Chapter 16 - This relationship ends here, don't...
Marriage is absolutely out of the question. Not to mention marriage, you haven't even thought about starting a stable relationship, so you don't really understand what gave Itachi the illusion that you two would get married.
Sasuke said sullenly, "Aki, are you going to say those things to brush me off again?"
"Because Sasuke is still just a child." He was only in middle school when you were his age in your previous life, so what could he possibly know? Besides, you and Itachi are only in college now, and you're already thinking about marriage? It's true that people in this world generally marry and have children early, but you don't want to follow the local custom.
Sasuke has been rebuffed by you. He genuinely believes you're just giving him the runaround, and that you're intentionally keeping this from him along with your brother. He takes a deep breath, suddenly grabs your sleeve, and whispers, just like when he was a child, "Could you wait a little longer?"
He didn't explain what "wait a little longer" meant; he just... hoped you could wait a little longer, that he would soon catch up with his brother.
"Sasuke, don't you have anything else to tell me?" You changed the subject with a smile, but Sasuke still didn't let go of your hand. He said, "This is my money for this month." He handed you an envelope, and you took your slightly wrinkled sleeve back from his hand. Considering that if you refused him, there would definitely be some arguing, you gladly accepted the envelope containing cash.
"Thank you."
Sasuke's cheeks flushed slightly. "You don't need to thank me."
Later, you asked him to leave the room first under the pretext of changing clothes. After seeing the envelope in your hand, he obediently left the room.
After he left, you stared at the expensive kimono hanging on the clothes rack. The main color was light pink, and the collar, hem, and cuffs were embroidered with large double cherry blossoms. In addition, there were delicate and intricate dark patterns embroidered with gold thread, which faintly emitted a beautiful and moving light under the illumination.
You stared at the outfit for a while, and when the summer festival finally arrived, you didn't wear the overly ornate kimono. Instead, you wore a light and comfortable sleeveless dress made of pure cotton, which felt very soft against your skin. You and Itachi had agreed to attend the summer festival together, and he had dressed up carefully for it. His hair tie was newly bought, and his kimono was custom-made, probably a set with yours. Because he was naturally handsome, he didn't need any other adornments to be beautiful.
Seeing that you weren't wearing the kimono he gave you, he asked with a hint of doubt, "Don't you like that kimono?"
Please, you're dressed so warmly for a summer festival. You'd definitely be sweating buckets after walking around the whole area. You don't have a tendency to torture yourself, so of course you should do whatever makes you comfortable. You say, "It's too hot, I don't want to wear this."
"...I'm sorry I didn't consider that." He apologizes to you.
Aren't you hot wearing that?
"Hmm, it's alright." As he said this, he reached out to take your hand. His body temperature was slightly higher than yours, but he looked refreshed and showed no signs of sweating. What kind of divinely chosen heat-resistant body is this?
You let him hold your hand, and you didn't forget to compliment him, "You look great today."
He smiled and you walked out onto the street. Because it was a summer festival, there were quite a few people coming and going. However, the things sold at those stalls were the same old things. You thought to yourself, "Why is there no new stuff circulating in this market?" You finally saw a new stall selling perfume samples. After looking at it for a couple of seconds, you realized that it seemed to be a perfume from one of your luxury sub-brands' production lines.
Although it's a big brand, perfume, like lipstick, is something you can experience by spending a small amount of money to get the feeling of luxury. So you stood in front of this stall and chatted with the stall owner for a while, asking her where she got her stock. If you could change your original sales strategy, you might be able to boost sales even further.
While you were chatting with the stall owner, Itachi stood quietly beside you until you finished talking. Then he handed you a bottle of perfume called [Innocent Encounter]. He thought you were interested in perfume and that's why you bought a bottle earlier.
"I prefer Itachi's scent to perfume." You said this without batting an eye, and it was the truth. Itachi replied helplessly, "Aki, stop teasing me."
“But you do smell really good,” you said. If it weren’t for the fact that he actually wanted to marry you, you would have thought that the relationship could have lasted a while longer. But now it seems that you have to find a chance to run away, lest you accidentally sign a marriage certificate one day.
"Are you talking about perfume?" Shisui's voice suddenly joined their conversation. Itachi, who had been smiling faintly, smiled slightly and said, "Shisui, don't you have a mission today?"
Shisui shrugged. "I'm not on missions every day. I get days off sometimes, you know." Besides, what he said just now sounded like he was annoyed by his presence. He said, "Or am I bothering you?"
Itachi didn't even blink. "Of course."
"That was a rather blunt answer." Shisui sighed, but he didn't seem to be leaving. Instead, he smiled and said to you, "Hey, Aki, aren't you wearing that kimono today? I remember it was specially made by Itachi. It's very beautiful, but it's quite troublesome to wear. I was thinking that you probably wouldn't be able to wear it."
You calmly watched the two men bickering, and took the opportunity to browse around. When you returned, Shisui asked, "Aki, are you really going to marry Itachi? Isn't this too early?"
What are you thinking? Even if you're seventy or eighty years old, you've never thought about getting married. You say, "No, where did you hear that from?"
Shisui visibly breathed a sigh of relief. "Itachi told me."
Itachi didn't mean to pressure you. He said, "I'm just thinking about whether we can define our relationship sooner rather than later. After all, there are too many guys around Aki offering themselves up."
Is this how Mao Sui recommended himself?
You didn't give a firm refusal, for a simple reason: you're still on Uchiha territory, and they might impulsively detain you. Knowing when to speak to people and when to speak to them is a lesson you learned from your past life in the workplace, and a very valuable experience. So you said, "But it's definitely too early now."
"Then the wedding date is up to you," Itachi said with a smile. In his opinion, you only disagreed with holding the wedding so soon; otherwise, you had reached an agreement.
If you knew what he was thinking, you would definitely say, "Agreement my ass! You were just thinking of playing around. You never thought you would get yourself into trouble. You've heard that the Uchiha are indeed very devoted in relationships, but what does their devotion have to do with you? All you know is that you're not a devoted person."
It seems this place is no longer safe to stay; you should put your escape plan on the agenda.
Although you dislike Itachi's invisible controlling nature, you had a lot of fun taking apart his kimono that night.
You said it was like unwrapping a gift, and he said you have to start by unwrapping the ribbon.
"We've used up all the ribbons from last time." You have to admit it's quite satisfying to see such a powerful genius wrapped up in silk.
Itachi patiently teaches you how to tie and untie your belt, but you only need to learn how to untie it.
"You're still so willful." He lowered his eyes.
"Then why would you like someone so willful? Doesn't that mean there's something wrong with you too?"
He smiled slightly and placed the dark gold ribbon in your hand. "Now you can unwrap your gift."
After this summer festival, your life seems to be as peaceful as ever. In addition to dealing with company affairs every day, you also have to review the letters written to you by your subordinates. Among them, Bai writes to you the most, basically one letter a day without fail, unless there is a special situation. For example, last time a group of people tried to sabotage the factory, and Bai was responsible for dealing with the enemy, which delayed him and caused him not to write to you that day. Of course, he made up for it the next day.
In your letter to Haku, you mentioned that you would be leaving Konoha soon. You only mentioned it briefly, but in your reply, he asked what kind of help you needed, offering to come to Konoha to pick you up. He also asked where you would like to stay temporarily, offering to help you choose accommodations. In short, he was very considerate, asking about every little detail. It's truly a stroke of luck to have such a thoughtful subordinate.
I briefly told him about the day you left Konoha. You specifically chose a day when Sasuke and Itachi were both on missions, so they wouldn't bother you.
You simply packed your luggage, nothing much to take, just a light shoulder bag. Seeing this, Mikoto said, "Going on another trip? We can wait until Itachi comes back before we go on a trip together."
Then forget it. You're getting a little tired of playing around and want to run away. You haven't even thought about seeing him again. You can already foresee the ending where you'll never see each other again.
Mikoto reminded you to be careful on the road, but you didn't look back. Everyone thought this was just another impulsive trip, but only you knew that this time you would never return.
After you left Konoha, you met Haku. You hadn't seen him for several years. He was taller than you had imagined, and his features were still delicate and refined. When you walked together, people could easily mistake him for your younger sister.
"This is the third one today, isn't it? They're treating Bai like my little sister now," you said half-jokingly while sitting in the teahouse.
"Will this cause trouble for Mingxi?"
"No, I've already distanced myself from the biggest trouble." You took a sip of tea, looked into the distance, and felt relaxed.
You don't care at all what Itachi, who is far away in Konoha, will think when he returns home and sees the letter you left for him.
It can't really be considered a letter, because you only wrote a short sentence.
—This relationship ends here. Don't come looking for me again.
A note from the author:
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