Chapter 11 - "Seven Years, Cherished"
After our conversation, Asami moves quickly, efficiently, as if he can walk this problem away. He crosses the corridor and takes a quick shower in the room three doors down. Knowing he was still in the house was oddly comforting, proof he is nearby even when he wasn't in the same room.
Forty-five minutes later, his voice is outside my door.
"It's me. Ichinose… are you awake?" A light knock follows.
"Come in — it's open." My voice comes out thin.
He steps into the dim light and pauses the moment he sees me, exactly as he'd left me. Concern folds across his face.
"Do you need anything before I go?" he asks, softer than his usual authority.
The lie comes easily; I do not believe it. I reply with the only truth I can manage.
"No. I'm okay here."
He crosses the room in two strides, his hand finding my cheek. It is warm and real, yet for an instant everything in me balances on that palm. He bends and kisses my forehead — there is tenderness in it, fierce as a promise.
"I'm already late. My grandfather's waiting." He say — eyes searching mine as if every syllable costs him.
Embarrassed and foolish, I reach up and hold his hand to my face.
"You should go," I say. "Isn't it urgent?"
He looks like he wants to stay. He does not. Reluctantly, he draws back.
"Call Amelia or Paige if you need anything," he tells me, voice fraying just enough to undo me.
"I'll be back tonight."
"Yes." My reply fades. I give him a small wave instead of the words I can't say.
His car starts with a quick, impatient bark. He is gone before the goodbye finishes echoing. The engine cuts through the quiet, and then the house settles again — except my mind doesn't.
It loops over Dante's face, his threats, Asami's thinly contained fury the night before. The things I'd admitted to someone who deserved none of the pity I'd given him. The things I can't forgive myself for.
Night drags. I try to sleep, but each time my eyes shut, I see Dante's smirk. I turn the pillow, count breaths, try to anchor myself in small mundane things. At last I can't stand it. I leave my room for the balcony to find air I haven't been able to taste all evening.
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It is well past midnight when I hear the blare of a horn at the gate—loud, impatient, and unmistakably Asami's way of announcing himself. The sound makes my chest tighten. He was drunk again.
From my balcony, I watch the headlights sweep across the driveway as his car rolls in. Most of the maids are already asleep; only Aisha and Amelia linger near the entrance, dutiful as always, waiting for him.
I stay in the shadows, cigarette between my fingers, listening as he hand over his things. His voice carries faintly up the stairwell.
"Is Ichinose still awake?" he asks.
"Yes, Sir," Aisha reply. "He was on the balcony earlier, looking at the gate."
I freeze, exhaling smoke into the night air. So he knows I was awake. Of course he does.
The sound of his footsteps grow heavier as he climb the stairs. A knock rattle at my door, but I ignored it, pressing the phone closer to my ear.
Dante's voice cracks through the line, cold and sharp.
"It's already been six months since we stopped talking, and more than a year since we ended. There's no reason for us to stay connected."
Smoke bleeds from my mouth in heavy bursts, like an exhaust pipe I cannot shut off. The filter grew hot against my fingers before I realized how long I'd been holding it, ash spilling over the rail.
"You talk like it was mutual," I say evenly. "It was not."
"You're damn right it wasn't!" Dante snaps.
"I never agreed to any of this. You disappeared. Do you know what it's like to come home from work and find the house empty? No note, no goodbye—just gone. And now you think you can tell me we're finished?"
His anger twisted into provocation. "Or maybe you've got a new man. Maybe that's why you're acting so brave now. Tell me, is he better than me? Huh?"
I clench my jaw, biting down the smoke before it can choke me. "Asami has nothing to do with this. He's my employer, nothing more. You know that."
But Dante laughed, low and bitter.
"Employer? You expect me to believe that? You're loyal to him in ways you were never loyal to me. Always talking about your 'duties,' always putting work first. If he told you to jump, you'd do it, wouldn't you?"
My grip tightens on the phone, knuckles whitening. I light another cigarette just to keep my hands busy, but it trembles as I raise it to my lips.
"Don't twist this. You lost me long before Asami ever entered the picture. And you know why."
Dante's voice softens suddenly, dangerously. "I lost you? No, Ichinose—you threw us away. You traded love for convenience, passion for a paycheck. That's on you."
The words cut deeper than I want to admit. I gaze out into the dark, smoke clouding my vision, refusing to let him hear the crack in my voice.
Behind me, Asami lingered at the balcony door—silent, unmoving. I hadn't noticed him, but his presence pressed against me all the same, heavy as the night air.
He does not speak, doesn't interrupt—only watches, listening as I strive to keep my composure against Dante's relentless voice.
Dante's tone shifts, furious yet laced with a cruel curiosity.
"I see. I've never heard you defend anyone like that before, Ichi. Sounds nice—makes me wonder who you've really been loyal to all along. Tell me, and don't you dare lie to me… Do you love him? Do you love Asami more than you ever loved me? Is that why you're suddenly talking back, acting like you can just walk away from me?"
His voice cut deep, every word a blade. My face darkens as I draw in another lungful of smoke, trying to keep my trembling hidden.
"Why… why do you really want to know?" I ask, forcing the words through the tightness in my throat.
"What will you do with the answer?"
For a moment, there was silence on his end. Silence, but heavy—ominous. It feels like a shadow creeping closer. My fingers shake as I lit another cigarette, the flame unsteady, betraying me.
I lowered my voice, though it still cracks.
"Yes… I do love him."
The admission rips out of me, raw. My chest tightens until the night air feels solid, unmovable.
"Yes. I loved him more than I ever loved you. And even now, after more than seven years, I'm still in love with him."
The words tasted like blood, like betrayal—because even as I speak, a new terror comes in me.
What if Dante went after Asami? What if my confession put him in danger?
My shoulders shake as I try to stifle the sobs, but the sound slips out, low and broken.
On the other end, Dante doesn't answer right away. The silence drags out until I think the line has gone dead. Then—soft, amused, mocking—he smirks through his words.
"…There it is. I knew I could make you cry. Even after all this time, I still know exactly where to press."
"You think you can love him openly, Ichi? You think you can just tell me that and expect me to let it go? I've seen men like him before—rich, powerful, untouchable. But men like that? They bleed just the same when someone puts them on their knees."
His laugh is low, bitter, more dangerous than anger.
My stomach drops, cigarette trembling between my fingers.
Dante continues, voice turning sharp, venomous.
"You ran from me, but don't forget—I've survived worse than heartbreak. I've had people try to break me, lock me up, bury me alive in concrete walls… and I came out meaner, harder. You think your boss scares me? He's just another man. And if he's the reason you threw me away, then I promise you, Ichinose… I'll make him regret ever stealing what was mine."
The words freeze me. The night air feels heavier, pressing down on my chest. I want to scream at him, to hang up, but my hand won't move.
Dante lowered his tone, almost tender, but it only made it worse.
"Ichi… you know me. You know I don't forget. I don't forgive. And no matter where you run, you'll always be mine first. Remember that."
I choke back a sob, pressing a hand to my chest. "You know I love you but we're over now,"
I force out, summoning every ounce of courage. "So I'm begging you—don't show yourself to me, and never call me again. Please."
The silence that follows is worse than his threats. I hang up, trembling, and clasp my hand over my heart.
"Please, oh Lord… don't let him hurt Asami."
My breath catches. I sense the change in the air, a stillness that wasn't there before, heavy and cold despite the smoke. I turn my head slowly, my neck stiffening with dread.
Behind me, Asami stands frozen at the balcony door, the smell of smoke clinging to the air between us. He is just a silhouette against the gloom of the house, silent and unmoving, like a shadow suddenly given weight.
I swallow, the tightness in my throat choking the air. My gaze drops to the phone in my hand, then back to his dark, unreadable face.
"I hope Asami doesn't hear that I loved him for more than seven years. Or it would be hard to explain this situation."
I whisper the thought, my voice low and trembling, but the absolute stillness of the night makes even that quiet utterance feel like a shout.
He takes one slow step toward me. His eyes catch the faint light from the moon, glittering with an intensity I have never seen.
I don't move. I can't breathe. The danger Dante threatened feels distant now; the real threat is here, standing right behind me.
To be continued…