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Sawayama Haruno's tone was very sincere because he also wanted to help Morikawa Riho.

The other party has provided me with a lot of help during the past year that they have served as my editor.

Recently, Haruno Sawayama's second book, "Kafka on the Shore," has also become a bestseller. This success is inseparable from the strong support of her editor, Riho Morikawa, who devoted most of the promotional resources to her new work, creating a huge buzz.

It can be said that the two are the type who mutually benefit each other; without Riho Morikawa, Haruno Sawayama's literary career would not have progressed so smoothly.

Therefore, upon hearing the other party's request, he did not consider whether to refuse, but only thought about how to help the other party "deceive their family".

"You actually have a point."

Riho Morikawa stared at him with a somewhat suspicious look, then asked again to confirm, "So you mean you agree?"

"Of course I agree," said Sawayama Haruno, resting his chin on his hand with a smile. "Just don't drag it out too long. It'd be best to resolve this in the next few days, but I'm just giving you a heads-up."

"Since we're going to pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend, we might have to do some intimate things to prove our relationship to your family. Ms. Morikawa, please don't tell Shiori about it."

He knew that Shiori Mine had been secretly wary of Riho Morikawa, apparently because Maki Miyazawa had said something to her.

Meanwhile, Riho Morikawa was intentionally or unintentionally trying to portray Shiori Mine as someone with whom she had only a professional relationship. Although she didn't know what Shiori was really thinking, that was at least the public perception.

Regardless of the possibility of being "jointly condemned" by the five girls in his family, Haruno Sawayama does not intend to turn a blind eye to Riho Morikawa's situation.

After all, the other party had taken the initiative to come to him wanting to ask for his help, which meant that the situation must have reached a very "serious" point.

We're all adults here, not children playing house and looking for someone to act as their "boyfriend." Since Riho Morikawa approached him, she must have made ample preparations, so Haruno Sawayama wasn't too worried.

However, what Haruno Sawayama failed to notice was that after hearing what he said, Riho Morikawa was clearly stunned for a moment, and her expression became somewhat hesitant.

"Even if you don't say it, I know. I'm just helping to lie to my family."

Riho Morikawa paused for a moment, then unconsciously ran her fingers back and forth along the handle of the coffee cup.

After a strange two and a half seconds of silence, she looked up and added, "Then it's settled."

"I'll tell you what to do later, since I need to communicate with my family beforehand and give them a 'precautionary warning' or something."

Chapter 400 Extra: Impersonating Ms. Morikawa's Boyfriend

Riho Morikawa didn't keep Haruno Sawayama waiting for long.

Strictly speaking, the day after they finished discussing the "pretending to be her boyfriend" plan, she hurriedly pulled Sawayama Haruno along to prepare to return to her hometown.

My hometown isn't far from Tokyo; it's less than a two-hour drive away, and it's near Chiba Prefecture.

Sawayama Haruno was in charge of driving. Although there was an inevitable short traffic jam when leaving Tokyo, the journey was smooth once they got on the highway. He quite enjoyed this short highway trip and seemed very interested.

However, the mature female editor sitting in the passenger seat looked worried. She kept glancing at her phone and then sighing.

"What's wrong? Didn't you already talk to your family?"

Sawayama Haruno glanced at her and casually asked, "Your explanation to your family is that you met her through work, right?"

"Well, I told you she's an author from the company, and we met at a matchmaking event." Morikawa Riho seemed inexplicably downcast. She said listlessly, "I managed to get away with it for now, but I don't know how to cover it up now."

Her explanation to her family was that there were also older single men among the authors in charge, and after the company held a social party, she happened to "click" with one of the authors, who was naturally Sawayama Haruno.

To be on the safe side, Riho Morikawa has not yet told her family about Haruno Sawayama's true identity, which is also his pen name and the books he has written.

However, due to my work, my parents will inevitably ask about this topic in the end, and it will be troublesome to explain then. After all, Sawayama Haruno's name is too famous now and it is easy to "scare" my parents.

Now that I've calmed down and thought about it again, my plan to ask Haruno Sawayama to pretend to be my boyfriend was full of flaws. Even though he told me to "think it over" yesterday, there wasn't enough time for me to prepare.

This is really a headache.

Riho Morikawa felt inexplicably irritated. She said dejectedly, "I can only take it one step at a time. I was planning to go back next week, but my family called last night, and I happened to tell them about us. Now they're forcing me to go home today."

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a week earlier. The most important thing now is how to keep up the charade,” Haruno Zeshan comforted her.

The red McLaren 720S accelerated continuously on the highway. The scenery rushing past the window did not dispel Riho Morikawa's melancholy mood; instead, it made her even more distressed.

After hearing what Sawayama Haruno said, she rolled her eyes and said helplessly, "That's the problem right now. When you go there later, they'll definitely keep asking you questions. Even if you can gloss over the work-related issues, what about your family relationships?"

"It won't affect my family, right? Just tell me what's wrong, except for the fact that I'm already married." Sawayama Haruno didn't take this matter to heart at all.

In his opinion, the plot of pretending to be a boyfriend couldn't be simpler. He had watched countless anime of this kind in his previous life. How difficult could it be?

Moreover, he now has more than enough experience dealing with his future father-in-law and mother-in-law, so solving Morikawa Riho's request is just a piece of cake for him.

Of course, battles that are not certain to be won are not easy to fight, and Zeshan Chunye will also consider the plan. The gifts of various sizes placed in the trunk are things he prepared in advance.

On the one hand, it shows how much they value Riho Morikawa, and on the other hand, it confirms that they are "serious" about their relationship. After all, with such an expensive gift, others will definitely think they are serious.

This amount of money is nothing to Sawayama Haruno. He considers it a gift to Morikawa Riho, who has always been dedicated to helping him, and gives it to her parents out of consideration for her. As long as this "crisis" can be resolved smoothly, a small price is worth it.

"You're quite optimistic."

Riho Morikawa sighed and noticed that after getting off the highway, she hurriedly gave Haruno Sawayama directions.

Chiba Prefecture is a small city after all. If you are far from the city center, it is difficult to see vehicles passing by. In particular, today Sawayama Haruno specially drove a relatively expensive sports car, which attracted the curious eyes of many locals along the way.

Following the directions from Riho Morikawa and the map, after arriving at the corresponding town area, Haruno Sawayama began to slow down. Only when the residential area appeared in the distance did he fully switch to the quiet mode to avoid disturbing other people.

"Let's drive straight home."

Riho Morikawa said somewhat anxiously, "There's a small garage at home that can hold two cars."

Parking is a real hassle in island nations, especially in residential areas where you can't park on the street and can only park in private parking spaces. This is something that islanders have to consider before buying a car.

The Morikawa family also has their own private parking space, which is an open-air garage that can accommodate two cars. Although it is called an open-air garage, it is actually a converted courtyard for their own parking convenience.

Riho Morikawa's father owned an older model Honda sedan. Considering that his daughter might buy a car while working in Tokyo, he converted the entire courtyard into a garage so that Riho Morikawa would have a place to park when she drove back.

Although the mature female editor hasn't bought a car yet, the garage still comes in handy at this moment, making it convenient for Sawayama Haruno to keep driving in.

However, a small incident occurred when he was about to park the car in Riho Morikawa's garage.

Just as Sawayama Haruno had fully turned the steering wheel, he suddenly stopped, causing Morikawa Riho, who was already tense, to turn around and frown, asking, "What's wrong? You can't park it, can you?"

Her father's car was already parked inside, and the remaining space could only barely accommodate a small car. Although the sports car driven by Sawayama Haruno wasn't particularly large, the McLaren 720S was longer than the average car, so parking it might be quite a hassle.

"You're underestimating my driving skills a bit too much." Sawayama Haruno was a little speechless. He gestured towards the area outside the car window and whispered, "That's not the problem. There's someone over there watching us the whole time."

"Ok?"

Riho Morikawa followed Haruno Sawayama's gaze and immediately realized what was going on when she saw two little girls staring blankly at the car she and Haruno Sawayama were in.

Those two girls are her cousins. Did her father even invite her uncle's family over?

Riho Morikawa became even more uneasy. She rubbed her temples and smiled wearily, "Those are my two younger sisters. They're probably frightened. You should park the car first."

"Sister? There's quite a big age gap between you two."

As Sawayama Haruno parked the car in the garage, he couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

After all, those two girls looked like elementary school students. Morikawa Riho is already twenty-seven this year, so calling her her cousin would be too much of an age difference.

Given this relationship, how early did Riho Morikawa's parents get married and have children to create such a large age gap in their generation?

"My parents had a child out of wedlock and only got married hastily after I was born."

Morikawa Riho grumbled irritably, and without waiting for Sawayama Haruno to finish packing, she immediately got out of the car and started chatting with her two cousins ​​as soon as the car stopped.

Sawayama Haruno, who was a step behind, had no choice but to take out the gift she had prepared. If she had known that there were other relatives of Morikawa Riho, she might have prepared some candies that children would like. However, it was too late to buy them now.

Fortunately, this is an island nation, so it doesn't matter if we don't prepare gifts for the children, especially since the other party is just a cousin, not a biological sister.

"Nao, Harumi"

Riho Morikawa had already greeted her two cousins ​​and also introduced Haruno Sawayama to them.

However, the two younger sisters showed some shyness when they saw Sawayama Haruno, which made Sawayama Haruno feel a little "hurt" for the first time. He had always felt that he should be popular with women regardless of age.

Just as he was trying to force a smile and greet his two elementary school-aged cousins, one of the girls, who looked even younger, suddenly ran into the house. Before long, Sawayama Haruno heard the anxious voices of the adults inside.

"Have they arrived yet?"

"No wonder we heard a car earlier. Oh no, maybe we should have greeted them at the entrance."

"Lingzi, you're overreacting. It's not too late to go out now. I'll watch the groceries in the kitchen for you. You can go out now."

As hurried footsteps sounded, Haruno Sawayama finally saw Riho Morikawa's parents.

A mature woman, whose beauty still shone through despite her age, and a middle-aged man who looked rather thin and short, came out to greet them immediately upon hearing the commotion of Sawayama Haruno and Morikawa Riho.

After seeing Sawayama Haruno's appearance for sure, the two of them were clearly impressed, as if they were very satisfied with their daughter's new "boyfriend".

"mom!"

Just as Morikawa Riho was about to go up and say hello, her mother completely ignored her.

The enthusiastic Morikawa mother immediately took Sawayama Haruno's hand and, seeing his bewildered expression, said with a smile, "This must be Sawayama-san, welcome, welcome. I was busy in the kitchen and didn't hear you at all, how impolite of me."

"Auntie, you're too kind."

Sawayama Haruno couldn't help but glance at Morikawa Riho, wondering what this girl had said to her family yesterday, making it seem like they had been dating for a long time. This wasn't quite what she had planned, was it?

In fact, Haruno Sawayama misunderstood. Riho Morikawa did tell her parents that she had only been dating Haruno for a short time.

However, her parents had long hoped that their daughter would find a boyfriend and get married soon, which is why they acted so familiarly when they saw Sawayama Haruno, in order to leave him with as good an impression as possible.

Furthermore, Riho Morikawa has already revealed some of Haruno Sawayama's work to her parents, and now the two elders know that Haruno Sawayama and Riho Morikawa have a working relationship within the company, which also shows that Riho Morikawa and Haruno Sawayama definitely know each other well.

In addition, the identity of a writer naturally brings more goodwill, and the appearance of Sawayama Haruno is so good that it is impossible to find any fault with him. Even his young and wealthy appearance indirectly proves that he has enough talent in writing.

How can someone without talent make money? Making money proves talent, doesn't it? It's no exaggeration to say that Sawayama Haruno was a highly sought-after person in the eyes of Morikawa Riho's parents.

He doesn't mind that his daughter is seven or eight years older than him, can write books, knows each other's work situations very well, and is rich and talented, although he may not notice any problems at their first meeting.

However, Morikawa's parents, who were eager for their daughter to get married, believed that as long as the problem wasn't too serious, they could tolerate and correct it.

The more Morikawa Riho's parents held this view, the more satisfied they became with Sawayama Haruno, and the more pleasing they found him to be.

They even ignored Riho Morikawa, who was trying her best to control the "speech," and pulled Haruno Sawayama inside to sit down and have tea. When they saw that Haruno Sawayama had prepared a gift for their visit, they were so surprised that they couldn't speak.

Doesn't such sincerity further demonstrate the genuineness of his feelings for Riho Morikawa?

So, getting married early shouldn't be a problem, right?

That's the kind of thing that's popular among young people these days. Feelings can be cultivated slowly after marriage. If it drags on any longer, when Riho Morikawa gets older, she might not even be as good as some divorced women who know how to take care of their husbands.

The two elders dared not let her drag it out any longer, so they decided to take advantage of this opportunity of Sawayama Haruno's visit to "persuade" the two of them, hoping to quickly advance their relationship.

"Zeshan, sit down and make yourself at home."

Riho Morikawa's mother pulled him into the house with a smile, but it wasn't until they entered that Haruno Sawayama realized that there were far more than just his two elementary school cousins ​​present. Several other relatives were already sitting in the living room, looking at him with curious eyes.

The plan has a serious flaw!

Sawayama Haruno felt a chill run down his spine. Before coming here, he hadn't heard Morikawa Riho mention that so many relatives would be visiting. Now, seeing this, he was completely dumbfounded.

He has a lot of experience dealing with his father-in-law and mother-in-law, but not with a whole extended family of relatives.

Realizing something was wrong, Haruno Sawayama subconsciously turned her gaze toward where Riho Morikawa was, only to find that the person who entered the room after her also had a somewhat stiff expression.

We're doomed, we can't count on them anymore.

I should think about how to be more intimate with Riho Morikawa so that I can deceive her family.

Chapter 401 Extra: Riho Morikawa's Heart Fluttering

Pretending to be Riho Morikawa's "boyfriend" was much more difficult than she had imagined.

It wasn't because her family made things difficult for Sawayama Haruno; on the contrary, the Morikawa family was incredibly hospitable, to the point that Sawayama Haruno was somewhat overwhelmed by their hospitality.

It's worth noting that even when he visited the Ayano family during the Lunar New Year, he was never treated with such high honors by the elders. This shows just how much Morikawa Riho's family wants her to get married soon.

It was for this reason that Sawayama Haruno was somewhat overwhelmed tonight, with almost everyone coming over to chime in with a few words about Morikawa Riho, either telling stories about Morikawa Riho's past or subtly asking him how far he and Riho had progressed.

Even an iron man can't withstand being bombarded by so many people. What made Sawayama Haruno even more frustrated was that Morikawa Riho practically gave up in the second half, seemingly resigned to her fate and unsure of what to do next.

Fortunately, Haruno Sawayama managed to smooth things over by relying on his experience of meeting several fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law. However, his lack of overly intimate behavior with Riho Morikawa still aroused suspicion in the Morikawa family.

However, they quickly came up with a solution.

"The hot water has been run again, Zeshan-san can go take a shower and rest."

In the living room, Morikawa's mother looked at Sawayama Haruno with a beaming smile. She was extremely satisfied with her future son-in-law and wished she could have Sawayama Haruno marry Morikawa Riho right now and then send him to the bridal chamber to have a baby.

Such an undisguised look of expectation naturally did not escape the notice of Sawayama Haruno. However, after being "tortured" all night, he was also a little tired, so he took the opportunity to take a bath and rest for a while.

"Won't this cause some trouble? These clothes all belong to your uncle, right?"

While answering cautiously, Haruno Sawayama glanced discreetly at Riho Morikawa beside him.