s still within his peripheral view. Satoko followed her ‘fiancé’s’ tracks towards the nearest park, only a few blocks away from the boy's apartment. After reaching one of the park benches, Ryosuke stopped and sat down, and soon, he saw Satoko follow his actions and sat right next to him - leaving only and hand length gap between them. 

Noticing the girl staying quiet, Ryosuke repeated his question. He already knows the answer to this, but he wants to hear it from Satoko herself to assess how bad his situation is. Before hearing Satoko’s response, his mind reminisced Rio’s face after being informed that he has a fiancé. He couldn’t keep Rio’s saddened and disappointed expression off his mind. 

“Everyone is looking for you” Satoko finally spoke, her words sounded informative with a tint of both feeling betrayed and jealous after learning that a girl is living with her own fiancé, “Do you really think your family will give you up just like that and allow you to live with a girl? Your parents, Daiki’s parents and even Chinen-kun hired private investigators to track where you are. What you did is irresponsible. You kept everyone hanging… especially me…”, the girl paused for a while before taking a deep breath. She turned towards Ryosuke and made him face her fully, “I missed you”

Ryosuke looked up and gazed at her slightly teary eyes. He hates seeing girls cry but he knows for a fact that he must push through. He’s tired of pretending something he’s not, or in this case, he’s tired of pretending he’s in love with the girl his parents paired him up with. “Satoko, we need to stop this. This arranged marriage is a mistake. We both know we never loved each other. I'm tired pretending”

“You’re saying YOU never loved me… but I did. I love you” The poor girl confessed with random sniffles in between her words. It’s not long when Ryosuke saw tears running down her face. The girl sobbed but Ryosuke couldn’t do anything to comfort her.

“I’m sorry…” This is the only thing he could say. Feeling helpless yet determined on his decision, he stood up and attempted to leave. However, before he could even take a step, Satoko threw herself at him and hugged the boy from behind. She pulled Ryosuke ever so tightly and buried her face on his back whilst tears continued to flow down her face, damping Ryosuke’s shirt in the process.

“Is it because of her?”, the boy heard her ask - her voice muffled from behind. Instantly, Ryosuke knew who she was referring to. Satoko couldn’t forget how the boy she loves looked at Rio earlier, as if he was heartbroken after seeing the girl's saddened face – like he didn’t want to ever see her sad.

Satoko waited for him to answer. He didn’t utter a word, but she felt a slight movement from his head which seems to be a nod of confirmation. She felt his hands slowly freeing himself from her hug before walking away.

“Ryosuke!” She called out, her voice cracked at first, but her tone was firm, “You know I’m not going to give you up that easy.”

---------

Ryosuke took a deep breath before entering his apartment door. “How can I fix this?”, he mumbled to himself and wished that everything is not as complicated as they are now. He placed his hands in the pockets of his jacket and dragged both his feet towards the living room. His body then collapsed on the nearest sofa, with his head laid back on the soft back rest of his seat. He closed his eyes before giving off another sigh. It was then when he heard small footsteps not so far away and immediately, he tilted his head forward toward the sound.

“Sorry… I just went to get myself a glass of water” Knowing that she might’ve disturbed his thoughts, Rio said this silently. She didn’t move from her place and looked down to the glass of water she was holding, her hands trembled remembering the earlier event when Ryosuke and his so-called ‘fiancé’ left the apartment together.

“About earlier… I—", Ryosuke stood up and took a step forward. He tried his best to gather his thoughts and explain but the girl looked reserved. Before he can even finish his sentence, Rio already cut him off.

“You don’t have to explain. As previously agreed, Amu and I are only here temporarily. We’ll be out of your way before you know it” Rio started, still avoiding eye contact. It was obvious even for Ryosuke that she’s trying her best to hold off tears. She might be dense for everything else, but she cannot deny the fact that she felt her heart shatter into a million pieces after knowing Ryosuke is engaged to be married, “By the way, congratulations on your engagement”, she faked a smile before heading back to her bedroom, leaving Ryosuke frozen and dumbfounded.

—------

It’s finally Monday and Amu followed one woman who appears to be the receptionist lead the way to her new ‘boss’’ office. “Mr Chinen is expecting you” She heard her say with a smile before pushing the double door open, written across the name plate is the name ‘Chinen Yuri’. She fixed her attire after entering the said room, her heart raced as she walked towards the centre. She looked around and admired a well-lit office, sized almost as big as her ground floor apartment. It’s definitely too big just for one person. To her left was a small tea room and adjacent to it is what appears to be a shower room. If it wasn’t for the big desk at the far end of the room, you wouldn’t think it was an office at all. 

Amu finally reached a familiar handsome man, typing something on his computer. She eyed the latter frowning at his laptop screen with disarrayed paperworks on his desk and crumpled sheets of paper around the floor. Amu felt the need to clear for her presence to be noticed. “Excuse me?,” she said politely and saw the boy look up. 

“Ah! Kitagawa-san” Almost immediately, the frown on his face faded after seeing a friendly face in his office. He left off a few coughs and stood up to greet the girl, “You have to excuse me, I had to fill in for someone and loads of deadlines to catch,” he explained and smiled weakly at her. Amu couldn’t help but notice his pale face, dark circles underneath his eyes and his crooked tie - obvious that he is sleep deprived and did not have much time to fix himself this morning. 

“K-Kitagawa-san?” Chinen looked at her in worry, noticing how she fell silent for awhile. Again, he let out a set of coughs and some random sniffles.

“Ah.. Don’t worry about me. I’m here to help out as much as I can” Amu said assertively, “Can I do anything for you on my first day? I don’t have much experience but any request you want, I’ll try my best to keep up!”

Chinen chucked to see how enthusiastic she was. He then took a few steps forward, leaving only a few centimetres away from Amu, “Then if you don’t mind, my first request is for you to allow me to call you ‘Amu-chan’”. 

“Eh?” Amu was taken aback by this sudden request. She literally just met him a few days ago but it was like they knew each other for a long time. Chinen extended his right hand and watched Amu take it as a friendly gesture - a handshake, a sign that Amu agreed for him to call her by her first name. 

—

“You’ll have to excuse me, Amu-chan. I have back to back meetings this morning. Just make yourself feel comfortable here. I’ll be back by noon” Chinen looked at the ticking clock hanging on his office wall and quickly grabbed a folder from his desk. He was about to run towards the door when Amu hindered him in doing so. 

“Sorry boss, I just need to fix this” Being a perfectionist, Amu was itching to fix Chinen’s crooked tie since the moment she saw him. She innocently fixed her boss’ attire without noticing Chinen’s eyes staring directly at her. 

“I can see why you chose to live with this girl, Dai-chan.” Chinen thought to himself, remembering Daiki for being very private about his personal life, but for some reason, he allowed Amu to live with him. He looked at Amu in awe and finally realised why: she’s kind, caring and she’s like a breath of fresh air to anyone. 

—

“Do you want me to do anything while you’re gone? I can help out with some stuff” Amu suggested. It’s only 10am and he said he’ll be back by “noon”, that means she has at least two hours of nothing to do? Why exactly did h