Of Wings and Love

Chapter 4

The day of the welcome party-:

There was not much work that day. Kanae somehow managed to stay calm but the nervousness was still there. Why was she so afraid to interact with Keigo? Why can't she normally talk to him as someone who has saved her? Keigo, on the other hand found it difficult to break the wall created by Kanae. The way she interacts with him is like someone she doesn't know. He was unsure of how to interact with her in a more casual setting. Would they be able to maintain the facade of professionalism, or would the emotions that they've been suppressing come bubbling to the surface?

The time went by and their colleagues dragged them to the restaurant. It was a nice cozy izakaya. They had a special room booked for having dinner together as they were almost 12-15 people including Keigo.

"Thank you for coming, President. We didn't think that you will come." One of the colleagues said to Keigo.

"It's nothing. I felt like I should also spend time with my colleagues other than work." He smiled sheepishly.

Kanae was standing behind everyone as they were taking their seats. As everyone took their seat, Kanae had no choice but to seat beside Keigo since all other seats were taken and no one chose to sit beside him. Mentally taking a sigh she pulled out the chair and took the seat. Keigo felt nervous as he felt a sudden warmth on his one side when Kanae took the seat. They both didn't even look at each other.

The person who arranged this welcome party, Yoshimura Yuta, did the greetings and thanked Keigo for being there. The food and drinks were ordered and everyone was talking to each other except for Kanae and Keigo. Kanae being an introvert, usually found it difficult to start a conversation or including herself in the conversation while Keigo was an extrovert but maybe because of the nervousness or the reason that Kanae was there, he felt difficult to communicate with them. Ever since he became the President, he found it difficult to communicate with his colleagues like he used to with his sidekicks and other people working at his agency.

Kanae took a sip of beer, feeling nervous. Keigo did the same. Both of them fighting their own thoughts and feelings, sat in silence. Kanae drank the whole glass of beer and went for another one. Keigo stole a glance at her thinking whether she was a person like this but turned his attention to what his colleagues were speaking. One of her colleagues, Tsuchiya Ritsuko who was sitting next to her, looked at her as she gulped down another glass of beer. Kanae wasn't a strong drinker nor she liked drinking too much but today she was not the usual self. She was relying on the power of alcohol.

"Nishioka san, aren't you drinking too much?" Ritsuko asked her, worried about her.

"I am fine." Kanae replied with a hiccup. Clearly, she wasn't.

Keigo's attention was now fixated on Kanae. There was red blush spread across her cheeks indicating that she was now drunk. He worriedly looked at her as Ritsuko continued to stop her. But Kanae was already asking for another glass of beer. He took a sip of his beer as he continued to look at Kanae. She was now drinking the third glass. Her cheeks had a dark shade of red and her eyes seemed droopy and sleepy. She was completely drunk and her eyes were

"I think you should stop drinking." He watched her from beside her, a mix of concern and disbelief on his face. He had never seen her in such a state before, and it was a stark contrast to her usual composed demeanor.

Kanae turned and looked at him, surprised by his sudden comment. "Thi-s-hiccup-is your fault!" she frowned complaining.

His eyes widen in surprise. "Eh?"

"You are an idiot, Keigo!" she almost yelled. Their colleagues turned their attention towards them, baffled by her sudden outburst. He was taken aback by her words and the attention they were getting.