CH336

CH335
Ryuu

I walked back into the penthouse, expecting silence, maybe even to find Ren asleep on the couch.
Instead, the faint clatter of metal reached my ears.
I followed the sound into the kitchen and stopped cold. Ren was there—casted arm awkwardly bent, her other hand fumbling to keep hold of a pot far too heavy for her current condition. But she was back in my robe at least, so that was something.
“What are you doing?” I asked, crossing the floor in three strides.
She froze, eyes wide. “Trying to cook.”
I took the pot from her, setting it gently in the sink before she could burn herself. “You shouldn’t even be out of bed.”
“I was hungry,” she said with a tired shrug.
“I’ll order something,” I told her, more stern than I meant to be. “Just… please... before you make your injuries worse...” I swallowed and eyed her. “I thought for sure the painkillers would have knocked you out by now.”
Her lips twitched. “They probably would have but I’m too hungry to sleep.”
I shook my head and reached for her hand. At the first brush of my hand against her wrist, I felt it again.
That rush. That heat. That pull.
It roared to life beneath my skin, something primal and dangerous clawing to the surface. I leaned in, drawn like gravity, every nerve screaming for more. I could almost taste the way she might say my name.
Her breath hitched. Her lips parted just slightly.But I stopped myself—barely. I loomed over her, wrestling the instinct to claim, to take. To remember.
“What is it about you?” I murmured, voice low and thick. “What makes you so damn alluring?”
Ren blinked, lips twitching like she was trying not to smile. “Maybe I just have a better personality than Morgan.”
That actually made me laugh, breaking the tension just enough to let me breathe again as I pulled out my phone.
“Can’t argue with that,” I said, straightening up, though the heat still sizzled just beneath my skin. “If you’re feeling up to it, we could go out. Just downstairs. There’s a restaurant on the seventh floor. Quiet. Private. The chef’s incredible, and it would be faster than ordering something.”
Her brows lifted, surprised but not unpleased.
“No pressure,” I added, softer now. “Just dinner. A change of scenery.”

Ren

I agreed to dinner before I could overthink it, knowing I had absolutely nothing to wear. His smile was radiant and he nodded.
“I’ll let you get dressed.”
He led me to another bedroom before returning to his own. I bit my lip, wondering what I was supposed to do, but I caught sight of clothing in the closet. I wandered into it and just stood there for a while, overwhelmed. The space was bigger than my entire bedroom growing up and the clothes were all new. The tags are still on. Shoes are lined up on display. Designer labels I’d only ever seen through shop windows. It was clear this wasn’t my closet, not really, but someone had made sure it was stocked for me.
There were dozens of options. Silk, cashmere, structured dresses and slouchy sweaters. I finally settled on a deep red blouse with a high neck and short, billowy sleeves, I could get my cast through, paired with soft black trousers that fit like they’d been tailored to my legs. The clothes made me feel like a woman I didn’t recognize—but maybe wanted to be for the night.
It was a far cry from that ridiculous dress Hotaru had forced on us. When I stepped out into the living room, Ryuu was already waiting, in a black suit and a red shirt. MY face heated as I realized the picture we’d make.
He looked up and went still.
For a moment, he just stared. His eyes dragged over me like he was seeing something he’d lost and almost remembered.
Then he blinked and shook his head slightly. “Sorry. Déjà vu.”
I smiled, unsure of what to say, and followed him out.
We took the elevator down to the seventh floor, where the restaurant was dimly lit and intimate. The hostess didn’t even ask for a reservation, just gave a shallow bow and led us to a private booth tucked near the windows. The city was just starting to come alive with evening lights, still wearing the soft, golden haze of twilight beneath us.
It was almost as if the city had been lit with a beautiful burning fire...
It was quiet. Intimate in a way that felt too familiar. Ryuu sat across from me and ordered for both of us, his tone smooth and certain. I half-expected some bodyguard to interrupt or a phone to ring, but nothing did. We were just there. Together.
When the food came my stomach growled and ached. It was all perfectly cooked, rich, and I thought it was more than I could finish but I surprised myself... and apparently impressed Ryuu with the way he smiled at me.
“I’m glad your appetite is growing.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You said enough times that I was too thin.”
“Give me some time, you’ll be healthily plump in no time,” he winked. “Imagine the trouble you’ll cause knocking gangsters out then?”
I chuckled and lifted a second helping of steak off the shared platter between us.
“You really eat like this all the time?”
He looked up, grinning slightly. “When I can. It’s rare that I get to sit and actually enjoy a meal.”
“Is that why your fiancée is always in such a bad mood?” I teased, twirling a bit of pasta with my fork. “She doesn’t eat?”
Ryuu laughed. “Maybe, but I’m betting on other factors?”
I looked down, eyeing my plate. His hand appeared, placing a cup of herbed butter beside it as he signaled the waiter for something.
“Do you... want to talk about it?”
He lifted his glass. “Not much to talk about. Morgan’s sour because she knows I have no interest in her, and I’ve told her so in every way I can at this point.”
I blinked. “That’s… blunt.”
“I don’t like pretending,” he said, shrugging one shoulder. “The arrangement, this betrothal, is obligation, not desire.”
“Obligation.”
He tilted his head. “The Hangui family garnered a debt from mine years ago, with my father dead, it fell to me to fulfill it... A smart, business-savvy man would have asked for something worth something... Tora is a spineless man who bends to his daughter’s whim.”
He looked at me then, long and measured. “Morgan will have exactly what her father has requested of me: a marriage certificate, but will never have my heart or my time... She will never be my wife.”
My breath caught at the weight of those words. I could see that man in my daydreams and visions, with long hair. I could hear a depth and darkness to those words that weren’t quite right yet completely perfect.
I wanted to ask, to respond somehow, but the words remained just out of reach. I looked down and cleared my throat, unnerved and a little excited by what I was pretty sure he was hinting at.
“Do you have an interest in marriage, Ren?”
My face heated. “Never had much chance to think about it before?”
“And now?”
I bit my lip, meeting his gaze.
“Maybe it’s better if we… wait to talk about... that sort of thing,” I said softly. “Given everything. Until we know what this really is--- I mean, until we know each other better?”
Ryuu didn’t argue. He only nodded once, that unreadable calm slipping back over his face. “As you wish... have you given any thought to what you might want to do now?”