On the day Liangmei returned to work, something even more surprising happened at the company.
Akiko Shingo, the company president who almost never appears at the company and is only recognized by a few of the most senior employees, actually arrived at the company early in the morning.
Naga, who was used to arriving at the company half an hour earlier than others, usually arrived when there were only a few people there. In the HR department, there was only Yoshimi, who had arrived early to cancel her leave, and Matsushima Kae, who was always only a few minutes later than Naga.
As a way to keep himself awake early, Naga always liked to pat and pinch Kae while waiting for his coffee. Yoshimi's early arrival today immediately changed his mood.
Only four or five people had arrived at the company, and the relatively independent and closed HR department could be considered safe. So Naga felt at ease letting Kae watch over the boiling water, while she herself sat on the large sofa in the corner of the office, reaching into Yoshimi's shirt to skillfully unhook her bra and rub her swollen nipples adorned with silver rings.
Kae had removed those things a long time ago, and after Tsukamoto Sayaka was transferred away, Naga really hadn't played with those nipples for a while.
Liangmei clasped her hands together, knelt on his lap, lowered her head and breathed softly, not daring to dodge or resist.
When Akiko Shingo knocked on the door, Yoshimi was barely suppressing a moan from her lips, having already climaxed a little. Upon hearing the knock, she immediately fled like a startled rabbit, covering the small area of her skirt behind her buttocks with her hands to hide the spot soaked with her love juice.
Kae didn't know the president, and Yoshimi couldn't possibly have met Akiko before. Upon opening the door, the three people inside all wore expressions of confusion.
"May I ask who you are looking for? We haven't started work yet, so you may need to wait a moment." Kae greeted the visitor politely and poured a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
"I am Akiko Shingo." This tall, slender, and gentle-looking middle-aged woman gave her name directly.
Yoshimi was still completely confused, while Kae and Naga learned the identity of the newcomer.
"President? Uh... Nice to meet you. I'm Matsushima Kae, the executive assistant in the personnel department. This is our current department head, Yumeno Naga." Although it was a bit comical, Kae still had to introduce herself to the company's president.
"I...I'm Yoshimi Mizuhara, and I'm still a newcomer. Please...please take good care of me." Yoshimi was so nervous that her face turned pale, and she bowed awkwardly to Akiko.
"Oh, you're Naga. Hmm... you look even better in person than in the photos." Akiko pushed up her glasses and smiled. "Don't be nervous, you guys keep going. I'm going to see Minister Yumeno; I have some personal matters to discuss with him."
"Personal matters?" Naga asked, somewhat surprised. "Is this our first meeting?"
Akiko looked at him, her smile becoming even gentler, with a hint of subtle expectation. "Indeed, this is the first time we've met. I'm really an incompetent president."
"However, please believe me, I do need to discuss some personal matters with you." She paused, as if organizing her thoughts. "Let me give you a proper introduction. Yumeno-kun, I am Akiko Shingo, and my husband's family name is Shingo. My maternal family name is Shimokawa. The Shimokawa of Shimokawa Miku. My older sister, Kazuko, is Miku's mother."
Naga hugged his elbows, somewhat doubting the authenticity of this identity. Miku, whether in her speech or the mood she usually revealed, really seemed like a lonely girl living alone. She had never heard her mention any relatives. How could an aunt who was the president of the company suddenly appear?
But after that, it was clear that a discussion was necessary. He nodded. "Kae, Yoshimi, go and tidy up the reception room. President Shingo, please go with them first, I'll be there shortly."
Akiko nodded and followed the two women towards the reception room. Watching her disappear around the corner, Naga immediately took out his phone and dialed Miku's number. To his surprise, Miku's phone was switched off. She usually kept it on 24/7.
Well, anyway, she's just a middle-aged woman. Naga calmed his nerves and gave a self-deprecating laugh. Ultimately, this nervousness stemmed from the other person's status—Miku's elder. He'd laughed at Miku's nervousness when meeting his parents back then, but now he himself was sweating over it.
Upon seeing the two return, he briefly explained the morning's work to avoid delaying official business, and specifically instructed them not to disturb him unless it was something important. Then, feeling slightly uneasy, he went to the reception room.
"Wouldn't it be better to meet in the president's office?" After entering, Naga realized that the meeting was a bit ridiculous. The head of the human resources department and the president of the company were actually going to chat in the meeting room.
"No, no one cleans that place all year round, it's not as good as here." Akiko smiled and beckoned him to sit down. "Let's talk here. Actually, it's nothing important, it's just that someone wants to see you and asked me to come and arrange a time. He's quite busy and can't get away right away, and he's in a bit of a hurry, so he urged me to come over. I only dared to come over after calling Aya."
She also seemed a little flustered, and even had a somewhat ingratiating attitude.
As they spoke, Naga carefully observed her. He could see a trace of her youthful beauty, but her features had been eroded by time, and she bore little resemblance to Miku. Only the outline of her face vaguely resembled hers—a classic oval face similar to Keiko Kuroki's. He supposed that as Miku matured, her face would gradually change into this serene appearance.
"Uh...please just say what you want to say. Who wants to see me?" Since Miku has said that she was the product of rape, then the father who doesn't acknowledge her is naturally the first possibility. "Is it...Miku's father?"
Akiko nodded, then sighed somewhat abruptly, "Miku, what did she tell you? About her father."
Naga no longer cared so much about the elders Miku didn't like, and answered directly: "What she told me was that she didn't have a father, and she didn't have any relatives worth remembering. She always told me that she was all alone."
Stung by the answer, Mingzi's shoulders visibly twitched. She sighed again, picked up her coffee cup, took a small sip, and shook her head slightly. "It's not her fault. She's always been a stubborn girl. I've tried to stay away from the company as much as possible because of her. But I really didn't expect her to resign to get married. She had said she would never rely on any man in her life and would live by her own efforts."
She gave Naga a meaningful look. "It's wonderful that someone has appeared whom she's willing to entrust her life to. I heard from Ami that you're very capable at the company, and that you wouldn't have any problems taking on greater responsibilities, is that right?"
It seemed this woman was quite familiar with Ami, and Naga wondered how much she knew about his affairs. He cautiously guessed, replying modestly, "She's too kind. I was only able to do this thanks to my colleagues' help." Not intending to escalate the conversation to a questioning phase, Naga countered, "Um... President Shingo, may I be so bold as to ask, what exactly is going on between you and Miku?"
Akiko paused for a few seconds, then asked, "What did she say to you? About the Shimokawa family?"
Naga hesitated for a moment, then said in as gentle a tone as possible, "She said that since her mother's accident, the family has cut off all ties with her and her mother, and they weren't allowed to attend her maternal grandfather's funeral. That's all I know."
A flicker of undisguised pain flashed in Akiko's eyes. She smoothed her hair with her fingers, lowered her gaze, and stared at the calm surface of the coffee cup. "Actually, what you know is pretty much all you know."
She sighed for the third time, speaking slowly as if trying to pronounce each word clearly: "My father is a professor at Keio University, and my mother is the second daughter of a prominent family in my hometown. I believe you can imagine what kind of family it is."
Her rounded fingers clenched tightly together as she continued her story: "After discovering she was pregnant from rape, my sister felt terribly ashamed. Hoping to keep it a secret, she asked a friend for some ancient Chinese medicine to abort the child. She told me that after taking the medicine, she bled a little and had abdominal pain for a few days. She naively thought everything was fine and carefully kept her secret of being abused by a man. Until... until she realized that the swelling in her lower abdomen wasn't due to increased appetite, and the cessation of her period wasn't a side effect of the abortion. In the end, she had no choice but to tell her parents."
She raised her hand, rubbing her temples with her thumb, and whispered, "That year, my sister was only 19. My father locked himself in his room, refusing to eat for days and nights, and my mother cried until she fainted several times. At that time, I truly felt that no matter what happened, I would never forgive that man. Never..."
Sensing that Miku was hiding something, Naga cautiously asked, "Then... what happened next?"
She looked up at the window. The summer morning light was already shining brightly, but her gaze seemed to travel back more than twenty years to that cold, snowy place. "My father was crying. I saw it clearly. He was indeed crying. But he didn't nod or say a word. He just stood there at the door until midnight."
Fragments of memory rippled through the middle-aged woman's already fragile tear ducts. She wiped her eyes, composed herself, and continued, "My relationship with my sister only slightly improved five years after our mother's death. That was the turning point that began with my wedding. After marrying Shingo-kun, I quickly gave birth to my first daughter. Only after becoming a mother did I gradually understand the suffering my sister endured back then. So-called pride and so-called stubbornness are truly insignificant in the face of my daughter's smile... insignificant."
"I don't know if it was because she carried too much pain, but my sister's health continued to decline. If it weren't for that man's substantial financial support, she probably wouldn't have been able to hold on until Miku entered middle school." Akiko leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and said, "Before my sister passed away, she talked with Miku in the house all night. I don't know exactly what they talked about, but I can confirm that after that night, Miku was no longer the same Miku. She stopped calling me Auntie, stopped acknowledging that she had a father, and… she didn't want to live at home anymore. She moved out early and started living independently on the child support paid by that man."
Naga suddenly felt a pang in his heart, and some things gradually connected to form a fact that he found somewhat absurd.
Akiko didn't notice the change in his expression, still immersed in the reminiscence that women her age love to engage in. "That's why I said you already know pretty much everything. All I can add are these details."
Naga shook his head. "I still think that the problem between you and Miku can't be as simple as you refusing to let her mother attend her grandfather's funeral."
Akiko's fingers trembled slightly. She looked at Naga with a wry smile, took off her glasses and placed them on the table. "Yes, you're right. Since you're going to become Miku's husband, I should be more honest with you. I... still hope that one day when she sees me, she won't look disgusted, and can call me 'Auntie' like before."
She hesitated for a moment, her cheeks flushing slightly, then shifted her gaze back to the window and said, "Miku knew that Mother wasn't allowed to attend the funeral, but that was just the beginning. At that time, although she resented me, she still remembered my love for her. When she moved out, she also informed me of the address and phone number of her rented apartment. What happened later severed all contact between us. From then on, the only thing she looked at me with was contempt. I know she looks down on me, just like... I looked down on my sister back then."
"Then... what is it?" Not only was he curious, but Naga also wanted to know more about Miku's family, especially after vaguely guessing the identity of Miku's father. He wanted to know how many unknown relationships this twisted family was hiding.
"Actually, this company originally belonged to my husband." Akiko stroked the armrest of the sofa, looking blankly at her knees. "He was the only son in the family. Although he wasn't good at business, he still inherited the position of president after his father-in-law's health deteriorated. Before he passed away, the company was already on the verge of collapse. After I took care of his funeral arrangements, all I inherited was a mountain of debt that was driving me crazy. A father-in-law who was paralyzed in bed, a daughter in high school, and a son in elementary school. And before that, I was just a simple housewife. I couldn't even understand a single page of the spreadsheets I was given in my accounting class."
As if recalling some painful experience, Mingzi's lips turned pale, and her expression became somewhat haggard. "I even thought about suicide, taking my father-in-law and children with me to another world, so that I could escape from the cruelty of this reality. But I can't bear it... My children are still in the best years of their lives, and they haven't fully tasted the joys of life yet. How could I bear to take them away like this?"
Seeing Akiko fall into a brief silence, Naga cautiously asked, "After that... someone helped you, right?" He had already come up with a guess in his mind, but he was not sure about it and felt it was too absurd.
"Why?" Having already mentally confirmed the man's identity, Naga naturally asked this question. A man like that wouldn't do anything without a purpose; she was merely his mistress's sister, not worth his trouble.
"For…the sake of his son." Akiko remained silent for a long time before finally speaking in a very soft voice, "He had many women, so many that he couldn't even count them all. But only two women were able to conceive his child successfully. One of them was my sister, Kazuko. He only had two daughters, and he desperately wanted a son. He thought there was something wrong with those women's bodies. My sister has passed away, and that somewhat famous star committed suicide long ago due to depression. All the women who had given birth to his children naturally are no longer alive, so he…"
As if touching a scar on her heart, she lingered on the last syllable for a few seconds before revealing what she meant, "I've taken a liking to you. I'm Kazuko's sister, we share similar bloodlines, and besides, I already have a son."
What happened next was easy to guess: a widow completely trapped in the quagmire of cruel reality, facing such a cunning and skilled hunter, had no chance of escape. Naga couldn't bear to ask any further; she knew enough. Miku's disdain for Akiko was probably the main reason.
The woman who looked down on her mother back then eventually became a humiliating mistress just to survive. Compared to Kazuko's helplessness and despair after being raped, Akiko's compromise was indeed more unforgivable to Miku.
A tense silence lingered for a good five or six minutes. Perhaps this narration had somewhat released her pent-up frustration, for Akiko's tone softened slightly. "Although Miku refuses to forgive me, I still don't regret it. My children are living well; they are all happy now. For them, any humiliation I endured was worth it." A vengeful smile appeared on her face. "Fate is still fair; that man still doesn't have a son, and I think he never will."
"It's him, who wants to see me?" Although Naga wanted to avoid the topic, now that she knew that the man was Miku's father, no matter how confused she felt, she had to face this inescapable relative.
Akiko nodded. "Miku kept it a secret really well. She probably didn't want her father to know about her upcoming marriage at all. She even made up an excuse to bring out the family register transcript. She said she needed it until the end of September. She probably wanted to complete the marriage registration and officially become a member of the Yumeno family before telling her father."
"They...didn't sever ties?" Naga couldn't help but ask when she heard about the household registration transcript.
"It's not legally true. Like Asumi, Miku took her mother's surname, but she was registered in the Fujikawa family as an illegitimate child."
Akiko finally revealed the surname that she had been deliberately avoiding. Naga leaned back in his chair with a wry smile and said in a self-deprecating tone, "I've seen this name Fujikawa Kengo countless times in magazines, but I never imagined that one day I would be meeting him in person as his future son-in-law. Aunt Akiko, could you let me know in advance what his opinion is on my marriage to Miku?"
The way he addressed her as "Auntie" was a perfectly timed compliment to Akiko. Akiko thought for a moment, but still shook her head regretfully. "I can't fathom what that man is thinking. I only know he wants to see you. If Asami hadn't told him last night, he wouldn't have known about Miku's marriage, which made him very angry. I have to remind you, he has no heir now, and the marriages of his two illegitimate daughters are not trivial matters for him. Asami has some psychological issues, and the possibility of a normal marriage is very small. He has always valued Miku and probably planned to have her take his surname and then have her marry into his family. It concerns the inheritance of a huge company, so I think you'd better prepare yourself mentally."
Naga clenched his hands, closed his eyes, and pondered. Miku's words from not long ago flashed through his mind again: "Just thinking about life as Yumeno Miku makes my fingertips tremble with happiness."
He opened his eyes, stood up, and felt incredibly calm.
"You can tell him that I can see him anytime."