The silence stretched between them, comfortable now where it had been charged with tension moments before. Outside, Tokyo's neon pulse had dimmed to a softer glow, the city settling into the small hours when secrets felt safer to share.
Yua studied Riku's face in the ambient light filtering through the windows. The calm determination she'd seen earlier hadn't wavered, even after everything she'd told him. If anything, he seemed more present, more solid...like he'd finally found the ground he'd been searching for.
"There's something else," she said quietly.
"About Sogimoto?"
"About us." She took a breath, steadying herself. "About why this terrifies me so much."
Riku waited, his enhanced awareness picking up the shift in her heartbeat...not stress this time, but something deeper. Anticipation. Resolution.
"Kenji wasn't entirely wrong," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "Not about an affair, but about... how I feel about you."
The admission hung in the air between them like a held breath.
"Yua..."
"Let me say this. Please." She turned to face him fully. "When you came back three years later, walking into that boardroom like you owned the world... I knew I was in trouble. Not just because you'd changed, though you had, completely...but because I realized what I'd been running from all those years ago."
Riku's enhanced senses caught the subtle tells: the way her pupils dilated slightly, the barely perceptible flush across her collarbone, the unconscious way she leaned closer to him.
"You pursued me back then," she continued, a small smile playing at her lips. "Do you remember? Those flowers that kept appearing on my desk. The way you'd find excuses to stay late when I was working."
"The coffee," Riku said, his own smile forming. "I brought you coffee every morning for two months. Always exactly how you liked it, even though you never told me your order."
"You watched me order it at the café downstairs. I caught you once, standing by the elevator, timing your arrival perfectly." Her laugh was soft, affectionate. "I pretended not to notice, but I started looking forward to it. To you."
"Then why....?"
"Because I was engaged. Because I was your superior. Because..." She paused, something vulnerable flickering across her features. "Because you scared me. The way you made me feel scared me."
Riku's enhanced awareness was cataloging everything, the way her breathing had synchronized with his, how she unconsciously mirrored his posture, the warmth radiating from her skin that spoke of attraction she was finally admitting to herself.
"And now?" he asked.
"Now I'm divorced. Now we're equals...more than equals, we're partners. And now..." She reached out, her fingers barely brushing his hand. "Now I can't imagine facing any of this without you."
The touch sent electricity through his enhanced nervous system, but he kept his voice steady. "You could have anyone, Yua. CEOs, politicians, men with the kind of power that could actually protect you from people like Sogomoto."
"I don't want protection." Her fingers intertwined with his properly now. "I want partnership. I want someone who sees me...really sees me...and doesn't run. Someone who can stand in a room full of yakuza connections and hospital photos and still ask 'what do we do' instead of 'how do I get out of here.'"
"Is that what you think I did? Stayed because I'm not smart enough to be scared?"
"No." Her grip tightened. "I think you stayed because you're exactly the kind of man I thought you were three years ago. The kind I was too afraid to let myself want."
The confession settled between them like a bridge finally built. Riku felt something in his chest unwind, a tension he'd been carrying since the day he'd walked back into her life, wondering if the connection he remembered had been real or just wishful thinking.
"I need to tell you something too," he said. "About why I really came back."
She waited, her thumb tracing small circles across his knuckles.
"The promotion, the opportunity, that was all real. But I could have built a career anywhere. I came back because I never stopped thinking about you. About us. About what might have been possible if the timing had been different."
"And now?"
"Now I'm sitting in a hotel room, holding hands with the woman who's occupied my thoughts for six years, learning that she felt the same way." He brought their joined hands to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles. "Now I'm wondering if we're both crazy enough to try this."
"Try what, exactly?"
"Whatever this is. Whatever we could be."
Yua was quiet for a long moment, her gaze searching his face. "There's still Sogimoto. Still Kenji. Still a dozen ways this could go very wrong."
"There were always going to be complications."
"These particular complications could get you killed."
"Then I guess I'll have to be very careful not to die."
Her laugh was breathless, disbelieving. "You're serious."
"Dead serious. No pun intended."
She studied him in the dim light, and he could see her making calculations, weighing risks, considering angles, doing what successful CEOs did when faced with momentous decisions.
"The receptionist lied," she said finally.
"About what?"
"The room. This isn't a suite with a separate sitting area." She gestured toward the single king-size bed that dominated the space. "It's just a room. The only one they had available."
Riku followed her gaze, his enhanced awareness picking up the spike in her pulse, the way her breathing had become more deliberate.
"I could get another room," he offered quietly.
"You could." She stood, moving toward the bed with careful steps. "Or..."
"Or?"
She turned back to him, and in the soft light from the windows, she looked younger somehow. Vulnerable but certain.
"I haven't felt safe in months, Riku. Not really safe. But right now, with you here..." She sat on the edge of the bed. "Would you just hold me tonight?. I know it's asking a lot, given everything that's happened, but...."
"Yes."
The simplicity of his answer seemed to surprise her.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that." He stood, moving toward her with careful deliberation. "Though I should probably warn you....my self-control isn't superhuman."
"Neither is mine." Her smile was soft, honest. "But I'm not asking for superhuman. I'm asking for you. Just you, just this. Just feeling safe enough to sleep."
He sat beside her on the bed, and she immediately curled into his side, her head finding the hollow of his shoulder like it belonged there. His arms came around her naturally, one hand stroking her hair while the other traced gentle patterns along her back.
"Better?" he murmured.
"Much." Her voice was already drowsy, the adrenaline and fear of the evening finally giving way to exhaustion. "Riku?"
"Mmm?"
"Thank you. For staying. For listening. For not running when things got complicated."
"Thank you for trusting me with the truth."
She was quiet for so long he thought she'd fallen asleep. Then, so softly he almost missed it:
"I love you."
The words hung in the darkness between them, simple and devastating and perfect.
"I love you too," he whispered back. "I think I have for a very long time."
She lifted her head from his shoulder, looking at him in the dim light. Something had shifted between them...the careful distance they'd maintained was gone, replaced by raw honesty.
"Riku..."
He cupped her face gently, thumb tracing her cheekbone. "Are you sure?"
Instead of answering, she leaned closer, her lips barely brushing his. The kiss was tentative at first, years of waiting compressed into a single moment of contact.
Then she deepened it, her hand fisting in his shirt as if anchoring herself to this moment, to him. He responded immediately, pulling her closer as the kiss became something desperate and necessary...all the unspoken want finally given voice.
When they broke apart, both breathing hard, she rested her forehead against his.
"I've wanted to do that for so long," she whispered.
"So have I."
She settled back into his arms, but the air between them had changed completely. Outside, Tokyo pulsed with neon light, but in their room above the city, something new had begun.
Something that would change everything.