My Rental Boyfriend Is My Boss?! - Chapter 19
Chapter 19. You’re Dating, Right?
“Well, cheers!”
Not long after, Michiru and Kamijemori were seated at a table with Kato facing them. It was the same table where she heard Kato’s marriage announcement last time.
“Your boyfriend, let’s see… Kami?”
“It’s Kamijemori.”
“That’s right. Where do you live, Kamijemori?”
Kamijemori answered that it was about two stops away from here. Surprisingly close. Or rather, Michiru didn’t know either.
“Well, it’s close to my place, so let’s have a drink. I was thinking of taking a taxi home.”
“What? Do you live there now, Kimitaka?”
Michiru thought Kato lived around here too. He used to live in this area, so it was easy for him to meet up with Michiru after work.
“I’m working on a holiday today and my wife will be working late, so I missed the taste of this old place.”
“Oh, I see.”
It was quite a shock to hear the word “wife” from the mouth of an old friend. He hadn’t been married for more than a month, but Michiru thought he had become quite the family man. Maybe married life suited him better than she thought.
“Hey, hang out with me today. If you can’t catch a taxi, you can just stay at Michiru’s house.”
Michiru almost spat out her oolong tea when Kato laughed at her.
“What are you doing…!”
“What? You’re dating, right?”
“We are… dating, but…”
Michuri felt like she was going to go crazy just imagining Kamijemori sleeping in her room. In particular, right now there were clothes scattered all over the room. She turned over the wardrobe the night before because she didn’t know what to wear. Even if Kamijemori wasn’t her boss, Michiru wouldn’t let him in her room after this.
And somehow, when Michiru imagine Kamijemori in her room, it made her feel uncomfortable. There was a sense of unreality. And she suddenly felt a sexy atmosphere of rawness between men and women. Michiru became so nervous that she felt like her face was going to burst into flames just thinking about it.
‘But he is right. When you start dating, that’s what it’s all about. It’s complicated… So, when you tell Kimitaka or anyone else you had a boyfriend, he is saying that a relationship includes all of that… Oh my God! My heart hurts!’
Michiru never thought that her lack of experience would become apparent in such a situation. Michiru’s heart throbbed at the thought of her own imagination running like a runaway train. Sweat broke out all over her body and she felt that she was entering an uncomfortable territory, so she hastily pictured the universe in her mind to calm down. Earth, moon, stars, satellites, microcosm…
“… Phew…”
“Are you all right…?”
“I’m just having a bit of a panic attack.”
“Since when do you have panic attacks?”
Kamijemori, who opened the menu, replied to Kato’s confusion.
“… I’m going to have a bit of this too.”
“Oh, that’s nice. What would you like to drink?
For the first time, Kamijemori, who usually doesn’t drink alcohol on after-work dates, even if he’s taking the train home, chose to drink. Michiru was surprised to hear that.
‘Come to think of it, he didn’t drink at the after party either… Huh? Could it be that Minoru is…?’
Michiru’s premonition seemed to be unfounded as he remained unchanged even after the first glass. However, as the second and third glasses were empty, she was soon convinced that her premonition was correct.
“That’s right. Michiru was shouting so much that the others started to get scared.”
“No, it’s not the fault of the people who throw away their hats in that place.”
“I’m sure she dropped it. It was a very windy day.”
The topic of conversation changed to Michiru’s past mistakes. She complained about Kato, but her concern was for the man next door.
“Hmm, you did say that.”
‘He’s laughing so hard…’
Michiru had seen him smile externally in front of other editors or at the after-party, but it’s clearly a different kind of smile.
The smile he used to have was more of a salesman’s smile with character. Now, however, he had a relaxed, dazed look in his eyes. Before she knew it, the exterior was off and the tone of voice was back.
‘Not super cute… but I’ve never seen you look like this. That means he’s pretty drunk.’
Michiru would like to think that he’s an adult and knows his limits, but he didn’t seem to be cutting it out at the moment.
“Well, I think it’s time for tea…”
He had heard that tomorrow was a day off, as was Michiru’s, but when he was this soft and squishy, she started to worry.
When Michiru called out to him at the right time, Kamijemori tilted his head to the side.
“Yeah?”
“Yes, I think you should.”
“Yeah.”
Michiru wondered if he was even listening to her anymore. He sipped his glass, smiling, and loosely pinched a tuft of Michiru’s hair.
“You’re cute today. Did I already tell you that?”
“What… Uh… Uh… I wonder…”
Michiru had never been complimented in such a direct manner before, and her face instantly became hot.
She knew it was a drunken joke, but it’s so easy to get carried away that it made her sad. But she was embarrassed to be seen by Kato, so she put all her energy into her face and pretended to be unconcerned.
“Yeah. You’re cute. I’ll say a lot of things that I didn’t say today. You’re cute. You’re so fluffy, hmm…”
Michiru knew that Kamijemori had a beautiful face, but for the first time, she realized that the iron mask that rarely changed its expression would be a terrible weapon when it whispered sweet nothings with a sensual smile on its face. She couldn’t look at his face properly.
“Oh… Oh, I’m going to go wash my hands.”
Michiru was not sure she could stand it if he said anything more. She got up from her seat as if to run away.
‘Haha, this is not good. Let’s take him home as soon as possible.’
She didn’t expect this to happen.
The alcohol that Kamijemori was drinking was much lower in alcohol content than what Michiru was drinking, so she was caught off guard. Apparently, he was quite lightweight.
‘Well, to tell you the truth, I would like to watch him a little bit more, but it would be a big problem if he said something unnecessary… Oh, shoot.’
As Michiru cooled down her burning cheeks, which was not only caused by the alcohol, she realized that at this moment, there was a danger that a drunken Kamijemori would tell Kato about being her rental boyfriend.
As she hurried to my seat, I could hear Kamijemori’s voice.
“… Why didn’t you go out with her?”
Michiru stopped in her tracks.