Refusal

Both Jun and Iori remained silent after the president's announcement Iori was still in denial, she really wanted to wake up and find out that she was having a terrible dream. But there was none of that. If the man thought that she and Jun were capable of staying together in the same room long enough to write a paragraph, then he was sorely mistaken.

"Mid-life crisis?" Jun said looking at her and she shrugged, if this was something because of his midlife crisis, then they were done for because this man's whims were hard to keep p with and he has a perverse enjoyment in seeing others struggle to keep up with his demands.

"Old man, are you okay?" Jun asked leaning forward matching the president's posture.

Iori didn't say anything, she felt like anything she did and said at this moment would be her downfall in the battle of witts. And she didn't feel like she had the patience to be laying word games with the president.

"of course I am! if I wasn't okay, I wouldn't have come up with such a genius idea," he responded with a bright smile.

"So, your idea of a genius idea is this?" Jun said raising an eyebrow at him, " You really think making us write a book together is a good idea?"

"Well of course! you two are our best-selling authors. A book written by the two of you will be on fire at sales."

"I have to agree with that. the idea of us co-writing a book may be very interesting to both our readers so it will definitely boost the sales. But, that's not reason enough to co-write a book. in order for two writers to work together there needs to be some sort of compatibility, which neither of us has nor do we have the inclination to do so..." Iori explained and the president still smiled that infuriating unmoving smile.

"I agree with that. even if we try, we will end up fighting before we even agree on a plot not to mention writing the first chapter..." Jun reinforced her

"You seem to be getting along fine right t now though,"

"That's because, for a change, we agree that Satoru-san's suggestion is not going to work. In other words, we agree to never agree." Iori responded

"In that case, we're going to need to do something about that to change your mindset..." He said with a smile, " Actually, I thought that you would say this so I made a perfect plan for you two to start to get used to each other long enough for you to write your book. It can be a wonderful marketing stunt too..."

"We're not going to like that..." Jun said with what looked like horror on his face. as if he knew what the president was going to say. To be honest, Iori was uncomfortable about that too, she didn't like the gleam in the older man's eyes, not one bit...

"Perhaps, but you're going to do it nonetheless," The president said confidently, "I have arranged for you two to live together for six months and pretend to be ambiguously in a relationship while you write your book..." 

This time, Iori was completely stunned, did the president just say live together? Was the man out of his mind, how could he suggest something like this to her? to them?!

"Good lord, I need something stronger than coffee for this conversation," Jun said standing up and heading toward the liquor cabinet,

"Bring the bottle with you," Iori said not caring that she drove to the company, This was some serious mess they had to deal with...

"Oh, great! We can also celebrate your relationship, even though it's a little bit early in the morning to be drinking," The president said with an excited clap of his hands.

Jun came to sit beside her on the sofa where they had been both seated. He added a generous amount of liquor to her tea mug then took care of his. He then leaned back and took his phone out.

"What are you doing?" the president asked him with his ever-present smile

"I'm calling the psychiatrist's ward for you," Jun answered making the president burst out into laughter.

"Oh come one you two, you're being too dramatic for two persons who hate drama. It's just a boot, and the apartment I rented for you is wide enough that you don't even need to meet each other if you don't want to..."

"y-you rented an apartment for us?!" Jun exclaimed

"Yes and even a moving company for the two of you. You two have a lot of books so I made sure that there's enough space for that too. there's also a huge table where you can keep your work on the book ongoing. to be honest, it's a high-grade apartment in the middle of the city, it took me a pretty penny to secure it but, I wanted the two of you to be comfortable;e. You're my two favorite writers after all..."

"Old man, are you out of your frigging mind?! You're talking as if it's a done deal. I for one am not doing it..."

"Neither am I," Iori said, "I'm so surprised that you thought that I would agree to something like that at all..." Iori said.

Being one of the few people who knew about her, he knows better than to asked her to do something like that...

"I knew that you two would say this, but, You're talking as if you have a choice in the matter," he responded his smile starting to look creepy,

"What do you mean by that?" Jun said 

"What I mean is that the two of you seem to have forgotten your position. You two are under obligation to obey me as both your contracts state. unlike all of my other writers, you two mine, and I decided that I wanted you two to co-write a book, so you two will be co-writing a book. It's as simple as that unless you want me to get into the detail why  you two owe me your cooperation..."

A shiver ran down Iori's spine, he was threatening them. Openly and bluntly hanging his authority over their heads. Iori didn't know what he had on Jun but she was definitely in a bad spot. She owed the president her cooperation. If he wanted her to co-write a book, she was bound by contract to do so. but...

"I understand, If you're going to be this way, I have nothing to say." Iori said standing up from her place, "I will co-write a  book with Jun-sensei but I am under no obligation to live in the apartment you rented or participate in any of your publicity stunts. Now if you will excuse me, I will be taking my leave." Iori turned around to leave the room her anger boiling her blood and she could barely see anything but red in front of her.

She heard someone move behind her then Jun talked,

"It's true, I am bound by contract to Co-write this book but that's as far as it goes. You can send all the information with my editor, I'll look it over."

"very good. I like obedient pawns the most," The president said and Iori didn't wait for him to finish his sentence, she left the room and Jun was following behind her. Neither of them had to talk, but as soon as they got into the elevator and the door closed, Jun slammed his fist against the metal walls and let out a curse.

Iori on the other hand sighed her anger subsiding and her mind starting to work properly, the president had looked like everything was going his way. was this his plan all along. Was he just pulling their legs when he was talking about living together?

A shiver ran down her spine as she tough about what the president just said, why was he acting like that? Iori had always thought that this was one thing that he respected about her. He always took care not to inconvenience her, he even made sure that her Editor was a woman... What in the world made him change his attitude like that?