"More tea please," Alice knocked her mug obnoxiously on the desk.
"This is my office. Stop talking like you own the place…"
A very tired looking Hayama refilled her mug with freshly brewed cinnamon tea.
"I don't care," she shrugged. "You're the host, so host."
"Why didn't you bring your damn aide? He's the only one who can handle all your neediness."
"Because Ryo can't hear us discuss his surprise party. All those years sniffing powders finally got to your head, hmm?"
"Shut the fuck up," he snorted. "Also, I got your invitation. And I already said yes. Why did you feel the need to come all this way and ask me again in person?"
"Can't I just come have some delicious tea and catch up with my dear old friend?"
Hayama looked at the smile plastered to her face and sighed.
"What happened this time…"
"Honestly… I don't know. Ryo's been weird lately. Like he's angry, but not his usual kind of angry. He keeps making excuses not to spend time with me outside of work. We haven't even had a shokugeki in over a week."
Hayama furrowed his brows. He knew in their world, this was a giant red flag.
"What did he do exactly?"
"Never mind. Forget it. Maybe he's just be having a bad time," Alice didn't want to think about what happened that night. "I don't know, should just cancel the party."
"Well you've already planned it so there's no sense in canceling it now. Besides, he's been doing nothing but work lately. I think he'd like having everyone together."
"I guess so. I just hope he has a good time."
"I think that'd mean a lot to him."
"I hope so."
His friend wasn't exactly an expert at expressing affection, but everyone knew his mistress meant the world to him. Having watched them all these years, Hayama knew that Alice Nakiri was the one thing keeping the ruthless beast within him from being unleashed and taking over his life. Despite appearances, Ryo needed Alice Nakiri even more than she needed him.
"Um Akira-kun," a gentle voice called from outside. Hayama's wife Akiko peeked her head into the office.
"I just remembered. We have cookies left from our class demo. Would Alice like some?"
"No-" "Yes!"
Hayama rolled his eyes at his unsolicited visitor, who was grinning like a child.
Akiko delivered a tray of ginger spice cookies and left quickly after kissing her husband on the cheek.
Alice had to admit, Hayama pretty did well for himself. His wife was pretty, sweet, and almost as hardcore as he was when it came to spices and herbs.
"Hayama," Alice said between bites. "How did you know you wanted to marry Akiko?"
Hayama was caught of guard. It wasn't like Alice Nakiri to take interest in his life.
Maybe this fight with Ryo was finally giving her some self-awareness.
"Well it's hard to describe, but you just know. With her I always felt comfortable," he said. "But even after we've been together for a while, I was still excited to spend every day with her. She just made everything more meaningful, you know what I mean?"
"Hmm."
Alice gazed out the window at two birds swirling around in the air. She tried to imagine the feeling Hayama was describing. It sounded so familiar, but so out of reach.
The week had come and gone. Ryo did everything he could to avoid thinking about his incident with Alice. He had apologized the next morning, of course, and brought her breakfast in bed. She acted like everything was normal, but he knew he must've scared her. He'd had enough of her treating him like her dog, dragging him everywhere and then leaving him behind when But still, what he did was too much.
He didn't know what came over him in that moment. He wanted to shake her and scold her for being so careless and oblivious, but at the same time, a very different impulse tugged at him with equal intensity. It was an overpowering, almost vengeful urge to take her and bring her to her knees. Feeling her soft curves against his body, he wanted nothing more than to tear through her clothes and explore her body with his touch, mark her pale skin with his mouth until every inch was his.
In the past, every time he caught himself lusting for her, he managed to release the tension though a shokugeki or however many pushups it took to bring him to total exhaustion. But since that night, the thoughts have been getting stronger, more vivid, draining him like an unquenchable thirst.
He had just taken his thirteenth lap around the estate. His black tank top was drenched in sweat, but somehow he felt no less agitated. He was about to pass through the front garden when a certain familiar white vehicle pulled up to the gate.
Fuck. I can't believe this.
He stopped and grimaced as Eishi Tsukasa stepped out a spotless white dress shirt and pants. He looked so bright that it hurt his eyes to look at him.
"Kurokiba!" He waved, apparently having spotted him.
"Yes." Ryo replied cooly.
"Sorry to be dropping by unannounced like this, I'm not disturbing you, aren't I?" The French chef said, batting his pale blue eyes.
Ryo wiped the sweat off his forehead and glared.
"Is Alice-chan home? She left something in my car the other day, I just wanted to return it."
He pointed to a large white shopping bag in the passenger's seat.
"She's out. I'll take it. "
"I'll come back another time then."
"Just give it to me. I'll give it to her."
"Um," Tsukasa tilted his head awkwardly. "That' alright. I think I better do it myself."
"I can do it. I'm her aide."
"Well––" Tsukasa started to blush under Ryo's pressing gaze. "I think she wouldn't like it if you saw what was in here. It's kind of a secret."
"I won't look inside."
Ryo was losing his patience fast. Luckily, his rival happened to be particularly terrible under pressure. Tsukasa sighed and handed Ryo the bag with trembling fingers.
"Fine…Just don't look."
Who was Eishi Tsukasa to assume he was the kind of person who's go through his mistress's things when she wasn't around?
Ryo thought angrily as he plopped the bag down by Alice's dresser.
Tsukasa was probably just being dramatic as always. He and Alice hadn't even been "dating" for that long. What "secrets" could they possibly be up to?
The bag sat there, taunting him.
Maybe just a look to make sure it was nothing dangerous. It was his job to protect Alice's safety after all.
He took a breath and opened it.
What the hell...
Inside was a mess of ribbons and shiny things. Decorative lights?
Utterly confused, he reached inside the bag and felt around until his fingers brushed across something smooth and velvety. He pulled out the object.
It was...a blindfold.
Later that night–––
Ryo heard a shriek through his bedroom walls. Seconds later, Alice bursted into his room, flushed and panting.
"Yes, miss?" He said absently. His head was buried in a thick Scandinavian cookbook.
"Ryo-kun-do you know how that white bag got in my room?"
"It was delivered to you this morning. I put it in there."
There was no use denying this. Everyone but Ryo was explicitly forbidden to enter Alice's bedroom. She had insisted he be the only one allowed to clean or arrange anything because only he knew exactly how she wanted things.
"Did you look ins––"
"No."
"You promi––"
"Yes."
"Thank god..." Alice breathed a sigh of joyous relief.
She knew Ryo wasn't as oblivious as he looked. If he had seen what's in the bag, he'd surely figure how what she was up to. Then all the trouble she went through to keep her party planning a secret would've been for nothing.
"I have no interest in snooping through others' personal belongings," he lied.
To be fair, she'd gone through his things behind his back far more times than that. Since they were kids, he always knew when she'd been in his room because she made almost no attempt to put things back how she found them. And whenever she found a recipe or something she thought was interesting, she'd just straight up take it. Of course, he never brought it up with her. For all he cared, everything he had she was welcome to take.
"Good boy, Ryo-kun," she teased and reached to pat him on the head.
He grabbed her wrist in midair.
"I'm not a dog," he spat.
"Ok ok, sorry! I'm just kidding..." She tried to brush it off casually, but he feel her withdrawing from the inside.
All day, his head had been swarming with images of Alice on an intimate date with Eishi Tsukasa, setting up lights...doing whatever she did with the blindfold...
Ryo had stupidly thought he knew everything about Alice. He assumed all her talk about sex and dating was just bluff. He never thought she'd get so serious about someone she barely knew. But there was a part of her he would never get to know; a part that was sensual, eager to please, and showed itself only to the man she deemed worthy.
Just like that, his mistress, his best friend, and rival was slipping away from him and into someone else's arms, yet here was nothing he could say to stop her. Only in the realms of cooking were they equals. Outside of that, he was only her assistant. He had no right to be snooping into her personal life, let alone get upset about it.
"Um- Ryo-kun... it hurts."
He realized he was still holding onto her, and the gems on her bracelet were digging into her flesh. Alice wiggled her arm to free herself from his grasp. He let her.
But instead of drawing back, Alice moved closer, brushed back his disheveled hair, and gently touched his face.
"What's the matter with you lately?" She frowned. "I'm getting really worried."
Ryo felt all his defenses melt away. Beneath all her childish antics, Alice cared deeply for those close to her. Himself included. Acting out would only make things worse between them.
He calmed himself and met her worried gaze with a mischievous smirk.
"Of course, miss. Just pissed I haven't had the chance to beat you in a shokugeki today. That's all."
Alice lit up, taking the bait.
"You're on."
He had to do what's best for both of them. Since he couldn't bear to fight with her or sit and watch her drift away, he had to be the first let go.
He watched Alice run out the door and waited for her footsteps to fade. Then, he picked up the phone and dialed.
"It's me- Kurokiba," he said, voice firm. "I've made up my mind."