My Choice (Book 1)

6

So maybe I shouldn't have followed Sano home. I'm not sure why I did, but my legs kept going in his direction. So this must be karma's way of saying, "I told you so." Now I'm stuck in the rain far from home hiding behind some random car because he knows I'm here!

"Unless you want to get sick, you should probably come in," he called out again.

I have two options. Pretend he didn't see me and just stay hidden, or humiliate myself by going in. Faking a heart attack seems a bit extreme, my book bag is a really bad umbrella, so I have no choice but to go with option two.

I took a deep breath and got up from behind the car. Faking a heart attack might be too much, but dying of embarrassment seemed highly possible as I crossed the street and headed to his front door.

"Uh, h-hey there. I mean, thanks for this nice offering. Sorry for the bother." I kept my head low as I entered his house. He's going to think I'm such a stalker!

I went in and he closed the door behind me.

"Wait here a minute." He said. Then he disappeared down a hall on the right.

I was standing in the living room. The inside was a lot bigger then the outside showed. They had black furniture that stood out against the eggshell white on the walls and polished hardwood floors. Something tells me they used to have carpet, but kids plus carpet plus playdough equals it was time to change before it was too late. Sano returned quickly with a towel in his hand.

"Here, you can use this to wipe off." He handed me the towel.

"T-thank you." I took it and wiped my face trying to hide my embarrassment. I can't believe I followed him home and now in his house using his towels!

"Would you like something to drink?" He offered.

"Uh, sure, thanks." He went to the kitchen, which was over to the back of the house to get something and brought it back. I took it, not saying much else and starting drinking to drown out this awkward meeting.

"Did you have fun following me?" I nearly choked when he asked that.

"I-I wasn't following you. You just so happened to be going in the same direction as I was is all. And I got caught in the rain," I obviously lied.

"Oh, so it was my misunderstanding then?"

"Y-yeah, it's a small world. Who knew you lived around here in this nice house with such young siblings." I drifted as I heard them playing in another room.

"My parents adopted those kids." he said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It was a few years ago. My mother wanted a big family, but was only able to have me, so they decided on adoption." I couldn't help but be a bit surprised.

"Well, it looks like everything turned out for the better."

"They were really quiet when we first took them in. But now they're very active and lively." He said. Just as he did, one of them came in the living room with us and went straight to Sano. I think she's the youngest of the three. I say around six.

"Sano, Sano!" She shouted while playfully pulling on his hand.

"What is it, Cindy?"

"When are you going to play with us?"

"Sano has a guest right now, so he can't play. Say hi to Misa," he said.

"Hi!" She said, waving to me.