AIDEN

Aiden frowned for a moment. Wait a minute. Four guardians. Suddenly, he widened his eyes. Shit.

"Fate, Aiden-san," Uncle Jin said. "I call it fate. Your father and I helping Sana escape was fate, too. In the end, it's where the Shrine Maiden should be, with her guardians."

Aiden shook his head. No way. Just no way he was going to believe this nonsense. This was all just hocus pocus. Like Patricia said, a tale to make them seem more mysterious and intriguing.

Uncle Jin said, "I read it in one of the ancient scripts our family kept. I've managed to salvage a few before everything was turned to ruin, you see. I contacted Reo six months ago, thinking perhaps he or Haru would want to keep those themselves. It's a history of the Shrine Maiden, and one of the scripts mentioned the guardians. According to the script, the guardians themselves have strong connection with the Shrine Maiden, and if I were to translate the flowery language of the Heian era to modern language, it would be something along the line of 'The Shrine Maiden would surely die if her guardians were to be apart from her.'"

He cocked his head to one side. "I also remember it mentioned symptoms, such as falling sick from broken heart or a panic attack. Ah, there was also mentioning of the guardians having strong sexual attraction to the Shrine Maiden as well, especially the dragon, fox, and snake. Apparently, the cat merely wanted to be friends with the Shrine Maiden."

Aiden swallowed hard while Uncle Jin chuckled.

"Can you believe that? A spiritual cat wanting to be best friends with a human? I guess even something like that happened back during the Heian era. As for the sexual attraction between the Shrine Maiden and the other three guardians, the script mentioned a sweet smell, like the scent of flowers in spring."

Sweet smell. Scent of flowers in spring. That was Haru's smell.

The first time Aiden had become aware of it had been when Haru had turned fifteen, when the boy had hit puberty. At the time, he had thought one of his brothers had sprayed the apartment with some sort of new scent, but of course, they hadn't the money for that sort of waste, since they hadn't enough to live on. Eventually though, he realized that the smell had come from Haru and he had thought the boy had started using a new type of deodorant. He hadn't known that Haru had never used any until Mason asked one day, "What type of deodorant do you use, Haru? I like that sweet smell. It's different."

Haru had shaken his head, saying, "I don't use any."

Every time he had returned home from a hard day of hustling to earn a few extra dollars, the sweet smell that filled the apartment had always soothed him, relieving him of the exhaustion—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Aiden could smell Haru's sweet scent, and so could Noah, as he had mentioned last night. Mason? Ah, yes, the brother could, too, otherwise he couldn't have asked back then, right?

Isaac? He remembered now. The boy couldn't since he had said, "But I don't smell anything on Haru," when Mason had asked.

"Again, I don't expect you to believe all that I've said, Aiden-san," Uncle Jin said. "But there is no doubt in my mind that you are important to Haru, which is the reason why I'm offering you the job as the CEO of the company."

Aiden said, "I'm merely a real estate agent, Uncle Jin, and I have no prior experience running a company this big."

Uncle Jin chuckled. "The golden dragon has many capabilities, strong and powerful, Aiden-san."

Golden dragon? So he was supposed to be the dragon?

"I believe in your abilities." He grinned. "You think I'd offer such an important position to just anyone? I've done my research on you, Aiden-san, and your business acumen is top-notch. Mark Williams Realty, the company you work for, its success has mostly been because of you, your business plan, and your execution. The family who ran it, your friend and his family, were merely the people who own the company because they had money."

Aiden was impressed the old man had managed to dig all that up. He himself had never even told his brothers what he had been doing, operating that real estate company behind closed doors for Peter's family since he had finished university, hence growing the once run-down failed business into a multimillion-dollar company in just five years. Of course, even though he had never earned more than the commission due to him when he made a sale, Aiden still thanked the Williamses wholeheartedly for giving him the chance to earn the experience of running a business.

"I see you've done your research," Aiden said, chuckling.

Uncle Jin grinned brightly. "Of course." More serious now, he said, "What do you say, Aiden-san?"

"Three years from now," Aiden said. "Until Haru finishes his business degree at university. I'll take the position then."

Uncle Jin burst out laughing. When he managed to stop, he said, "Aiden-san, I look forward to handing the position over to you." More quietly, he added, "And please grow it even bigger, the company." He relaxed back against the seat. "Three more years until I can retire, eh? But I suppose beggars can't be choosers." He laughed.

Aiden chuckled.

It was a few moments later when he made a move to leave. Before he could walk out the door, Uncle Jin said, "Aiden-san, Haru is in your care. Please take care of him."

Aiden nodded. He said, "It's a given. Haru is special to me, after all."