Chapter 108 - The pain of an ignorant lover

After a long day of work and investigations Ayu went to the hospital to visit Ro-kun. He had been recuperating for a while and his wounds were healing. 

He was awake when she entered his room, bringing take-out dinner for them both. 

"You know I shouldn't be eating oily, spicy food like that right?" Ro-kun feigned disappointment.

"You're stronger than an elephant, Ro-kun. Some unhealthy food won't kill you." Ayu glared back at him. 

The large, rugged man who usually looked dangerous was bundled up in a hospital bed in a gown, which looked entirely entirely silly to Ayu, making her suppress a laugh. 

"But, I'm recovering! The doctor has strict instructions for me in order to restore my immunity. You will kill me before any gunshot wound does." Ro-kun kept complaining.

"Fine, there's none for you anyway" as she said this, Ayu shoveled a mouth-full of savoury smelling noodles. 

Ro-kun was salivating now. This woman ate bad food all the time, yet it never affected her. Anyone else would have put on so much weight or had an artery blockage or even high blood pressure. 

But Ayu was beautiful, as usual. Her sharp feautures, and high nose, enchanting eyes and should-length brown hair were no short of charming. She couldn't even look clumsy swalling noodles like she had never seen them before. 

"It's okay, I can eat some of that. I've been eating bland food for too long." 

Ayu rolled her eyes at him. Why fuss at all? 

As Ro-kun swallowed down the noodles and rolls and rice, he looked at Ayu closely, observing her features and pallor. 

"You look tired...and slightly haggard." 

Ayu choked on the mouth full of food she had. 

"Excuse me! What gives you the right to say that? Have you seen yourself lying invalid in that bed." 

Ro-kun was silent for a moment. 

And then he looked up at Ayu meaningfully. 

"I did it for you." he said quietly. 

Ayu stopped. She knew he pushed her out of the way and took the bullet for her. She just didn't quite understand why.

"I know." 

"Do you know why?" 

"No." 

She didn't think she wanted to know. The debt to him was too high and she didn't want to face that. 

"You would have done the same...for your Madam." he said quietly. 

Ayu put her food down and stopped eating. She looked awkwardly from side to side. 

"I'm full." she said. 

Madam...that was a discussion she didn't want to have again with Ro-kun. 

He knew far too much about it. Madam was her only weakness, her only vulnerability. 

Ro-kun scoffed sarcastically. 

"It's ridiculous. Most sensible women fall for their bosses, not their bosses' wives!" 

Ayu's eyes flashed in anger as she looked up at him. 

"You want me to be one of those silly women that fall for the first man in power? Or one of those idiots who chase after the one man they can't have?" 

"So what? You just settled for the first woman you can't have?!" 

Ayu failed to realise why Ro-kun was so angry at her. 

"Ro-kun, enough!" she said with grit teeth. She didn't want to hear him belittling her feelings for Lina. 

"Sorry." he said, quietly, knowing he had gone too far. 

After all, people didn't choose who they loved. He couldn't choose who he loved either. 

Sensing a quietness, Ayu decided to break the bad news to him.

"Boss' eldest brother escaped." 

"WHAT?" Ro-kun almost dropped the food he was holding to the floor. 

This was huge. This was a very dangerous thing. And here he was, helpless and bedridden at the hospital. 

"Yes, early this morning. He got a good headstart on us, and despite efforts even by boss, we haven't been able to track him down. The one piece of clothing he dropped, was to scare boss and throw him off. But he has managed to fool us." Ayu explained, her voice laced with bitterness at her own incompetency.

Ro-kun slammed his fist on to the table on the side. 

"When can I get out of here?" he demanded. 

"Doc said it would still be a while." Ayu replied. 

"That man...he almost destroyed boss. He almost crippled him for life." Ro-kun said quietly. 

Ayu didn't reply. She knew exactly how ruthless the brothers were towards each other. 

"I should be by boss' side right now." Ro-kun continued. He suddenly grasped Ayu's hand. "What about Shigeo? Is he still imprisoned?" 

Ayu nodded in response. But that was all she knew. Shigeo Moshi could also be plotting something. In fact he might have even been involved in Shao's escape. 

"We haven't managed to gather any information yet, but I believe boss will deal with his second brother tomorrow. We have had a long day." 

Ayu's updates kept Ro-kun in the loop. But having always been his boss' chief security officer, he couldn't help but feel like a failure. He should be there, making sure Shen and his family were protected in every way.

But here he was, eating take out food in a hospital bed. Utterly useless. 

Ayu could see his feelings on his face. 

"Ro-kun...I'm swamped with multiple investigations. I need your help." 

His head snapped up, his rugged face showing some hope.

"What can I do?" 

"I will provide you surveillance material of the city cameras around the university the day you were shot. If you see that black car that drove by in any location, or catch that person driving, we can run a facial recognition. It will help us get closure on the person who attacked us and keep boss safe in the future." she said, triumphantly.

She felt proud to have come up with a solution to include Ro-kun in their investigations and reduce her work-load a bit. 

"Also, Ro-kun, if you could contact your ex military friends and get any information on any dishonorably discharged members who could be serving as paid assassins for a family, that might help track this person down!" she added. 

"Fine. I'll do that immediately. Get everything sent to me tonight." Ro-kun responded, with determination in his eyes. 

He hated sitting back. As an ex military office himself, he was always on the frontlines. That was how he worked. 

Ayu smiled at him finally. She never smiled much. She was such a stoic woman. For a moment, Ro-kun's heart skipped a beat. 

But he put the stupid thought away.