Taro sighed as he stared at the pile of reports on his desk. The office was unusually tense today. Normally, people would slack off a little, chat about their weekends, or complain about work. But today? Everyone was hyper-focused, fixing their ties, checking their makeup, and reviewing their work as if their lives depended on it.
“Man, this is crazy,” Hayato muttered, spinning his pen between his fingers. “One guy shows up, and suddenly everyone wants to be the perfect employee.”
Aika sighed. “That ‘one guy’ is Rylan Daemon Asano. The main branch’s untouchable boss.”
Taro furrowed his brows. “What’s the big deal about him?”
Aika and Hayato turned to him, looking personally offended.
“The big deal?” Aika leaned in dramatically. “He’s a billionaire who built half the company’s fortune. He’s known for being ruthless, unpredictable, and—”
“Insanely hot,” Hayato finished, nodding.
Taro blinked. “That’s what matters?”
Aika ignored him. “People say he rarely shows emotion, but when he does, it’s intense. If he likes something, he gets it.”
Taro shrugged. “Sounds exhausting.”
Before Aika could argue, their manager walked in, looking flustered. “Everyone, listen up! The CEO’s schedule changed. He’s not just visiting the main branch—he’ll be stopping by this office tomorrow.”
The entire office froze.
“Tomorrow?!” someone gasped.
Hayato groaned. “I knew it. We’re doomed.”
Taro wasn’t thrilled either, but his mind was elsewhere. Elian had mentioned taking his family out for dinner soon… at one of the most expensive restaurants. The kind of place someone like Rylan Asano might visit.
He had a strange feeling this wouldn’t just be a normal workday.
Meanwhile…
Elian stretched his arms as he stepped into his uncle’s house. He had barely dropped Taro off before his phone started ringing nonstop. Calls from managers, brand representatives, and even some magazines—he ignored most of them. He was on vacation.
Sitting on the couch, he scrolled through social media, bored, until a particular name caught his eye.
"Rylan Daemon Asano spotted at the airport, returning from an overseas trip!"
Elian squinted at the headline. The name sounded… vaguely familiar.
Before he could think too much about it, he tossed his phone aside and leaned back with a sigh. "Whatever."
He had no idea that someone from his past was already looking for him.
Elian Volkov, a world-renowned model and actor with striking emerald-green eyes, has everything—fame, fortune, and admirers across the globe. But beneath the glitz and glamour, he longs for the one person who once made his world feel real: Taro Fujimura, his childhood best friend from Japan. Years have passed without contact, but Elian never forgot their bond. Determined to reunite, he travels to Japan unannounced, showing up at Taro’s doorstep with nothing but memories and a hopeful heart.
Taro, now a hardworking manager at a small branch of an international company, has built a modest but stable life with his mother and sister. The sudden reappearance of Elian—a man who now belongs to an entirely different world—shakes him to his core. As he struggles to process their reunion, lingering emotions and unspoken words from the past resurface, challenging everything he thought he had moved on from.
However, Elian’s return does not go unnoticed. A powerful billionaire with haunting ruby-red eyes, obsessed with claiming Elian as his own, watches from the shadows. With wealth, influence, and a dangerous level of obsession, he is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Elian by his side—even if it means tearing him away from Taro once again.
As love, desire, and obsession intertwine, Elian finds himself caught between two forces: the warmth of a long-lost friendship that could bloom into something more and the intoxicating pull of a man who refuses to let him go. In a world where love can be both a treasure and a curse, will Elian follow his heart, or will the past and present collide, leading to a fate neither of them expected?
Toxic Gems is a story of rekindled bonds, dangerous attraction, and the fine line between love and possession.
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