𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 - 𝙷. 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚞 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

Chapter Three

Hitoshi Shinsou spent the next morning meticulously wrapping up his mothers ‘good china’ that he had never seen her even take out of their massive mahogany display hutch. While he’d never admit it to anyone else, he was only over wrapping them so that Kazumi would have to spend more time sorting through the box, thus giving him more time in her presence. 

Kazumi, on the other hand, had been rushing around all morning in an effort to catch up on the cleaning she’d been slacking on lately. “Zuzu, relax,” her mother's hoarse voice called out from her bed. She rushed to her mother's side to take her glass of water off of the bedside table and hand it to her. The grey haired woman, Mae Nakamura, rolled her forest green eyes at her daughter, “It’s my lungs that don’t work properly, not my hands.”

Her daughter stared blankly at her until she took a sip of the water and placed it back on the table beside her. 

“I know you’re capable, but while I’m here I’d rather you rest as much as possible. Little things add up, you remember the spoon theory I was telling you about? Maybe that’s a spoon for you, y'know?” Kazumi sighed as she sat on the side of her mother's plush bed, leaning over to pat her cheek playfully. “Besides, you’re an old woman now. Just take what you can get, yeah?” 

Mae forced out a breathy chuckle. “Yeah. Well at least you won’t have to wipe my ass, I guess.” 

“I love you enough that I’d probably wipe your ass if it came to that,” Kazumi poked her arm and caught sight of the slim rose-gold watch that her mother had gifted her last year for her birthday and her eyes widened. “Shit,” she mumbled, knowing that if she didn’t leave now, she’d likely be late for work.

“Zuzu, go. I didn’t raise you to be someone who arrives anywhere late.” Mae’s crows feet wrinkled as she smiled softly at her daughter while wondering how she lucked out with such a compassionate child. 

Kazumi nodded and hurried out of the room, grabbing her purse from off the floor by the door. Just as she was opening it, she called out to her mother, “There’s food made in the fridge already! Make sure you eat something today!” 

-

After driving to work, Kazumi sat in her pick up truck until the last possible moment. She couldn’t get her mind off of her mother’s health. Mae had been diagnosed last year with stage two lung cancer, which, even after chemical therapy, had quickly developed into stage three-a, past the point of being able to get a surgery to remove the rapidly growing tumor. Coughing, weakness, and nausea were the worst of her symptoms; most pain was managed with various medications but it became harder and harder to see her mother deteriorating so quickly.  

Kazumi had been spending the last year working and taking care of her mother rather than being a typical mid-twenty year old and socializing. Of course, that didn’t particularly matter to her, especially because her boyfriend, well, ex boyfriend was always really nice about having a flexible schedule for their time together. Now it was obvious as to why. As an only child raised by a single parent, Kazumi’s worst fear was slowly coming true - she was going to be truly alone. 

The woman was relieved when she started work to see that it would be a relatively easy day at work. Although now she had lots of time to think about Shinsou, specifically about how freaking hot she thought he was, especially as he was walking away yesterday.  His chiselled jaw, his smirk, and those striking violet eyes of his had her swooning like a high school girl, making her stomach do flips as she silently daydreamed about him.

Every time the door chimed Kazumi's head would snap towards the sound, and eventually while she was standing on a ladder trying to place some books on a high shelf - he was finally there and he looked incredible. His simple midnight black t-shirt hugged his immaculate pecs and biceps while his dark wash jeans and black leather sneakers completed his rebel esthetic.