My Rental Boyfriend Is My Boss?! - Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Michiru, I’m Impressed

“Michiru! Thank you for coming. So this is your boyfriend!”

Kato, who was smiling happily, held out his hand to Kamijemori, saying it was nice to meet him.

She had seen him at a wedding reception before, but she was not used to seeing him in formal wear with his hair neatly brushed. She was not sure if it’s because he’s smiling slack-jawed with happiness all the time, but he suddenly looked like a complete stranger.

‘But then again… this is an amazing venue. I wonder if this is Nakamura’s hobby.’

The white venue, held in the same hotel as the wedding reception, was so luxuriously decorated that it was hard to believe it was an after-party.

An orchestra was placed in one corner, a chef was at the buffet corner, and waiters with champagne glasses on trays were scattered throughout the venue.

A screen in the center of the room showed a series of photos from their school days, barely indicating that this was a wedding party.

As she gingerly wondered what kind of salty response Kamijemori would give to the drunken groom in a good mood, Kamijemori gave a light bow.

“Thank you for inviting me. My name is Kamijemori.”

‘He smiled!’

She wondered if this was what they call a facade.

The man who had never smiled properly in all the years they had worked together smiled softly at Kato, whom he had just met for the first time, and shook his hand.

Michiru couldn’t believe her eyes and was speechless.

‘He can smile.’

Obviously, you couldn’t be a rental boyfriend if you couldn’t make at least one smile. However, Michiru, who had only seen him for many years as a robot with no expression on his face and doing his job without a care in the world, felt a kind of excitement.

‘Chief Editor… I wonder if he installed the program called ‘sociability’.’

She envied him. If there was such a thing, she wanted to install it herself.

“It’s been a while, Oikawa; since our high school graduation ceremony, right?”

When she snapped back to reality, she saw Emi Nakamura, the bride in a crimson mermaid dress, looking down at Michiru with the same majestic beauty as ever.

Nakamura was thin and tall, and looked like a model. Her family owned a ballroom dance school, and she was probably doing it herself, but she had good posture even when she was just standing there, and the average-sized Michiru standing next to her looked like a little girl even when she was wearing heels.

The eight-centimeter heels she had spent so much money on seemed to have no effect.

“Hey Nakamura. Long time no see.”

“Oh no, it’s Kato now.”

She really didn’t care now. She tried her best to hold back the urge to roll her eyes back and gave her a tight smile.

“I’m sure your boyfriend is a lovely person. Where did you meet him?”

“At work.”

“At a bookstore.”

Michiru and Kamijemori’s voice overlapped with Nakamura’s question. Their gazes met.

‘Not good. I haven’t decided the details.’

She had actually planned to have a brief discussion after they met, but the arrival of her boss had upset her so much that her schedule was completely thrown off.

When Kato and Nakamura looked at her curiously, Michiru hurried to speak up.

“I met him at the bookstore when I was working. You see, I work at a publishing company.”

“Oh, is that so? That’s nice. Then you too, Kamijemori?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Their voices overlapped again. Kamijemori’s eyes glanced at Michiru.

“What?”

Nakamura’s slightly confused face made Michiru want to scream and the urge to start running. However, Kamijemori’s hand overlapped with her hand that was placed on his arm to prevent her from doing so.

“Excuse me… My girlfriend doesn’t think it’s a good idea to have a workplace romance, and she always denies it when the subject comes up.”

“Oh, so it’s a workplace romance. You don’t have to worry about it. It happens all the time nowadays.”

“That’s right. I’m happy for you, Michiru.”

Kamijemori laughed and made a gesture of looking into her face, squinting her eyes at an angle that only Michiru could see. He was sure she’d be happy to hear that.

Michiru gave a weird, drawn-out laugh.

“I’m not used to this kind of thing yet.”

“Oh, how long have you been together? I don’t think you told me.”

She felt a hint of annoyance inwardly when Kato asked Kamijemori with a smirk, even though he hadn’t told her that he had been going out with Nakamura himself. But after reflecting on it, she carefully looked at Kamijemori this time.

When he noticed Michiru’s gaze, he squinted slightly.

“… Yes, it’s relatively recent.”

“Recent?”

“Yes, we’ve only started dating.”

“Six months!”

She had told Kato that she got a boyfriend a few months ago. She realized that there was something wrong if they had been together more recently than Kato.

Remembering this, Michiru looked at Kamijemori nervously, as if her heart was going to jump out of her mouth.

“We just celebrated our half-year anniversary the other day, right Minoru?”

When she turned her gaze to Kamijemori, satisfied that she had done well this time, Nakamura shouted in admiration.

 “Oh my god, half-year anniversary? That’s so cute. Kato doesn’t do that kind of thing at all. He doesn’t do that kind of thing at all, not even my birthday.”

“That’s because you said you didn’t need anything!”

Michiru nodded as she watched the confused Kato.

“If you don’t tell him, he’ll just take it as it is… When I said a cruise dinner would be romantic, he booked a houseboat!”

“I’m not sure how long you’re going to hold on to that. But thanks to that, we got the special seat to see the fireworks.”

“That was nice, for sure. But there were so many couples around so it was really awkward.”

“Ah, yes. Do you remember when there was a photo service saying, ‘Would you like a photo as a souvenir?’ when we got off?”

“Haha, yeah. They gave us two big heart balloons to hold… Oh, and do you remember after that…”

“Michiru.”

As if to interrupt their conversation, Kamijemori’s hand overlapped with Michiru’s.

“I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to hold the stars of today for so long.”

Michiru snapped back to reality after Kamikemori’s words. She was talking to Kato in her usual way.

When she glanced at Nakamura, she had a conflicted expression as she smiled. She’d done it.

“Oh yes, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Um, we’ll still be around here somewhere.”

“Yeah, I’d love to talk to you about him later.”

“Yeah, I’d be happy to.”

She smiled vaguely, but in a mature way, and watched them go to other guests. She sighed secretly.

She felt a bit tired.

‘Happy…?’

She repeated the words she said to Nakamura in her head.

Happy. What was that? Would Nakamura be happy to hear about Michiru’s memories with Kato? Especially since it was memories with a woman who imagined a future with her husband.

‘This is just miserable.’

She realized it now. When she heard from Nakamura that he didn’t celebrate her birthday, Michiri was certainly pleased deep inside. The thought of letting her know that he knew Michiru better than Nakamura made her feel a bit better.

‘I really am a disgusting woman.’

Michiru did not want to be a saint, nor did she ever think that her heart was pure and righteous. Even so, she didn’t want to be the person she thought she was. Especially at her best friend’s wedding.

Even though Nakamura hadn’t hurt Michiru in any malicious way, she was hostile to her. She was angry that the man she had been aiming for was taken away from her.

She didn’t know how narrow-minded she was. 

Michiru wondered what kind of face she had when they were talking about their own memories, as well as  Nakamura’s as she listened.

‘… How disgusting.’

Michiru sighed deeply.