from the start | ran takahashi

Chapter 17

I stirred awake to the sun shining on my eyes, feeling its warmth on my face. I pried my eyes open and felt a discomfort ran my back. It's almost as if I slept on a rocky cliff last night.

'Wait..'

I jolted up, sitting down, looking around to see that the dark cliff last night was now clearer and more visible due to the sunlight. I heard a light snore coming from right beside me, making me look over to see that Ran was sleeping peacefully while using his arm as a pillow. 

'Oh my god.. Did I just fall asleep last night?'

I covered my face out of embarrassment. I then felt something on my lap, opening my eyes to look down just to see a grey blanket. I lifted it up, observing it as a small breeze came by making me smell the scent of the material in my hand. I widened my eyes at the familiar musky odor, slowly turning my head to the man beside me. His chest continued to rise and fall  as if he was laying on the most comfortable mattress at the moment. 

'He must've been so cold..'

I gently placed the blanket on top of him, covering half of his lengthy body. For a moment he squinted his eyes and furrowed his brows since the sun was almost directly at his face so by instinct, I used my hand to hover above his eyes to create a shadow. He then relaxed his face and continued to breathe deeply, falling back to slumber. I felt guilty that he had to go though this because I fell asleep accidentally.

"Thanks..." Ran muttered groggily, making me flinch.

I retracted my hands slowly till he grabbed my wrists to stop me.

"It's too bright, Rika.." He groaned with his morning voice as I sat there, still.

"S-sorry.." I apologized under my breath.

"For what? Blinding me or falling asleep on me? Again." He said opening one of his eyes to look at me, an evident smirk plastered on his face.

I widened my eyes, feeling embarrassed. I looked away as I felt my cheeks get warm.

"Both." I grumbled, ashamed.

I heard him giggle as he sat up. He let go of my wrist to stretch his arms, yawning in the process. 

"It's fine.. I fell asleep right after you anyways." He said scratching his arm.

"So.. what do you wanna do today?" He asked, looking at my direction.

"Oh? How much free time do you even have? Don't you have practice?" I said, tilting my head in confusion due to the man's question.

"Well.. It's my day off and I don't even know when your flying back to Japan so I at least want to spend time-"

"Shit." I muttered, my eyes widened.

"What happened?" He anxiously asked.

I searched for my phone and realized that I left it in the car with my purse.

"What time is it?" I panicked.

He widened his eyes and fished his phone out. I leaned closer to him so I can see the date as he showed his screen to me.

'10:52am'

"Fuck. My flight is in a few hours." I cursed, quickly standing up.

"What?! Shit." He exclaimed as he stood up as well.

We quickly packed things up, leaving no trace behind. We got in the car as he started the engine almost immediately. He reversed and drove off to the main road.

"What time is your flight?" He asked as his eyes remained on the road.

"3:15pm" I quickly answered.

He nodded his head as he made turn.