Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

"No." Riko bit her lip, but still smiled.

Chapter 132 Tachibana: Why are you calling my boyfriend "husband"?

Tachibana and Riko sat side by side, while Chieko sat across the low table from them.

Chieko secretly clenched her little fist, silently cheering Riko on. Riko-chan had finally mustered up her courage.

But I'm also a bit conflicted.

Tachibana looked genuinely heartbroken, showing not only immense guilt and remorse towards Riko, but also a sense of dread, as if she feared Riko would steal her boyfriend.

Riko really shouldn't have laughed in this situation.

She was trying hard to act like she "shouldn't laugh," and even tried to suppress it by crying, but that expression was very likely to provoke a fight.

If Tachibana really gets angry and wants to fight, should I follow Hideaki's instructions and help Riko hit her, or should I pull them apart?

After all, Hideaki said Tachibana has violent tendencies...

Or are they secretly taking sides?

But wouldn't the waitress who deliberately ignores you look down on you?

"Stop laughing, okay?" Tachibana grabbed Riko's hand and shook it, her voice trembling with grievance and tears. "You're my best friend! Seeing you like this scares me. I'm so worried you'll steal my boyfriend."

"I...I'm sorry...I really couldn't help it," Riko covered her mouth, her voice trembling with laughter, her bright eyes brimming with undisguised joy. "You know what? This is the first time I've ever heard my husband say he likes me."

"Your husband?" Tachibana's face suddenly froze, her wide eyes filled with shock and disbelief. "What, what did you just say? You, you called my boyfriend...husband?"

"Uh...I," Riko stiffened, seemingly realizing her slip of the tongue, her eyes filled with unease, "I didn't mean to...I'm sorry..."

Tachibana seemed to be frozen in place, her eyes glazed over, completely motionless.

“Tachibana-chan, please don’t misunderstand, after all…” Chieko’s heart also clenched. She didn’t want the two of them to fight, and she quickly came up with a defense for Riko:

"After all, Riko-chan likes... your boyfriend, right? Didn't you say you didn't mind? Right? It's just... you know, they must like each other... uh, no! Your boyfriend likes you too, otherwise, why wouldn't he let Riko be his girlfriend, but let you be? Right! Oh, I'm so envious of Tachibana-chan... ha... um!"

The incident happened so suddenly that this was all Chieko could do. After saying this, she quickly walked around the low table and grabbed Tachibana's hand, just in case.

Tachibana stiffly turned her head to look at Chieko, then stiffly turned her head back to look at Riko, who looked uneasy.

Completely absorbed in another thought, she didn't hear Huizi's sophistry at all, and suddenly shouted, "How can you call my boyfriend 'husband'? I wouldn't even dare to think about that! Don't think that just because my boyfriend likes you, you can just arbitrarily add that title to yourself! Have you even thought about the names of your future children? What you're doing is wrong. He will be, will be, my... my, my husband..."

As Tachibana finished speaking, her already flushed face turned even redder. Suddenly, she pulled her hand away from Chieko's and slapped Riko's leg with a sharp "smack." Then, she covered her face and said, "How could you just say that so casually? I'm so embarrassed... I'm so shy..."

Oh! She's started! She's started! She's started taking care of Riko... Chieko almost fainted from fright, annoyed by her own weak body. Tachibana was so strong that she couldn't hold on to her at all.

Fortunately, Riko didn't seem to care at all about being slapped.

Riko swayed her head, her drunken eyes filled with innocent naivety. She shook Tachibana's shoulders, who was still covering her face, and said, "I...I'm used to it...Can I keep calling you 'husband'?"

"No!" Tachibana suddenly straightened up, placing her hands on her kneeling legs. Her body swayed again, her head spinning and her flushed face flushed. Her dazed, drunken eyes stared at the floor as she said, "If you call him that, what am I supposed to do?"

“You can do it too…” Riko’s eyes were also dazed.

"We're not even married yet..." Tachibana's swaying, upright body suddenly went limp, her flushed forehead resting on the low table, and she swayed her shoulders coquettishly, "How could I possibly do this? It's so embarrassing..."

Chieko was overjoyed: They're both drunk and acting like idiots, that's great! If only we had a video camera, we could record it all... What a pity.

Riko continued shaking Tachibana's shoulders, saying, "Give it a try, just give it a try..."

Tachibana turned her head, which was resting on the low table, to face Riko, and whispered, "Husband? ~ Ah!" Tachibana suddenly screamed, covering her bright red face and rolling on the floor, "...So embarrassing, if Hideaki finds out, how can I ever face him again..."

Chieko, who was standing nearby, was knocked down by Tachibana when she wasn't paying attention. Before she could get up, Tachibana pounced on her, hugged her waist, and rolled around on the foam mat as if she were a pillow.

Chieko wasn't very strong to begin with, and with Tachibana tossing her around, the fish she had eaten was about to come back up. Anxiously, she reached out to the waitress next to her, "Quick, pull her away, pull her away... I'm going to throw up, I'm going to throw up..."

Riko sat to one side, looking quite drunk, and chuckled foolishly.

The waitress hurriedly helped Chieko pull Tachibana away.

A drunken Tachibana slumped onto the low table again, her dazed eyes filled with reminiscence, chuckling to herself as if talking to herself: "I wonder who invented such a name, it's so clever, just saying it makes my heart pound..."

Riko crawled closer to her and sat down next to her, resting her head on the low table. With a silly grin, she said, "Me too, I was almost scared to death when I screamed..."

Of course, Tachibana's feelings now are definitely different from Riko's feelings back then. Riko was saying that when Hideaki first asked her to call him "husband," her heart was indeed pounding very hard...

"Because I'm his girlfriend!" Tachibana grinned. "You'd be scared if you called my boyfriend 'husband' in front of me! Luckily, we're best friends, you should thank me~"

"Thank you so much, Tachibana-chan! You're so kind!"

“I’m not okay,” Tachibana’s smiling face suddenly fell, “It makes me feel so bad that you call him that…”

"What can I do? I'm used to it." Riko said pitifully.

"Well, I'll allow you to say that behind his back, but you're not allowed to do it in front of him. After all, I'm his girlfriend! You have to listen to me."

"Okay, I'll do as you say." Riko looked sullen.

"Don't be like this," Tachibana said, seemingly unable to bear Riko's sadness, holding her small hand. "Even though I'm his girlfriend, I always feel like he likes you more, and I'm so scared..."

Yesterday, when Tachibana went shopping for clothes with Hideaki, Hideaki's obvious bias left a deep psychological scar on Tachibana.

"I'm scared too... You're my husband's girlfriend, even though I'm already married... Ugh!"

"Oh dear! It's getting late!" Chieko jumped up, covered Riko's mouth, and pulled her away. "How about we make it another time?"

"What are you doing?" Riko struggled weakly. "Let me finish what I have to say..."

Riko had suppressed these worries for too long, and in her drunken state, she couldn't wait to let them all out.

"They're drunk, all of them are drunk. They need to go home and rest." Chieko's heart was in her throat. "Tachibana-chan, let's go, let's go."

"How could you bully Riko like that?" Tachibana suddenly raised her hand and shoved Chieko on the shoulder, making her stumble. Then she hugged Riko tightly. "She's my best friend. I won't allow you to bully her like that. How could you cover her mouth? Let her say whatever she wants~"

Chieko stumbled backward, almost falling, but was caught by a quick-thinking waitress.

"Thanks……"

The waitress in the kimono, the same one who served Hideaki and Tachibana yesterday, suppressed a laugh and slowly shook her head, indicating that it was alright.

Chieko felt a heavy weight in her heart, realizing that her small frame seemed incapable of handling the two of them.

After all, he was only slightly drunk, his mind was clear but a little muddled, he said whatever came to mind without any restraint, and he could still maintain his basic balance. He wouldn't consider the consequences of hitting someone.

Tachibana released Riko, and the two resumed sitting side by side.

Their heads landed exactly on the low table, facing each other.

"Riko-chan, what were you going to say? Keep talking, don't be afraid, I'll protect you."

"Uh..." Riko blinked her blurry eyes, a fleeting moment of clarity filled with lingering fear, and said, "I forgot..."

"It's okay, we'll talk about it next time we remember," Tachibana shook her head and turned to ask the waitress, "What time is it?"

Chieko breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, Tachibana didn't think too much about it. She must have trusted Riko too much and really treated her like a good sister... She's even more naive than Riko-chan. No wonder Hideaki-kun calls her "Little White Flower".

"5:58, Ms. Tachibana." The waitress was very professional. At Chieko's anxious prompting, she paused slightly and asked in a low voice, "Should I call a taxi for you?"

Tachibana nodded and hailed a taxi. Chieko was about to ask the waiter to call another one when Tachibana stopped her.

"Riko-chan, do you want to come to my house? It's very close."

"Oh, can it be next time? I need to go home and rest..."

Riko, still slightly shaken from the earlier incident, was more sober than Tachibana and worried about saying something inappropriate. The current situation was just right!

Not only did she not reveal that she was married to Xiuming, but she also allowed him to call her "husband" in private.

What does this mean? It means the risk of exposure has been greatly reduced.

But Tachibana's pure love remained unchanged. The more she came into contact with him, the easier it was for her to be exposed. In the end, when she found out the truth... I can't even imagine.

Riko felt increasingly guilty towards Tachibana.

“I don’t know when the next time will be,” Tachibana said, holding Riko’s hand tightly in her arms. Her voice was low and full of grievance. “I’m already in a ‘cold war’ with Hideaki-kun. He wants me to accept his womanizing… I can’t accept it, so he tells me to calm down on my own and apologize to him whenever I’ve figured it out… He’s such a jerk…”

As Tachibana finished speaking, she hugged Riko again and began to cry softly, saying between sobs, "How could he do this? I'm already his girlfriend, and he still likes other women..."

"Uh~" Riko moved her lips and said softly, "There's nothing we can do about it... After all, it's a mistake that men all over the world make..."

President Riko is so great… Chieko couldn’t help but admire her. This must be why Hideaki-kun dotes on her so much…

The female clerk who had gone out to call a taxi had just returned. She opened the sliding door and stood there dumbfounded at the door.

“I don’t want him to make that mistake, I don’t want to be cuckolded… I want to give him the cold shoulder, I want to stand firm, I want him to come find me, I want to leave here and find work somewhere else…”

Riko's eyes widened, and she asked, "Where are you going?"

Chieko was also taken aback.

“I don’t know, but I can’t stay here anymore,” Tachibana said, still looking dejected. “I’ve already resigned. Everyone at the company thinks I’m going to marry Hideaki and become a full-time housewife. I was afraid they would laugh at me, so I didn’t tell them the truth. I don’t dare to look for a job nearby. Anywhere is fine, but I can’t stay in Tokyo, or I’ll be so socially bankrupt.”

"Uh……"

Riko didn't know what to say, after all, it concerned marriage, and this was her bottom line.

Although she felt that "Little White Flower" had more advantages than her, she still wanted to try, especially since she had just learned from Tachibana that her husband had secretly said he liked her.

It's even more joyful and blissful than being confessed to in person, and it fills you with hope.

Anyway, you can't just quit.

"After I leave, can you keep an eye on him for me?" Tachibana asked expectantly. "Just try to stop him and prevent him from liking other women. And if he likes someone else, tell me... so I can be mentally prepared."

"Huh? Supervise...supervise me?! I...I...I, I, I..." Riko's mouth dropped open, and she stammered, shaking her head. "I can't, I can't do it...my husband will hate me. What if, what if he gets angry and leaves me alone to calm down? I, I can't...I can't...I don't want him to hate me..."

Chieko almost burst out laughing. What was Tachibana thinking? Is this what trust in a best friend looks like? So cute.

Of course, she believed that Tachibana would never accept her relationship with Hideaki.

Chieko never dared to hope that Hideaki would like her back; she only hoped that they could be tender to each other when needed or when needed, and that would be enough.

Therefore, you must be extra careful to hide it and not let Tachibana know.

"We're best friends! I've even allowed you to call him 'husband' behind his back. Don't you like him too? You definitely can't accept his womanizing ways!"

It seems that Tachibana has unknowingly accepted the fact that "Hideaki also likes Riko".

“I can accept it…” Riko lowered her head subconsciously and said softly.

Tachibana froze, then seemed to blaze with anger, and shouted, "Are you still my best friend?!"

Riko's shoulders trembled, and she instinctively showed fear, whispering, "Yes, yes!"

"Then you have to listen to me and keep an eye on him!"