"Hooooo!" Akira let out a huge and loud breath as she hopped inside the car. "That was intense", she continued as she removed her wig.
It felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders. She turned to look at Ren beside her. She caught him loosening his tie and releasing an air. She wondered if he was as relieved as her that their meeting with Aya today was already over.
Then she remembered how Ren was actually acting earlier. Aya was obviously hitting on him. It was clearer than the day to Akira. Ren could at least had shown that he was uncomfortable with Aya's actions. However, it was as if Aya's advances were just fine to him.
Realizing all these things, Akira was now in a dark mood. How dare he tell her how important it was to act properly to make Aya believe that they were a real couple if he himself could not do it!
He was pretending to be a married man, yet he was alright for him to have another woman touch him so casually and flirt with him right in front of his wife.
'Despicable...totally despicable', Akira thought to herself. 'What a womanizer.'
After spending more time with Ren for the past weeks, she honestly thought that he was not actually as bad as she first thought. With that, she found her distaste towards him fade away gradually. But it seemed like her dislike of him had come back, and it could even be worse this time.
"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly glaring at me?" Ren asked all of a sudden, catching Akira off guard.
"I am not glaring at you", Akira replied. She was lying. She was without a doubt looking daggers at him.
"Yes, you are. I could tell even just through my peripheral vision how you were looking at me. So, tell me, what did I do wrong?" Ren was not backing down.
Akira heaved a heavy and frustrated sigh, "I already told you. I was not glaring at you."
What Ren did next had completely taken her aback. Turning to his side, he leaned towards her, staring intently at her eyes with his golden orbs.
Akira's heart skipped a beat. What on earth was going on with her? And what was Ren doing?
"You are a straightforward person Akira. You had always been forthright with the things that you like and do not like. You do not hesitate to express your distaste towards something, especially towards me. After being with you for a month, I could easily tell, if you do not like something about me. So, do not lie. This is not very like you. Tell me, what did I do wrong so that I can correct it."
Ren did not remove his eyes even for once as he spoke these words to her. Akira could tell through his eyes and his entire demeanor how serious and sincere he was with his words.
Of course, it was not a surprise for him to be able to read her easily. Akira had known how keenly aware and observant Ren was with his surroundings. He would notice even the simplest and smallest details of things. He could effortlessly see right through things.
But putting that aside, Akira wondered if Ren was always that sensitive towards people. It was not just he wanted to know what was it that he did wrong, Akira felt that he asked it because he genuinely want to correct himself, and it was as if her was concerned with Akira. Was he always this caring?
Concerned? Caring? There was no way he felt that way towards Akira. She refused to believe it.
But how was she supposed to answer him? If she continued to insist that she was not glaring at him, she would only end up making a clown of herself. Ren already knew that she was indeed glaring at her. Obviously, she could not proceed with that. However, she could not also answer him honestly.
If she told Ren the real reason why she was mad at him, she was certain that Ren would misunderstand her. Knowing the kind of person Ren was, it was not also impossible that he would tease her. He would very much likely say that Akira was jealous of Aya. Akira could already play a possible scenario in her and just thinking about it made her blood boil.
She knew she was not jealous. She was just mad that Ren not following the rules and standards that he set himself. Akira went out of her way just to make sure that their meeting with Aya today would be flawless. She totally went out of her comfort zone. She agreed to having her get up. She went all touchy and pretended to be Ren's real wife, all for the success of today's mission.
She was angry that Ren did not put the same effort as her.
"It was not glaring at you. I was actually staring outside. The clouds were turning dark. It looks like it is going to rain. You know that I do not like rain. That's the reason why I was glaring."
It was half-truth. The weather was actually turning gloomy. There was a very high chance that it would rain any minute now, and Akira really was not fond of such a weather. However, it was not the reason why she was glaring.
Ren was silent. He continued to look straight into Akira's eyes, as if peering through her innermost being to see if she was really telling him the truth.
He took a very short and quick glance through the window behind Akira. The clouds were indeed turning dark.
"Fine", he finally surrendered. He moved back to his original position, leaning back against his seat. He ran his hand through his crimson hair. "Sorry for being persistent. I just wanted to make sure that I did not do anything to piss you off", he said while through the window beside him.
Akira was speechless. Why would it matter to him if Akira was pissed at him? His actions towards Akira were always the type that would exasperate and anger Akira. So, why suddenly act like he cared?
Then something suddenly dawned on Akira. Yes, Ren would always do anything to get on Akira's nerves. But that was actually only at the start. But after they allowed him to work with them, and after spending more time around him, he was doing less and less things to infuriate Akira.
In fact, they might disagree over certain things, but he had actually been calm during their arguments.
Realizing these things suddenly made Akira feel scared. What if it was just all a pretense to get her trust and so that she would let her guard down towards him? She reminded herself of what she told herself before: she could not and should not trust Ren.
That was what she said in her mind, yet her heart was conflicted.