Chapter 16

After the shock, I couldn't sleep anymore. I tried to distract myself by setting the table, making coffee, and starting to clean up. Shortly after 9 o'clock, Seiya emerged from the bedroom.

"Where were you? The bed feels so empty without you," he said, crawling out of bed.

I opened the link Minako had sent me once again and held the phone under his nose. The corners of Seiya's mouth twitched upwards. Did he find it funny? Our relationship was almost exposed to the public, and he was grinning about it.

"Stop grinning. I don't find this funny. I told you I wasn't ready yet," I said, frustrated.

He pulled me towards him, kissed my neck and whispered softly, "I could tell them right away that you're the best woman in the world."

"Flatterer," I replied, slightly annoyed but also smiling.

Reaching past me, he grabbed the coffee pot, filled his cup, and sat down at the table.

"By the way, Yaten hooked up with Mina last night. She snuck out of his apartment at 6 this morning."

Seiya almost spewed his coffee across the table. "Why did she do that?"

Men, I rolled my eyes. "Because she felt uncomfortable. They've only seen each other twice, and she didn't want to stay over... let alone do other things."

"But she still did it. Then she could've stayed."

I started laughing. "You mean like you did back then. I couldn't get rid of you the whole weekend."

His cheeky, wide grin beamed at me. "You didn't even try to get rid of me because you had already fallen head over heels for me."

Yes, I had to admit he wasn't entirely wrong about that. It had been strange though. But that was Seiya, he came to stay.

Suddenly, my phone rang incessantly. Within a short time, I received four messages. Motoki. All four messages were from him. I struggled to compose myself.

"Darling? You suddenly look so pale, did something happen?"

I opened the chat. First, he sent me the same link I had received from Mina. Next, he sent the picture of the four of us from behind, with a red arrow pointing at me.

That's you. No excuses.

Come to the café, now! We need to talk.

My heart raced, damn it. Come on, think, you have to come up with something. I jumped up, pressed a kiss to Seiya's lips, and murmured, "I'll explain later, I have to go urgently."

While I put on my jacket, an idea came to me that might save me. I quickly dialed Mina's number, and before I knew it, the front door slammed shut behind me.

It kept ringing endlessly until I finally heard her sleepy voice.

"Hmm?"

"Mina? I need you! Emergency level dark dark red!" Now I knew I had her full attention.

"What's wrong?"

"Come to the Crown immediately. Motoki is on the verge of uncovering the truth about S."

Oh no, I hadn't felt this inner unrest in a long time. Couldn't I have thought about it more carefully? I mean, standing hand in hand with Seiya in the cinema, right in the city center, was bordering on stupidity if no one was supposed to find out about our relationship. We practically served ourselves on a silver platter. I went through the photos multiple times, even with zoom. Apart from the one picture from behind, I wasn't in any of them. So how was Motoki so sure it was me? It could easily be any other blonde girl with my hair length.

As I arrived in front of the Crown, the nervousness still gnawed at me. I had intended to wait for Mina outside the door and explain my plan to her in more detail, but that didn't happen. Motoki held the door open for me, his expression much harsher than usual, devoid of his usual cheerfulness. Damn it, I don't think I had ever seen him so tense before.

I slowly sneaked past him, but I could feel his gaze piercing into my back.

"Did that singer call you and pick you up yesterday?" he asked.

I swallowed and turned around slowly to face him. Motoki had his arms crossed and was waiting for an answer from me. My throat felt tight.

"No, the call was from a client, I told you that," I started.

"How did you even come to the conclusion that it's me in the photo?" I tried to turn the tables.

Motoki pursed his lips and stared at me intently.

"Usa, do you think I'm blind? You're wearing the same clothes in the photo that you were wearing at Mamoru's apartment yesterday. Before that, this strange phone call, and then you got into a damn expensive sports car hours later. And now I see these pictures. So?"

Oh, damn it. Motoki was really angry and currently considered himself Sherlock Holmes. Just in time, Minako swung the door open. She was my salvation in that moment, and I prayed that she would react quickly.

"Oh, there you are. I've already been to your place as well. I wanted to thank you again for accompanying me yesterday," she started babbling right away, walking past Motoki and throwing herself enthusiastically into my arms. Not exactly the rescue attempt I had hoped for, but better than nothing.

"Yeah, no problem. I would accompany you anytime. That's what I was just trying to explain to Motoki," I tried to improvise.

Mina whirled around to face Motoki. "Oh, Toki, I'm sorry, I completely overlooked you in my excitement. Bunny was so kind to accompany me on my date yesterday. It was fantastic. Oh, Yaten is such a true gentleman."

Motoki played with his facial expression, not revealing his cards. "Was that a double date?" he asked, and Mina burst into laughter. I didn't feel like laughing at all, but rather like crawling into a dark hole, but I had to play along. So I tried to laugh as well. Mina seemed to have some sort of plan, so I let her do the talking.

"Usa and Seiya? No way. Yaten just lost his driver's license recently, so Seiya was kind enough to drive us. Bunny was just there to keep Seiya company. You should have seen them, they were arguing most of the time. Luckily, they had to keep quiet in the cinema."

Motoki raised his eyebrows in question and gave me a scrutinizing look.

"Yes, that's what I was trying to explain to you. It was nothing."

His gaze lingered on me for a moment, as if he wanted to verify if I was telling the truth. Sherlock Motoki was at work. I forced myself to breathe calmly. Hopefully, my face hadn't turned bright red. It didn't feel warm, though, so that was a good sign.

"Would you like some coffee?" Motoki finally asked.

Minako grabbed my arm and maneuvered me onto a bar stool at the counter.

Motoki stood by the coffee machine, and shortly after, he placed two lattes macchiatos in front of us. He knew me too well, grabbed the caramel syrup, and as he let it drizzle into the glass, he changed his strategy.

"Oh, I see. And what were you arguing about with the singer all the time?"

Now he was trying to find out if Mina was telling the truth.

"About all sorts of things. Typical star with a lot of quirks," I replied, annoyed, and blew a strand of hair out of my face. Finally, Motoki's stern expression softened. Phew. I had narrowly escaped. He seemed to finally buy the story.

Then he leaned towards Mina. "And are you now dating this guy?"

"We've only met twice... so I can't say yet," Mina whispered back, holding her hand in front of her mouth. While Motoki let Mina tell him some gossip, I kept a low profile and sipped the foam off my spoon. Thoughtfully, I took out my phone.

Message from Seiya:

If you're looking for me, I'm already bringing my furniture from Yaten's to the new apartment. Your key is on the kitchen table. See you later.

I'll hurry. Thank you.

Unconsciously, the corners of my mouth twitched upwards. I really needed to get used to controlling my face better when Motoki was around because he immediately craned his neck and wanted to know what was amusing me.

I managed to react just in time and showed him a cute cat video. In that moment, I decided that I would avoid Motoki and the Crown for the time being. It was just too exhausting, especially now that he had picked up a scent.

We engaged in some small talk, and then we said our goodbyes. As soon as we left the Crown, I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

"Thank you, Mina. That was really close. I don't know how I would have gotten out of that alone."

Mina winked at me encouragingly. "That's what friends are for."

I cupped my face with my cool fingers. "Mina, how do I get out of this mess? I mean, Seiya even bought us an apartment. But there's only about two weeks left, and then Mamoru is back. My Mamoru is finally coming back, and I'll be living with Seiya." My worries spilled out. Minako comforting placed her arm around my shoulder and handed me a tissue.

"Usa, first take a deep breath and look into my eyes. Yes, things didn't go as planned. Yes, you will have to make a decision that will probably hurt one of them a lot. But you don't have to make that decision right now. Wait and see what time brings."

"Not ideal" is the understatement of the year, Mina. It's a disaster. I was just about to tell her the whole truth. Everything, even about Diamond, was on the tip of my tongue. Then I looked into her eyes, and she radiated such kindness. Suddenly, I dismissed those thoughts again. How would she see me if she found out everything?

"Yes, you're right," I sniffed softly.

"Well, now come on, I want to see your new apartment."