I looked at the grinning man in front of me.

What could I say? This talk went as well as it possibly could, I suppose.

Long FangTian wasn’t my friend by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he could barely be called an ally at all. At best, our interests were aligning for now, and that was it.

I was a nobody, appearing out of nowhere, and my reputation made me a questionable choice at best for any sort of leading role.

The only thing that made me credible in any capacity was the tacit acknowledgement of my status by Long Hao. The head of the Long clan had long since proved everything to everyone, so people had no choice but to take whatever he did, no matter how unorthodox it was, with full seriousness.

Kouzuki twins were serving as a second layer of legitimacy for me. As a puppet leader, perhaps, but it was a fact.

And the presence of Helen Smith by my side was another tipping factor for those scales. Frank Smith’s doting on his granddaughter had been well known.

So, in short, Long FangTian had to make a rational choice and bid his time to see how badly, if at all, I would fuck up.

This was something I could respect.

***

Helen Smith and Long FangTian were talking business. Something or other about possible avenues to expand the cooperation between two clans.

Perhaps this was the core reason for their attendance in the first place. This event would’ve been a bit too small-scale otherwise.

I closed my eyes, trying to unravel the entire thought process of two old foxes—Long Hao and Frank Smith.

Yeah, no luck with that. I should’ve spent more time honing my skills in politics instead of simply wasting my time. Duh.

Luckily, I still had some time to catch up on some slack.

The status quo wouldn’t change before Long Hao’s retirement.

I had no idea what exactly happened to him in the first round, and for all I knew, it was something that could repeat itself.

It would be best to assume that I have three years left.

Should I really take it seriously?

Bella would certainly be happier if I did, and it would make my relationship with Helen much easier as well.

It would also give me an excuse and a reason to spend more time with my grandparents. Including, and what a weird thought it was, Long Hao.

I stopped my train of thought and completely cleared my head.

A long moment later, I came to a decision.

I opened my eyes and completely focused on the conversation between Young Lady Smith and Long FangTian.

It was so damn tiring. With an extra of ‘boring’ on the side.

The rest of the night had been spent in back-and-forth talks about everything all at once and nothing in particular at the same time.

***

By the time Helen and I got back to her place, both of us were tired enough to wish only for some sleep.

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My darling looked completely spent physically. And I had no mental capacity left for anything.

To actually hold Helen Smith in my arms and only think about how comfortably warm she was. What a fascinating feeling.

***

Familiar interior of Kouzuki Miya’s bar.

No surprise there; both my grandmother and my darling were well acquainted.

An exchange of pleasantries. A short retelling of the story of how we met in the first place.

Lengthy discussion about the plans and future.

Yet another round of business talk. This time between Young Lady Smith and Lady in Black. Inner politics of two clans. The history of exchanges and deals. Traditions involved. All of it made my head spin.

How were they doing it, I couldn’t help but wonder.

So I asked just that. Much to the surprise of both parties.

Then they started to explain things to me.

It was a true house of cards. Things stacked on top of each other, struggling to hold their shape, were always just one push away from starting to fall down.

Worst of all, it started to make sense to me.

Bit by bit.

One thing at a time.

***

I excused myself and left the premises of Kouzuki Miya’s bar, leaving the two women to continue their talks. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lady in White would join them a bit later as well.

As for me, yeah. I was tired to death.

Oddly enough, I wasn’t feeling all that bored.

Maybe there was some hope left for me, however slim the possibility of that actually was.

***

As a cherry on top, I got myself stuck in the traffic jam yet again.

Motherfucker.

Today was only a Thursday, but I was completely done with this week already.

The whole situation with Bella still needed to be resolved as well. But I still felt irritated by just thinking about this one, though mostly at myself.

I heard the sound of a horn from behind and fought down an impetus to leave the car and cause a road rage incident.

Yeah, today was definitely not the day to deal with Bella.

***

I opened the door and stepped inside my apartment. With a sigh of relief, I took off the damned pair of shoes from my feet and went to the bedroom to get changed into something less stifling.

Yeah, sure, the Smith family’s tailors did a fantastic job, making this suit as comfortable to wear as possible, and it was perfectly fitted as well, but...

Well, actually, there were no real buts. I simply found wearing suits to be mentally taxing. Just a ‘me’ thing.

“Honey,” Olivia noticed me as soon as I stepped inside the room.

She was in the middle of—what looked like—doing her homework.

“Hey,” I responded with a wave of my hand and proceeded toward the wardrobe, taking off my necktie.

The jacket and shirt followed soon after.

“You look tired.” Olivia’s tone was full of genuine concern.

A strong feeling of déjà vu accompanied those words.

“Feel the same way as well.” I replied with a sigh and plopped onto the bed, finally done with my attire.

Fuck it, ‘boxers only’ was a very legit form of home wear.

In the mirror, I saw how Olivia put her pen down and stood up. Hm, now that I think about it, from additional furniture to decorations and little cute details, this room felt a lot more ‘lived in’ since my girlfriend appeared in my life.

Our eyes met through a mirror image, and my silly girl smiled at me. Then she sat on the bed and patted her thighs.

Oh. There was no need to ask me twice.

I put my head on the offered lap pillow, enjoying the already very familiar mix of sensations. A sense of peace followed shortly after, chasing away all the mental exhaustion that I had accumulated from dealing with the outside world.

As I slowly drifted away into a nirvana state, a not very surprising thought occurred to me once again.

Inviting the curious stray on a date was one of the best decisions I ever made.

With a great effort, I cracked open one eye, only to see a gentle and caring look on Olivia’s face as she played with my hair.

Hands down.