perfectly imperfect | h.rindou

chapter twenty-six

"Yo, Rin! Thank you so much for lending me Auntie's book! It really helped my group report!" Ran let out a sigh of relief as if he had just overcome a difficult challenge. "You saved my ass!" He added, standing at Rindou's door.

Rindou extended his hand without looking, asking his brother to hand him the book. Ran lightly chuckled at his brother's coldness, then walked inside Rindou's room. "I'm sorry it took so long to return this, but don't worry! I took great care of it."

"It's okay."

"Hmm... Did you talk to y/n? How did it go? Did you guys kiss and make up already?" Ran asked jokingly.

Rindou flinched from his spot, remembering what happened last night. How you pressed your lips against his... HARD to the point that he had to gasp for air after.

He doesn't quite understand why, but when he does it... It feels normal as if he's kissing a cute puppy, but when you're the one doing it... He feels strange. His whole body feels hot, and something's tingling in his stomach as if insects are swirling around.

"Maybe."

"Uhuh... Really a man of few words," Ran replied, chuckling. "I'll wait for you in the dining room," he added, patting his brother's head. As he was about to leave, his eyes caught Rindou's bookshelf and saw the same book displayed in it.

"Oh! I didn't know that you have two copies," he asked, pointing at the book.

"Ah, yes. Someone gave it to me as a gift," Rindou replied while putting his stuff in his bag.

"I thought that book was rare. Even Auntie won't sell the last two copies that she has."

Rindou nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders in response. Ran stared at his brother and slowly curved his lips upward. "Wait, a gift, you say? Was that from y/n? How... How did she get it? Wow, that's impressive, huh?"

"Well... she's y/n. When she sets her mind to something, she'll do it no matter what so..." Rindou didn't complete the sentence as he noticed your note of the day in your window.

Are you my Mr. Right? Are you the love of my life?  Are you the icing on top of my cupcake? *wink, wink*

Ran looks where his younger brother is looking and tilts his head to the side. "Icing on top of my cupcake? What does she mean by that? Does she like icing? And why does it sound... never mind."

"I don't even want to know," Rindou answered, and suddenly, your face when you kissed him popped through his mind. His face instantly blushed as he felt this wave of weird emotions that came rushing all over his body again. Since last night, there have been random instances where he suddenly remembers what happened, and it is quite frustrating not to fully understand the feeling. After all, this is the first time he felt something as chaotic as this.

"Oh! You're red. Are you sick?"

"Huh?"

"Your face, Rin... It's bright red."

"It's—it's nothing. I'm heading first," Rindou said, hurriedly walking past his brother.

"Did he blush about the quote? Is the icing thingy a reference to an inside joke between them?" Ran held his mouth with his hand when he realized something. "Oh my god, my baby brother is now a man!"

❀

Stretching your arms to ease the body pain, you went downstairs to get breakfast. Your back and neck are sore because you fell asleep on your table, but the odd thing is that despite the pain, you woke up feeling happy. Maybe because of my dream. I was walking in a land full of candies when suddenly, a giant strawberry ice cream appeared from the thin air. It looked so delicious that I ate them until my tooth ached. It was a nice dream.