Chapter 311 - What if someone is interested in you?

"Mom, are you truly okay?" Kinoshita Iori whispers, standing in the corner with her phone glued to her ear. "Me getting married to Takeshi?"

[MARRY HIM OR I WILL DISOWN YOU!] 

Iori flinches when she hears her mother's yell. Is she truly her mother? Sometimes, it feels like they picked her up from a garbage bin.

[HE ALREADY ASKED FOR OUR BLESSING. DO YOU WANT TO END UP LIKE CHIYO? YOU ARE ALREADY TWENTY-SIX. WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE --]

She hangs up the call. Yes, she knows what her mother was doing when she was her age. It's been dictated to her for more than a thousand times. 

Sighing, she turns around. Takeshi has gone outside of the building to bring a witness inside. She leans against the wall and ponders if it's the right thing to do. She said yes because she was caught in the moment. But marriage? So suddenly? Why are her parents okay with this?

Should she run away?

"Iori." 

She lets out a heavy sigh, and turns around. Takeshi is standing with Kawamoto-san and her cousin sister. While her cousin sister seems calm and uncaring, Kawamoto Ren looks pale and uncomfortable. Only she knows what happened between them.

Just how… They are so different from each other. Even now, she can't imagine her icy sister and funky Kawamoto-san together. It's like oil and water. They can't ever mix. 

"Why do you have a long face on the day you are getting married?" Yamashina Chiyo questions Iori. 

"I just feel…" Iori glances at Takeshi and gives him an awkward smile. His words come back to her. Childhood friends turning lovers… they know everything about each other. She has no doubt that he loves her. And he fell in love with her first. But something makes her anxious. She can't put a finger on it. 

"It's normal to feel nervous before a big day." Yamashina Chiyo walks to her side and pats her shoulder awkwardly. "But I am happy for you. Ever since you moved in with me, I forgot the meaning of privacy. Now, I can have my place to myself."

"..." Iori doesn't know what to say. Did she trouble her cousin that much?

"Let's be done with it." Yamashina Chiyo senses Ren's gaze on her. She knows that he will look away the moment she turns her head toward him. She ignores him in the end. "I have to dissect a businesswoman today."

"Eeeek!" Iori wrinkles her nose in disgust. "Elder Sister, don't speak about your work."

Takeshi laughs. "Yamashina-san, she and I are getting married today. Talking about the dead feels unlucky."

"They are dead. What can they do?" Yamashina Chiyo raises her brow when Ren throws her an annoyed look. She glances at her sister. "Do you never want to marry Takeshi?"

"I do, of course," Iori cries out.

"Whether it's now or later, why does it matter?" Yamashina Chiyo grabs her hand and drags her inside the office. She leans closer and whispers in Iori's ear, "S.e.x feels good. You shouldn't avoid it anymore."

Her voice is emotionless, but those words burn Iori's face. She lowers her head and covers her face with her hands. Was Kawamoto-san that good to her sister? She is never ever going to get used to this side of her sister. 

The process doesn't even take ten minutes. Iori and Takeshi come out of the office with their certificates. Iori is still in a daze. Is this the right decision? It feels like nothing has changed. The certificate in her hand feels like it's just a piece of paper.

"I have to head back." Yamashina Chiyo bends her knees slightly, looking into Iori's eyes. She smiles at her warmly. "I was scared when the apartment caught fire. I thought that you were inside the apartment. Losing an apartment and everything in it would never be as painful as losing you, my sister. I am happy that you have someone who would protect you and keep an eye on you."

"Sister…" Iori reaches for Chiyo's hands. But her cousin steps away from her. 

"Keep her chained to you." Yamashina Chiyo places her hand on Takeshi's shoulder. "I don't want my sacred space to be attacked by a snob."

Iori has been feeling emotional, but she doesn't know what to say. Her cousin is definitely happy. Did her cousin plan it with Takeshi?

She looks at their smiling faces. That's totally it. Takeshi and her cousin planned it together. 

Was she sold because of the pizza? Iori exhales. But it was a delicious pizza. 

"We should have a party tonight." Ren suggests gleefully, "I can't wait for Kiyohira to open his treasured wine again."

"We can't have a party." Takeshi says to him, "Yuta hasn't recovered yet. We will have it after we have a wedding ceremony."

"When are you going to have it?"

"It depends on Iori." Takeshi gazes at her, smiling softly. "The day she gets a job…"

"I remember Rie was happy about being Kiyohira's housewife." Ren scratches his chin thoughtfully. "Honestly, I don't mind being a househusband if my wife has a wine treasure like Kiyohira."

Yamashina Chiyo, who is at the end of the corridor, stops walking when the words reach her. Her ears perk up as she mumbles, "For wine treasure only?"

"Only wine treasure?" Takeshi has noticed Chiyo. "That's all you need, Kawamoto-san?"

"Kiyohira collects the best wines." Ren raises his finger, unaware of the person who is keenly listening. "But Rie will be managing Re Games. I plan to help her out. I can't be a house husband anymore. Anyway, I am fine with my waifus."

Chiyo lets out a heavy sigh. 

"What if someone is interested in you?" 

Takeshi's question stops Ren from turning around. Ren blinks his eyes. Who would be interested in him? "If she's cute, I will think about it."

Chiyo lets out another heavy sigh and walks away. Everyone in the world knows that she's not cute.

"Anyway, Iori-chan." Ren grins at Iori. "Congratulations, I wish you a happy married life."

Iori smiles back stiffly. This doesn't feel like marriage at all.