𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 ⇒ sugawara koushi

⇒ chapter twenty-one

WHEN THE PAIR
arrived to the Sugawara residence, they were instantly greeted with a warm welcome by the boy's parents— hugs and all.

Now, Koushi's father was pretty close to what the girl expected. He was a tall middle-aged man with gray long hair that swooped over his eyes— which were a hazel brown, close to those of his son. The man was quiet and gentle. He didn't talk much but he was sincere and kindness was reflected through his eyes as he smiled. His name was Ren.

Dinner was more casual than Shiori thought it would be. The couple would tell old stories about their beloved son, who would in return, blush in embarrassment as the ravenette laughed. They were simple, but they were happy, and she was happy with them.

As the boys cleaned up after dinner, Shiori and Akari sat on the living room couch— looking through some of Koushi's elementary school photo albums.

"Akari-sama," the teenager called out the name Koushi's mother insisted she called her. "How did you and your husband meet?"

Akari paused, leaning back and closing the photo album.

"Well, we were the only kids of the same age in our neighborhood so his mother would always bring him over to play and we grew up together... We were best friends. I suppose it was only natural one of us would fall for the other," the woman started, a grin spreading across as she recalled her youth. "It was me. Actually Ren dated one of my best friends all throughout high school and she was his first love and everything... But regardless I stayed by his side and eventually they broke up. Then we finished high school and went our separate ways since I went to university in Tokyo and he went to Sendai. When I went back to visit for New Years he confessed to me and I accepted."

Shiori blinked in shock at the woman's love story, clearly surprised by the story she told.

"How?"

Akari furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, tilting her head as she echoed the ravenette's word.

"How what?"

"How... How did you wait? How did you go through that? Didn't it hurt?"

Sugawara hummed, smiling as she looked at her two favorite boys working in the kitchen together.

"To love... To not love... To be sad and to be happy only to eventually lose it and be even more sad... To live, all of it hurts, doesn't it? In order to obtain something you must give up something else. It would all hurt in the end, so I chose what I thought would give me the most happiness if the universe somehow granted me the one wish I had of being with him. And it did."

Shiori looked down, fiddling with her fingers as she processed Koushi's mother's wise words. Was it some type of sign? A sign from the universe telling her to not be afraid of pain? A sign to move on forward in her quest for love— Sugawara Koushi's love?

"After we finished college we got married and had Koushi two years after... He was always a sweet angel. He never got in trouble or threw tantrums or whined about not getting what he wanted. Actually, we wished he would've been a little bit more selfish. When he turned six, Ren and I decided to have another child since we wanted Koushi to have a sibling but I had a miscarriage and we found out I couldn't have anymore children... It was the first time we had seen Koushi so sad, he didn't want to leave his room for a week... I think to this day he longs to take care of somebody, he's naturally nurturing like that... So I really hope that you'll let him take care of you, and that you will in return take care of him as well."

"As his friend, it's naturally my pleasure," Shiori replied, giving her a rather determined look. "I want nothing more than for him to be happy."

Akari grinned again, this time— teasingly— with a hint of irony behind her mischievous eyes.

"You can't fool anybody but him with that honey... And I'm not even sure about that," she told her, winking at the first year while nodding her head over at the kitchen where Koushi was openly staring at her— blushing and giving her a small wave as they met eyes.

And her heart ached.

—

The couple walked in silence, shoulders colliding from time to time as they slowly made their way to her house— both of them secretly wishing to prolong their time together, despite already having spent most of the day in each others company. It didn't feel like it was enough, it never did. Time was only as quick as lightning when they were together, and as slow as turtle when they were apart.

"So what did you and my mom talk about?"

Shiori grinned, giving him a slight push on his side with her hip.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity... Why wouldn't I want to know? It's only normal..."

"Well," the ravenette started, her grin turning into one full of mischief as she moved in front of him— now walking backwards as he walked forward. "If you really want to know we talked abouto how much you like me... Really, I didn't know it was so much."

Catching onto her joke, he smiled at her little comments as they continued to walk.

"Oh? Is that so? That's too bad, I wanted to be the first one to tell you," Koushi responded, charm twinkling in his eyes like the stars.

"Hmmm you still can," she flirted, batting her dark blue eyes up at him pleadingly— reminding him of those of a puppy.

He laughed, trying to hide the rosey pink that bloomed upon his usually pale cheekbones. Growing some courage, Suga gulped, pulling away his arm as he stared into her wide orbs.

"I really really like you, very very much."

Surprised by his sudden confession— and even more— the serious expression plastered on his still freshly pink face, the girl froze and blinked a few times before replying and looking away.

"You know... it would actually be kind of nice if that was true."

"Why do you say that?"

"Isn't it... Obvious?"

Gently taking his hand in her smaller ones, she wrote what she said as she spoke— looking down at his palm.

"I like you."

Kawamoto Shiori looked up, her hand still resting in hers.

"I like you, Koushi."