Eternal Melody

Terashima noticed and pulled the phone away from his ear. "It's about that raid; they have tied up the people involved. What should we do with them? You need some for information, right?"

"Ah." Sumire walked over and took the phone from Yuhi. "Kill them."

Despite the vague sounding information, Sano put the pieces together. It seems Terashimas group conducted a raid, and now they are wondering what to do with the hostages. 

The way Sumire said the words kill made him shudder, and his body turned cold with fear.

Even though he has conducted some deals using underhanded methods, he has never taken a life before. How can she--give an order like that? Sano thought he already understood how frightening she was, but this was different.

"You heard that, right? Get it done before I go there." With those words, Terashima switched off the phone. He turned to Sumire and patted her hair. "I will report back to you later, boss."

Sumire rolled her eyes. "Mmm, then I will wait for you." She wrapped her arms around Terashimas neck and whispered something.

"Roger that."

Terashima said a few more words before leaving.

Sano, who remained frozen the entire exchange, snapped out of it when the silent Eli spoke up.

"I wonder whose blood you want tonight, Queen."

Sumire sighed deeply. "Even if I don't, they will commit suicide and end their own lives. Moreover, they will kick up too much of a fuss if we search their base. It's better to kill them to save the annoyance later on."

She already threatened to kill him before, so why does this come as a surprise to him? This girl- his thoughts broke off when Sumire tugged on the edge of his sleeves. 

"I'm tired now. I will go to sleep, alright?"

Sano, who was still in a daze, nodded not before draping his jacket around her. "It's getting colder. I will get you an extra blanket later on. But wear this for now."

"Thank you."

With those words said, the girl re-entered the room. The moment she left, Sano sunk to the ground. Eli looked at him with pity in his eyes.

"If you can't handle that, then you won't be able to get her."

"Shut up."

Ever since he got involved with those people, he has had many bad experiences. There were cases where he got kidnapped just so the trade wouldn't go through. That organization's enemies started to target him, even though he was not directly involved. 

His parents raised in such a sheltered environment, and normally he would not have had to experience such things. But due to some relatives' mistakes, it led to their company being on the verge of bankruptcy. They were already losing their reputation and connections. But he managed to score that invitation to the party where he met Sumire.

It was because Sumire helped his family that they managed to get through it all. Yet those people treated her terribly. The Nagawa family business grew so much that they no longer needed her, but he already long fell for her. With her status, Sano proposed the idea of him marrying Sumire, but it backfired.

It seems his parents long arranged a fiance for him, but because of the bankruptcy issue, the other family hesitated. From the very start, they only intended to use Sumire.

….

Sano had a difficult time getting any sleep that night, so he stayed in Sumire's room and did some work. When he stepped out to wash his face, he returned to the room and found that Sumire had a guest. A woman with mid-length purple hair wearing a blue uniform was Kiragi Asuka, one of Sumire's friends.

Sumire had the mini table on her lap, documents in front of her.

"Sorry, there is a lot you need to sign."

"It's alright. I haven't been attending to my duties lately. Also, he hasn't been around either, right? It must be hard on the rest of you."

Asuka sighed. "Futaba isn't very good at watching people. She tends to get distracted."

"Well, Futaba isn't cut out for desk work." Sumire laughed. "Neither am I, actually. But Yuhi-san taught me a lot before, so now I can handle this much."

She looked over at him with a bright smile. "Do you feel refreshed now?"

"Yeah." He looked at the documents, and the girl laughed.

"Just signing, I will finish soon. I have to go to rehab at ten."

Sano nodded. He was very familiar with her schedule. In fact, if there were many changes to it, he would know right away. He knew that many of his employees were aware of his affections towards Sumire. Even though they disagreed with it, they knew better than to do anything. Still, Sano remained vigilant. 

Penelope often came to visit him, so many treated her like the lady boss. Those people were openly hostile towards Sumire.

Sumire, however, has never complained about it.

Sumire's eyes twitched, annoyed. "On second thoughts, let me take that back! That guy is just wandering off and leaving everything to me again!"

Sano managed to see the contents of the note.

'I've gone on holiday to hawaii. Have fun, riri~.'

"I'm going to kill him."

"You know before he went, he was worrying about you."

"Then he should have come see me instead of snuck around." Sumire sighed deeply. "What's the point of watching over me secretly? I would rather he not do that so he could talk to me."

"You always act like a spoiled child when Aki is concerned."

At those words, Sano had to agree. Indeed it was the same back when they dated. Sano subtly asked her about that man. He often saw them together with a bunch of strange people.

"Be quiet."

"But the one you are worried about said he would see you at your concert."

"Senpai said that?"

He couldn't miss how her eyes brightened.

At those words, Sano flinched. He already knew what the girl meant by senpai. Although he met up with Ichinose that one time, Sano still felt very uncomfortable. Ichinose Arashi's appearance back then triggered the insecurities he kept hidden for so long.

After that talk, he hadn't seen that guy around here, so Sano assumed that he backed down. But it seems like that isn't the case here. A deep sigh passed his lips.

He has way too many romantic rivals. Why didn't he realize before how popular she was?

"How would he feel if I messaged him? He doesn't like texting. That's why I refrained."

Before Sano could say anything, a flash of black appeared and snatched Sumire's phone.

"I rushed everything, and here you are, acting shy about another guy."

It was Terashima.

He wore a similar outfit to yesterday, except the suit was pitch black this time.

Sumire laughed softly. "Yuhi-san, you are so silly."

"I finished early so we could spend some time together." Yuhi looked over at him like he was asking permission.

"She doesn't have any tests this afternoon, but you can't take her out when she has a fever."

"Cool." 

Sano awkwardly watched as Terashima grabbed her hands, and she buried her face in his arms.

The scene looked so perfect.

It made him sick.