My wife believes me; how could I be a cuckold?

Upon hearing this, Ms. Tomiyama knew that Yuta Yamada had not understood her hint. She sighed helplessly and said, "There are actually easier ways to stay. Promotion and a raise are not impossible. Look at Takeshima-kun. He is much smarter than you."

Takeshima was the same handsome guy who had called Yamada Yuta to his office not long ago, who had walked out of the office looking dejected.

"Alright, Yamada-kun, you can go out now. Think about what I said when you get back. Personally, I don't really want you to leave. After all, I quite 'like' hardworking and reliable people like you."

After giving that hint, she added, "Oh, by the way, could you also call Takeshima-kun over for me? I have something I want to talk to him about."

Without giving Yamada Yuta a chance to speak, she waved him away from the office.

Noticing her reaction, Yuta Yamada immediately realized that his answer had not satisfied his boss.

However, since the boss had already told him to leave, he couldn't stay any longer and could only lower his head and walk out of the office dejectedly.

After calling the devastated Takeshima to his office, he returned to his workstation.

At first, he couldn't figure out what had disappointed his boss with his answer.

However, when he lay on the company floor that night, tossing and turning and unable to sleep, he suddenly remembered the last thing his boss said before he left the office.

The boss said she liked hardworking and reliable people like herself, and she mentioned it twice.

Then I realized that I haven't been working as hard as before lately. I often go straight home after work, and even when I work overtime, I go home an hour early.

He suddenly felt that he might have figured out what his boss was thinking and understood why his boss was disappointed in him.

In other words, as long as I work as hard as I did when I first joined the company, my boss will be satisfied with me again and won't fire me.

With that in mind, he immediately made a decision—to continue working overtime this morning.

That's why he only came back now.

After all, he really didn't want to be fired.

Because the boss is absolutely right.

It's really hard to find a job in Tokyo these days, and it's even harder to find a good job with such a high salary like his.

To be honest, there are countless people outside eyeing his job right now.

Therefore, he has to work harder; only by satisfying the boss can he keep his position.

Although he had already made the decision, he couldn't help but sigh again at the thought of the impending hell of overtime work.

After a while, having calmed himself down a bit, he took out his key and opened the door.

As soon as he entered the door, he noticed Asano Makoto standing in the living room, smiling at him.

Looking at this scene, for some reason, he suddenly had a sense of déjà vu.

He felt like he had seen this scene somewhere before.

It seems like it was at home at the time, but Asano-kun appeared to be coming from Eriko's room...

Just then, before he could fully recall what had happened, Makoto Asano greeted him first: "Hello, Yuta, what brings you so late?"

"Forehead……"

Hearing these words, which made it sound as if he were the owner of the house, Yamada Yuta was somewhat bewildered.

However, the next second, he still subconsciously answered Makoto Asano's question: "I worked overtime this morning, and then went out to eat after get off work. On my way home, I kept having trouble getting on the train, so that's why I'm in this situation now."

Upon hearing this statement, which contained three reasons simultaneously, Makoto Asano couldn't help but frown.

For some reason, he felt that Yamada Yuta's expression seemed a little tense when he said this, as if he was hiding something.

Although that matter most likely had nothing to do with him, Yuta Yamada didn't seem to want him to know.

Makoto Asano thought about it for a while but couldn't come up with an answer, so he stopped caring about it.

Anyway, it has nothing to do with him.

Then, before Yamada Yuta could ask him why he was in his house, he led Yamada Yuta into Miyajima Eriko's room.

Looking at Eriko, who was lying on the bed covered up tightly, he carefully considered his words before speaking, "It seems that Eriko is sick again, probably because she got caught in the rain yesterday, but I gave her medicine before leaving the hotel this morning."

"Is Eriko sick again?"

Yuta Yamada said this, then subconsciously walked to the bedside, preparing to lift the blanket and take a quick look at his girlfriend's condition.

Makoto Asano knew that Eriko was pretending to be asleep, so he immediately stopped Yuta Yamada from doing so.

Then, he slowly shook his head and said, "Yuta, let's not disturb Eriko for now. She probably didn't sleep well last night because she was sick. She fell asleep in bed shortly after she got back."

Yuta Yamada thought for a moment, and perhaps feeling that Makoto Asano was right, he nodded and said, "...That's right, let Eriko rest well."

"Okay, let's go outside and talk."

With that, Makoto Asano led Yuta Yamada out of the guest room and then closed the door behind him.

After walking into the living room, he spoke again with a sincere expression: "Yuta, I've been here for almost an hour. Now that you're back, I'll leave it to you to take good care of Eriko. I won't bother you any longer, since it's not appropriate for an outsider like me to stay here all the time."

However, to his surprise, no sooner had he finished speaking than Yamada Yuta retorted excitedly, "Asano-kun, you're being too polite! You're Eriko and I's friend, how can you be an outsider!?"

Perhaps because of what the boss said last night, Yuta Yamada suddenly understood the importance of getting along well with others.

Although he knew a little about this before, he has now taken it a step further.

For example, he would never have said this before today.

To be honest, those words were quite helpful.

Thinking about what he had done, Makoto Asano couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

However, just as he was saying a few words of modesty, Yamada Yuta suddenly gave a wry smile and said in an embarrassed tone, "But, Asano-kun, could you please do me a favor?"

Feeling guilty, Makoto Asano subconsciously wanted to make amends to Yuta Yamada.

So without hesitation, he nodded and agreed, "Of course, we're friends after all. So, Yuta, what can I do for you?"

Seeing his magnanimous demeanor, Yamada Yuta suddenly looked even more embarrassed.

An awkward smile appeared on his face as he slowly said, "Well, I'd like to trouble you, Asano-kun, to stay here this afternoon and take care of Eriko, who is sick."

"……what?"

Chapter 171 Exclusion

Makoto Asano was somewhat bewildered.

He couldn't understand why Yuta Yamada would make such an outrageous request.

Fortunately, he wasn't confused for long.

Upon seeing his expression, Yamada Yuta immediately explained, "Asano-kun, it's my first time sleeping at the company, so I wasn't used to it and stayed up very late last night. I also got up early this morning to work overtime, so..."

Last night, in order to figure out what his boss meant, he stayed up until 3 a.m., and only after figuring out his boss's thoughts did he slowly fall asleep.

Realizing that his boss wanted him to work harder, he got up early again and was sitting at his workstation before eight o'clock.

At this time, the others hadn't even gotten up yet.

After everyone else got up, they all went home, but he worked overtime until noon before leaving the company.

Upon hearing the explanation, Asano Seiya immediately understood what Yamada Yuta meant—he was simply too tired and needed to rest.

But if that's all there is to it, he still can't quite understand.

How tired can you get from staying up late and working overtime?

In his past life, he had worked overtime for several consecutive nights to earn money before.

Taking care of Eriko doesn't require much effort; it's just a matter of pouring water and chatting, which takes about an afternoon, or at most an evening.

Not to mention that Eriko wasn't actually sick at all; she was just pretending to be asleep.

Once she's really asleep, there'll basically be no problem.

Moreover, even without these external factors, as the boyfriend, shouldn't Yamada Yuta, no matter how tired he is, still have to force himself to take good care of his sick girlfriend despite his exhaustion?

Therefore, Masashi Asano couldn't understand why he made this request.

He made no attempt to hide his confusion, so Yuta Yamada immediately saw through his thoughts.

After hesitating for a moment, he gave a wry smile and said, "Asano-kun, please don't tell Eriko what I'm about to say. I'm afraid she'll worry."

Makoto Asano was taken aback for a moment, then immediately nodded with a serious expression and said, "Yuta, don't you trust me? Don't worry, I'm tight-lipped."

"It's not that I don't trust you, I just don't want Eriko to worry."

Yuta Yamada first shook his head and offered this explanation, then sighed sharply and began to recount what had happened in the boss's office yesterday afternoon.

Of course, he was referring to his own version of events, which was his boss's guess that he wasn't working hard enough.

Upon hearing his explanation, Makoto Asano finally understood his predicament.

It turned out that his company's recent performance was poor, and the boss was preparing to lay off employees, and he was also on the layoff list.

In order to please his boss and keep his job, he decided to work overtime every day for the next period of time, regardless of weekends.

This is also why he wanted Makoto Asano's help.

During this crucial period, he absolutely could not let his boss down, so he planned to take a good rest in the afternoon and go straight to the company to work overtime after waking up.

He won't go home tonight; instead, he plans to stay at the company and work overtime again tomorrow morning before returning home in the evening.

Starting next week, he will also be working overtime until late every night before going home.

Moreover, the duration of this overtime hell is not fixed; he plans to continue it until his boss is satisfied with him.

Upon hearing his words, Makoto Asano was at a loss for words.

After thinking for a long time, he could only offer some words of comfort: "Yamada-kun, don't work too hard. You can always find another job, but it's not worth ruining your health."

Yuta Yamada shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Asano-kun, you don't work, so you probably don't know. There's nothing we can do about it. Jobs are very hard to find in Tokyo now, and it's even harder to find a good job with such a high salary like mine."

"And don't worry, I won't keep working overtime. I estimate that my boss will be impressed by my efforts within a month at most."

Upon hearing this, an idea suddenly popped into Asano Makoto's mind, and he immediately gave up on continuing to persuade him: "Well... alright then, you know what you're doing."