Chapter 46: A Chance Sighting

POV: Ren Kurosawa

I wasn’t supposed to be out this late.

Well—supposed to was a flexible term. My father always said I needed to project stability, control. But stability was boring, and control came naturally.

Besides, I’d gotten the perfect shot last week—Minami Kaito tucked into a corner of that café, a babe sitting across from him, smiling gently, hands resting near her cup. His gaze lingered on her, soft and intent. The whole country went insane over it, and I had front-row seats to the chaos I caused.

I’d been keeping an eye on her ever since.

For strategy, of course. Nothing else.

The corner store door chimed as I stepped inside, brushing snow off my coat. I was reaching for an energy drink when movement caught my eye.

Her.

Hana Fujimoto.

She didn’t see me. Too focused. She moved quickly through the aisle—almost frantic—grabbing cold medicine, acetaminophen, a couple cold compress packs. Her hair still held traces of snow, cheeks flushed from the cold. No hesitation. No browsing.

Just purpose.

And she didn’t speak. Not to the clerk, not even a mumbled greeting. She paid, bowed politely, and hurried out again, boots tapping fast against the tile.

I raised an eyebrow.

Huh.

She looked different from the scrappy little cleaning girl I’d seen wiping dust off multimillion-yen shelves. Different from the stiff café girl whose every breath Kaito seemed hyperaware of. And different from the version in the scandal photos—caught in my perfectly engineered frame.

But tonight?

She looked like she was rushing to someone.

Someone sick.

Someone important.

I stepped outside, watching the direction she took. Straight down the sidewalk. Toward Minami Tower.

Of course.

Of course.

My lips curled into a slow grin.

So the little cleaning girl wasn’t hiding in shame. She wasn’t avoiding him. She was running back to him—with medicine in her bag and panic in her eyes.

Interesting. Very interesting.

I followed at a lazy distance. Not close enough for her to notice—she was too preoccupied anyway—but close enough to confirm what I suspected.

Her pace picked up the closer she got to the Tower. By the time she reached the front entrance, she didn’t even glance at the luxury cars parked outside or the night staff at the desk. She just bowed quickly, pressed her ID to the scanner, and vanished inside the elevator.

Minami Kaito’s personal access elevator.

A cleaning girl with that clearance?

Sure. Nothing suspicious at all.

I let out a low whistle, hands sliding into my pockets. Snowflakes drifted around me, dissolving on my coat as the revolving doors of Minami Tower spun lazily.

“Well, well,” I murmured to myself, grinning. “Looks like I wasn’t wrong after all.”

Girls liked me.

But girls like her?

Girls like her always fell for men like him.

Still… this was useful.

Very useful.

If Hana Fujimoto was scurrying back to Minami Tower in the middle of the night with medicine, then Kaito wasn’t just involved.

He was vulnerable.

And weakness at Minami Corp. was opportunity.

I turned on my heel, the snow crunching beneath my shoes, already thinking three moves ahead.

Let her tend to him.

Let her fall even deeper.

The deeper she fell, the harder Kaito would fall afterward.

And I intended to be there to watch it.