Aqi: Control

Chapter 5: Yudou

Chapter 5: Yudou

     As she pulled the straps of her bag over her shoulders, Aqi left Toqi's room. Aqi had left him to bury himself in his blankets, to curl up and go back to bed once they had finished all of the bookwork that would surely be replenished by the end of the day.

     "Ready?" an all too familiar voice met her at the top of the stairs. Looking him over, she spotted the thin scar on his upper arm from where she must have hit him. Not feeling so bad now that she knew her father lied about the location of where she hit, she started for him.

     "Morning Yudou. And sorry but normal people eat breakfast first," she explained while pushing past him to make her way into the dining room where she greeted her mom before grabbing a sweet roll. She took small bites to make it last as she walked though the house. She stopped when she got to the garage and looked around before turning around to see Yudou behind her.

     "I think you're missing something," he stated, pushing past her to grab a set of keys off of the wall.

     "It's someone not," she paused to think about it for a second. "Never mind. You are a thing not a person." she finished, following him to the white SUV that he favored.

     She opened the passenger side door and placed the roll part way into her mouth while she took off her backpack to set on the floorboard in front of her seat. She climbed into her seat and buckled the seat belt. When she was settled she looked over to see that Yudou wasn't in the driver's seat.

     Looking around, she felt as if she would have a heart attack from the sight of him standing beside her just outside the still open door. "Aqi, before we go I have something to tell you," Yudou said, taking a step forward to fill the open space that the door left for him.

     "I'm really sorry about the knife and the running away and the glue in your shoes," all of these things came rushing out of Aqi's mouth before she had a chance to filter it.

     "Wait, you're the one who put glue in my shoes?" he asked dismissing his first train of thought for the moment.

     "If you have another suspect I'll blame it on them and see that they are punished for it," she said, looking into the mirror in the visor above her. She distractedly fixed her bangs before turning back to Yudou. She slightly puffed out her cheeks in an attempt to feign innocence.

     "I'll forgive you this time, but why glue?" he asked still stunned by this realization.

     "I thought you wouldn't catch me if you were stuck in your shoes, though it seemed to have more of an opposite effect considering you kept up for a while." Aqi explained. She looked thoughtful for a moment and chewed on her bottom lip. "Anyways, you had something to tell me," she said, changing the subject.

     "Oh, yeah. Okay, so despite the fact that you throw knives at me, often say hateful things, continuously hit pressure points on my body, slam me into things, kick me, punch me-"

     "I think I get it. I'm very mean to you and I shouldn't be, can we go before I'm late?" Aqi cut in, not quite wanting to hear the entire list of ways that she has harmed him.

     "No, the point is, despite all of that, you're extremely adorable and I know you have a good personality to those you're close to." Aqi nodded and continued to listen, hoping he would soon finish his speech. "The fact is, I'm completely in love with you." Aqi was about to protest when he placed two fingers on her lips to silence her. "I know. It's a lot to take in. That's why I think you should be my girlfriend and we can take things slow," Yudou suggested, now caressing her face.

     "As appealing as your offer sounds," Aqi started, this not being the first time she had rejected his apparent love for her. "I have to decline. You know how protective my father is, I just don't want to see you get hurt trying to force a forbidden love into this world," Aqi said very seriously looking deeply into his eyes. Pleased with her new way of telling him that she was not interested, she hoped that this time might be the last.

     "Your words are as beautiful as your face," he stated in response. "We could run away together and live in normal society. I would protect you from your father and anything else that's out there," he suggested, not giving up on winning her heart this time.

     "Yudou, I'm not running away with you. Now get into the car and stop touching my face before I break your arm," she pulled away from him and sat correctly in her seat, closing her door once he had moved and waited till he climbed into his seat. "If you keep this up, I will tell my father that the reason I keep running away is because I feel unsafe in your presence."

     "Fine, though don't you think it was a bit extreme this time. I actually believed you," he said looking over at her, a pained expression setting in his eyes.

     "You should have stopped believing me after the first time, but your incompetence must be putting some false thoughts into your mind," she responded, looking over at him and feeling a slight pang of guilt. "I'm sorry, but you should know better. Now let's go," she finished, lightly hitting his uninjured arm.  

     Putting the car in reverse, Yudou began to back out of the garage. "Hey!" Aqi shouted at him, making him hit the breaks.

     "What now, did you forget something?" he asked.

     "No, you did," she stated, pointing behind her. Looking over his shoulder, Yudou saw that the garage door wasn't open, and shyly pressed the button in the car to open it. "This is why my life is threatened daily, it's not the outside world, it's leaving to the outside world with you."

     "Well at least I don't intentionally try to kill you," he retorted as if they knew someone who did try to kill her intentionally. "That's not important, the thing is we're running late, look what you've done, wasting time not opening the garage door," Yudou said in a failed attempt to blame her as they pulled out of the drive way and set out on the road to her classes.