Semua Bab Do You Love Me, Uncle?: Bab 11 - Bab 20

"What happened to your hand?" As they passed each other near the kitchen, Kenji noticed Akiko's bandaged index finger."A cut from a broken cup," Akiko said as briefly as possible, then bowed and quickly fled. She was en route to work at the station. Of course, Akiko hurried out, trying to prevent Kenji from asking further questions or getting any ideas about stopping her.She already regretted waking up late that morning, likely due to crying for so long the previous night. Losing one of her jobs had nearly driven Akiko back to the brink of despair.But now, Akiko had regained her resolve for the day. She deliberately took the morning shift at the convenience store so she would have free time later to look for another job. Akiko might try asking at another restaurant or store. She wouldn’t give up on just one job. She didn’t want to extend her stay at Kenji’s place any longer. Akiko had a new goal: to sleep soundly in her own apartment soon.Over the past few weeks of living with Ken

To tidy herself up, Akiko smoothed her clothes. She had done this several times since she first noticed the appearance of the Shingi Fusaya Real Estate office.Akiko worried about her appearance, realizing that the company was much larger than she had imagined. The information she had found on the internet yesterday was incomplete.The company occupied a five-story building in Tokyo's main business district, where the land and property prices were undoubtedly very high. Shingi's ability to occupy an entire building meant that he was truly powerful. This work environment would be vastly different from working at a convenience store or a restaurant, as she had before. Akiko felt out of place when she first arrived.However, when she showed the interview letter in the lobby earlier, it was confirmed that she was in the right place. The letter was acknowledged, and Akiko was quickly escorted to the HR department on the third floor for her interview. The interview itself was also differen

"Excuse me, but what do you mean by saying that?" Akiko stood up and stared at Mori.Of course, Akiko understood exactly what Mori meant. This wasn't the first time Mori had said something like that. Akiko still remembers the conversation between Mori and the HR woman yesterday. Her presence was suspicious.But Akiko would not accept insults because she really hadn't done anything unusual. She was here because she had been summoned. She didn't know how or by whom she had been called. And clearly, Akiko felt she had worked very hard to catch up and learn. Hard work was no straightforward task."You heard what I said, didn’t you? You don't belong here...""Sorry, but why do you think I'm not a suitable fit? Have I made any mistakes in the past few weeks? Is there a poor performance on my record?"Akiko was bold because she knew her work was nearly flawless. Akiko might have made mistakes in her first week of training, but they were minor. After that, Akiko guaranteed everything was pe

Akiko jolted awake, wiping her wet face. The water was quite full. Almost her entire body was drenched, from her uniform to her underwear.The pounding of her heart and the throbbing pain in her head accompanied Akiko's attempt to understand what had happened—bullying."Hey!" Akiko shouted when she heard footsteps outside the bathroom stall, and she moved to open the door to see who had just poured the dirty, cold water. But as she reached for the door handle and turned it, Akiko immediately sensed something was wrong, and her body felt even colder. Something blocked the door, so it wouldn't open."HEY!" Akiko pounded on the door and screamed in panic."Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Akiko shouted, then kneeled down, looking through the slightly open gap at the bottom of the stall.Akiko only saw a glimpse of women's shoes running toward the door, turning off the lights and closing it with a slam. Akiko found herself trapped inside, drenched, trembling, and enveloped in total

"I can manage on my own." Akiko refused Kenji's outstretched hand, which was meant to help her out of the car. She had touched that hand dozens of times before—once—but that didn't mean she wanted to touch it again now.Akiko could no longer imagine how that hand once stroked her head, or how it gently comforted her when her head throbbed with pain. Indeed, that hand forced her to kiss him. Akiko didn’t want that hand to touch her again.Kenji clenched his hand, not pursuing the matter further, and walked ahead into the house.As she slowly followed behind him, Akiko glanced at Kenji's back. She suddenly felt regret. Her earlier avoidance was too harsh. Kenji had stayed with her all night at the hospital. At least he showed up. That was more than Kaito, who hadn’t appeared at all, even by this morning.Akiko didn’t know if Kaito hadn’t shown up because Kaede had forbidden him or for some other reason, but Kaito’s absence while she was in the hospital made Akiko even more disappointe