Chapter 10 : Unexpected gifts, unexpected questions

Ayase arrived at the office early, hoping for a quiet morning before work spiraled into its usual chaos. But the moment she stepped inside, she felt something… strange. Not tense. Not loud. Just different.
Maybe it was because her brothers wouldn’t stop interrogating her last night about the mysterious gift she received.
Maybe it was because she herself still didn’t understand why the rookie actor, Aki Hayama, had sent her a small, neatly wrapped box containing a limited-edition perfume sample and a handwritten note thanking her for “making the shoot feel easy.”
Maybe it was because Ren — who normally passed by with a nod or an offhand comment — had been acting oddly calm. Not cold. Not distant. Just… thoughtful. Like someone turning a puzzle piece over and over in his mind.
Ayase shook her head, placing her bag on her desk.
“Good morning,” she breathed out.
She had barely sat down before she heard footsteps approaching. Quiet, controlled, familiar.
She looked up.
Ren.
He stood a few steps away, hands in his pockets, expression unreadable but not hostile. His eyes scanned her face with an intensity that immediately made her straighten her posture.
“…Good morning,” she replied, forcing her voice not to crack.
Ren hesitated. Ren never hesitated.
Then he walked closer.
“Did you receive something yesterday?” he asked calmly.
Ayase blinked. “Eh? H-How did you—?”
Ayase covered her face with both hands internally screaming.
“Oh. Yes. I… got a small gift.”
Ren didn’t react immediately. He seemed to weigh his next words carefully, like choosing wires to cut in a bomb.
“From Aki Hayama ?”
She choked on her own saliva.
“H-How do you—?”
“he asked Mister Suda for your address to thank you with a gift”
Ayase wanted the floor to swallow her.
Ren looked down briefly, then back at her.
“Is he bothering you?”
The question wasn’t jealous. It wasn’t harsh. It was quiet concern, wrapped in the stiff, awkward delivery of someone who didn’t know how to handle concern.
“No, no! Not at all!” Ayase waved her hands frantically. “He’s really polite. And it wasn’t a weird gift. Just… perfume. And a thank-you note.”
Ren absorbed her words silently.
Then — so subtle she almost missed it — his shoulders relaxed.
“I see.”
But instead of leaving, he stayed in front of her desk, eyes drifting around the room, as if he were trying to find a reason to remain.
“Is something wrong?” Ayase finally asked, unable to take the tension anymore.
“Not wrong,” Ren said. “I was just… thinking.”
That was even weirder.
Ren didn’t “think” around people. He thought while pacing alone on balconies or staring at scripts for hours.
“Thinking about what?” Ayase asked.
Ren looked straight at her — too directly, too seriously.
“You,” he said.
Ayase’s brain immediately blue-screened.
“M-Me?! Why?!”
He blinked at her bluntly honest reaction, a faint twitch appearing on his lips like he was fighting a smile.
Before he could explain, someone loudly swung open the office door.
“Ayaaaaaaase!”
Ayase froze.
Ren froze.
A woman in a black bomber jacket, messy ponytail, and half-lidded eyes entered — carrying a box under her arm and wearing the confident smirk of someone who slept three hours and still thought she owned the world.
“Long time no see, bestie.”
Ayase gasped. “Kaori?!”
Ren exhaled, barely holding back the look of someone who had just lost whatever composure he had left.
Kaori strutted inside as if she lived there.
Kaori Tsubaki — photographer, feared by interns, respected by managers, she is the daughter of Ayase's landlord, whispers said she once threw a textbook at a teacher for insulting her handwriting.
Kaori leaned a hip against Ayase’s desk. “Mr Suda called me yesterday crying that we are finally doing a big project. Oh hey ? How are you?
Ren pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fuji—
“Anyway!” Kaori interrupted loudly. “I’m here now. And I’m staying at my old man's place.”
Ayase smiled nervously. “You… haven’t changed.”
Kaori yawned. “You neither. Still small. Still cute. Still stressing over everything.”
Ren coughed lightly.
“What?” she snapped without looking at him. “Oh right. You’re still here.”
Ayase was now fully convinced Kaori was doing this on purpose.
“So,” Kaori continued, turning fully toward Ayase with an impish glint in her eyes. “I heard there’s a new rookie who sent you a gift. Mister Suda told me everything, I'm sure he told everyone about the gift. A heart-fluttering, sparkly-eyed, ‘thank you for existing’ gift.”
Ren stiffened.
Ayase went pink.
Kaori smirked wider. “Oh? Did I say something interesting?”
Ren’s jaw clenched so subtly Ayase almost didn’t catch it.

Ren stared at the floor in deep existential crisis.
---
Ren Tries Again
Kaori eventually left to drop off pictures, but not before whispering to Ayase:
“Big boy over here is attracted to you, and I'm ready to bet on that .”
Ayase had no idea how to process that.
Later, when Ayase went to make copies, she found Ren standing near the printer, hands deep in his pockets, eyes softer than before.
“Earlier,” he said quietly, “I didn’t finish what I wanted to say.”
Ayase held her breath. “Okay…”
Ren looked down at the floor, then at her.
“I’m… interested in knowing more about you. That’s all.”
Ayase’s heart did something very stupid inside her chest.
“Oh,” she whispered, cheeks warm. “Why?”
Ren hesitated — and for a split second, Ayase saw a fragile honesty in him she had never seen before.
“I don’t know yet,” he admitted. “But I want to understand it.”
Ayase felt the world tilt.
This Ren — the calm, thoughtful one — was somehow far more dangerous than the cold version.
Before she could respond, Takeshi voice echoed from down the hallway:
“RENNN! ”
Ren closed his eyes in pain.
Ayase giggled.
He opened them again — and the faintest smile tugged the corner of his mouth.
“I’ll… talk to you later.”
“Okay.”
And he walked away.
Ayase leaned against the wall, her pulse racing.
Something was changing. Slowly. Gently. And she wasn’t sure whether to run away or keep walking forward.
End chapter 10