The lady from the front desk guided Haru and Akira. She first led them to the VIP elevator. The only people who could use it was Aya and her special clients who had an appointment with her.
She pressed the number forty button causing it to light up in red. They were going to the highest floor of the gigantic building.
The elevator started moving. The three people inside stood silently as they patiently waited for them to reach their destination.
Ren still had his hand on Akira's waist. Akira shifted a little as she felt uncomfortable feeling a man's hand on her waist. It was a very strange and new feeling to her. She was trying her best to hide the blush that was starting to creep up from her neck to her face.
Being his always observant self, Ren immediately caught on that something was bothering Akira. He leaned closer to Akira then whispered to her ear, "Are you alright?"
A cold shiver ran down Akira's spine when she heard Ren's husky voice and felt his warm breath very close to her ear. She could also feel her face get warmer and her heart start to beat faster.
She silently prayed in her mind for herself to calm down. It was not very like her to act this way. What was wrong with her?
Nodding her head, she replied in a whisper, "Yes. I'm fine." Her voice was in monotone, and she had her eyes only staring straight at the door of the elevator. She could not bring herself to face him. She could not explain why, but she felt that if she looked at his eyes right now, her face would flush ten more times, like a ripened tomato.
Ren did not reply right away. He was silent for a moment. He just stared at Akira as if he was scanning her and it made her feel more tense and awkward.
'What is wrong? Why is he still looking at me? I do not like this', Akira thought in her head.
After a couple of seconds, Ren finally removed his gaze from her.
"Okay", he said calmly as he resumed to look at the succeeding numbers of the buttons at the side of the door light up in a warm white color one by one.
A very silent and controlled sigh came out of Akira as she finally noticed that Ren stopped gazing at her. She could see from her peripheral view earlier how Ren was heavily and intently looking at her, as if he was peering through her soul.
She shook the thought away as she realized that it was distracting her and causing her to lose focus. The last thing she wanted to do was to allow herself to get distracted and break role while she was in a mission. Today's job had to perfect as much as possible.
They were already at the thirty-fourth floor. Six more floors before their desired destination. Thirty-five...thirty-six...thirty-seven...thirty-eight...thirty-nine...forty.
"Ding!" a sound echoed within the elevator. The door moved on each side, leaving an opening in the middle.
"Please follow me", the lady politely told them.
She stepped out of the elevator and the pretend couple followed her from behind. The entire floor was silent and had a luxurious red carpet on the floor.
They walked to their right then Ren noticed that there was only one door in the entire floor. After a short while, they finally reached the door. She pressed a button beside the door then spoke to it, "Good morning, madam Aya. This is Kaede here. Your visitors are here."
There was a silence for a moment, then not very long after, a deep and almost sultry female voice spoke from the speaker, "Bring them inside, Kaede."
"Yes, madam."
With that, the door automatically opened. Ren and Akira gave each other a quick glance.
"This way ma'am and sir. Please bear with me. We are almost there", the lady said to them.
Akira gave her a warm and gentle smile, "Oh, it's alright miss. Do not worry."
They got in another hallway. There were three doors inside. One at the straight end of the hallway, one at the right and one at the left. Their guide continued to walk straight, which meant that they were going to the door at the end of the hallway.
She finally halted, then she turned around to face the couple, "We are here now, ma'am and sir." She opened the door for them then bowed her head as she gently signaled them to go inside.
Giving each other a side glance, Akira and Ren entered the room. It was an enormous room and what made it feel more spacious was the fact that there were very little to nothing inside it.
There, exactly right in the middle of the room where three red couches. The one at the center was facing the door, and the other two couches was placed on each side of it. In their middle was a tiny table.
A woman in black strapless dress was sitting at the couch facing the door. She had a long blonde hair, and she was wearing a dark red lipstick. Her hair was not her natural hair. It was obviously dyed, but Ren could not help but think that it suited her.
The woman was sitting comfortably like a queen while holding a glass filled with red wine. Seeing the couple enter the room, he gently placed her wineglass on the table and stood from her position. As she walked towards the couple to meet them, Akira noticed that she was actually quite tall. She had the figure of a model.
"Mr. and Mrs. Taira, it is lovely to meet you two. Welcome", the woman said as she grinned at them. She first gave Akira a beso - her cheeks giving a light touch with Akira's cheeks. It's a typical act of courtesy among people, especially among the elites. After that, she went after Ren.
Akira caught it. The lady's eyes lingered for a few seconds at Ren. Then as she gave Ren a kiss on his cheeks, unlike what she did to Akira, she used her lips to give Ren a kiss. Akira was well aware that they were only pretending to be a couple, but she could not help but still be mad at the lady.
Aya was informed that they were married, yet she had the guts to act this way in front of them. Akira was greatly disappointed at her. After hearing how great and revered Aya was as an artist, she had high expectations of her - that she was a well-mannered and dignified woman. But it turned out that Akira was wrong.
Akira stole a glance at Ren who was standing beside her. She expected that he would show discomfort, after all, his wife was standing right next to him. To her surprise, Ren was smiling brightly at Aya.
"It is our pleasure to meet you. We appreciate your time. I know you do not easily allow yourself to have an audience with other people. So, this is a privilege for me and my wife", Ren said sweetly. Akira could not tell if he was being sincere with the way he was acting or if it was all a part of their pretense.
Aya chuckled at Ren's statement then she placed her hand on one of Ren's shoulders, "Oh come on. I could say the same thing. You and your wife are very important people. How could I miss the chance to meet you? It is also a privilege for me."
Akira eyed Aya's hand that was on Ren's shoulder. She was feeling infuriated and mad at how Aya could openly flirt with Ren in front of her.
"Anyway, have a seat. It's better to talk when we're all seated comfortably."
She slowly slid her hand off from Ren's shoulder to his arm before turning her back to them and taking her seat on her same spot earlier.
They had barely spent time with her, but Akira was already certain of one thing: she did not like Aya Kamei at all.