Make Do for Now

It wasn’t that Su Yang felt no sadness at all.

A woman like Yoshie was something he had never encountered in all his life.

From the moment she let him into her house to take shelter from the rain to their later deep conversations,

Yoshie had never shown the slightest guard or any ulterior motive toward him. She had no cunning, was kind-hearted, gentle, and virtuous.

Being with such a woman was a completely new experience for Su Yang.

“Phew! Enough thinking.”

He pushed aside the clutter in his mind, pulled out his phone, and sent a message in the group chat.

Su Yang: @everyone, hey guys, I’m back. Almost there.

Liu Bo: Bro Yang, you’re finally back!! Got any cigarettes?

Su Yang rolled his eyes: Got a lighter.

Liu Bo: Damn, forget it. Hurry up and get here so we can head back to Tokyo.

Meng Wenzhou: I was about to call a cab, but Chiba got in touch with their travel agency, and they’re sending a bus to pick us up.

Su Yang: Good. I’ll come meet you all first.

He slipped his phone back into his pants pocket and quickened his pace toward the house where the group was.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the doorstep of the Kawashima sisters’ home.

Before he could knock, the door opened from the inside.

Zhuang Mengli pulled the door open and looked at Su Yang with her usual carefree grin. “Where have you been gallivanting for the past two days?”

Su Yang shot her a look. “Gallivanting my ass. Let’s talk inside first.”

The two stepped inside, where the others were sitting in the living room sipping tea.

Seeing Su Yang come in, everyone greeted him with a few concerned questions.

Su Yang walked over and sat down between Pan Ning and Lu Yun. “What are you all drinking? Who’s giving me a sip?”

Lu Yun stared blankly at her cup. “Mine’s empty.”

Su Yang turned to Pan Ning and grabbed the teacup from her hand, downing it in one gulp.

“Su Yang, where did you hole up during the storm?” Lu Yun asked.

“Same place as you guys. When that wind blew me away, I slammed into a utility pole and got knocked out. When I came to, I was on the ground, so I crawled toward the nearest door. The people there must’ve seen me, and they kindly let me in to take shelter.”

“What about your head? Is it okay?”

“It’s fine. Do I look like anything’s wrong? Not a scratch. Don’t all worry.”

“Was the house you went to owned by a man or a woman?” Zhuang Mengli asked from across him with a deliberate smirk.

“Both. A middle-aged couple.” Su Yang made up on the spot. There was no way he could tell the truth about that.

“Oh huh, you were pretty lucky then.”

“You’re telling me. If they hadn’t opened their door to save me—well, not save, exactly, but help me—I would’ve been soaked in the rain the whole first night. You guys don’t know how strong that wind was. Even I could only crawl on the ground.”

“That’s just pitiful,” Ren Lingxi said, looking at Su Yang.

Su Yang turned and smiled at Ren Lingxi. “It’s okay. At least I got help in the end.”

“Oh, right, I should also thank these two lovely ladies.” Su Yang looked at the Kawashima sisters, who had been staring at him the whole time.

The two hadn’t really gotten a clear look at Su Yang’s face two nights ago. But seeing him up close now, they realized how stunningly handsome he was, making their hearts flutter and pound wildly.

Kawashima Mika waved her hand. “You don’t need to thank us.”

“Hey, even though I wasn’t here with you these past two days, they represent me. We’ve really put you out for two whole days, and I feel a bit embarrassed. Remember what I said earlier?” Su Yang looked at Mika.

Mika paused and shook her head. “What did you say?”

“I said that if you’d be willing to let us in to take shelter from the rain, I’d give you five million yen as thanks afterward.”

“Huh? N-no, that’s not necessary! We didn’t help for money.”

Meng Wenzhou chimed in with a laugh. “Old Su, great minds really think alike. Mika, Mika, don’t refuse. You’ve done so much for us—we have to show our gratitude.”

“Yeah, don’t say no. Just send me your bank account number,” Su Yang said, looking at Mika.

Mika tried to say something else, but the other girls joined in with a few words.

Two mouths were no match for over a dozen, so she finally had to agree.

Su Yang and Meng Wenzhou, as representatives, each transferred ten million yen to both sisters as a token of thanks.

Just over an hour later, at 5:30 PM, a tour bus pulled up to the doorstep of the Kawashima sisters’ home.

After thanking the two lovely girls one more time, everyone said their goodbyes and left.

This typhoon had come and gone quickly, almost as if it were tailor-made for Su Yang and his group.

Though the storm had passed, it would take at least a day or two for the weather to clear up.

Back in Tokyo, the group wanted to check back into the Aman Hotel, but when they arrived, only three rooms were available.

The hotel staff had already brought everyone’s luggage to the front desk.

After retrieving their bags, they headed over to the Bvlgari Hotel, where Meng Wenzhou usually stayed. Luckily, the two hotels were separated by just one street, only a few minutes’ walk away.

They quickly arrived at the Bvlgari Hotel’s lobby to check in.

“How many nights?” Meng Wenzhou asked as he prepared to book the rooms.

“Let’s start with one night. We’ll check the weather tomorrow. If it’s good, we can head straight to Hokkaido to soak in the hot springs and see the autumn leaves.”

“Alright, that works.”

Although the Bvlgari still had rooms available, all the top-tier suites were booked, leaving only relatively standard ones.

But calling them “standard” only made sense compared to the suites. This was, after all, a top luxury hotel; even the basic room types cost at least 15,000 yen a night.

Meng Wenzhou booked nine rooms—one for himself and Jiang Xiaotang, one for Su Yang and Pan Ning, and one for each of the others.

Everyone grabbed their luggage and returned to their rooms to shower. Not having bathed for two days was pretty uncomfortable, especially after being caught in the rain.

It wasn’t exactly easy to ask to use someone else’s shower at a stranger’s house—though Su Yang had managed to get one.

Once back in their rooms, the first thing everyone did was head into the bathroom to wash up.

After showering and changing into fresh clothes, they met up again downstairs to find something to eat.

After dinner, everyone was pretty exhausted and didn’t feel like going out again. They all went back to the hotel to rest—no one except Su Yang had gotten much sleep over the past two days.

“What’s the weather like tomorrow?” Pan Ning asked, sitting on the bed in their room.

Su Yang was leaning by the window, smoking while taking in the dazzling night view of Tokyo. “Let me check.”

He pulled out his phone and opened the weather app. “Tomorrow, Tokyo will still be cloudy and rainy, but it shouldn’t stop us from flying. Let me check Hokkaido too.”

A few seconds later, he turned his head with a smile. “The weather in Hokkaido looks good. Looks like the typhoon didn’t hit it.”

Pan Ning nodded. “Good. I really feel like soaking in a hot spring right now.”

“Oh, yeah? How about we settle for a soak in the bathtub here? Just a temporary substitute?”

Pan Ning shot him a glare. “Too cramped.”

“Cramped is good—I like cramped. Hehe. Come on, let’s do it. To the bath we go!”

Su Yang stubbed out his cigarette and quickly walked into the bathroom. The bathroom was spacious, featuring a double-sink vanity, an electric toilet, a shower area, and a massage bathtub.

He turned on the faucet at one side of the tub, and temperature-controlled water began to fill it.

Once the water was halfway full, he picked up several bottles arranged along the edge of the tub and examined them.

These bottles contained bubble bath solutions in various scents. He chose a bottle of milk-scented bath liquid, Pan Ning’s favorite, and poured it into the tub’s water outlet.

Before long, a large tub of thick, white, foamy bubbles was ready.