Page 33 of Summer Haze & Tokyo Craze

But as much as I try, I can't tear my eyes away from her lips until she's finished her treat. And then my thoughts jump straight to the way her hand feels in mine when she grabs it again to pull me right back into the masses.

My brain is hyper fixating on it, all my doubts, hopes and confusion turning my thoughts into mush. I don't even notice when we reach the end of the street until someone almost runs into the two of us. Clearing my throat, I try to get my act together.

"Please tell me there’s another way to get back to the station?" I ask her and point back to where we just came from, but to my relief, she shakes her head.

"We can go another way." She promptly pulls me to the right and we walk along a main street, leading to a large crossing with way less people on the broad sidewalk. "But we need to make a stop first. I know a spot here that's A,cute and B, has coffee.”

"You know too much caffeine isn't good for you, right?”

“Neither is the working until ungodly hours and only sleeping a few hours."

“Touché.”

She rolls her eyes, and I grin sheepishly at her.

"Also I’ve only had three coffees today, so that's still on the lower end, considering the meetings we had to sit through and the fact that we started our day at eight."

I chuckle at her making her case as we come to a stop at a red light.

She leads me to a tall building that has an entrance consisting of what looks like a giant mirror art piece, then to an elevator I didn’t even see as it’s hidden in a dark corner. Kind of suspicious, but she looks like she knows where she’s going.

The elevator brings us to the roof of the building and I follow her dutifully as she steps out of it, revealing a beautiful terrace setting with an even more beautiful view over the city.

“You were right,” I say full of admiration. “This spot is very cute.”

Only now do I realize that we are still holding hands, and now that I’m acutely aware of it, I suddenly don’t know how to act.

"Told you," she says with a grin. "Let me grab a coffee, and we can go sit outside." Oblivious to my internal struggle, she lets go of my hand to get into line. I join her after a few deep breaths in an attempt to relax my shoulders again, getting myself a snack and a cold, non-caffeinated drink as well.

And once we have our beverages and food, we walk outside to enjoy the view a bit more. And by the view, I mean her.

Before she can sit down opposite me, I pull her over to my side so we can look at the sun starting to set together. She shoots me a cautious glance, but obliges, her whole body tense when she sits down at first but slowly relaxing.

It's a beautiful moment.

The sun is starting to set and dye the sky a bright orange. Despite the heat, there is a nice breeze in the air, and we can look very far from our position.

"Honestly, I thought you'd need to get higher up to get a good view," I tell her, and she giggles.

"Yeah, I was surprised my first time here too. But it's really pretty."

I look at her face illuminated by the orange glow of the sun, a happy and content look on her face.

"Yeah, I agree. Yeah, it is."

Lily

"What should I do, Lucy?" I whine into my phone, pacing my room and tugging on my hair, a wave of helplessness washing over me.

We remained at the cafe until the sky turned completely dark, then got into an overcrowded train back to the hotel. Nothing happened that afternoon aside from handholding.

To not get lost in the crowds, I remind myself. It was nothing more… or was it?

As we stood in that train, my front pressed to his, with people from all sides pushing in, I was close enough to feel his heartbeat, and then everything hit me all at once, like waking up from a daydream.

What the fuck am I doing?

He's the CEO of my rival company. I know he's friends with Millie and Kayla, but there is no way they would condone me dating a rival.

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