Red Strings ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Fortieth String

Not everyone was happy with Kurenai taking over the company from Atsushi.

And surprise, surprise, those who opposed the change were all senior staff who had been working in the company since her father was just a young man. The ones who refused to retire when they came to the appropriate age, hogging the position because it brought them money and power while contributing little to nothing.

Despite their opposition, none of them dared to say a thing to Kurenai however.

She might be young, and she might not be experienced like her father, but she held the power to terminate their contracts. Just last week, when the Marketing Director called her a brat during a meeting, she managed to dig up dirt on him that was enough cause for an immediate termination without compensation.

For the younger generations, however, Kurenai was their saviour.

In the short period of time since she got into position, she had improved the work environment ten folds for them. She went to each department personally and listened to every employee when she asked for their suggestions and complaints. She would not shut down their project proposals simply because they were younger and inexperienced. She held the aura of a leader but treated each and every person equally, and never looked down on anyone. It was like a breath of fresh air breezing through the company.

They were, however, much more interested in her relationship with Chishiya.

The first few weeks of her as the Chuya Group's new director, that was what the media focused on too. The headlines were all about how she took her father down because he stood in the way of their relationship. Naturally, that intrigued everyone who did not know the truth.

Rumours started spreading throughout the company too. There were different versions of how they met, ranging from Chishiya treating Kurenai as a patient once and fell in love to apparently they were childhood sweethearts but had to keep the relationship a secret until now. There were speculations too that Chishiya was only after her fortune, or using Kurenai to climb the ladder in his own career.

All those rumours and speculations were put to rest rather quickly when they saw the couple together. Chishiya would visit the office often, be it to have lunch with Kurenai on his day off or to pick her up after work. It was pretty clear that they were quite deeply in love with each other and now, a lot of the employees were invested in their relationship.

Especially the women.

It was as if they were watching a fairytale-like drama unfolding right before their eyes.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Chishiya. Here to have lunch with Miss Chuya again?" The receptionist greeted Chishiya brightly, watching as he was heading for the elevators before giggling with her fellow receptionist. "What do you think they talk about when they have lunch together?"

"I don't know, but I'm jealous," the other woman pouted. "I wish my boyfriend would have lunch with me whenever he's free."

"I know right? The other day, I asked my fiancé to pick me up from work because it was raining and he told me to get an umbrella from the convenience store instead. Mr. Chishiya is here almost everyday to pick Miss Chuya up."

"I'm so jealous of Miss Chuya. She has everything in life."

Arriving at the top floor, Chishiya was so familiar with the way to Kurenai's office that he could walk to it with his eyes closed. Every employee who saw him on the way would smile and greet him with a nod, knowing well why he was here.

He knocked on Kurenai's door, waiting for a response but it was quiet on the other side. He opened the door lightly, peeking in to see if she was on the phone but instead, saw her sitting at her desk with her face in her hands.