One for Three

Chapter 4

When the alarm went off, I was already awake. Still no response from Mamoru. Something must have happened. I grabbed my bag and headed to Crown Cafe, which was run by Motoki. Maybe he knew what was going on with Mamoru.

As I pushed open the door, he greeted me with a laugh. "Hey, Bunny. Out and about so early?" I sat across from him at the counter. "Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Mamoru hasn't been in touch since early the day before yesterday. Did you happen to hear from him yesterday?"

As he thought about it, he placed a latte macchiato in front of me and added an extra shot of syrup. He knew exactly what I needed right now. He was the only guy with whom it was never complicated. "Well, the last time I talked to him was over a week ago. Everything was fine then. He was stressed about work, as usual, but otherwise... everything was the same as always."

Hmm... pondering, I stirred my drink. "But you can call the clinic if you're worried. They can probably connect you with him or at least tell you where he is."

"What a great idea. Thanks, Motoki. You're the best. Can you make me a large coffee to go for my boss?"

When I arrived at the office, I enjoyed the silence for a moment and then started preparing the folders for the upcoming appointments, as I did every morning. Just as I finished, Mr. Sato arrived. But today, he didn't rush past me into his office as usual. He stopped directly in front of my desk.

"Ms. Tsukino, schedule a consultation in your calendar, around 10 am."

Surprised, I looked up at him. "A consultation about what?" Since when did he make my appointments? I was his assistant.

"If only I knew. Mr. Prince Junior called me last night and insisted on a consultation with you. Apparently, you made an impression on the younger generation. You can go to the small conference room for the meeting."

Diamond. I could only imagine what he wanted, and it certainly wasn't a consultation. He knew I wanted to maintain a professional distance at work. Why did he have to provoke me again today? He said around 10 am. That only gave me 20 minutes.

My phone rang, and I hoped for a message from Mamoru. Somewhat disappointed, I found it was from Seiya.

>Your meeting took quite a while. When will you be back later?<

>Yeah, tough negotiator. How about 4 pm at my place?<

What a play on words. Tough negotiator, but yeah, that somehow fit, and that's exactly where I was headed now. I prepared some snacks and drinks and slumped down on a chair, completely unprepared.

As Diamond didn't really want any proper advice, I didn't really care that I hadn't prepared anything. But when the door opened, I panicked. Damn, I should have at least prepared something. In front of me was not Diamond as expected, but his little brother. Damn it. I should have been suspicious when Sato said he called last night. That wasn't possible because I spent the evening with him. Shit!

I couldn't let anything show, so I friendly shook his hand and greeted him. The facial features were almost identical to his brother's, but Sapphire Prince had black-blue hair, which was an absolute contrast to his brother's white-blond hair. I had seen him briefly at the painting handover, but only for a few minutes.

"Hello, Ms. Tsukino, it's nice that you could make it."

I put on a smile. I had no other choice when my boss called, so what did he want?

"Nice to meet you too. Please take a seat. What can I do for you? My boss said it's a consultation, but he couldn't specify what you are looking for. So, I apologize in advance that I haven't prepared anything concrete." Now the tension was growing inside me. What did Diamond's brother want?