ғᴏᴜʀᴛʜ.

"Chicken fillets and pancakes for me." Fuyu said without looking at the menu. He raised a brow when she suddenly changed her order.

"You said you want pancakes and bacon." They were standing in front of the counter and then, he gave their orders to the staff.

"I'll have cinnamon rolls and black coffee. Then, chicken fillets and pancakes and hot chocolate for her." He took his wallet from his coat's inner pocket.

"I'm suddenly craving for chicken fillets, so I changed my mind." She walked towards the empty seat and rested her chin on her palm while waiting for him to finish paying.

"You just had chicken last night and you're still craving?" He got the receipt from the staff and then, he took his seat across her.

"That was last night. Today is a different day. Anyways, the Christmas party will be tomorrow already. Do you know who is my secret Santa? I can feel it is Gia though." She crossed her arms while resting her back on the seat.

"How can you say so?" He asked and the staff came with their orders. He got her chicken fillets and pancakes and started cutting it in small pieces after pouring some honey and melting butter on it.

"I just can feel it. She keeps on asking me about it. What gift do I want to receive and such." She got the mug of hot chocolate and carefully took a sip from it.

"What gift do you want to receive from your secret Santa, then?" He placed the plate in front of her as he is already done cutting it into small pieces.

"A storage box. Maybe two or three of it. I need it for my things." She put the mug down and got the cutlery to start eating.

"Don't tell me you bought too many of those art and crafts materials again?" He raised a brow once again and she puffed her cheeks.

"Why? Is it bad? It's one of my happiness. Psh." She glared at him and he just chuckled softly. He took his mug of black coffee and sipped some.

"No, it's not bad. The bad thing is you're a hoarder. I even remembered the time we went to a stationery shop and you almost filled a basket with it." She bit her lower lip because of shyness, so she just fed him with a small piece of pancake.

"Urusai. It's not a bad thing. Anyways, can you accompany me later at the mall again? I still need to buy more gifts. I didn't finish buying the gifts a few days ago." She got a small piece of chicken fillet inside her mouth.

"It's fine. Right after meeting Riku and Gia today, I can let the employees go home already. They will decorate the function room later for the Christmas party tomorrow." He cut a small part of the cinnamon roll and tasted it.

"Give me some of that." He raised his brows when she suddenly asked for a cinnamon roll. He chuckled softly and got her a small part before feeding her.

"This woman. You already got your chicken fillets and pancakes. Why are you still taking my cinnamon roll?" She stuck her tongue out and chuckled softly.

The two went back to the office right after finishing breakfast. Fuyu got the folders from her work table and she went to the meeting room to organize it on the table. She also turned the laptop on and flashed the powerpoint presentation on the white screen.

A few minutes later, Riku and Gia arrived already. She bowed her head when they walked inside the meeting room. Sho is already sitting on his seat and Gia bowed at them.

They closed the door and it started. At first, Fuyu explained the new proposal that Sho made just last night. Everything was going smoothly until Riku started to ask questions about the budget.

"Thirty days is too fast. Can't we extend it?" Riku asked and Sho shook his head. He swiped it to the next slide and showed them the calculated budget for the next sixty days.

"The workers will have two days of vacation due to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then, they also got bonus for it. Then, they will have another two days vacation due to New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Aren't these enough for them to work hard? This is business. We are not doing this for charity, Riku-san." Sho explained but Riku asked another question.

"Then, forty-five days? How about that? They will feel pressured if we will give them thirty days." He asked and Sho shook his head. The two women can feel the growing tension between the two men.

"No. Thirty days is enough. If we will not give them those incentives, how can they feel encouraged to work hard? We are already generous enough. We are not just giving out money here. We are doing this to earn money. And also, this is not even slavery. I read their contract and they need to work eight hours a day and five days a week. They don't even have work during Saturdays." Sho explained once more but since Fuyu can see that he is already losing composure, she placed her hand on his shoulder and gently gripped on it.

"What if this will get problems in the future? It will take time to fix it. You know it is not easy to fix something when it is already done." Riku added and he heaved a sigh. He already got up from his seat and swiped it to the next slide, showing the contract of the workers to them.

"Don't you trust the workers? We didn't hire them to slack off. We are paying them right. Their wage is not even minimum. It is above minimum. Just right for their skills and ability to work on time and properly. The materials we bought are those you proposed. Don't you trust your architect?" The room went dead silent when Sho asked that.

Fuyu gently tugged his arm but he didn't budge. When she finally held his hand to calm him down, he finally got distracted. He gripped on her hand gently and kept her close to him. They all looked at the door when someone knocked. He let her hand go and she went out to talk to the employee. He watched her leave the meeting room completely and Gia suddenly spoke.

"She still doesn't know?" She asked and he smiled faintly, shaking his head. Until now, he could feel how small her hand was when he held it.

"Just don't tell her. I'll do it on my own." After that, Fuyu went back inside the meeting room. She gave him a soft smile and this made him calmer.

"Kaichou, lunch is already prepared at your office. Should we have lunch first?" He took a deep breath and nodded.

"You two can go to my office first. I'll talk to Riku-san alone for a while. Also, tell everyone they can go home already." She slowly nodded and then, she bowed her head before leaving the meeting room once again but with Gia this time.

She took a quick glance and saw that the two men are talking seriously. At this point, she is worried for him. She stopped for a while and announced to everyone that they can already go home. They started to fix their things and she smiled softly, telling them that she will see them tomorrow at the Christmas party.

Gia gently pulled her but before they could even walk inside Sho's office, one of the company's security guards called her since she got a package.

"Hasegawa-san, a package has been sent to you. Also, this bouquet of flowers." She blinked but then, she accepted both.

The two men can clearly see what's happening outside the meeting room, so they stopped for a while and watched the two women. Fuyu placed the package on the table and opened it. It is full of her favorites.

She got two small piggy plushies, boxes of her favorite chocolates, various types of pens, three blank notebooks with cute designs and a box full of cute stickers. She saw the DVD cases and looked at it. All of it are his movies and dramas. Then, there's a small velvet box. She opened it and they saw a diamond ring. She looked at the bouquet and it is her favorite pink and white roses. She got distracted when her phone suddenly vibrated. She took it from her pocket and saw a familiar but unknown number.

"Moshi moshi?" She answered the call but her hands trembled when she heard the voice from the other line.

"Fuyu, it's me. I missed you so much." She took one of the DVD cases and looked at the first name written on it.

"Hoku-chan, it's been three years." A small faint smile crept on her lips and Sho can clearly see in her eyes that she wants to cry.