Beautiful Disasters- Hawks x OC

Chapter 13

            Keigo knew he should ask Mariko about Shimizu. She was an inside resource after all but part of him was reluctant to do so. The main reason was that he noticed how stressed she got when he'd mentioned her. She looked like she was on the verge of having a panic attack. Not only that but he saw her bottle up her emotions and bury them beneath a neutral expression half a second later. He didn't want her to do that when he talked to her about it; he didn't want to put her in a position where she had to cut off her emotions just to talk to him. So, he continued doing his research on Mineko Shimizu without mentioning it to the brunette.

          Currently, the male was laying on the couch in his apartment, trying to find any articles on Mineko Shimizu that might've come up in the news. There was nothing though.

          He sighed in frustration but was slightly amazed at the fact that the woman was able to avoid even having a social media profile.

          His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a door opening, following by jingling keys. Keigo got up from the couch and walked to the door, checking to see if Mariko had come back from work so he could bother her some for a while. Just as he looked through the peephole, he'd caught a familiar head of brown hair disappearing behind the door. He slipped his phone out of his pocket and called her.

         "Hey, what's up?" she asked casually.

          "I was hoping you could entertain me for a while Chickee," he told her.

          Mariko scoffed into the line, "Sorry," she said not sounding apologetic at all. "As much I would love to babysit you for the afternoon. I've got shopping to do."

           "Oooooh, need new panties for that special someone?" he asked teasingly.

          "No you prick. I'm going grocery shopping," she spat.

          "Mind if I come with? I haven't bought food in a month," he admitted.

         "Seriously? What have you been- actually no, never mind, I don't wanna know. No, you cannot come with me," she backtracked.

         "Awesome! I'll be right out!" he exclaimed quickly hanging up. As he put on his shoes he heard Mariko's door open again. It was much faster this time, and he could hear her rushed footfalls as she tried to get away from him. He chuckled slightly, knowing the efforts would be futile.

         She breathed out in relief when she was in the elevator. It wasn't that Keigo annoyed her anything, she just liked to shop by herself, no distractions, no digressions.

        "So, how's your day been?" A voice asked next to her.

        Mariko flinched at the sound, spinning around to find a familiar blonde standing just behind her. "Why?" she groaned exasperatedly.

      "Felt like having an adventure," he shrugged.

        She raised an eyebrow, "To the grocery store" she asked disbelievingly.

         Keigo put his hands up in defense, "Hey, you don't have to go someplace exotic for it to be an adventure," he told her.

         "...Right..."

         "What did you need to buy?" he asked, throwing an arm around her casually.

          "Chicken, rice, fish, I'm out of bananas, melon and watermelon. I need ginger, ginseng and paprika. Tomatoes, beef... milk too," she realized.

        "Chicken? How did you run out of chicken?" he asked, knowing that Mariko didn't eat it that often.

         She looked at him pointedly, "It's because you eat four chicken breasts in one sitting and ask me for seconds," she told him.