Do me right • Tokyo revengers

Chapter 16

In the morning, I wait to hear Rindou leave the apartment before getting up. My attempts to escape are thwarted by the locked door and my search for a phone to contact someone on the outside is fruitless. So I just spend the morning exploring the spacious apartment, moving from room to room.

I then decide to take a shower. The realization that I don't have any of my own things only comes after I step out, leaving me to pad naked back to the bedroom. To my surprise, I find women's clothes that are not only my size but also the kind of clothes I would wear in the walk-in closet.

After changing into a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt, I climb back into bed, still feeling just as trapped and miserable as I did last night.

My thoughts begin to spiral with questions. Where is Rindou? Is he working? If so, what is his job? Does Bonten as I knew it still exist? And most importantly, why did Rindou marry me? If he wanted to make my life a living hell, he could have found another way to do it.

I eventually fell back asleep, only to be woken up by the sound of someone rummaging in the kitchen. Curiosity leads me down the hallway and into the kitchen, where I found a stranger stirring a pot on the stove. He looks like he's in his mid-twenties. He has tanned skin and curly dark hair. 

When he notices me, he abruptly stops stirring and turns to face me, his nervousness palpable.

"Hello," he rushes out, his accent prominent.

I reply with a tentative "Hello?" in response.

"My name is Alvaro. I'm your and Mr. Haitani's personal chef," he explains, causing my eyebrows to lift in surprise.

"We have a personal chef..." I whisper under my breath, still processing this new information.

I push aside my surprise and manage a small, polite smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Alvaro responds warmly, and it dawns on me that he might be my only glimmer of hope in this situation.

"Hey, do you have a phone I could use?" I ask, taking a step closer to him.

Alvaro's smile turns apologetic. "Sorry, Mr. Haitani said I wasn't allowed to let you use my phone or else he'd..."

"He'd what?" I urge him to continue.

Alvaro's voice drops to a whisper. "He'd kill me."

I suppose this means that Alvaro is not allowed to let me leave the apartment either... 

With a sigh, I give up on my attempt to escape and settle for taking a seat at the kitchen island.

"What are you making?" I ask Alvaro, nodding towards the pot on the stove.

"This is the entrée : sopa de ajo," he proudly announces.

"Garlic soup," I translate out loud, causing Alvaro to break out into a warmer smile.

"You speak Spanish?" he excitedly asks.

"Just a little bit," I reply.

"I'm from Spain," he reveals.

Him and I spend the next hour chatting about his background, family, and studies while he cooks the main dish: pisto. I discover that he has recently graduated from a culinary school in Tokyo and that his dream is to open his own restaurant one day.

When he offers me a taste of the dish, I can't refuse. I walk around the kitchen island to stand next to him, and he uses his spoon to take a little bit of the vegetable stew and bring it to my mouth. I part my lips and let him gently guide the spoon into my mouth.