Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

"Don't be angry, it will make me sad if you're angry...hehe..." Ayako chuckled and walked towards Riko.

Riko got goosebumps all over and instinctively widened her eyes, saying, "What are you doing? Don't smile like that at people, it's so annoying. I don't know you."

"Are you familiar with that Ms. Tachibana outside?...Hehe..." Ayako said, pointing out the glass with her slender index finger.

This direction is directly opposite the revolving glass door of the financial building across the street. Tachibana, dressed in a professional suit, is holding a resume for a job application and is standing at the revolving glass door. She occasionally glances at the supermarket with a hesitant look on her face.

"Tachibana-chan?!" Riko gasped, her voice trembling, and tightened her grip on Eri's arm, wrapping it around her neck.

"Ugh~" Eri stuck out her little tongue, rolled her eyes, and slapped Riko's arm.

Riko's shoulders trembled, she quickly released Eri, and kept saying "sorry" while her eyes were still looking at Tachibana on the other side of the glass.

"Hehe...hehe...hehe..." Ayako moved closer to Riko, continuing with a sly laugh, "Riko-chan, tell your older sister, what did you tell Tachibana? Did you lie to Sophia like you did, calling yourself my husband's sister? Or what?"

"It's...it's someone who has a crush on my husband..." Riko's face flushed red, and she lowered her head to cover her face in confusion, then looked up and said, "What do you mean 'your husband'? He's my husband..."

"No, you can't say that. If Tachibana hears it, she'll be sad, hehehe... You don't want Tachibana to be sad, do you?"

Ayako grinned, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth. "And I have more good news for you. This morning, I told Tachibana that I've married Hideaki. We're husband and wife. He's my husband, and I'm his wife. As for you... someone who has a crush on my husband... someone what? Hahaha~"

As Ayako finished speaking, she smiled and bit her thumb.

"Even if you say that, you're fake, and I'm real."

Riko instinctively retorted, then continued to glance at Tachibana, who was still hesitating at the revolving glass door.

Riko simply disliked Ayako's "good news" as always, without causing her any further emotional distress. After all, Ayako had never hidden such things, and she always called Hideaki "husband" in front of Riko, so she was already used to it.

Riko even practiced her rebuttals herself.

For example: "We have wedding photos, you don't," "We're on the same household registration transcript, you're not," "I even have a wedding ring, designed and given to me by my husband himself, you don't have one"...

There are too many rebuttal techniques, but here's the ultimate weapon: "I brought you a chamber pot...and I brought it out of your bedroom..."

Although I felt a little wronged at the time, now when I think back to Ayako's embarrassed expression, I can't help but laugh.

Of course, since Riko is not good at taking the initiative to attack, she is just silently accumulating strength and waiting for the moment to defend and counterattack. Although now is a good time to counterattack, Tachibana is standing at the door, and she has no intention of arguing with Ayako.

In our phone conversations, Tachibana repeatedly said she wanted to come back and steal my husband, and that she wanted a fair competition. That's just asking for trouble and making things awkward for herself. I lied because I couldn't bear to embarrass her too much, and I was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle it and might do something rash...

If the annoying Ayako really told Tachibana "annoying good news", and Tachibana doesn't seem to be upset right now, does that mean Tachibana doesn't care whether her philandering husband is married or not?

I thought so much beforehand, and I even lied... If I had known it would turn out like this... I should have just confessed to Tachibana-chan!

I can't let that annoying Ayako be happy, even if it means kneeling down and apologizing...

Riko gritted her teeth and headed for the door.

"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing? You can't do this!"

Seeing that things were going badly, Ayako grabbed Riko and spoke at an extremely fast pace,

"I could tell at a glance that you and Tachibana are best friends. She trusts you completely, so much! Even though you lied to her, it was a white lie, a white lie! You can't tell her the truth, or she'll be sad, really sad, extremely, extremely sad! You might not even be able to be friends anymore. Can you bear to do that? Can you bear to make her sad? She might commit suicide, she really might! After all, she's so innocent, right? You can see that too, she's very innocent."

Riko's face contorted in a grimace.

If Ayako tries to persuade Riko by saying "she's a little liar" or "if she confesses, she might get into trouble," it will definitely fail, because Riko is already prepared to "get into trouble." But Ayako insists on using "sisterly affection" to bind her.

This put Riko in a difficult position.

I had a very good impression of Tachibana from our previous chats, phone calls, and meals together. I could feel her simplicity, kindness, and that she truly considered me her best friend.

So, the pure-hearted Tachibana, even as "Hideaki's current girlfriend," could still tolerate calling Hideaki her husband.

That takes a lot of courage! It's comparable to mine, so I bet he must feel just as wronged as I do.

Although I seem to have gotten used to it now because there's nothing I can do about it, of course, I absolutely cannot forgive Ayako, the first one to appear. I will make a sacrifice for my lost pure love and nail Ayako to the tombstone of pure love forever.

Seeing that Riko had lost her impulsiveness, Ayako was secretly pleased and quickly pulled her back to the seat.

"and many more!"

Eri suddenly screamed, her face extremely pale, her eyes wide open, waving her hands in disbelief, "Please don't tell me that my newly established boyfriend also has an unusual relationship with Tachibana."

Riko, who was struggling with her decision, froze. She was pulled back to her seat by Ayako, and then covered her face with her hands, not daring to look at Eri.

It was only then that she remembered that Eri and Tachibana hated each other because they fought over the bathroom every day, and they often called her to complain about each other. They didn't know that she knew them, and she had even intentionally kept it from them.

Why did you hide it back then? Maybe because you had the same boyfriend... Ugh, my mind is so confused, so embarrassing...

"Eri-chan is so smart~"

Eri's embarrassed expression was just as Ayako had expected, so she added fuel to the fire, saying, "She found out when you were bragging about your boyfriend to Tachibana. You really care about that best friend. You were reluctant to leave her and almost cried when you left. Do you think she cried too?"

"No wonder Xiuming said that making her write a self-criticism and asking me to pass on the message... It wasn't him speaking up for me at all; he was betraying me right in front of my face..."

Eri paused for a moment, muttered something under her breath, then ran to Riko's side, grabbed her arm and shook it, saying, "Riko-chan, why didn't you tell me? Now that I've become the clown, how can I scold her?"

Riko still covered her face with her hands and said, "Um... oh right, these past few days, hasn't Chieko-chan been answering your calls? When she gets back, you can ask her. She's smarter than me, she'll definitely be able to give you a satisfactory answer."

"Huh? How did you become so bad? You're even shirking responsibility now," Eri continued to shake Riko. "Chieko always listens to you, she lies without batting an eye. I want to hear what you have to say. This concerns our sisterly relationship. I'm starting to suspect that you're like that annoying Ayako, deliberately embarrassing me... You wouldn't be that cruel, would you?"

"I don't know why, I suddenly can't remember..." Riko blushed and continued, "But it's all in the past, it doesn't matter anymore, Eri-chan, don't worry, I don't think you're ashamed, after all, we're best friends, right! Eri-chan, you must be strong, I'll always stand by you."

“You’ve started to lie to people,” Eri screamed in a trembling voice. “Don’t cover your face, look at me, look at me.”

Riko didn't remove her hand from her face. She spread her ring and middle fingers apart, blinked her bright eyes with innocence, and said, "Eri-chan, don't you think Ayako is the culprit? She's been stirring things up between us!"

"You're changing the subject just to avoid answering me, but we're best friends!"

"Don't dwell on the past. You and Tachibana will become best friends too."

Riko stood up and tidied the plates on the table. "Oh right, Misako-chan, we should call the newspapers and TV reporters to schedule interviews."

Misako, who was deliberately acting invisible, moved her lips and then pointed to her wristwatch, which showed noon: "It's lunchtime now, everyone's off work, so there's no way to make an appointment call..."

Riko pretended not to see and cleared away the plates, then busied herself tidying up documents...

Her mind was in a mess right now, full of things to do: Tachibana came to her door, Eri kept asking questions, and Ayako was secretly laughing beside her. Of course, the main thing was her work schedule; she should hire a secretary... Thinking of a secretary reminded her of Sophia. In Sophia's eyes, she was still a little sister. Was this another white lie?

"Oh dear, oh dear!"

When Riko suddenly brought up work, Eri immediately tensed up. After being driven away by Hideaki and learning from Ayako's example, she learned a bottom line: never disturb Riko's work.

She was so anxious that she stomped her feet. What she cared about most was not that Riko had kept the fact that she also knew Tachibana from her, but that she wanted to know if she was still a very important friend to Riko, and to what extent.

This relates to how unruly I will be in this big family in the future.

Riko has changed; she's become distant...

After watching the show for a while, Ayako couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Oh dear, the little girl is crying! Come here, big sister loves you, hee hee~"

As Ayako spoke, she grabbed Eri by the back of the neck, lifted her up, and threw her onto a nearby chair, ignoring Eri's gasping and clutching-her-back expression. Then she gestured to Tachibana, who was walking towards them through the glass, and said, "Everyone knows what to do, right?"

Tachibana is coming, so we need to quickly reach a consensus. As for the embarrassment after being exposed, it doesn't matter; we just need to enjoy ourselves now.

Misako continues to act as if she's invisible.

Riko pursed her lips, gave a soft "humph," and turned her head to the side.

Eri glared fiercely at Tachibana outside the glass panel, jumped off her chair, and said, "I don't want to see her."

"Don't be so shy, you're bound to embarrass yourself sooner or later," Ayako grabbed her and pressed her back into her seat. "If you cooperate properly, maybe your dear Riko-chan will be happy~"

Chapter 216 Eri, Tachibana, Riko, Ayako

Eri paused, then subconsciously looked up at Riko, asking expectantly, "Riko-chan, will you be happy? From now on, I'll do whatever you say. You have to be good to me like before, even better than Tachibana, okay?"

"It's alright..." Riko rubbed her forehead with her fingertips and said, "Let's just play along for now. Anyway, I'm the real one, and she's the fake one."

Riko was naturally not happy at all, since it was the annoying Ayako who was going to take her place and start showing off.

However, considering that Ayako has never concealed her purpose, and that Hideaki likes her so much, doesn't that mean that a crisis is always present?

Why not take this opportunity to make that annoying Ayako happy for a while, and see how she bullies people and how she will treat me next?

With her so smug look, she can't possibly be hiding her true intentions.

Anyway, this kind of thing will be exposed sooner or later. I haven't figured out how to explain it to Tachibana yet. I'll stall for a while and discuss it with Chieko... In the meantime, I'll also see what Tachibana's attitude is towards "Hideaki's wife"... It's related to Tachibana's attitude towards me if my identity is exposed later...

There was also a conflict between Eri and Tachibana that lasted for more than half a month.

Knowing Eri's temperament, as I just mentioned, she put on a clown act outside the Tachibana Gate.

If Tachibana were to find out about her marriage to Hideaki at this point, while Tachibana is already upset, Eri would definitely seize the opportunity to mock her...

They're both my children, and it would be best if they could reconcile.

First, shift all the blame to Ayako, whom we dislike. In fact, we seem to like her quite a bit; she's not just annoying, she even has some useful qualities.

"Misako-chan, I think you're a pragmatic person, aren't you?"

Seeing that Riko was cooperating and Eri had quieted down, Ayako was overjoyed and put pressure on Misako again.

"I won't say another word. Do as you please."

Misako lowered her head and tidied up the documents.

At this moment, Tachibana walked to the middle of the one-way street in front of the supermarket entrance and continued walking towards the supermarket.

Initially, I wanted to go directly to the supermarket to find Riko and ask Ayako and Hideaki about their marriage.

But then I thought, what if Riko doesn't know about this yet? If I tell her directly, she definitely won't be able to accept it and will be very sad.

After all, the man I've had a crush on for so long, Xiuming, suddenly married another woman... He must feel so choked up, just like I am now.

Tachibana stood at the revolving glass door, lost in thought for a long time.

The reason I feel so upset isn't really because Xiuming is married, since he's never hidden his philandering ways.

It was Ayako's arrogant attitude, and then there was the fact that Ayako had given Hideaki a lot of money to invest in stocks... and that Ayako had even tolerated Eri riding on Hideaki's neck, letting her show off her so-called boyfriend.

Are all rich people this twisted?!

Is my beloved Xiuming-kun just a toy in her eyes? She doesn't cherish him at all!

The more Tachibana thought about it, the angrier she became, and the more desperate and heartbroken she felt. She even started to imagine scenes of Hideaki being forced into something... a desperate Hideaki being tied up somewhere by several women who were approaching him with sinister smiles. Hideaki couldn't even let out a cry because his mouth was gagged...

"Ah!! No!"

With a loud shout, Tachibana rushed through the supermarket's glass doors and ran straight to the checkout counter. She wanted to find the cashier to ask where Riko was. She didn't have time to consider whether Riko could accept it; she had to rescue poor Hideaki from a group of perverted demons.

"Hi! Tachibana-chan, look over here~" Ayako stood at the door of the massage room and waved to Tachibana with a smile.