Chapter 572: Protecting Haruna From Me

A bitter laugh escaped her, sharp and hollow. "It’s not. It’s the fact that I did love her. That I gave her everything, and she still broke me."

Her voice cracked, and for a second, I saw it—the pain beneath the anger, the little girl inside her who still didn’t understand why she wasn’t enough. It gutted me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came. What could I possibly say? That I understand? That it would get better? Those were lies, and she deserved more than that.

So I stayed silent. And for the first time, I let myself truly see her—not just the strength, not just the anger, but the person beneath it all.

She was still fighting. Still drowning. Still clinging to the wreckage of something that had shattered her long before I ever walked into her life. The realization settled over me like a weight, heavy and unshakable. I could see it in the way her breath hitched, in the way her fingers trembled when she thought no one was looking—she was holding on by a thread, and that thread was fraying.

And in that moment, I made myself a promise: I wouldn’t try to fix her. I wouldn’t reach into the storm and try to drag her out, not when she was still learning how to swim through it.

But I would stand there with her. I would stay, even when the waves crashed higher, even when the silence between us grew so thick it felt like it might suffocate us both.

Maybe—that would be enough.

Yuko finally turned to face me, her dark eyes burning with something raw and exhausted. "Can we..." Her voice was rough, like she’d been screaming and only now stopped. "Can we not talk about her? Please. I don’t even want to think about her."

The plea in her voice cut through me. I nodded slowly, my throat tight. "I won’t."

She exhaled, some of the tension leaving her shoulders, but her gaze didn’t waver. It stayed locked on me, like she was trying to decide if she could trust me with this—with the fragility she’d just let me see.

"Sister Yuko..." I said gently, "You should go to sleep too."

She let out a short, humorless laugh, shaking her head. "I’m not going anywhere." Her voice was firm, almost defiant, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I have to keep an eye on you."

I raised an eyebrow, but before I could respond, she continued, her tone shifting into something sharper, something that felt like a distraction—like she was grasping for anything to keep the conversation from circling back to the pain she’d just exposed.

"And don’t think I don’t know." Her eyes narrowed, a flicker of something raw and unreadable passing over her face—annoyance, maybe, or something sharper, something that looked almost like betrayal. "You must be thinking about Haruna’s invitation, right?"

There was an edge to her voice, something that cut deeper than mere suspicion. It was the kind of tone that made the air between us feel thinner, like she was daring me to deny it. Like she was already bracing for the answer.

I didn’t respond right away. The truth was, I had thought about it—briefly, in passing—but not in the way she seemed to fear. Still, the way she said it, like she’d caught me in some kind of betrayal, made my chest tighten.

Before I could speak, she continued, her voice dropping into something colder, something that carried the weight of old wounds. "And that little girl..." She let out a short, bitter laugh, shaking her head. "What is she thinking? How can she invite you like that?"

I froze. The name hung between us, unexpected and loaded. I hadn’t been thinking about it—not really—but the way she said it, like she’d caught me red-handed, made my chest tighten.

"That’s not happening," she said flatly, her voice leaving no room for argument. "So forget about it."

I studied her for a long moment—the way she leaned back in the recliner, her posture deceptively casual, like she wasn’t holding her breath waiting for my reaction. Like she wasn’t already bracing for a fight.

"You should also take a rest" I said again, softer this time. Not just because she needed it, but because I could see the exhaustion in her—the way her eyelids were heavier, the way her movements had slowed, like her body was finally catching up to the weight of everything she’d been carrying.

She let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping just a fraction. "I am taking it right and keeping an eye on you." But the way she said it made it clear she had no intention of leaving. Not yet.

The space between us had changed—not a void anymore, but a quiet pulse, something alive with the whisper of understanding. I sank deeper into the bed, letting the silence stretch like a suspended breath, neither of us rushing to break it. It wasn’t awkward. It was delicate, like the first step onto thin ice, testing its strength.

I turned my head just enough to find Yuko in the recliner. Her shoulders had unclenched, and the rigid line of her anger dissolved. Her eyes were closed now, her breathing slow and steady, as if she’d finally surrendered to stillness, even if just for a moment.

Seeing her like that—unarmed, exhausted—sent a sharp ache through my chest. She looked almost at peace, the storm inside her momentarily hushed.

Then my phone buzzed, a jarring vibration against the room’s quiet. I pulled it out carefully, as if the wrong movement might shatter the fragile calm. The screen lit up—a message from Julie. Not just a photo this time. Words, too.

"I’ve been thinking about you all day. About how much I want you to fill me up, stretch me open. Look what I’m doing to myself while I imagine it’s you..."

I swallowed hard and opened the image.

Julie’s ass was lifted, her cheeks spread wide, one finger buried deep inside her tight, glistening hole. The skin around it was flushed, the muscles clenching around her knuckle as she worked it in and out, slow and deliberate.

A second finger teased at her entrance, as if she were preparing herself for something bigger, something thicker. The caption beneath it was bold, demanding: "I want your cock here. Now. Show me what you’d give me."

My breath hitched, my cock swelling painfully against my pants. The arousal was instant, my pulse roaring in my ears as I imagined sinking into her, feeling her tighten around me. My thumb hovered over the screen, my body screaming to respond, to give her what she wanted.

But then my gaze flicked back to Yuko.