❝𝑯𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈? 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.❞
Japanese-American, Megumi Nakamura, decides to abandon the comfort of home after graduating to go live with her cousin in Asia...
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"What happened in there?" Ren asked as he and Meg made their way back towards his house. He was clearly anxious to know all of the details.
"Nothing," Meg said defensively, though she attempted to speak more casually once he raised a brow at her in suspicion, "We just...talked."
After the way she had watched Taka's behavior completely flip, she didn't want to tell Ren the truth. Not only was she worried that Ren would be disappointed in her if he heard how foolish she had been, but she especially didn't want him to try and confront Taka. She knew Ren could handle himself, but Taka was obviously not one to mess with.
But although she tried to mentally rationalize her decision to omit most of the events that had just transpired, she felt guilty.
She was lying to his face.
And Megumi Nakamura never lied.
Yet on day two in Japan, here she was covering for a total mad man. It wasn't like she wanted to protect the guy, but she was interpreting his mind games as a challenge—blackmail. She got the impression that he didn't want Ren to know Meg had offered to work for him or that he was considering letting her. And she was terrified of what might happen if she refused to comply.
"Did he say something to you?" Ren asked softly, letting her know it was okay to tell him if his boss had made her feel uncomfortable in any way.
"No," she lied, "I just...I feel bad that I broke his vase."
That part wasn't technically untrue.
That stupid, ugly vase had landed her in one massive, steaming pile of shit that she wasn't quite sure how to get out of. Who knew an inanimate object could cause her so much trouble? At first, she genuinely felt bad for breaking it because it was a piece of art that belonged to someone else. But after meeting Taka, she mainly felt bad because she was paying one hell of a price.
"Don't beat yourself up over it," Ren reassured her, "He won't lose any sleep over it."
But I will, she thought to herself.
Meg still somehow managed to force out a small smile to return to her cousin before finding the nerve to ask him a genuine question, "Do you think he would ever try to hurt me?"
Ren looked at her with a face that showed he was wondering why she'd ask such a question, so she expanded on her inquiries further—though she tried to remain as nonchalant as she could, "Or just like...someone in the village?"
Ren halted to a stop then placed his hands on top of Meg's shoulders. She froze under the sudden contact as he looked down at her with serious eyes, "I won't lie to you, Meg, it's not easy to get Taka to warm up to you. He likes to test people and push them to their absolute limits. He is incredibly difficult to read and extremely unpredictable. To be fully transparent with you, I have my own reservations about him taking you under his wing. But that being said, I mean it when I tell you that I would never leave you alone with someone I thought would even consider laying a finger on you."
