The Force of Gravity ✅

Chapter Three

Miori was standing at the stove preparing dinner and dreading the weekend when her cell phone rang. "Hello, Chibana speaking," she answered. It was a phone call she was not expecting, and by the end of the call her throat was so tight that she could barely speak above a whisper. "Thank you. Yes, thank you so much, I will be there." She bowed repeatedly as she gave her thanks, though her senses were numb.

Tsumugi was sitting at the kotatsu, watching her silently until she hung up the phone. "Who was that?"

"A-Ah..." Miori's hands were shaking slightly as she turned to face her mother-in-law. "T-That was Human Resources for Amai Nyūsatsu. T—They made me a job offer."

"Oh WONDERFUL!" Tsumugi slowly climbed to her feet but hurried to Miori's side and hugged her tight. "I knew you would be selected, Miori! I knew they would see value in you as an employee!"

"They said b-because I only have a high-school diploma and didn't go to college they they can't give me an intermediate position like they did with two other former coworkers of mine. My position will be entry-level, but most importantly i-it will be for the same pay as what I made before."

"Congratulations!" Tsumugi squeezed her hands and laughed. "Oh, we should celebrate! I'm going to open the Ao Taki!"

"Mother, you can't!" Miori protested as Tsumugi hurried to the closet. "That bottle cost you a fortune!"

"Yes, and it's been languishing away. We're going to enjoy good saké with our dinner tonight!"

"Din—the mackerel!" Miori cried out, turning around to quickly tend to dinner. Truthfully she was happy that they would be drinking expensive saké for dinner. She didn't feel hungry at all, and much preferred getting drunk.

But if I get drunk, I might say something that I'll regret. I might tell Mother about how I tricked her son into marrying me. Or...Or I might end up telling her that Amai Nyūsatsu is the company owned by my ex-boyfriend's family.

She was honestly shocked that she had been given a job offer at Amai Nyūsatsu. She had expected Kenshin Arachi to immediately shred her résumé the moment it touched his desk. But instead he selected her out of all the other employees to bring her over to his company? Human Resources had emphasized her lack of a college degree for being the reason of her low starting position, but other people in her former office had college degrees (though Hiraku had been the only one with a bachelors degree). So why was she chosen over her former coworkers?

Is this Kenshin Arachi's way of apologizing to me for what he did five years ago? Or maybe—maybe I'm so insignificant to him that he doesn't even remember my name.

Miori gritted her teeth as she salvaged the two mackerels. Regardless, they chose ME to be one of the three to bring over. That means I'll be working in the same building as Kenshin. That means...I'll be working in the same building as him.

Tsumugi was humming happily behind her and Miori relaxed her jaw. Let it go. You need to take care of her, Miori. So what if you're working for the family who hurt you? You need this job, they offered it to you, and you accepted it.

~*~

May 3rd, 2027

"The three transferring employees start today," Junichiro spoke into his cell phone as he shrugged on his suit coat. "Shachō will be out of the office today so I will be receiving the new employees in my office. Please clear my schedule between eleven and noon for this meeting."

"Yes, Fuku-shachō," Doi responded to him. "Shall I have Human Resources send over their résumés for you to look at?"

"No, that will not be necessary. If Shachō approved them then I don't need to see their work history." He put the phone on speaker and fixed his hair. "But do you know anything about the new employees?"