Chapter 366: Extra IF. Perhaps It Should Have Been This Way (End) |
In the evening, it started to rain.
Hoshino Ayane leaned against the floor-to-ceiling windows of her office, sipping coffee as she quietly overlooked the city's landscape, which had remained largely unchanged for nearly a decade.
Overcast, rainy days were always shrouded in an inexplicably lingering atmosphere of sadness. Perhaps it was because the raindrops pattering against the glass and gently sliding down looked so much like falling teardrops.
Draining the last drop of coffee from her cup, Hoshino Ayane withdrew her gaze and looked toward the secretary sorting documents at the desk. "Raiko?"
Hearing her name, Kojima Raiko immediately looked up. "Yes!"
Hoshino Ayane revealed a faint smile. "There is no need to be so tense. Didn't you mention before that your mother's birthday is approaching? When exactly is it?"
"Ah?" Kojima Raiko was somewhat surprised that a casual remark she made would be remembered by someone like her boss. While feeling flattered, she couldn't help but wonder—why was her boss asking about this?
Nevertheless, she answered honestly, "It is the day after tomorrow..."
"I see," Hoshino Ayane replied thoughtfully. "Then I will give you a three-day vacation. Go home and spend some quality time with your mother."
"Someone else will take care of the work," Hoshino Ayane chuckled softly. "In fact, I want to take a few days off for myself as well. Work is certainly important, but compared to family, it seems rather insignificant."
Kojima Raiko didn't dare say another word.
......
She took the elevator down to the first floor of the building.
Normally, when leaving the company, Hoshino Ayane would naturally go straight to the third-floor underground parking lot and drive away. But today was different. A few minutes ago, she had received a text message that simply read: "Waiting for you at the entrance."
Amidst the greetings of the security guards, Hoshino Ayane walked out the main doors of the company.
The outside world seemed to be draped in a hazy veil woven from countless tiny raindrops. The rain had slowed to a drizzle and seemed ready to stop soon.
Without even needing to look around, Hoshino Ayane spotted the person she was looking for in the corridor just outside the main doors. He was simply too radiant; no matter where he stood, she could always pinpoint his location at a single glance.
The security guard stationed outside naturally saw Hoshino Ayane emerging from the doors. He immediately began speaking incoherently, trying to explain that he had earnestly requested this gentleman to step inside, but the man had not only refused but also forbade him from reporting it to his superiors, and so on.
However, before he could finish his rambling, Hoshino Ayane cut him off.
She walked slowly to the side of the man, who was standing at the edge of the corridor, seemingly gazing out at the rainy, mist-covered street. "What are you looking at?"
The man turned his head and looked at his wife. "Nothing in particular. Just waiting for you."
Today, Hoshino Ayane was wearing a long black coat over a matching knit sweater, paired with a fitted skirt and black sheer pantyhose. Below the beautiful curve of her calves were a pair of black flat boots, exuding a mature and utterly captivating charm.
As the man looked at his wife, Hoshino Ayane naturally looked back at her husband. However, her gaze was fixed solely on his eyes. Their daughter had a beautiful pair of heterochromatic eyes, an inheritance from the man standing before her.
Hoshino Ayane actually loved those eyes very much, but she hadn't liked them from the very beginning. For instance, she intensely disliked how they looked during his teenage years. Back then, she always felt that those eyes were enshrouded by an invisible, murky fog. No matter how gorgeous or beautiful they were, she couldn't bring herself to say she liked eyes like that.
But things were different now. Today, they were even clearer than they had been in his youth. Especially when he gazed at her, the gentle ripples and soft watery gleam that surfaced within them always left her utterly captivated.
She gently raised her hand to take his, but before she could, her palm was caught first.
The man led her away from the shelter of the corridor, stepping out to face the overcast sky and the falling rain.
Yet, not a single raindrop touched them. The moment they left the corridor, the dark clouds on the horizon were torn open by the setting sun.
The endless expanse of dark clouds built the most fitting stage for the magnificent evening glow. In a single instant, the sunset's radiance stretched for thousands of miles...
"Why did you come alone? Where is the baby?"
"Her paternal aunt picked her up. She said she will bring her back tomorrow morning."
"Is that so? The bond between aunt and niece is truly wonderful."
"Who could argue with that?"
"Didn't you mention before that you wanted to take the baby and me on a trip to China? I arranged a few days off. We can depart tomorrow, is that alright?"
"...Alright."
Their hands remained intertwined, fingers tightly laced together as they gradually vanished at the end of the street.
......
The current Hoshino Residence was located on the top floor of a bayfront building in Tokyo's Ginza district. The spacious living room and the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows bore a strong resemblance to the apartment Hoshino Gen had lived in ten years ago in Koto Ward.
But unlike that place, this home was filled with far more warm-toned decorations.
Without the lively little girl—whose personality resembled neither her mother nor her father, but ironically took after her paternal aunt—the home was filled with a long-lost atmosphere of peace and tranquility.
The couple prepared dinner together... To be precise, the man of the house prepped the ingredients while the lady of the house cooked.
The process of making seafood pasta wasn't complicated.
From the start of the preparation to plating the finished dish, and finally cleaning up after eating, the entire ordeal took less than an hour...
Fresh from her shower, Hoshino Ayane changed into a silk nightgown. As she walked into the room, she saw the man leaning against the headboard of the large bed in the bedroom, flipping through an ink-scented book under the warm light of a floor lamp.
Upon seeing his wife enter, the man closed the book, set it aside, and waved her over. The woman walked up and sat down beside him.
He gently wrapped his arm around his wife's slender waist, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek and then her lips.
The woman was carried onto the bed to lie down, and the belt of the nightgown she had just tied was softly undone.
The sheer and heavy curtains of the bedroom were drawn shut together. The cool winds of late autumn couldn't penetrate the lovers' nest; they only stirred a few faint sounds in the night, adding a few musical notes to the high-pitched song and rhythm of light and shadow intertwining.
The night gradually deepened, and the persistent chill breeze finally dissipated.
The sheer and heavy curtains were drawn open once more. The frosty glow of the moon flowed through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the room, where the lingering afterglow of the symphony's climax had yet to fully fade. Water-like luminescence rippled delicately over the clothes scattered across the floor. Their overlapping breaths gradually steadied, and the melody of the night finally descended from its peak, entering a chapter of profound tranquility...
The golden morning glow gently awakened Hoshino Ayane's consciousness. After a slight flutter of her long, thick eyelashes, her soft, pink eyelids slowly lifted.
The warmth beside her filled her heart, and an immense sense of happiness and satisfaction permeated every corner of her being.
She looked at the man beside her who was already awake, leaning against the headboard and looking at his mobile phone.
Hoshino Ayane propped up her slightly aching body and nestled into the man's embrace. Her voice, inevitably soft and sleepy just after waking, brushed against his ear. "What are you doing?"
The man wrapped his arm around his wife's slender, delicate waist, taking in that smooth touch and fragrant scent.
He didn't answer his wife with words; he simply showed her the interface on the screen.
Displayed were booked airline tickets. Obviously, he didn't plan on making a big fuss over this trip, not even intending to take a private jet.
Just like ordinary people, he had booked three flight tickets from Tokyo to Guilin, Guangxi.