Entry #33Title: And Darling
Main Character(s)/Pairing(s): Nakanishi Yuka, Oya Masana, Deguchi Aki, Hiramatsu Kanako; Yuka/Masana
Word Count: 6183
And Darling
“You did what…?”
“I set you up on a blind-date.” I stared in disblief at my roommate in hopes that whatever she just said was all some big joke, that she didn’t really setup something that was more than likely to end in disaster. I don’t do blind-dates, I don’t even date, I’m awkward as hell when it comes to things like this.
The silence between us stretched on and I knew she was serious. God damn it Aki.
I groaned into my hands, how am I gonna deal with this?
“Oh calm down, it’s not like I’m sending you off to war?” Aki strutted from the doorway of my room to where I was seated at my work desk.
“I just don’t think I’m ready.” I mumbled into my hands, trying to think up as many excuses to not go, the intense dread making me sick to my stomach.
“Don’t be like that, it’s not like you’re marrying the poor girl. You’re just going out and having lunch, think of it like that.” I felt her pat me lightly on the back in hopes of convincing me, which only served to make my nerves more prominent.
“It’s been nearly a year already, I just want you to get out and have some fun, okay?” The sincerity of her voice brought me out of my own misery, I knew Aki had been worried about me ever since Rikki and I broke up; I’ve practically been like a zombie with how I just threw myself into my work.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
Leaning back in my deskchair, I glanced up at Aki, giving her a small smile, “Okay, I’ll go.” She roughly grabbed my shoulder in excitement, god when did she get this strong?
“Great, great! Alright, the date is on Saturday, I’ll tell you the rest of the details later.” I watch her practically bounce out of my room before I returned to back to work, I felt a little better after our conversation but it didn’t erase the tiny bit nervousness I had in my stomach.
I hope that I don’t act like a doofus at least.
—-
If I could phase into the wall, I would have done it already, I had arrived early in hopes that I could have enough time to calm myself down but so far.
It wasn’t working.
And I was feeling so damn positive in the morning but as the day progressed, all my confidence seemed to disappear. I kept scanning the crowd in hopes of spotting my date. All Aki gave to work with was that she had simple feautres and long dark hair.
Thank you Aki, for describing nearly everybody on the planet.
Distracted with my cursing of a certain lazy roommate, I hadn’t noticed that someone had walked up to me during my internal fit.
“Um excuse me?”
Halting my mental beating of my roommate, I looked up to see a girl in front of me and wow, she was pretty.
“Are you, Nakanishi-san?”
Scouring my head to hopefully try and find any words to respond with and not keep this dumb expression on my face any longer, I gave her a stiff smile.
“Uh yes um are you Oya-san?” Mentally wincing at my own voice cracking, I’m a 23 year old women and why did this happen to me…?
“Yes, I just want to be sure I got the right person, Aki-san did show me a photo of you.”
She what? Was she setting up a blind-date or an Arranged Marriage? AND WHAT PHOTO DID SHE SHOW? Better not have been our graduation picture…
Getting back on track.
I nervously rubbed the back of my neck, a habit I have yet to break since childhood, I swallowed the giant lump in my throat, “Oh well, I guess since we’re here, we should head to the cafe already.” Oh god, did my vision just black out for a second…?
“Y-yes, of course.” Oya-san nervously shifted from where she stood in front of me, guess I wasn’t the only one feeling a little out of place.
Taking the lead, I directed the both of us to the location of our date, probably the most awkward 2 minute walk of my life.
—-
We haven’t spoken at all from the time we left our meeting spot to being seated at our table, how in the world was I gonna survive this much longer?
And judging from how Oya-san kept shifing and glancing around at everything but me, I can guess the feeling was mutual.
Starting to feel a little frustrated with myself, I at least should try to be friendly, I mean Aki went through all this trouble and I’m just doing nothing here.
“Okay, I have to be honest here,” Seeing that I got Oya-san’s attention, I pushed down that ball of nerves in my stomach, “I wasn’t looking foward to this blind-date at all, Aki set me up to hopefully get me out of the apartment and maybe try to help me get over my ex. I’m sorry if I haven’t been the greatest person from the start but instead of treating this as a date, how about we treat this as just us hanging out or something…?”
It felt like I admitted to more than I should have but it was better than just sitting in silence for who knows how much longer, I hoped that she would accept my offer.
“Okay.” Startled a little by her quick positive response, Oya-san smiled slightly at me, I could feel my chest tighten a little from it but I pushed it out of my mind.
“To be honest, I also wasn’t looking forward to this date either, I’m no good at these type of things and I kind of don’t care for them but I would like to become friends instead.” I gave her a smile of my own, the nerves that were bothering me all day disappeared along with any tension from before.
“Alright then, how about we start over, I’m Nakanishi Yuka, it’s nice to meet you.” I extended my hand across the table. ”Oya Masana, nice to meet you, Nakanishi-san.” She reached out and grabbed my hand, we shook and seperated to a new atmosphere. A friendly one.
—
“So, how did it go?” Immediately after walking through the front door, Aki nearly bum rushed me out of nowhere in what I assumed was excitement.
Throwing my keys onto the hallway table and slipping on my house shoes, I tried to condense my afternoon into a few words as I watched my roommate bounce up and down in front of me, “Great, it was great.”
Judging from her disappointed expression, I don’t think those were the words she wanted to hear.
“Great, just great? Not spectacular, wonderful, or even a ‘thank you’?
Side-stepping my way around her, I walk towards my room with Aki following closely behind, throwing more questions at me; I paused just as I stepped inside my room and turned around to face her.
“We decided to be friends and we’re meeting again tomorrow at the cafe.” I answered as I ever so slowly closed the door, I could see Aki fumbling with the words in her head and right as my door clicked shut, “So really, no ‘thank you’?”
—-
“It’s raining.”
Masana’s voice broke whatever concentration I had on the movie we were watching, I turned to where she was seated before looking over at the direction she was staring at, rain was pouring down and it looked pretty heavy too.
“I’m probably gonna have to call a taxi but I don’t feel like spending money on one.” She turned towards me and she slighlty pouted, I couldn’t help but chuckle at her childish antics but Masana did live a ways from the city and by the time she made it the station, the last trains would have left.
“Well, how about you stay over, it doesn’t look like it’ll let up anytime soon anyway?” I suggested considering it was late and we both had work tomorrow and I didn’t want her going home alone at this time, Masana feigned an embarrassed expression, “Ah Nishishi, what kind of girl do you think I am?”. I swatted my hand at her but she dodged it and grabbed hold of it, leaning against me as we laughed.
“Shut up! I mean it, I think it’s better if you stay over for tonight since it’s pouring so hard. And now that I think about it, I don’t think Aki is coming back anytime soon either.” Remembering that earlier my roommate had left to go visit her girlfriend at her apartment and hasn’t been back for hours, so she definitely was not coming back.
“You can borrow some of my clothes to sleep in.” I stood from the couch, stretching out the kinks I received from sitting down for so long. Masana following me as I turned off the tv and headed towards my room, grabbing an over-sized shirt and some shorts for her.
Turning off the lights, we both settled down in my bed, listening to the soft pattering of rain against the window. Already exhausted, I could feel my eyes growing heavier and as I was about to drift to sleep, I heard a voice break the silence.
“Nishishi, I know this may be an odd time but I really want to thank you.” I could feel Masana grasp my hand tightly, I turned my head to face her and saw that she was gazing up at the ceiling with a forlorn expression or was I imagining it because I was tired?
“You see, I haven’t had someone close to confide in for awhile, I mean, I love the friends I have and made here but,” she turned towards me with a small smile, I could feel my chest lurch for some reason but I ignored it, “I feel safe with you.”
I was at a loss for words, my dumb face must of shown it since Masana reached over with her other hand that wasn’t holding mine and patted me on the head. “Let’s get some sleep, we have work tomorrow.” And if by magic, she fell asleep in no time while I tried turning over what was just said.
It was quite overwhelming and though I felt so restless from this sudden confession, my eyes grew more heavy as my thoughts went on and on; I soon drifted off to sleep.
From the time we fell asleep till the morning, Masana and me were still able to keep our hands grasped together.
—-
It feels like my eyes could fall out of my sockets.
I was completely mentally exhausted from editing the article in front of me but I needed to get it done since I’ve been putting it off to work on the easier projects.
My office space never felt so compact as it did right now, not even when I had all those boxes from Airin’s collection when she was moving and didn’t trust putting it in a storage facility.
Ugh.
“Hey, boss!”
I turned around to see my intern, Maria, swiftly walking towards me.
She was a good kid, aiming for a journalist job to write about fashion though it seemed more like she could be featured in those magazines instead with the way she looked and dressed, I’m surprised she wasn’t a model.
Made me feel a little raggedy.
I wasn’t one to worry about those type of things, learning and writing about new and old anime and games took up most of my time anyways.
Wait, they didn’t put her with me so I wouldn’t be such a eye-sore right?
Mieko-san you can be so cruel…
“Someone’s here to see you.” Maria moved out of the way as Masana stepped into view, I felt my mood immediately take a 180.
“Oh hey! What are you doing here?” Maria silently left as Masana moved into my little cubicle, leaning against my desk.
“I figured we could have lunch together today.”
“Sounds good to me, I’m about to go crazy from sitting here all day.” I saved my work and shut off my work computer, I grabbed my bag and started following Masana out towards the elevators.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses.” Confused, I turned towards Masana to question her before realizing I still was wearing my glasses.
“Oh right, I only really wear them while working.” I made a move to take them off but she quickly stopped me.
“No, keep them on, they look cute on you.”
Now that was something new, I never really cared what I looked with or without my glasses since it just felt like an obligation but being complimented with them made me sort of happy.
“O-okay, I guess.”
As the doors for the elevator finally opened and we moved inside, I didn’t notice the small blush on Masana’s face.
—-
“What was she like?”
“Hmm?”
It was the Fall festival, Aki and Kanako had practicaly forced Masana and me to “double date” with them though as soon as we had set foot in the area, they practically abandoned us and went off to do whatever they usually do.
I didn’t really wanted to know.
So, Masana and me ended up spending our time moving from stall to stall, eating some of the food and playing some of the games. When the fireworks started up, we moved to a spot near the pond that was surprisingly empty.
Though as of right now, I’m not sure what she’s exactly asking.
“What was your ex like, I know you were together for awhile right?”
Oh.
“Um…Well, Rikki was really.. determined, always really helpful towards others and just…really kind and gentle, she was also our class representative all throughout high school too so I guess you can say she was well liked by everybody.” I could feel my chest tightned from this sudden nostalgia being brought up.
“How did you two get together, it wasn’t during high school right?” Masana continued staring up and watching the fireworks as they lit the sky in an array of colors, I wondered why she was bringing this up?
“Well, during high school, I was dating someone at the moment but we end up breaking it off around the time of my graduation. Rikki and me didn’t get together until our second year of university, we broke up last year around June.” I don’t understand why I suddenly felt so upset.
Was it because I was talking about this after trying to forget about it for so long? Or was I still longing for her?
I really did love Rikki, I knew that but I feel like that wasn’t why it felt like there was a sudden weight in my chest.
“I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Masana grasped my hand tightly, reaching up towards my face with her other hand and wiping away…tears?
Reaching up towards my own face, I could feel wetness on my cheeks.
When did I start crying?
I felt arms wrap tightly around my waist as Masana embaced me, I’m not sure if it was because of her comforting gesture or how I felt already from speaking early but I just start crying even more.
I’m not sure how much time had passed but when we seperated, the fireworks had already stopped and I could hear that noise from the crowd had dissipate.
“Nishishi, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you so upset.”
Taking big breaths, I could fee that the weight in my chest wasn’t there any more, “No, I think I needed that, I’ve been holding it in for awhile I guess, thanks.” We smiled at each other and embraced once more but something was different.
I was suddenly more aware of Masana; how warm she was, the small breaths I could feel on my neck as she exhaled and how her hands pressed against my back.
What was going on with me?
“We should find Akisun and Kanako, they might be worrried about us.”
“Nah, I bet they hardly even remembered we even came with them.” Separating, we made our way towards and through the crowd to the entrace of the park, I felt a small tug on my arm and glanced down to see Masana had took hold of me.
Probably so she wouldn’t get caught in the crowd but I’m not sure why I was so nervous now.
With the entrace in our sights, I could spot Aki and Kanako talking animately with one another before my roommate spotted us and yelled out, “HEY WHAT THE HECK TOOK YOU SO LONG?!”
Why are you mad, you abandoned us as soon as we got here.
Kanako laughed at her girlfriend’s antics before directing her attention to the both of us, “We should hurry, the last trains should be leaving soon.”
“You guys head to the station, I’ll walk Masana home.”
We hurried on towards the apartment building that was located across from where we were, we ended up standing outside her door for a few moments before I worked up the nerve to say something, “Hey, thanks again for earlier.”
Masana looked at me before giving me a small smile that for some reason, now churned something deep within my chest. “No problem, be safe on your way back, okay?” We hugged goodbye and I waited until I heard the door lock click before hurrying off towards the train station.
The only thing on my mind until I slept that night was how much I though Masana’s smile looked so beautiful.
—-
“Hey, whatever happened to that Akimoto girl?”
I stopped eating and looked up to where Aki was seated across from me. “What do you mean?”
She took a bite out of her sandwich before continuing, spewing crumbs, “I mean, after high school, she moved abroad right?”
“Yeah, she moved to the states, I think to study for medicine.” I took a sip of my coffee and wondered why Aki was suddenly bringing this up now?
“Hey, we’re back~!” We both turned towards the voices calling out to us, I could see Masana and Kanako returning from their shopping; they had told us they had saw something nice and would meet back up with us at the cafe.
Judging from those bags, I assumed Kanako found many nice things, looking over at Masana, she didn’t have anything with her.
“Hey, you didn’t buy anything?” Masana remained quiet for a moment then winked at me, “It’s a secret.”
“Uh.. okay then.” I just brushed off her vague response.
“So, what were you two talking about?” Kanako inquired as I returned back to my own sandwich, Aki took a big gulp of her juice before waving towards me and herself, “Reminicing about high school, by the way Nishi, what was that nickname Akimoto gave you?”
Oh god no.
Nearly choking on my food, I tried to play the dumb card, “I can’t say I recall.”
“LIAR.” Damn it, why are you only cunning in these types of situations, Aki? ”It was Chun something, Chun..Chu…OH! Chun Chun.”
That devilish grin on Aki was the most hated thing at this moment for me.
As I sat mortified in my seat, the other two occupants of this table broke out into laughter, I left that nickname behind when I graduated and with Sayaka-san when she left for the states, since she was the only who called me that to annoy me.
“Why Chun Chun though?”
I turned to see Masana trying to control her laughter, grimacing at the fact that we were still going on about this topic. “Well, I think it had something to do with Mahjong, can’t really remember throughly…”.
I have to admit, it was pretty clever for Sayaka-san to come up with such a nickname like that from something so simple.
But I still hated it.
“That was my nickname in high school mainly because Sayaka-san, an old classmate, liked to tease me. I graduated from it with Nishishi, which I prefer.” I emphasized on that last part by steadily glaring at Aki who chose to ignore me.
Damn her.
“Anyway, have you heard from Akimoto lately? I heard she got married, right?”
I remembered that email I received a few weeks back. “Yeah, I think her wife’s name was Miyazawa-san.”
Sayaka-san had met her future wife while she was interning at a clinic and had treated her though she was hesitant about dating Miyazawa-san since she was a patient. Took a lot to finally convince her and who knew it would eventually develop into marriage.
I’m happy for the both of them.
“Man, I can’t believe that Akimoto chick got married.” Aki’s whining brought me out of my thoughts, making me remember something very vital.
“Hey Aki, didn’t you use to have a crush on Sayaka-san in high school?” I could see her face completely darken from what I had just said before she started waving me off, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Sorry, Aki, you’re not getting off this easy.
“No, I’m pretty sure you used the words, ‘
SEXY’ and ‘
TOTALLY BANGING BODY’ once.” If she could, I’m sure Aki would have jumped from her seat to try and strangle me but she just settled for seething in her seat.
Too bad.
As the atmosphere finally calmed down, we were able to finish our lunch in peace before Masana had to leave for work. After she had left, I could feel two pairs of eyes burning holes into me.
Now what…?
“So, Nishishi, have you told her yet?” Aki leaned over the table as Kanako nodded along in agreement. I sighed, knowing where this was going.
“No, I haven’t gotten the opportunity.” I flinched as Aki slapped the table and both of them groaned in frustration.
If you’re wondering what’s going on, well, I realized that not only did I actually like Masana but… I’m also in love with her.
I realized it around Christmas when we were tricked under the mistletoe (no thanks to Aki) and of course, I was way to embarrassed to actually kiss her so Masana just pecked me on the cheek and that feeling just stayed with me for the rest of the night but it wasn’t just that.
When I caught myself staring at her from time to time, wanting to see her pretty much all hours of the day, looking forward to our lunch dates, finding her really cute when she would fond over children or whenever she would be stingy about nearly everything and feeling like my entire body was coursing with electricity when she would smile at me.
Yeah, I had it pretty bad.
“Are you ever gonna tell her?” Frustrated as she was, Aki really was worried about me since she was afraid that I would be reluctant to admit my feelings considering what had happened between me and Rikki but no I just really suck at confessions. I remember doing one for a school play and my whole face felt like it was on fire.
Of course, it didn’t help that she gloated over the fact that her match-making skills were a success when I told her about it.
“Just..don’t rush me, okay?” Aki and Kanako both nodded in agreement and I returned to my thoughts, wondering if I’ll ever get the guts to do this.
—-
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY~!”
I chuckled as I recovered from the sudden surprise I got arriving home from work, since it was during the week I wasn’t expecting anything today.
Aki, Kanako and Masana stood in the middle of the apartment living room wearing party hats with decorations nearly everywhere, food decked out on the coffee table; for such a small party, I couldn’t have been happier.
A few hours later, my head was swimming.
I shouldn’t have let Aki, who was currently passed out on the couch with Kanako, talk me into all those drinks especially since we both have such a low tolerance.
Definitely gratefully I have no work tomorrow, don’t think I would be able to even function at all, the party was great. Aki had took advantage of my gaming system and immediately called a tournament though as much as I did play I ended up losing. About 20 matches later, she just had to turn it into a drinking game with the current results of me drunk and her passed out.
The gifts I had received were pretty great, Aki had given me about 4 new PSP games that I’d been dying to get including the new Monster Hunter, she really is a great friend when she isn’t being a big jerk; Kanako had supplied me with a new parka since my old one was practically falling apart and Masana… well, it didn’t really matter to me since her company was more than enough for me at least until…
“I need to go already.”
Turned out Masana had to leave for a few days to visit her family, I knew I shouldn’t be so selfish and wish she could stay, I just couldn’t help but already feel a little lonely as I walked her towards the door.
“Do you want me to walk you to the station?”
“No, that’s alright, I called a taxi.”
“Wow, someone’s not being stingy.”
She lightly punched me as we quietly laughed, trying to not disturb the sleeping couple in the next room, as our laughter died down the feeing of loneliness washed over me even more.
“Oh, almost forgot your gift.” Suddenly surprised by this sudden news, I watch as Masana pulled out a small box from her bag.
“Here, happy birthday, Yuka.” Blushing slightly from the rare use of my name, I gratefully took the gift, lifting the cover off the box to reveal a scarf. But as I pulled it out, I could see that it had my nickname ‘Nishishi’ embroidered on it.
“I picked up the materials with Kanako-san a few months back, it took awhile since I kept messing up the stitching. It might be a bit warm to wear a scarf now too but-” “I love it.” I cut off her rambling and pulled her into a tight hug which felt like it would last forever but of course it couldn’t.
“Ah I should go, don’t want to keep the poor man waiting.” Right as she was about to open the door, “Oh, I forgot something.” Before I could ask her what it was, I could feel hands carass my face as Masana kissed me.
It ended as soon as it began, I was too stunned to really react as she stroked my face tenderly, “I figured I could beat you to the punch.”
No way.
“Also, wear your glasses more often, okay?” Not able to will any words out of my mouth, I just nodded dumbly in agreement.
We separated and she exited through the door, I recovered enough to head outside and make sure she made it to her taxi safely. Once she was seated inside, I could see her look up and smile, waving goodbye as the taxi pulled away.
I headed back inside the apartment and towards my room, not even caring for the mess from the party.
Yeah, best birthday ever.
—-
Somehow, I got roped into running the shooting gallery for the Spring festival.
I probably should have paid attention when I was talking to Aki over the phone when she was going on about how the staff was short on volunteers this year, but I have a feeling she would have found a way of guilting me into doing it. Since the festival fell during the week I thought maybe I could get out of it by using work as an excuse but as soon as I tried to appeal to my boss, she quickly informed me that Aki had phoned her earlier and already granted me some days off, so I didn’t need to worry about it.
Mieko-san, why…?
So, I’d been stuck running the stall for awhile. Aki and Kanako had thankfully visited but as far as I was knew, I was just a small pitstop as I kept seeing them pass by with different foods each time.
Where do they get the money to spend so frivolously like that?
I wish Masana was here.
Even though I’d told her about the festival and everything, she needed to wake up early to open up shop since Kinchan was on a business trip up in Hokkaido and wouldn’t be back until next week. I never knew a flower shop had to open so early and did so much work, at least until I made the mistake of volunteering once and nearly killed myself doing almost everything. Kinchan may act air-headed but she sure knows how to take advantage of someone’s good nature.
Well, our phone-calls with one another would have to do for now.
Even though it was still early, it felt like I’d been here for hours and I noticed something since the start of the festival.
There were an unusually number of girls lined up for the shooting gallery. I’m not saying that women can’t enjoy this kind of game but I’m not kidding when there was a huge crowd of girls surrounding the stall I was running.
While the ones in queue made it blatantly obvious of their staring, the others who were up taking their turns just kept making glances at me for whatever reason while they shot at the prizes.
It was middle school all over again.
“Excuse me, are these all the prizes?” Breaking out of my thoughts, I looked over to who had called out to me and saw a young girl, probably a high school kid.
“Yes, everything you see here is a prize.” After I had explained, she seemed to be turning over something in her head before she pointed the toy rifle in my direction, “Woah, wait, I’m not a prize ma’am.”
She seemed to be disappointed but seriously, it may have just been a toy with cork bullets but those still hurt.
After that small incident, I had no trouble other than avoiding eye-contact with all the girls surrounding the stall for the rest of the night. Before I knew it, the fire works hard started up, signaling the end of the festival and thankfully the end of my exhausting night.
Waiting near the (now) closed shooting gallery stall, hoping that Aki and Kanako would hurry up so we could leave already, I was so preoccupplied with my own thoughts that I never noticed someone sneaking up behind me, “Excuse me?”
Startled, I jumped a little and quickly turned to see the very same girl who tried to shoot me earlier in the evening; what in the world was she doing here?
“Ah um yes, do you need help or something?” As I tried to calm my racing heart, I could see some kind emotion flash across her face before she returned her gaze towards me. I felt incredibly uncomfortable right now.
“I was just wondering…if you were free right now?” She took a unusually close step into my personal space, putting her hand on my arm, I tried to back away. “No, I’m waiting for a friend.”
It didn’t seem to hinder her.
“Well, how about sometime later when you are free?” Now she had both hands on me, one on my arm and other laying on my shoulder, playing with the collar of my shirt. I was really afraid now, what was I suppose to do? I’d never had to deal with something like this before.
Putting my arm between us, I tried to lightly shove her away, “Look, I have a girlfriend, so please stop?” From the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of white and looking over, I could see Masana standing a few yards away.
When did she get here?
I could see a pained expression wash over her face before she swiftly left in the direction she probably arrived in, the situation becoming clear to me. I quickly pushed the girl off of me, sternly telling her to go home before rushing off to find Masana.
It didn’t take long for me to catch up, I lightly grabbed hold of her and turned her around to face me, I could see tear streaks on her face. Pushed down the guilt that was making me sick to my stomach, I led the both of us to a more secluded area and waited until she calmed down enough, I had so many things I wanted to say right now. I wanted to reassure her that what she saw was all a misunderstanding but it was like my jaw was wired shut, I could feel my teeth ache from clenching them so hard.
The sound of her ragged breathing brought me out of my stupior, “Masana, that girl was harrassing me, I was trying to push her off.”
“I know.”
W-what?
Confused, I waited for a further explanation as she fidgeted with her hands before looking up at me, “I know that you wouldn’t do anything to hurt me but…”. Masana broke eye-contact, remaining quiet for a few moments as she rested her head on my chest. “The reason why I was so hesitant about our blind-date before…was because I was afraid, you see…the last relationship I had…t-they cheated on me.” I could feel her hands clutch my shirt tightly as she started crying again, I wrapped my arms firmly around her.
Sometime passed waiting for Masana to calm down a little before I slowly eased away, cupping her face with my hands and wiping away stray tears. “I would never do anything to hurt you, Masana, I-I love you.” Oh god, it felt like my head was about to explode but now wasn’t the time to faint.
Delicate fingers reach up to caress my face as Masana pulled me towards her until our foreheads touched, in a small voice she whispered the very same words I just confessed.
I messaged Aki soon afterwards, I told her to leave without me as I wasn’t going home that night.
—-
It was August and I was swamped with so many articles, I was pretty sure my boss was doing this deliberately just because she finds it so damn amusing.
Mieko-san, why are you so cruel…?
Maria’s internship was ending soon and with what luck she was offered a job for a pretty established fashion company run by someone she admires very much. That kid deserves it.
Luckily for me, I was able to get some time off considering I was invited to a wedding, Rikki’s wedding surprisingly. If this was a year ago, I’d probably hole myself off in my room with nothing but work to preoccupy my time, but I’m really looking forward to it. Though I told Aki that if she drinks, I was leaving her behind because I did not want to deal with her being drunk on the way back home.
It really was a beautiful wedding, they had decided on a western style one which was not surprising considering how Rikki had always wanted to be seen as a foreigner, even adopting an English name though hardly anyone called her that to her dismay. I was happy for her but judging from our old peers they must have expected me to be in shambles and were not anticipating that I would bring a date, it also didn’t help how much they kept gawking; really would you quit it?
At the reception, I was able to speak with Rikki. We discussed a few things, a few important things that invovled us and such, we both apologized in our own way about how things went down though it was probably not needed. I introduced Masana to her but surprisngly they were already aquianted, how? Well, that’s because the florist Rikki ordered her flowers from was the one Masana works at, I guess that’s why she had go to work so early for a few weeks before.
Masana and me were busy enjoying the chill night air, escaping from everyone else (and an obviously drunk Aki). How, in such a short time, did so many things happened and what were we were gonna do with Aki since we really couldn’t leave her here, no matter how much she would annoy me on the ride back.
Masana’s voice brought me out of my planning.
“Hey, I almost forgot, I have something for you.” Curious, I watched as Masana reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a bracelet. I noticed that she was wearing a similar one as well.
“What’s this?” She reached out and grabbed my hand, slipping the bracelet onto my wrist, “Let’s just say, I find rings cliche.”
Topic: ~ 48Fandom Writing Contest Fall Edition ~ [ Winners revealed! ] (Read 32231 times)