Cold sweats, fast beating heart beat and a thumping head were felt as Daiki entered a very familiar interior where he practically grew up in - Takizaki Corporation’s Main Head Office. He took a deep breath before clutching a USB stick in his hand and felt the urge to loosen his tie to feel a bit less suffocated.

“I want to see Mr Chinen Yuri, please”, He leaned over the reception desk and saw an uninterested woman, maybe aged 30s looking at her computer screen.

“Do you have an appointm—…”, Her sentence was cut short when she turned her head towards the source of the voice and saw Daiki’s complexion. It was obvious that she recognised him instantly as her voice suddenly mellowed, surprised by the boy’s presence. “M-Mr Arioka. It’s nice to see you back”, she politely said and by now, all the employees around bowed at his direction. They all looked at him with utmost respect, looking at one of the heirs for inheriting the whole company. “I’ll quickly tell him you’re here”

“Please tell him I’m here as a client”

—

Only a few minutes had passed, and the woman led him to Yuri’s office. However, before he could enter a set of double doors leading to Chinen's lair, he heard a familiar calming voice, surprised by his sudden visit, “Dai-chan?”, Amu looked twice to confirm that he was indeed the guy she fancies, “Why are you here?”.

The woman rolled her eyes after hearing Amu call Daiki by a nickname, as if close to the latter. “Did she just call him ‘Dai-chan’? Who exactly is this girl?”, she thought and positioned herself almost in between Amu and Daiki.

“Ms Kitagawa, it’s ‘Mr Arioka' to you…”, the woman moaned at Amu, as if marking her territory. She felt victorious when she saw the girl look down slightly out of respect to her senior. The receptionist then flipped her hair from her shoulder, obvious that she’s trying to impress the young man to her left. She was about to say something obnoxious when Daiki suddenly took Amu’s hand and faced the dumbfounded girl.

“My girlfriend can call me by any name she wants” Daiki gave off a smile and squeezed Amu’s hand tightly. He then pulled Amu closer and saw the clueless woman frozen from her place. Amu, on the other hand felt a block on , feeling Daiki’s warm hand on hers. Daiki’s voice saying ‘girlfriend’ just lingered through her mind and couldn’t help but to blush in the process.

“I-I…”, the woman struggled to reply. She looked at Daiki then to Amu then back to the young man in a well-built suit, feeling foolish for embarrassing herself.

“You can go back now. Amu-chan can guide me to Chinen”, Daiki ordered and soon, saw the fading figure of the receptionist.

—

“Well, that was fun”, Daiki smirked and refused to release his tight hold on Amu’s hand. He turned to face the girl and saw her eyeing their hands still linked tightly together. “Thank God you’re here. I now feel less nervous”, he gave off a big sigh of relief while cupping Amu’s blushing face. His thumb softly caressed her plump cheek and couldn’t help but think how lucky he is to have someone with the ability to ease his nervousness just by her mere presence.

“You wanted to speak to Chinen-kun?”, Amu finally had the chance to cool off and questioned Daiki’s visit to her boss’ office.

“I do… but also…” Daiki took a slight pause before leaning in closer towards Amu’s left ear, “I wanted to see you”, Amu heard him say, enough to make a shiver travel down her spine. Almost every day, Daiki teases her, but she can’t seem to shake off and get used to his random cheesy comments. Daiki, on the other hand, just felt himself become calm and relaxed knowing that Amu will be there. The innocent look on Amu’s face is enough to settle his nerves down.

“I-I uhm…” Amu tried her best to stay composed before Daiki leaned in closer to her face. His face inched closer and tilted his head, looking directly at Amu’s lips. Daiki fought the urge to steal a kiss from her, but his senses are just too much for him to hinder…

However…

“Ehem…” Chinen’s office door suddenly popped open and the owner of the room appeared out of nowhere. The man in a suit looked at the couple peculiarly. Daiki frowned at his rival while Amu quickly turned around to hide her pink cheeks. The older boy huffed once, annoyed that he didn’t get his precious ‘score’ from Amu and was disturbed by his own rival. “If you don’t mind, please refrain from flirting with my assistant in front of my office, Mr Arioka”, Chinen said sarcastically, half of his tone mocking the older one’s actions.

“It’s nice to see you too, Chii” Daiki greeted while tucking both of his hands in his pockets. Suddenly, his nervousness disappeared after seeing Yuri, his childhood friend - also his rival. Just like old times, adrenaline pumped through their veins as if ready for some competition.

“Did you just come here to check up on Amu-chan?” Chinen scoffed before pulling Amu to his side. The younger boy tried to push his rival’s patience by annoying the latter - taking the girl he cares about beside him. “I can assure you, Amu-chan is in good hands”, with this action, Daiki felt his eye twitch in annoyance and pulled Amu back to his arms. He saw this as Chinen’s declaration of war. The poor girl felt the tension in the air and tried her best to calm the two boys down.

“I actually came here for a business proposal”, Daiki finally informed him of the purpose of his visit, “But now that I see you hitting on my girlfriend, I have two reasons for coming”

Daiki watched the younger boy smirk and soon welcomed him inside his office. “Amu-chan, just give us a few minutes”, Chinen politely said before seeing the girl nod in agreement.

—

“So… what’s this business proposal about?” Chinen curiously asked and watched the boy insert his USB in his laptop. They waited a few minutes and Daiki clicked on the documents he worked on for hours just the night before.

He gestured Chinen to read through almost 20-pages worth of work and patiently waited for the young man to finish. Yuri squinted his eyes towards the screen and felt himself frown. It was obvious that Daiki worked on this intensively. Why is he so desperate to free himself from Takizaki Corporation?

After reading almost two dozen of pages of Daiki’s work, Chinen closed his laptop shut and took a deep breath, enough to make his rival sigh in nervousness. “This is…”, he started. Tension built up in the room as Daiki waited for his comment, “This may be possible”

“REALLY???!!” Daiki couldn’t help but hop in excitement. He grabbed his rival’s arm and gripped it tightly and like a little kid, he smiled like he had received a treat. “Does this mean you agree to go along with it?”

“I’ll agree to it in one condition”, With a serious expression, Chinen stood up from his seat and faced Daiki fully, “I know you’re doing this