«Paris at night is even more beautiful than I remembered. Perfect for a honeymoon,» Shin says, leaning on the balcony of a luxurious 5-star hotel penthouse, wearing only a thin night robe and smoking his usual cigarette. «They say it's the city of love, but I guess a world-traveling businesswoman like you already knows that.»
«Stop saying all those sweet things. You're just making me believe that my love for you is returned,» Kagura replies from under the shower, her voice a mix of annoyance and resignation. Water and foam run down her naked, curvy body like thin white streams, dripping from her nipples and her silver hair like tiny waterfalls.
The bathroom door is wide open behind Shin—on the opposite side of the hotel room—and that incredibly sensual scene is visible to him in the reflection of the half-open window.
«It'd be a big problem if I fell in love with you, don't you think? Mixing work and feelings only creates messes.»
«You're the last person in the world who has the right to say something like that, since from those messes — as you call them — Hakuto was born.»
Meanwhile, Kagura steps out of the shower—wearing a long pink bathrobe slightly open in the front, with a smaller towel wrapped around her hair.
«All the more reason for me to speak from experience...» Shin mutters, his tone turning unusually grim—a rare thing for him. «Raising Hakuto without a mother was an unforgivable mistake. I tried several times to find a stable woman to stay by my side—more for him than for me—but it always ended in disaster...»
Kagura hugs him from behind, her hands pressing gently against his chest—slightly muscular, just like the rest of his body.
«Poor Hakuto... just thinking about what that woman put him through breaks my heart. I noticed it when I went up to greet him—during your aperitif in the jacuzzi. Even if he tried to hide it, I saw the fear in his eyes...»
«It's the same fear that hits him every time he's around older women with big breasts. Crazy, right? Mature women with huge boobs are every teenage boy's erotic dream, but because of that bitch, he's so traumatized that every time he sees one, his mind takes him straight back to those moments.»
Shin flicks the cigarette butt to the ground with a nervous motion, then lights a new one.
«I joke about it—even with him, trying to make it feel less heavy—but there's nothing funny about it... When I came home and saw Hakuto crying, curled up in a corner with his face twisted by fear... I was one step away from going after her and killing her with my own hands. But all that would've done was leave my boy growing up without a father too...»
«I hope that woman's rotting in jail by now!»
Shin shakes his head. «When I got back that night, she was already gone, and no one ever heard from her again. She probably fled Japan. It's better for her to stay as far away from me as possible...»
«Oh, Shin...» Kagura's embrace tightens. «I know I'll never be able to be a good wife—it's painfully clear to me that no one will ever take Hakuto's mother's place in your heart—but I swear I'll do everything I can to be the perfect mother for him. That boy truly deserves to be loved... he really does.»
«When you say stuff like that, it almost makes me want to marry you for real,» Shin says with a freshly found smile.
«Say that again and I swear I'll make you do it by force!» Kagura replies, lightly digging her nails into his skin. «So, are you planning to keep the secret till the very end, or will you finally tell me why we came all the way here?»
«I already told you, didn't I? The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe—»
«Shin!» Kagura's nails press harder into his chest.
«Ouch!» Shin turns around—they're now chest to chest. «Alright, I'll tell you... you really don't have any patience, huh? Tomorrow I'll introduce you to an old friend of mine—one of the few contacts I still have inside the HESPARC. That bastard owes me a favor, and over the past few years he's become a big shot. I'm sure he'll figure something out.»
Kagura lets out a deep sigh, then rests her head against Shin's chest. «I really hope so... not for me, but for Rika and Yuzu. I wonder how our kids are doing. Do you think they've already found out everything?»
Shin shakes his head. «I doubt it. If he had, Hakuto would've already called me, furious, demanding answers right away.»