"A gentleman shouldn"t force a lady to do anything she doesn"t want to do." An icy glare accompanied the dangerously low tone of the man in a dark suit. "Don"t make me break your arm."The man let go of Mr. Kitaoji"s wrist. Mr. Kitaoji could only grunt in response before hurriedly left Tsubaki and the intimidating man. He felt so humiliated being treated like that in front of the girl he liked but his instincts knew the mysterious man was someone he couldn"t afford to offend.
After Mr. Kitaoji"s figure faded from view, the man turned to look at the girl behind him. She looked bewildered. Might be surprised with his sudden appearance.
"Are you okay?" His cold tone earlier changed to be gentler.
Tsubaki nodded. "You"re... Mr. Fuse?"
Ren smiled in joy when he realised Tsubaki remembered him from their meeting yesterday. "I had a job in the area, incidentally I saw that man harrasing you. Are you sure you"re okay?"
Incidentally? Yeah, right. Only G.o.d knows he had been looking at her from afar ever since she closed her bakery.
"I"m okay. Thank you for your help." Tsubaki bowed her head in grat.i.tude.
"Are you going somewhere? I could give you a lift. It"s dark already."
Ren didn"t hesitate to offer her help even though he knew he was being shameless. They had just met yesterday and he offered his help? To Tsubaki, they were practically strangers at the moment.
"It"s okay, Mr. Fuse. I"m going to take the subway. Thank you for your offer anyway." Tsubaki politely declined his offer.
"Weather forecast said it might be raining tonight." Ren looked up at the night sky. Dark clouds were looming above. The moon hid behind them. "It"d take you 10 minutes before you reach the subway. And I don"t see cabs here, if you consider to take one."
"I..."
Tsubaki looked around. Like the man had said, it might be raining soon. Strong winds howled the area. Cabs couldn"t be seen anywhere. And she didn"t want to be drenched in the rain. Even though she didn"t know the man before her personally, she has a feelings that she could trust him. She even felt secured with him here.
But, why did I feel this way?
"If... if it won"t burden you, could you please give me a lift to the nearest bus stop? I could take a bus from there."
Ren smiled seeing the girl finally accepted his offer. "Come, I parked my car over there."
Tsubaki nodded. She followed him from behind, keeping quite a distance between them. Her eyes lingered on the man"s broad back. His custom tailored suit perfectly fit his tall and lean stature. Her eyes narrowed. Seeing Fuse Ren from behind, it looked kind of familiar.
But, to whom?
"Please, make yourself comfortable."
Ren opened the pa.s.senger door of his grey Audi Q7. Tsubaki was stunned seeing the expensive SUV. She nodded sheepishly before boarding the car. Ren carefully placed his hand on her forehead, afraid she might b.u.mped with the car. Tsubaki smiled shyly, heart fluttering with the man"s simple yet considerate gesture.
Ren turned on his playlist of cla.s.sical music. Soothing melody accompanied their ride. Occasionally he sneaked a glance to the lady beside him. He smiled in relief when he saw she was at ease, as if she truly trusted and didn"t afraid of him, a stranger.
"Where are you going? Home?" Ren already knew the answer but he intentionally asked her the question.
"Oh." Tsubaki turned her head from the scenery outside the car. " I"m going to Suzuki University Hospital."
"Are you sick? Or are you visiting someone?"
Tsubaki didn"t answer immediately. She deliberately kept quiet, thinking whether she should tell Mr. Fuse the truth or not. After some time, she decided to tell the former.
"My younger brother. He needs to be hospitalised due to his condition. But it"s not anything bad."
Judging from her facial expression and tone of voice, Ren knew Tsubaki didn"t want him to pity her. She was merely telling the truth. It was not like she wanted to gain sympathy points from him.
But, her younger brother"s illness definitely was not something simple. From what he knew about the young man, he was sick since he was little and he needed a kidney transplant if he wanted to live longer.
Ren vowed to himself, he would use every connection he had to help her brother. After all, he was one of their Cupid.
Silence filled in the car. Only melody from the speaker could be heard. But, Ren enjoyed this quiet moment with Tsubaki in earnest.