Muko quickly blushed and tried to hide her face with the magazine she was holding. She and her friends were sitting in a private portion of one of the restaurants in the Satou hotel.

Rainny just looked at Muko and started to smile like crazy. While Jija’s face was already red because she was trying to stop herself from laughing.

“Uhmm… can you please repeat … what you said?” Yuuki also asked with her eyes focused on Muko.

“Oh… please stop asking already. I am already regretting that I even opened up the topic to you guys,” Muko said as if she was about to cry.

Ah Sang couldn’t control herself any longer, so she just let out her long suppressed laughter.

“Ah Sang! You’re embarrassing me,” Muko whined.

“Sorry… sorry. I just couldn’t help it… You’re so… so…” Ah Sang uttered as she suddenly started laughing again.

Muko’s face quickly reddened and her eyes were already tearing up.

“Hey, why are you guys teasing my sister?” Hikaru suddenly asked as she slowly sat down beside Muko and stared at Muko’s friends with one of her eyebrows raised.

“Uh-oh… evil sister on the loose,” Syaira uttered with a low voice.

“Hey, I heard that. So why are you guys teasing Muko? You better have a nice explanation,” Hikaru said as she slowly started tapping her fingertips on the table in front of her while waiting for Muko’s friends to answer

“Well, you better ask her yourself. I know you will also die of laughing once you heard what she said,” Anam suddenly replied.

Hikaru then looked at her sister with a questioning look. “What are they talking about Muko?”

Muko looked at her friends as if asking for help. But they all turned their eyes into different directions. They weren’t prepared to lie to Hikaru. She was a very nice friend, but also a very enemy. So they didn’t want to mess around with her.

“I… I just asked them… “ Muko didn’t know how to continue what she was supposed to say.

“Asked them what?” Hikaru asked impatiently.

“I… I… I just asked them about… “ Muko started to continue again.

“About?” Hikaru was already very curious.

“I…” Muko uttered again.

“Oh Muko, please stop saying … I… I… Just continue with what you’re going to say,” Hikaru uttered with annoyance in her voice.

Muko looked at her sister’s reaction and just lowered her head. Then she slowly talked. “I… just asked them if it was all right if… Micky didn’t sleep with me… on our first night together.”

Hikaru’s facial expression quickly changed. Then she also laughed.

Muko looked at her sister, quite shocked. She didn’t expect Hikaru to laugh as well. “You’re laughing at me too?” she asked with a hurt expression on her face.

“Now do you understand why we were laughing?” Karin asked Hikaru.

Hikaru smiled, then nodded. “Yes, now I understand,” she answered with a light laugh.

“I should have just stayed quiet. Now all of you are making fun of me,” Muko uttered with a hurt look on her face. She was like a small child that was feeling lost and alone.

Hikaru gave her sister a loving look, then she quickly stood up and embraced her from behind. “Hey, don’t feel sad Muko. You know, I always love teasing you. But that doesn’t mean I love you any less.”

Muko sighed. Somehow Hikaru’s embrace made her feel better. “Hikaru, thank you. You always know how to make me happy.”

“That’s why I am your sister. Remember I promised that I will always take care of you… forever,” Hikaru uttered. But somehow the last word got stuck in . She was suddenly having difficulty saying it. Sadness quickly took over her heart, but she just brushed it aside and tried to act like normal. She then slowly released Muko from her embrace and just stood behind her, with her hands on Muko’s shoulders.

“So our little innocent Muko is finally a full grown woman. You’re already curious about … sleeping together,” Nitoome uttered with a wide grin on her face.

“Oh please … stop it already… Just pretend I didn’t say anything,” Muko begged.

Hikaru laughed again. “Hey enough with the teasing! Let’s just focus on the question … shall we?” she said with a grin as well.

“Oh yes… let’s focus on the million dollar question…. What is wrong with your husband Muko? Is he numb or just a saint?” Alexa said with weird expression on her face. Somehow she couldn’t believe that a man could actually pass the chance to sleep with someone so beautiful like Muko.

Kumiko laughed continuously before finally speaking what was on her mind. “Maybe he’s just waiting for the perfect timing,” she uttered with a giggle.

“Perfect timing? What could be more perfect than your very first night as husband and wife? Maybe he’s gay or something,” Kumiko uttered with irritation.

“Gay? I don’t think so. I have seen the way he looks at Muko. There is certainly the spark of desire in his eyes whenever he looks at her. So that is totally out of the possible answers,” Tantan suddenly voiced out.

“Then what? Can you say guys give a possible reason why he didn’t take the chance to sleep with Muko?” Ah Sang asked her friends.

Muko just continued to stare at her friends, unable to believe what she was hearing. They were all discussing something so personal to her… in a way like they were discussing a common topic. Again she felt so embarrassed.

“Maybe he was just tired?” Jija uttered with uncertainty. She was also unsure if what she said was true.

Eve let out a laugh. “You can make a man work out in a gym for days and then make him see a beautiful woman in bed… and he will surely forget about being tired.”

Muko felt a shiver as she heard what Eve said. She just covered her face as if to hide herself from the humiliating situation she was in.

“You know Eve has a point. So being tired is out of the possible answers as well,” Nitoome said again.

“Maybe… he’s planning to keep her as a until their marriage is finally over. We all know their marriage is just an arrangement. So maybe he’s thinking he has no right to touch her,” Anam suddenly blurted out.

Yuuki and the others exchanged glances with each other. Somehow what Anam made more sense and was more believable.

Hikaru looked at Muko’s friends. She also thought about that possibility. But she just didn’t want to voice it out.

“If he is really planning to do that…. then I salute him. He is surely one extra ordinary man,” Rainny uttered.

“Oh, I can’t believe it. He’s really like that? I mean…. he’s a man. And I actually thought all men were wolves. The first chance they get to ravage on something … they immediately do it,” Karin said with a smirk on her face.

“God, Karin. What a word! ‘Ravage’? Are you comparing Muko to a meat now?” Syaira said as she shook her head in disapproval of what her friend said.

“Ooppss… Sorry. I went over board again. I didn’t think about what I was saying. Sorry,” Karin said apologetically.

“But honestly, I also have the feeling that maybe Micky is really thinking of leaving Muko alone as is. I believe he’s quite a respectable man. So I think he’s really planning of not sleeping with her until they can finally separate ways. At least that way, they can easily move on without any strange attachments involved,” Ah Sang suddenly said with a sigh. She didn’t like the idea that was in her head. She wants Muko to stay with Micky forever. For her, they looked so good together. And she also had the feeling that he would make a perfect husband for her friend. She was really hoping that their arranged marriage would somehow turn into a more serious one, for Muko’s sake. She knew her friend had already fallen for Micky. And seeing her heart broken because of him was unbearable for her.

Muko’s heart sank deeper and deeper into a pit of loneliness and sadness, while listening quietly to her friends’ opinions. Somehow she wanted to cry. So she was really just a simple arrangement for Micky. She was somehow hoping that the look he was giving her had a different meaning. She was somehow hoping that the feeling of attraction that they both had for each other was strong enough to bind them together. But she was wrong… She was just another contract that he had signed and was planning to honor until it finally expired.

Now she knew ‘like’ was very different from ‘love’.