“Old miss, hurry up,” Tezuka called while drinking his coffee the next morning. Maimi was still not seen. “I have another meeting today. I don’t wanna be late.”
“Ouch!” the old miss’s voice was heard. “Nezumi-chan! Help me! I can’t wear my suits! My neck’s still hurts!”
Tezuka rolled his eyes. “Don’t play with me. Hurry!”
“I can’t! Please!” she called back. Tezuka sighed. He adjusted his long black coat and went into her room to see Maimi was in her undies. He quickly turned away and shook his head. “Just wear by yourself.”
As he walked towards the front door, Maimi called him back. “Nezumi! Please! It hurts whenever I tilt my head! I can’t even wear my blouse.”
He turned back. He came back into Maimi’s room and grabbed the blouse off her hands and extended it at her back. He pretended not to look at her undies. He wanted it to be over. Then, he could be to work. Maimi slowly inserted her hands into the hands holes and Tezuka met the buttons together. He buttoned her blouse carefully with a stern face. Maimi stole a look at him. She smiled shyly. She could smell his body’s fragrance. Very manly.
Next, he reached for her skirt. Maimi placed her hands on his shoulders making him to bend down as he was so tall. Maimi slowly put her both legs into the skirt without looking due to her sprained neck. “Ouch!”
“Hold on,” Tezuka said. Maimi felt warmth. She was so near to him. Like hugging. He zipped her skirt and breathed out. He went out. Maimi giggled. She finally made him getting near her and even helped her to wear her suits! So romantic!
They arrived at the building before eight likewise. Maimi greeted everyone and went into her office. The workers were amazed. Why would the little manager wear the neck supporter and came to work since she did not have a work?
Maimi rested on the couch and sighed. She remembered the previous scene. “Perhaps he had seen my undies! Yay!”
She looked into her blouse and looked up. “In that case, I would need to buy more undies. Yeah! More undies! Ah, Peppei!” Maimi grabbed the office phone and dialled Peppei’s number.
“Hello?” Peppei answered. She was handling a customer at the saloon.
“Hello, Peppei! It’s me!”
“Mai-chan? Oh, how’re you doing!”
“I’m fine. Hey, I wanna ask you something,” Maimi said.
“Sure. Shoot.”
“Um....I wanna buy new undies but I want them to be a bit more elegant. Oh, what am I talking about?” she began, blushing.
Peppei smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Oooooooo.....you’re making the moves, young lady. You shake it!”
“Uh...not yet. He’s not ready.”
“What? I thought you already had your first night? Why?”
“Listen. I wanna fetch some new undies but I need your help. I’m not good in this,” she said. In her mind, she thought of pink, floral undies and black, shining bras. She laughed.
“Oh, okay. My shift is around ten. I’ll call you back later to set the place, okay?” Peppei told her eagerly.
“Okay! Thanks! Goodbye!” Maimi said and hung up. She began to dream of;
“Honey! Look what I’ve got!” Maimi showed herself wearing dark green floral undies and she was lying in Tezuka’s bed. Tezuka froze. He released his long coat and unbuttoned his blouse.
“I’ve been waiting for it old miss,” he said, seducing.
Maimi tossed her free hair. “Oh, don’t call me old miss.” Tezuka jumped next to her and their faces met. He was looking at her with so much keen and he gave the most seducing smile ever.
Maimi leaned forward and their lips just an inch away. She whispered, “Call me...honey.”
Tezuka looked at her lips and up at her eyes. “Honey...”
They shared a romantic kiss.
“Ah!” Maimi shook her head and wave her hands over her head. “What am I thinking about? How can I dream of him like that? Hmm....maybe he can. Hehe!” she talked to herself and giggled alone. She was hoping the dream will come true. She hoped.......
“Good morning, sir,” Tezuka greeted and bowed to Mr. Chang. They were back to discuss about yesterday. But Tezuka realized something. He forgot to check and made a new one for the paperwork since he was busy handling a project with Ayaka yesterday. Nothing could ever change. Things would be the same. He was so tired. Ayaka understood it. She too, forgot to handle the paperwork. She felt sorry for her boss.
Ayaka served the clients with the same paperwork. They went through the papers. Tezuka sighed. Ayaka looked at him and was disappointed too. They would need to face the facts. It was their fault too for not checking the paperwork in the first place.
Suddenly, Mr. Chang voiced out. “Now it’s perfect!”
Tezuka and Ayaka frowned. The clients nodded with satisfaction. They said, the total was corrected and that was the factor of the unsolved problem Tezuka was having all year.
“Sir-“
“Okay, I’ll invest into your company for this project,” Mr. Chang declared while standing up. Tezuka was thinking. Who did this? No one could touch or look the paperwork. Only Ayaka and himself can.
“You’ve kept your promise. Well, I’ll call you for dinner for sure, son!” Mr. Chang laughed. “It was a small, tiny mistake but thanks to you, you finally checked it out.”
“It’s not me,” Tezuka said. Ayaka shook her head too as she noticed Mr. Chang looked at her.
“Then, who?”
Suddenly, he remembered that he saw the paperwork was put on Maimi’s desk yesterday. It was Maimi!
“Ah! It hurts,” Maimi said to herself when she was adjusting the neck supporter. It was uncomfortable and it was hard like a rock. She sighed.
“Hey,” Tezuka called her right when he opened the door. Mr. Chang came along. Maimi got up and bowed. “OW!
Everyone kept quiet. Mr. Chang asked, “Is it you, who corrected the paperwork yesterday?”
Maimi wrinkled her eyebrows. She did not know what he was up too asking like that. “What?”
“The paperwork. The total? With pencil?” Ayaka added. Maimi looked around with her eyes.
“Oh! That paperwork! Yes, I did it. Who dares to calculate it wrongly? Does he or she wear calculator or not?” she said in a sudden, holding her neck supporter. “It was a silly mistake. How come they could not even realize that?”
Tezuka and Ayaka were taken aback. It was them. They calculated that. Maimi was an honest person. She spoke her mind out without any doubt.
“Great! Come and have dinner with my family tonight!” Mr. Chang said with happiness and joy. Tezuka was impressed with Maimi. She did all that? Did she?
“Your wife is great. What’s up with her neck?” one of the client asked. Tezuka exchanged looks with his wife. “Uh...he fell in the bathroom last night.”
Ayaka was startled.
“Oh, really?” Mr. Chang laughed. He slapped Tezuka’s shoulder. “Meet me at Sumanta Restaurant tonight at eight, okay? Don’t break it.”
Tezuka bowed and looked at Maimi. She smiled and gave him a seducing look. Ayaka grunted.
Maimi wore a colourful floral dress and she tied her hair into a neat bun like she always does. She carefully applied some lip gloss on her lips. She smiled at herself in the mirror in her room. With a white clutch in her hand, she was confident. About the undies shopping, she cancelled it.
The dress was a gift from Ayaka. She liked it the most because it was cheerful. “Okay, I’m ready!” She stepped outside of the room and there was Tezuka, in long coat and matching jeans. His hair was back-combed and he wore contact lenses like he used to during the wedding. Maimi was amazed.
“Come on. We’re late,” he said and opened the front door. Maimi rushed to her high heels and followed him behind.
It was quiet in the car. The night was a bit cold. They were heading to a reserved restaurant to have dinner with Mr. Chang. Maimi turned to her right and grinned. “Nezumi, you look very handsome tonight. Do you always not wearing glasses whenever there is a function?”
Tezuka nodded in reluctant. Maimi giggled. She ran her hand through her hair and her neck. “My neck is getting better. I don’t need the neck supporter anymore.”
No words came out from Tezuka’s mouth.
“I can’t believe a young, handsome manager who is 4 years younger than me is driving me out for dinner. It’s fantastic!” she began. “I wish I can take a driving lesson soon. Would you teach me?”
Again, Tezuka did not say anything. Maimi pouted. She adjusted her butterfly hairclip and breathed in.
“How did you do that?” Tezuka’s sudden question made Maimi looked back at him. She leaned further, “Excuse me?”
“The mistake. The one that you corrected.”
“Oh, that thing. I just checked the numbers and there’s something wrong. The calculation was wrong,” she explained, smiling.
Tezuka grisped the steering and sighed. He was relief that the mistake was solved at last but he was frustrated that the old miss managed to find the tiny mistake even though she was a stranger in the field. She was good in calculation too.
“Oh, please have a seat,” Mr. Chang welcomed the newly-weds as they arrived at his table at the restaurant that served Japanese cuisine. Tezuka and Maimi settled down. Mr. Chang’s wife was so delighted to see Maimi.
“Is this your wife, Tezuka?” Mrs. Chang asked, eyes still locked at Maimi. The old miss was pleased.
“Yes,” Tezuka answered and watched them. Mrs. Chang grinned, “She’s pretty. How old are you?“
Tezuka looked away and bite his bottom lips. No, no, not about her age!
“I’m 27 years old,” she replied. Mrs. Chang and her husband widened their eyes, “What?!”
Tezuka sighed. Mrs. Chang touched Maimi’s cheek and said, “But-but-she looks like a teenager! Oh, you have fair skin. And you look cute!”
Maimi giggled and bowed slightly. Tezuka shook his head. He could not believe of what just happened. The old miss was praised for her beauty? Oh, kill me!
“Haha! Here, I’ve ordered something special for everyone so do wait, okay?” Mr. Chang told them. Both of them nodded. Maimi sniggered and placed a hand on her left cheek, smirking. Mrs. Chang leaned forward, “I hope you can teach me how to have fair skin!”
“Hey, you’re humiliating her, honey!” Mr. Chang said. Maimi shook her head, “It’s okay.”
Tezuka looked at her. Maimi cleared her throat, “I use dragon fruit’s skin.”
“Oh, really? Dragon fruit?”
“Um! But that fruit is hardly be found here because it comes from Malaysia. I used it once but it works,”she continued. She took a glass of water in front of her and drank it but accidentally slipped it. The water wet her dress. “Oh!”
Everyone was concerned. Mr. Chang called out for a waiter and asked for a towel. Maimi kept wiping the water away and her dress was wet badly. Tezuka took a napkin and wiped it. Maimi looked at him. He pretended not to bother. “Here, use that.”
Maimi received the napkin and began wiping her dress. She was embarrassed. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay,” Mrs. Chang told her. “It’s plain water.” Tezuka put his hand on his forehead, sighing.
Later on, the food was ready. The course was sheep’s meat cooked with wasabi. Everyone enjoyed it but Maimi was struggling with the fork and the knife for the second time.
“Looks like this is your first time,” Mr. Chang said. Maimi smiled weakly and nodded. Tezuka cleared his throat, “She doesn’t like to use them. She prefers chopsticks.”
Maimi was startled but she agreed with it to cover. As she wanted to continue chopping the beef, Tezuka’s tough hands took away her plate and put in front of him and began to slice the beef into pieces. Maimi just watched. The Changs couple smiled to each other.
“Here,” Tezuka said after he finished with the slicing and gave back to his wife. “Enjoy it.” His voice was a bit stern and Mr. Chang noticed it. “Are you okay, son? You seem cold this day. Do I bother you with this sudden dinner?”
He shook his head and sighed. “I’m just tired.”
“I understand,” Mrs. Chang responded. “But I think with your cute wife being beside you, you’ll never feel so.”
Maimi sniggered in mouthful and nodded. Tezuka glared at her.
“Thank you for the nice meal, sir,” Tezuka told Mr. Chang. The four of them were standing at the parking lot. Mr. Chang nodded and slapped his shoulder, “Have a nice life with your wife.”
The Changs couple bowed and left for their car not far away from them. Maimi waved Mrs. Chang and giggled. She turned back at her husband. Tezuka was unlocking his BMW. As they were inside the car and Tezuka drove it out of the parking lot, Maimi began, “Can we go to another place for a while? I feel like eating cheesecake.”
“I think you had just stuffed your belly with the beef? And now, a cheesecake?”
Maimi pouted. “I want cheesecake. I just feel like eating right now.”
“No, we’re going home. I’m tired.”
Tezuka’s final answer made Maimi felt down. She wanted to have some time spend with her husband. She wanted to have an intimate time together or even just a kiss worth it. But Tezuka was hard to approach to even though that prefect guy was her husband.
“Okay, but you’ll need to let me sleep with you,” she said and smiled. Tezuka grunted. “No.”
“Yes!”
“No!”
“Yes!!!!”
Maimi jumped onto her bed and sighed. Just now, Tezuka slammed and locked his room like usual. That was only the second day they had been through but still, there was no physical relationship happened. She was expecting to sleep with him. She knew he was tired but he still needed to serve his wife, right?
About shopping for undies, she had cancelled it due to have dinner with the Changs. She turned over and looked at the ceiling. She was figuring a way to make Tezuka fell for her and let her sleep with him. Just then, she decided to change into her lingerie and went towards Tezuka’s door.
She sat down and pretended to be sick. “Nezumi! Nezumi-chan!”
No response. She tried again. “Nezumi! It hurts!”
Still, the door was not opened. “Nezumi!”
“What?!!” his voice was heard inside the room. Maimi pouted, “I fell down. My legs hurt. Please help me!”
“Go put the iodine by yourself, you idiot old miss!”
Maimi gasped. She got up and knocked on the door. “Who teach you that? Hey, it’s rude okay? Respect, okay? Respect! I want you to come out now and apologise to me! Now!”
The door was opened abruptly and Maimi fell into his room. She looked up and saw Tezuka’s mad eyes were staring at her. “Don’t you have anything else to do, old miss?”
He was half-naked. His revealed abdominal muscles body made Maimi gulped. She quickly lied onto the floor, pretending to faint. “Ah!”
Tezuka scuffed. He used his leg to move her. “Hey! Get up now and get out of my room!”
Maimi grabbed his leg and smirked. “I won’t! Until you let me sleep in your bed!!!!”
Maimi sat alone in Tezuka’s bed while he himself fell asleep in the living room on the leather couch. Maimi regretted it since she failed again. Maybe she was too harsh and maybe it was still early for them to have a baby. “But I wanna sleep with him!”
Yes, that was her dream. To sleep with her husband. Nothing else. “Ah! Nezumi-chan! Why is it so hard to sleep with you?! Ah!”
Suddenly, she smiled slyly. She picked her fingers and went out to the living quietly. Tezuka was seen lying on the leather couch, sleeping. She cheered softly and neared him. She watched her young husband peacefully. “You look better without glasses.”