The Heir I Dragged Into My “He’s My Fiancé!” Lie Is Somehow Playing Along!? - Chapter 2.6

After work, Alice went separately from Takase until their izakaya reservation time, planning to meet up near the destination five minutes beforehand.

Though she made it on time, she’d ended up doing various work tasks until the last minute. She regretted not being able to contact Kai from her personal phone, but decided to put it aside for now.

(If I leave after the first party, it shouldn’t be too late. I’ll contact him when I find the right timing!)

With unsettled feelings, Alice entered the restaurant with Takase. In the dim lighting, she gasped with delight at the glowing blue aquarium tanks.

The high-ceilinged space featured floor-to-ceiling tanks where fish swam freely in the depths.

“An aquarium restaurant! This feels so Tokyo! I’ve always wanted to visit a place like this that you see in dramas, but I never had anyone to go with. I kept thinking I wanted to go, but never even looked up where they were. They really exist! Thank you for this wonderful opportunity!”

While excitedly chattering, she lowered her voice to ask Takase beside her, “I wonder who takes care of these? Do they have staff on par with aquarium keepers stationed here?” – unable to resist work-related small talk due to her professional habits.

Takase carefully warned, “It’s dark, so watch your step!” while responding, “The tank maintenance methods are interesting, aren’t they?” Then he casually asked in a nonchalant tone, “When you said you had no one to go with, don’t you go out with Department Manager Yumikura? On dates, I mean.”

This was exactly what Alice had been thinking about – how she’d like to visit such a wonderful place with Kai.

“With Department Manager Yumikura, between how busy we both are, we haven’t had opportunities to go out together.”

“You are dating, right?”

At the direct question, Alice smiled wryly while feeling a pang in her chest.

(If my memory serves me right, we did promise to “go somewhere every weekend!”)

Two weeks had flown by without them making it happen.

The main reason was Alice’s constant business trips, leaving no proper time for daily conversations with Kai.

Even living together, this was their situation.

If they weren’t cohabiting, Alice would have probably forgotten she was Kai’s girlfriend by now.

“It’s not that I’m using work as an excuse, but we genuinely have no time.”

“Certainly, your current workload is among the heaviest in the company. Has it been like this since your previous department? Now that you mention it, I was slightly curious that there haven’t been any eyewitness accounts of you two together until now. Where did you used to date? Overseas?”

“We’ve never actually been on a date.”

Unable to come up with an evasion, Alice answered honestly.

Takase’s eyes widened dramatically. “Huh?” he asked back in a slightly sharp tone.

“I don’t understand. Were you just friends with benefits? A physical-only relationship? No dates, just meeting at hotels?”

“No! Department Manager Yumikura isn’t that kind of person!”

Realizing a terrible misunderstanding had occurred, Alice denied it vehemently. However, Takase’s gaze remained full of suspicion.

“To be honest, I always thought your relationship seemed unnatural. If this is what it is – if you’re just being conveniently used by Department Manager Yumikura – I can’t accept that.”

“Takase-san, this is a genuine misunderstanding! Department Manager Yumikura is a wonderful person! It’s just that I’m inadequate!”

In her mind, Alice wanted to explain: My body can’t keep up with the busyness, I only go home to sleep, I don’t even know Kai’s schedule so when weekends approach I haven’t made date plans! But the words got stuck in traffic in her head.

Meanwhile, Takase seemed convinced that Alice’s explanations were just excuses, and appeared to have no intention of listening anymore.

“I heard about that big scandal years ago where the vice president’s husband exploited female employees and got demoted. I really hate that kind of thing. I thought the company had cleaned up since then, but now the young Department Manager Yumikura is doing the same? Seriously disillusioning. Sigh…”

“Please don’t get disillusioned over delusions! Department Manager Yumikura has very noble character. If you talked to him, you’d understand.”

“Do people normally describe their boyfriend as ‘noble’? What kind of disgusting relationship are you being forced into? Working with you these past two weeks, I’ve become certain.  You have enough passion and vitality to get promoted without any weird connections. If you’re being forced into an unwanted relationship, I think you should just dump Department Manager Yumikura.”

He’s not getting through at all! Alice felt like holding her head in her hands.

(Takase-san jumps to conclusions so easily! If he had opportunities to interact with Department Manager Yumikura, he’d immediately understand he’s not that kind of person. And this friends-with-benefits misunderstanding is terrible too!)

While she appreciated that he was worried about her and recognized her abilities, being seen as “climbing up from being Department Manager Yumikura’s friend-with-benefits, snatching the fiancée and secretary positions” was quite hard to accept.

On the other hand, given that their relationship started when she’d desperately claimed “This person is my fiancé!” and dragged Kai into her big lie, she couldn’t completely deny his assumptions about forceful social climbing – a sore point she had to bear.

“Hey, you’re late, Takase. What are you doing?”

Just then, someone appeared from down the corridor and called out to them.

A man with clean-cut short hair and a gym-built muscular physique that looked ready to burst through his suit.

“Kirihara-san! Sorry, I’m coming now!”

Apparently an acquaintance, Takase replied as if springing to attention.

(I feel like I’ve seen him before, so he must be our company employee? Probably not from the secretary department though.)

As Alice was trying to recall who he was, Takase – having regained his usual puppy-like demeanor – announced clearly, “This is Kirihara from Sales. Actually, Sales has been inviting the Secretary Department to drinking parties for a while. This time, they said they’d already reserved a place, so I thought ‘This is perfect timing for Shirotsuki-san’s welcome party!’ So, we decided to have a joint drinking party.”

“Joint…?”

Huh? Is this going to be a bigger gathering than I expected? Alice hesitated momentarily as she turned her gaze toward Kirihara.

He flashed her a broad smile.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the rumored ‘Fiancée.’ We’ve been waiting for you. Everyone’s already gathered, so please come to our table.”

Addressed in his slightly distinctive speaking style, Alice realized:

(This doesn’t seem like just an ordinary drinking party.)

Maybe she’d been set up.