It was around 7.30am the next day when Hikoichi headed towards the office complex where he worked, riding in a taxi. As they passed by through a busy street Hikoichi saw a familiar looking person sitting in another cab which was parked in front of the decent-looking motel and his eyes widened when he recognised who it was.

"Driver! Stop the car!" Hikoichi told the taxi driver excitedly. Even with the traffic, the driver obeyed, managing to move his vehicle to park to the side. Hikoichi twisted around in his seat and stared at Koshino who seemed to be sitting nervously in the other taxi waiting for someone to come out of the motel. Knowing who lived there, Hikoichi could make a good guess at who the young man was waiting for.

Quickly, Hikoichi took out his mobile phone and dialed a number. When someone answered, he instantly went into his well-known reporter-mode and whispered urgently to the receiver, "Special news report! We are live at the Edinburgh motel! Koshino Hiroaki is seen sitting in a cab and he seems to be waiting for someone..."

In the motel room, a woman in the late forties was busy folding the discarded clothes which were sitting on the bed while Mitsui hurried to get ready for work.

"Do you need these clothes here? If not I'll take them home with me or I can have the motel wash them," said the woman who was wearing crisp white servant's uniform.

"Iie. I don't need them now," Mitsui told her as he shifted through the small things scattered on the side table to look for his watch.

"Then I'll take them home with me," the matronly woman decided.

Finally finding his watch, he put it around his wrist and walked towards the woman to give her a quick peck on the cheek, "Aa. Doumo arigato, Konami-san."

The woman shook her head, smiling at the young man's childish affection as he walked out of the room to leave her to take care of his things as she was paid to do.

"Ah! The mystery guy has appeared," hissed Hikoichi when he saw the scarred-face man run towards the taxi parked in front of the motel before sticking his head into the vehicle to speak to Koshino. What they were saying was not heard by Hikoichi who was sitting in another cab at the other side of the road a few metres away.

"Koshino, do you want to go upstairs and take a shower?" Mitsui offered.

"Iie. I want to go home and change," the young man replied.

"No, we have to go to the office first," Mitsui told him regretably, "The Shenzhen deal needs to be taken care of immedietly. We'll finish it first."

Koshino shrugged, telling him wordlessly that it was fine with him. Getting into the light green vehicle, Mitsui gave the taxi driver the address to their office and as they drove away, they passed by the other taxi where Hikoichi sat watching their every move.

"The adulterous couple took the taxi heading to the office. This is Aida Hikoichi, reporting live!"

Mimi grinned and placed down the receiver to tell the others what she has just heard.

~~~~

"...Mitsui and Koshino spent the night together! They started foreplay in the car!"

"...They're the same in the office! They're even doing that S&M thing!"

"...Koshino flirted with all the guys in the office. He must've heard that Mitsui swung both ways and went after him!"

"Isn't Mitsui being bi just a rumour?"

"It isn't now..."

~~~~

Koshino walked behind Mitsui as they entered their office building and up towards their department floor. When they passed by the reception counter, Koshino began to feel that he was being watched. As they reached their department area, the feeling grew instense and he turned to look and see everyone staring at him and Mitsui in an odd manner that made him very uncomfortable. Looking ahead, the young man saw that Mitsui seemed to be unaffected by it, or that he had not realised it yet as his mind was occupied on the deal at hand.

"Ugh! Look at them! They even dare to act so close with each other!" Koshino heard someone whisper. The young man's face paled when he realised what they were talking about. How can they not reach that conclusion when he and Mitsui came to the office together in the same taxi and he using the same set of clothes he wore the day before? Suddenly feeling like wanting to dig a hole and hide himself under a feet of concrete, Koshino did the next best thing - he made a run towards his desk and hid his face behind his file pretending to start on his work, but even then he could still hear what they were saying.

"I knew there was something about those two but I just didn't want to say it."

"Just look how intimate they were together..."

"...the nibbling and the giggling..."

Since when did we nibble and giggle at each other?!
Koshino groaned and buried himself deeper behind his file, realising that he seemed to be doing a lot of hiding behind it lately. Hiding under the table could be another option but that would just be too obvious...

Mitsui stared in puzzlement at Koshino who overtook him and practically did a sprint to his desk. Looking around the room he finally heard and saw what freaked the young man out.

As he passed by his secretary's desk he said, "Ayako. I want to see you in my room now."

"Hai," the curly-haired woman nodded, putting down the phone to follow her boss with a pen and a pad in her hand.

When the two entered his office, Mitsui waited for her to close the door before he began his investigation.


~~~~

"Hey, if you get promoted, don't forget me and the baby, ne, Koshino-kun," Mari said sweetly as she caressed her round tummy lovingly.

"Was he good in bed?" asked Mimi slyly.

"I told you not to underestimate this guy," Hikoichi grinned, giving him the thumbs up sign.

Koshino stayed silent, refusing to drop the file from his face.


~~~~

"I wouldn't worry about it," Ayako told the young man who was pacing behind his desk angrily, "It'll go away in about two days' time."

"From who did you hear it from?" Mitsui asked quietly.

Ayako did not reply. Annoyed, Mitsui gritted his teeth and demanded, "Who!"

The young woman sighed. Knowing Mitsui as a stubborn and hot-headed person, he will make her talk even if it would compromise a worker's position because of one stupid rumour.

"Mari," she told him reluctantly.

~~~~

Mari stood in front of Mitsui nervously as she answered him, "Iie! I heard it from someone else! I didn't start it!"

"Who!"

"A-Alan!"

~~~~

"I heard it from Serena," the portly man said easily.

~~~~

"Megumi said..."

~~~

"It was Ranmaru..."

~~~~

"Me?! Iie it was-"

~~~~

"Ikeru..."

~~~~

"Hikochi...."

~~~~

"Ow!" Hikoichi complained as Mitsui dragged him towards the desk near his room.

"Come on!" the scarred-face man growled, ignoring Hikoichi's pained protest as he gripped on the young man's arm harder.

"You apologise to him right now, Aida," Mitsui ordered the wincing young man as he pointed at Koshino who looked amazed at what was happening before him.

"D-Demo-"

"Did you see him leaving the motel with me?"

"I-Iie-"

"Did you see us doing anything that made you say what all of you are saying right now?"

"Iie-"

"Then why must you waste your time telling people lies and also ruin his and my reputation for it?! This is not the first time this has happened! If you like gossiping so much why don't you just quit your job and work for the tabloids!"

Hikoichi suddenly blanched and began bowing profusely, apologising for all it was worth, "Gomen nasai, Mitsui-san! Gomen nasai Koshino-san! I didn't mean it! I won't do it again!"

"It's alright, Mitsui-san," Koshino finally spoke up softly.

The young team-leader looked at Koshino for a moment before he turned his cold blue eyes back towards Hikoichi, "Remember what you've promised, Aida."

"H-Hai..."



~~~~

"...Mitsui will do anything for Koshino..."

"...I heard that it was Koshino who broke Mitsui's marriage!"

"...I heard they broke up because Mitsui's made another woman pregnant..."

It was already late in the evening when Mitsui headed towards his car tiredly, ending another day of work, when the phone rang. Pressing a green button, he answered, "Moshi moshi."

"I heard the woman that Mitsui got pregnant just delivered a baby who looks like Koshino!"

Mitsui blinked, "Who's this?"

/"...Who's this?"

"I asked first."

"K'so...." beep-beep-beep

"Yaro," Mitsui cursed as he got into his car and dumped his suitcase on the back seat. That was when he saw something white sitting in the middle of the upholstery. Picking it up, he recognised it as the junk he thought he had already thrown out a few days before and that it was of no importance, nor was it his. Dismissing it as concidence he tossed it out of the window when the wind picked it up and flung it again into his car through the passenger window for the second time. But this time, Mitsui saw it happen and he twisted around to stare at the wrapped paper again sitting innocently on the backseat, in surprise. Picking it up again from the dark grey seat, Mitsui decided to do an experiment to find out what actually happened by throwing it out again and sitting behind the wheel, waiting for the wrapped paper to come flying or jumping into his car in front of his eyes.

Nothing happened. The scarred-face man climbed out of his car, picked up the wrapped up paper and did the experiment the second time.

Still, nothing happened as the paper continued to sit on the pavement without movement. Mitsui huffed and started his engine before driving off but he only managed to cover a few metres when he felt a strong tug in his heart that he ought to not leave the wrapped paper behind. Making an annoyed noise in his throat, he pulled back to where his car was parked and picked up the patterned paper from the ground before tossing it quickly into the dashboard compartment before he could change his mind.