Love At First Error (1/2)

Alright. It wasn't exactly Aoko's fault. If this Kuroba Kaito didn't look so similar to someone she knew, maybe she wouldn't have slapped him, splashed his beer on his face and tore his perfect shirt apart. AU


There were only two ways for a woman to have the authority and charisma to pull off a beautiful exit on a man by splashing a glass of beer right in his face.

One, you got to be cool and sane in the head.

Two, there must be a good reason for the man to suffer such shame.

Nakamori Aoko had none of the above.

Not just that. Before she even played out her supposedly great exit, she had glamorized her grand entrance by sending a tight slap across the man's cheek first.

"What the heck-?"

She also scripted some memorable lines.

"You're a despicable mustard!"

Aoko slammed the now-empty glass back on the bar counter, smirking at the sight of shock embracing the man's features. He glanced up, dumbfounded and mouth hung open as trails of liquid continuously flowed down his face and dripping onto his shirt and pants. The woman he was flirting with, so openly and idiotically, was long gone.

"What the heck are you doing?" He growled finished his sentence.

"That's for cheating on your wife!" Aoko yelled, pulling his beer-stained shirt and began to continuously shake his damp collar up and down, in a not-so-coincidental attempt of strangling him. A button popped and fell to the ground. "You mustard! Stinky, yellow mustard that everyone hates!"

Everyone possessed one face, yet he'd displayed more wild and frenzy emotions that Aoko couldn't catch in a blink. "Since when the hell am I married-!"

"How dare you!" Aoko screamed. "How dare you say that! Scumbag mustard!"

"Aoko!" Out of nowhere, Keiko suddenly appeared behind Aoko and exclaimed out in pure horror. "I just went to the bathroom for three minutes and- What the hell are you doing?!"

"Great!" The cheater snapped. "Your friend had went bonkers."

Keiko's entrance stunned Aoko silent for a second as the former began pulling Aoko's arm. The cheater did his part and shoved her hands aside, but that was the trigger point to cause Aoko's switch to flip again. She wasn't going to show that she was an easy pushover.

"Kudo Shinichi!" Aoko shrugged out of Keiko's grip and jabbed a finger right into his chest. "I am the witness of your adultery! You cheater! You can't get away with this!"

He scowled, brows nearly merging together. "I'm not Kudo Shinichi. I'm Kuroba Kaito," he spat out loud. "You crazy drunk terminator."

Aoko squinted her eyes in suspicion. "Who the hell is Kuroba Kaito?"

"Your's truly!" He snarled before giving a disbelieving look.

A short distance away, a voice from the crowd called out. "Nakamori-san."

The alcohol, shouting and tugging were all starting to exhaust Aoko's energy. Her world was beginning to spin in circles as Aoko felt herself stumble back, but her arm was luckily caught by Keiko just in time before she collided into the counter chair and fell onto the ground. All the voices and judging murmurs were pounding loudly in her head, but the gentle voice that called out her name...

"Why are there two Kudo Shinichi?" Aoko purred as she pointed at the fourth person who made his entrance and daringly stood a feet away from the commotion. The rest of the onlookers were watching from afar, afraid of being dragged inside the drama.

"Nakamori-san?" The new Shinichi, who was smartly dressed and had a much neater hairstyle slowly breathed out her name like he'd just watched a lion fart out clouds. His confused blue eyes scrutinized her up and down before turning to look at the other Shinichi. "Kaito. Why are you drenched? What the hell is going on?"

"You know this drunk terminator?"

"You know this mustard?"

"What the hell is going on?" Keiko echoed the same sentence that had been said for the umpteenth time.

It was a lost case.

Years later, looking back at all the mess and brutal mistakes Aoko made that night, she had come to realize two things.

One, always ask for the name of the possible cheater first before proceeding to slap, splash the beer at his face and tear his shirt apart.

Two, this was just the start of her long saga of falling in love with Kuroba Kaito.

.o.

"He likes blue."

Aoko sighed. She tucked her phone in between her cheek and shoulder as she fumbled around with the hangers before pulling out a azure blue pressed shirt from the clothing rack. She flipped it around and checked the size. As if fate was helping her, it was the one she wanted.

"Are you sure about the size?" Aoko skeptically said to the phone. With her luck these days, believing this good coincidence to be true was plain naivety.

"Yeap. No worries about that." Ran chuckled. "You've got it?"

"I guess so." Aoko took her phone and headed to the counter to pay. The cashier greeted her and Aoko mouthed the word gift wrap while preparing to take out her cash from her purse, ready for payment. There was another cashier attending to a lady customer right beside Aoko's counter and doing the similar gift-wrapping service, but for a fancy leather belt.

"I should've introduced you to him earlier." The melodic laughter would've caused many men's head to turn, but to Aoko's ear, they were a terror.

"No thanks, really." Aoko scoffed. "I have enough trouble on hand."

"He's a nice guy, honestly." Ran chirped. "It's just a bad first meeting-"

"And nothing could ever change it," Aoko groaned out loud and the cashier looked up at her with a concerned gaze. She gave a meek smile before whispering harshly into the phone. "Look, I'm just going to give him the shirt and that's it. The end."

"Is the shirt expensive anyway?"

Aoko stared at the price tag as the cashier snipped it off and set it aside. If that was the cost of Aoko's new clothes, it was indeed worth an amount that she would spend an entire day thinking about before purchasing, but it wasn't like she couldn't afford it anyway. Besides, this wasn't about wanting or not. It was a necessity to buy it as a repayment for what she did. She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth as she inwardly tried to burn the images of the night from her mind.

"I guess the silence is a yes?" The brilliant wife of modern Sherlock Holmes said.

"It's nothing much." Aoko half-admitted.

"I'll treat you dinner soon," Ran said, though there was a soft snicker that Aoko was sure she didn't hear wrongly. "Although it was a misunderstanding, everything happened because you thought that Kaito was actually Shinichi and you stepped out to stop his flirting for me."

After the gift was nearly finished wrapping, the cashier then took out a piece of small, palm-sized card from under the table and gestured politely at it towards Aoko. Knowing that she had to be interrupted, she covered her phone and gave her fullest attention to the cashier as the latter smiled and spoke.

"This a free complimentary greeting card, do you wish to write anything in it?"

"Uh," Aoko sucked in a deep breath through clenched teeth. Might as well show her full sincerity if she was going to do it. She plucked a pen beside the cash register and briefly wrote Sorry about your shirt and handed it to the cashier. Aoko returned back to her phone.

"I can't wait for the dinner, but not for that reason." Aoko snorted. "Just a good ol' meet up as we reminisced about our college years."

Ran laughed again, one that Aoko found it much comforting to hear this time round. "That's sounds great too."

"I'll call you again." Aoko said as she took the carrier bag with her gift wrapped shirt and card inside. The lady who made the purchase the same time as Aoko also received her items as they both walked out of the door in sync. "I'm going to meet that guy soon." Aoko grumpily added.

"His name is Kaito." Ran reminded.

"Thanks a lot. I'm actually trying not to remember."

After Aoko ended the conversation, she made her way towards the cafe just one floor below the boutique shop she just came out from. There was no way Aoko had planned all of this. Shinichi was the messenger between her and Kaito and under Ran's persuasion and suggestion, they agreed to meet up at a cafe to have a good nice chat and a much proper introduction. Although the meet-up was verbally settled, Aoko wasn't intending to show up since she thought that man wouldn't too, but Ran was persistently sure that he would, for some reason or another (Aoko hoped that violence wasn't the answer, but it had always been one of Ran's way of making sure things were set out right).

Anyway, what Aoko had in mind for the meet-up was to pass the shirt and say goodbye. The nice chat and proper introduction was not going to happen, at least not when she wasn't going to initiate it.

As she descended down the escalator, Aoko smiled when she noted the cafe was nearly empty, even though it was a Saturday late afternoon. She almost cheered in triumph as she got closer towards the customer-less environment, thinking that ha, Ran was wrong. But no. Right at the corner and beside the window, the black tousled hair man was sitting on the single couch and stirring his glass of ice mocha or some sort. She sighed in defeat as she trudged inside. Oh well, back to the main plan.

"Table for?"

"I have a frien-" Aoko cleared her throat and pointed. "I have a person waiting there." She corrected herself.

The waitress nodded and lead the way.

It was so obvious Aoko was walking towards his table, yet Kaito didn't bother to look into her direction, not until when she dragged her chair, sat down and the waitress showed her the menu. It was more like him acknowledging the presence of the waitress rather than her.

"You're only entitled to the first three pages. What's behind are mostly alcoholic content," Kaito showed a lazy smirk and set his chin on his palm. "Wouldn't want this nice cafe to be trashed."

Aoko smiled and shut the menu with an elaborate force before handing it back to the waitress. "It's fine," Aoko turned and stared straight into Kaito's eyes. "I won't be staying long anyway."

With an awkward look, the waitress left the table.

There wasn't a need for any shitty chat and unnecessary introductions, Aoko was sure of it now. She placed the classic paper bag on the table and pushed it towards Kaito. His gaze lingered at it for a second before looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What is this?" He drawled.

"A repayment for your shirt," Aoko muttered. "Everything is a huge misunderstanding, as you'd known, but it doesn't cancel the fact that your shirt is still ruined because of me."

Kaito stared at her unimpressively as he stirred his drink, making no attempts to take or even touch the bag. "I don't need it."

"I don't care what you do with it. Throw it. Burn it. Recycle it. Just take it." Aoko mumbled and emphasized her point with a nonchalant wave at the bag. "I don't want to owe you anything."

He contemplated for a few moments before he impassively peeked through the content. His eyes brightened for a second and Aoko wondered if he was about to show his appreciation for the gift when he pulled out the palm-sized card and Aoko's heart fell. She had done many regretful things in her life, and writing that card about how she was sorry was one of it. Darn it. What was she even thinking when she decided to write the card? It must be Ran's kindness seeping through the phone.

"It's a complimentary greeting card." Aoko quickly informed. Kaito glanced at her with a grin before flipping it open. His face had turned unreadable.

"Dear darling," He suddenly spoke.

Aoko blinked.

Kaito continued reading. "I hope you'll wear this tonight and whip me hard with it. Can't wait. xxx."

"What the hell?!" Aoko stood up from her seat to grab the card and read it. Her eyes nearly popped out once she was finished as she slumped back onto the chair. She thought Kaito was playing pranks on her, but every letter that he'd said, even the three bloody x, were all in accordance to the card. "This was not what I wrote!"

"But I thought it's a pretty good message." Kaito pulled an exaggerated sad face. "I was so touched by the sincerity of it that I was thinking of accepting your request."

"I'm being serious!" Aoko crushed the card into a ball and dumped it onto the table, suddenly feeling that her hands and eyes were contaminated. "There was another customer that was paying at the same time beside my counter. The gift card must have been mixed up." Aoko quickly dragged the bag to her lap and gazed inside before sighing out in relief. "At least they got the purchase right."

"It's a bit sad, don't you think?" Kaito shook his head amusingly. "There's always a misunderstanding throughout your life."

Aoko let out a desolate breath. "That was the only right thing you've ever said."

"Is that a compliment?"

"It was a sarcastic statement." Aoko rolled her eyes and stood up. She didn't even bother to take out her handbag previously so she was already ready to go. "I'm leaving now. Enjoy your coffee."

"Wait," Kaito stood up as well. Now that both of them were standing on the same platform, Aoko noted that she had to tilt her head a bit higher to look into his eyes. It was weird how she didn't feel intimidated by him at the bar that night when he was more than half a head taller and bigger than her. Alcohol was really dangerous.

"Help me out for a bit." He looked away for a moment. "If Ran asked about this meet-up, tell her that it was fine. At least give me a passing grade if she told you to rate."

Aoko smirked. So Ran was indeed part of the reason for the success of this meet-up. "What makes you think I'll fail you?"

He stared at her with a blank face. "Every fiber of your hair tells me that you hate me, no?"

"Hate is too strong for the meaning." Aoko unconsciously corrected him. It wasn't just him that was taken aback by her sentence; even she herself was puzzled by her statement when those words left her mouth. She cleared her throat and regained her composure. "I would say awkward. Maybe. It had been a... weird first meeting."

"I... guess so." Kaito muttered tentatively, earning a little raised of Aoko's eyebrows. Was he affected by her truthful words? There was this strange downhearted feeling when she thought of the possibility that Kaito had spent his life thinking everyone hated him, to the point that he was surprised when she said she didn't hate him. But then again, she might be thinking too much. Thinking too much had always been her tragic talent.

"Erm, well. I'll go now." Aoko pointed towards the exit. "Don't worry about Ran's side. Anyway, I should be the one in shock if I knew you don't hate me, not like you don't." She quickly added the last sentence behind.

"Hate is too strong for the meaning." He copied her line, which was so obvious as she cast him an annoyed look. He pretended he didn't notice and sat back on his seat. "It's the first time such a thing happened to me, yet I couldn't really blame the person for it because she was just being a loyal friend."

There was only one sentence, yet it was too much for Aoko to digest that she didn't know how to respond. She dumbly stared at Kaito while he sipped his coffee, looking out of the window in silence. Thank God for the almost empty cafe, or it would be weird as hell for her to be standing on her spot for the next five seconds without doing anything. Clearing her mind, though she kept his words close to her heart, she turned her body back to the table and sat on her seat. Kaito looked up in mild bewilderment.

"Is it nice?" Aoko gestured at the ice mocha.

He looked down before glancing at her with a hint of curiosity in his eyes, but he didn't question her odd behavior and answered her. "Not bad."

"You don't mind if I stay for a bit? I'm getting a bit thirsty."

Kaito shrugged and pushed the bag that contained the shirt to the side of the window, all hindrance to their possible conversation removed. There was a faint tug at the corner of his lips, but Aoko wasn't sure enough to confirm if it was her wild imagination or not.

For her, she didn't bother to hide her smile. She raised her hand and gestured for the available waitress.

.o.

"You didn't ask for his number?!"

"Oh my God, Keiko! Keep your volume down." Aoko hushed exasperatedly and glanced over her shoulders to see if anyone on the streets was looking. Similar to those high school days, it was hard to keep their voices low when these missed-opportunities or love-is-in-the-air sort of conversations were going on, not like Aoko was experiencing those two things. Not at all.

Keiko shook her disappointingly as they continued making their way back to their shared apartment. It wasn't an easy life after moving away from her old house, start a new life, coming to town and work her ass off. If Keiko wasn't the one who shared all those expenses and keeping her sane throughout the years, Aoko didn't know what to do. With that sudden and overwhelming gratitude feeling, she gratefully slung her arm around Keiko's as the latter gave her an incredulous look.

"What? Did you see your ex-boyfriend?" Keiko turned her head around for inspection. "Got to pretend you're gay now?"

Aoko made a disgruntled noise. "No it's not. I'm just showing my appreciation for you."

"Don't try to change the subject!" Keiko squealed and tightened around Aoko's arm. Now it was too late for Aoko to realize she was trapped instead. "You got to ask your friend for his number!"

"No way. Ran will never get off my back if I do that. Besides, the last thing I want is to see him again."

"Why's that?" Keiko enquired thoughtfully. "Did he ask about your ex-boyfriends? He should've known those are the taboo topics to talked about during a first date."

"It's not a date, Keiko." Aoko stated dryly. "We didn't talk much about ourselves but more on our mutual friends. A much safer conversation. He explained that his parents are close friends with Shinichi's parents since they were young and yeah, my story with Ran started in college. That's all."

"It isn't that bad, then." Keiko nodded enthusiastically. "Get his number, meet him for the second time and start talking about both of you instead!"

"It's true that it isn't that bad but-" Aoko sighed. "But whenever I look into his eyes, all I see is the image of me splashing his beer at his face. I can never live it down."

"You need to get over that trauma," Keiko rubbed her chin professionally and Aoko knew it at once the next sentence would certainly be a bad idea. "By doing it again."

"Are you crazy?" Aoko didn't bother to even sound mad.

"That's how you deal with trauma."

"This conversation is over." Aoko plucked her arm away from Keiko and pointed at the bakery store they always passed by while walking back to their apartment after work. "I'm getting brownies to cure my headaches. The kids at the tuition centre gave me massive troubles."

"You have to blame yourself for choosing to teach math." Keiko shuddered at the thought.

"Science is no better either." Aoko pretended to barf before skipping away. "Do you want any?"

Keiko snorted. "If you're even lucky to get yourself one. I'll head to the supermarket for a while. See you back at home."

"Okay." Aoko turned and dashed towards her haven, knowing fully well Keiko was right. The brownies at the bakery store weren't anything famous or extraordinary, but it was often sold out whenever she got to the place. She pulled out her phone and gazed at the time. She was five minutes earlier than usual; maybe she got the chance to win that ruthless guy who the bakery owner always said to have beaten her in buying the last brownie in the basket.

"Good eveni-" The store owner chimed when Aoko burst through the door. If she'd stopped to return the greeting, she would have seen the stunned look on the owner's face as she sprinted towards the basket.

From afar, she could see that there was a packet of brownie left.

Yes! Aoko reached out for it. But instead of touching the soft, squishy feeling of the packet, she felt the warmth of a hand instead.

"Excuse-" Aoko blurted.

"-me" A voice came from beside her.

Their heads turned in sync.

"..."

"You two finally met." The owner laughed. "Kuroba-kun, meet the girl you swore will never get your brownies until you die. "Nakamori-san, meet the guy who you've cursed upon heaven for all the brownies he'd taken away from you."

"It's you?" Kaito scoffed.

"It's you?!" Aoko choked and she quickly straightened her posture to dispel that little embarrassed moment. No. No. She was not baffled or stunned or utterly in disbelief for seeing him again. She was supposed to keep her cool. Cool and smart.

"You both know each other?" The owner blinked in enchantment.

"It's a long story." Kaito chuckled and eyed Aoko for a moment.

Instantly, the same horrific images flashed across Aoko's eyes and she turned away, her face slowly grew hotter and hotter as each second passed. Instead of mourning over her embarrassment, she strategically decided to change the situation to her advantage now and mocked him for his loss later. She grabbed the brownie in the basket and broke into a run.

Hurry and buy the brownie and get out of here!

"I'm first." Aoko slammed the brownie onto the counter and took out her purse.

Kaito remained unfazed and slowly ambled his way towards the cash register to stand behind her. She couldn't see him since she was distractingly counting the coins in her purse, but she could sense the smirk and smiling eyes grinding at the back of her head.

"Please don't hog up the queue if you're not buying anything." He remarked.

"Who says I'm not buying anything?" Aoko spat across her shoulder before eyeing at the counter to prove her answer. But- What the hell? Her mouth hung open as her eyes began darting around to look for her lost brownie that was gone from its position. Aoko looked questioningly at the owner who only shrugged in response. She then dropped her coins back into her purse and began looking high and low, but gave up after knowing it was impossible to find it. "I thought I just put it on the counter!"

"If you can move away please, thanks." Kaito slightly shoved her aside. Gently, he showed the very brownie Aoko swore was the one she grabbed a minute ago and placed it onto the counter before flashing out a bill. The bakery owner glanced sheepishly at Aoko and shrugged again as he accepted the note, jabbing into the cash register.

"Did you just steal from me?" Aoko hollered.

"Excuse me?" Kaito quirked an amused eyebrow.

"You just- You- I-" Aoko gritted her teeth and glared as Kaito received his change and walked out of the shop, clearly not forgetting the brownie in his hand.

"I did not lose the battle." Aoko informed the owner with a firm gaze before scurrying out of the store as well. She was expecting to see Kaito walking down the streets and munching onto his victory brownie, but to her astonishment, he was standing right by the door, though she was half right when he had already tore the packet open and was about to eat it.

Before she could speak, he broke the brownie into half and presented one to her. "It's a fair match today."

Honestly, Aoko had enough surprises for today. She stared dazedly at the brownie for a long moment. "I really don't know how to react to this." She timidly looked at him again.

"Take it and eat it, drunk terminator." Kaito pushed the brownie closer to her face. Aoko grimaced at her nickname, though she had no great reason to debunk it. She took the brownie from his hand, their fingers brushing against each other.

"I don't want to call it fate but this is way too coincidental." Aoko mumbled, taking a bite. It did its effect of lightening her mood for the day. She continued another mouthful. "It's really weird."

"Weird." Kaito wolfed down the cake in one go, bits and brown crumbs littered over his lips. She tried to hide a snicker and Kaito rolled his eyes as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hands. "It's always a weird day whenever I see you."

"Same goes for me!" Aoko rebutted.

"Look, instead of cursing me upon heavens, we should do this fair. We'll take the last brownie on alternate days."

Aoko stared at him skeptically. "What's with the suggestion? It didn't seem to benefit you though." She'd always got her brownies successfully at most three or even two times a week; It was a crushing defeat, much to her reluctance to admit. And for him to make this deal, it just didn't make sense .

"Judging by your previous desperate measures and sad failed attempt to purchase the last brownie , I supposed you needed the sugar drug more than me." He cast a pitiful face, which Aoko wasn't sure if it was mocking or serious. She really, really couldn't tell.

"You're right." She decided to see the light side of him. "I do need the sugar in my system to end my day right. Thanks for-"

"But I suggest you should cut down on the sugar intake. Lot of calories." He watched her up and down. She sent him a death stare and it seemed to be a satisfying response for him as he smiled.

Aright, all his previous nice words were definitely mocking. "Thank you for your unnecessary concern." Aoko clenched her jaws. She knew her figure wasn't all that great, but...

"Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Me. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. You." Kaito ticked the days off his fingers and pointed accordingly.

"What about Sunday?" Aoko was finally distracted from her belly for once.

His smile didn't waver. "That's the battle day. Got to have some competition or it'll get too boring."

"... True enough."

"It's Thursday tomorrow. So it's yours."

For some reason or another, it was hard not to doubt Kaito for a moment. "Don't you dare lie or cheat. It's a promise." Aoko wagged her finger. He only answered her warning with an innocent wide-eye look, which reminded her about what happened five minutes ago. "Anyway, how did you steal my brownie? It was supposed to be my win."

"I didn't steal it. It was a simple distraction." He said plainly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Still, Aoko didn't get it. What distraction? That didn't explain how the brownie magically appeared in his hand.

"That doesn't make sense." She gruffly responded.

"Yes it does," Kaito intriguingly pointed behind her shoulder. Curious, she whirled her head back to see what he was talking about, to find that there was nothing special to what was behind her but only some people walking about and passing by. She turned to face Kaito again, but instead of seeing his cocky smile, what appeared in front of her was a reddest rose she had ever seen.

"Um-"

"A simple distraction." Kaito repeated again. He pulled her hand to take the stalk of rose from him before giving a casual salute. "I'll be going. Perhaps I'll see you around on Sunday."

"Uh, yeah." Aoko muttered and waved dumbly with the rose. She watched him walk away until he disappeared into the crowd of passing strangers. Her eyes lingered down to the rose in her hand, and only when a passer-by knocked into her shoulder then she made the sense to move and head to her apartment.

It was lucky for Aoko that Keiko wasn't home yet or there would be an interrogation night if she'd seen her brought a rose home. Secretively, Aoko kept the rose in a small spare vase and placed it on her bedside near the window. Although she took extra care in trying to preserve it, the rose wilted three days later.

.o.

Aoko massaged her shoulder and felt her muscles tightened under her grip. She released a small sigh and focused on packing her teaching materials. Standing wasn't that bad, but spending the whole day lifting her arm and constantly writing on the whiteboard was putting a strain on her back. She made sure all the markers were kept in the box before closing the lights and shutting the door, all done for the day.

Sadly for Keiko, she was still teaching her last class and wouldn't knock off after half an hour later. Having some time to herself, Aoko slowly retrieved her bag from her staff locker and headed towards the receptionist, thinking that she could do some catch up and have a little chat while waiting. But to no one's luck, the receptionist was busy talking onto the phone, with a strained polite tone that Aoko knew was trouble with a possible parent. Aoko casted a pity look while the receptionist groaned silently and continued with the phone conversation.

Sitting on the couch was too bored for Aoko and honestly speaking, she was rather rick of staring at the four plain white walls when she had done that for the whole day already. Decided in her mind, Aoko strolled out of the tuition centre and took in a deep breath of fresh air. So much better.

There was a playground just a few meters away from the centre, a good spot for the kids to go after their classes or while they were waiting for their parents to fetch them. Just a distance away, she could hear soft laughter coming from the said playground, instantly piquing her interest. It was a weird timing for any children to be playing this late, especially when it should've been dinner time. And even if the children was still waiting for their parents to bring them back home, wouldn't it be dangerous for them to be alone by themselves? Not feeling right, Aoko hastily approached to the voices of giggling and creaking of swings.

"Come on, harder! Higher! Put the genes from your mother to some good use."

Aoko's jaw dropped at the sight, her eyes grew wider each time she watched the swing went up and down. It would've been a great, lovely image to see if it was a cute child sitting on the swing and giggling at the fun, but her lips couldn't even twitch when it was an adult shouting woo-hoo! while the one who was pushing him was literally a child.

"What the he-" Aoko swallowed the last word down her throat and spoke again. "What are you doing?"

Kaito, who was sitting on the swing, dragged his feet across the sandy ground and stopped his momentum instantly. The young and sweet Kudo Chieko, the precious daughter of Shinichi and Ran and also a brilliant joy to Aoko's life was standing behind Kaito, her hands ready for another push. Her violet eyes turned towards Aoko too.

"Aoko-sensei!" Chieko chimed.

"Back to it again," Aoko growled and stomped over and glared down at Kaito. "You're a despicable mustard."

He gave a bored look. "What? Are you going to throw some sand on my face now?"

"I'm considering that! How can you ask a child push you on the swing?" Aoko exclaimed exasperatedly before squatting down to pat Chieko's shoulder pitifully. "Chieko, where is your Mom and Dad?"

"They are busy," Chieko answered merrily. "Uncle Kuroba fetched me after class today."

Aoko cast an irritated look over at Kaito. "Did this Uncle Kuroba bully you? Don't be afraid to tell me. You know I'm your mother's good friend. I'll tell her everything she needs to know."

"You can't tell her about this!" Chieko exclaimed.

Horrified at the possible conclusion, Aoko snarled over at Kaito again while he was resting his head against the metal chains of the swing, an amused smile spreading across his face. What was he smiling about? This psychopath! Aoko took in a deep breath and looked back at Chieko. "Why not? Is it because Uncle Kuroba is a bully and is threatening you? Don't be afraid. I'm here to protect you."

"That's not it." Chieko remarked and smiled over at Kaito, which he returned the same. "It was me who suggested this because I want Uncle Kuroba to help me with my arm's strength. I'm entering a Karate competition next month. Mom didn't want me to strain myself with training, but I want to surprise her by winning the junior championship title."

Um, what? Aoko blinked.

"You have the wildest and most creative imagination. This alone, you deserve an applause." Kaito gave a few claps and he jumped off the swing. "But again, I guess I can't blame you for your reaction." He ruffled Chieko's brown locks as the child whined. "I'll react the same if I'm you."

Aoko slowly stood up from her position and let out a few coughs. Why does this feel like a Deja Vu?

"Sorry Aoko-sensei for letting you worry." Chieko mumbled shyly.

"It's not your fault." Aoko quickly explained. "I've overreacted without knowing the facts."

Chieko nodded her head and continued to stare at Aoko with her innocent wide eyes. "Then why didn't you apologize to Uncle Kuroba? Dad told me it's bad and wrong to accuse people. That's why his job is very important."

Aoko flushed.

"Ah," Kaito cackled as he caressed and smoothed his shirt. "I have to give credit to that Sherlock Holmes' great teaching about respect and discipline." He continued, though in a way as if he was speaking to himself when Aoko clearly knew what he was hinting on, obviously.

Still, it was her fault. Again. All a misunderstanding.

Another misunderstanding.

Aoko turned towards Kaito and lowered her head, hoping there wasn't hint of reluctance in her actions. She looked up and met his smug grin and she couldn't hide the scowl and low growl that escaped her lips. "I'm sorry for accusing you." Aoko muttered.

"You're forgiven." His smile had been plastered on his face for as long as Aoko remembered.

She decided to move on with the subject, which was not only the best for her but also for the sake of Chieko as well. "Instead of training, you should be bringing Chieko to eat. Look at the time already."

Kaito hummed in nonchalant agreement and took out his phone. While looking at the time, he took his opportunity to look through his flooded emails and messages before he stuffed his phone away and glanced up at Aoko. "Do you want to join us?"

That was unexpected. Aoko rubbed the back of her neck unconsciously and jabbed her thumb back to the direction of the centre. "I'm waiting for my friend.

"Pity." Kaito shrugged and put out a hand for Chieko, which the latter accepted eagerly. "Let's go for burgers?"

"Yay!" Chieko cheered and turned around. "Bye Aoko-sensei. See you next week."

"See you." Aoko waved in return.

She watched the two animatedly leaving the playground until they were long gone from her sight and their chortles couldn't be heard anymore. Aoko shuffled her feet across the sand and sat on the same swing that Kaito was on previously without much thought. The seat was cold.

The swing creaked lonelily.

What a pity indeed.

.o.

It was agreed between Aoko and Keiko that there would always be a weekly night-out no matter rain or shine, an off day from work and to get the bad stuff out of the head before the new week starts. But here Aoko was, sitting on the bar stool while drinking beer all by herself. When Aoko was just starting on her drink beforehand, Keiko had called to explain she couldn't make it at the last minute, saying she had to return back to her old home because there was some issues back there. Keiko made Aoko promise to not get herself in trouble without her around. It was hard to keep to that, but it would be harder to put the phone down if she didn't agree.

Just one drink and I'll go. Aoko declared to herself. From all the previous nasty experiences of being alone by herself with alcohol, it was true that it was a bad idea.

"Hey lady. Alone tonight?"

Aoko spun her head towards the deep voice and stared straight into a man who was leaning against the bar counter next to her, his lips curled up to a nasty shape that she didn't like. He moved a bit closer when she said nothing and she adjusted her shirt around her neck, just in case.

"I'm with someone." She lied. There really wasn't any other way around this.

"Then let me accompany you until your friend comes."

She clicked her tongue and stepped down from her seat. "You can enjoy your drink, sir. I'll be leaving-"

"Why are you in a rush?" The man grabbed her arm and Aoko almost stumbled back due to the force. She slightly winced at the grip but the man obviously didn't care. "Aren't you going to wait for your friend anymore?"

"I'll wait for my friend elsewhere." Aoko snapped and attempted to struggle out of his clutch, but to no avail. This was getting bad.

"Don't be such a spoiler. Accompany me for a while." The man jerked her towards his side and despite being in a bar, the scent of alcohol was so much stronger on his body that she felt like choking. She was considering if she should scream for help or perhaps reenact something she had done before when she felt her other arm being pulled away, but this time, the warmth around her skin was much comforting than she ever felt in her life. The new competition had happened so suddenly that the perverted man's hand wasn't prepared and slipped away.

"What do you think you're doing?" A low, dangerous voice spoke above Aoko. She tilted her head upwards and realized she was staring at the sharp and strong V-shaped jaw. She blinked and moved her head to her side. Her cheek was rubbing against a soft fabric, and beneath it was the hard, firm chest...

She straightened her posture and their shoulders' brushed, but her savior wasn't perturbed. His hand was still fiercely wrapped around her arm.

"Who the fuck are you?" The perverted man barked.

"And who the fuck are you?" Kaito muttered dangerously, a terrifying light glinted in his eyes. "Don't touch what's not yours."

The perverted man grumbled under his breath and leaped down from the chair and stumbled away, not without pointing a middle finger after he was at a safe distance. It took a long while before Aoko finally registered what just happened, along with feeling the warm fingers around her arm slipping away.

Kaito ruffled his hair and slammed his glass of drink Aoko didn't even realize he was carrying in the first place onto the counter. He sighed out loud, giving her a side long glance. "You're one hell of a trouble."

"Um," Aoko straightened the hem of her shirt and sunk back on her seat. "I'm still trying to get my head straight but thanks. I think it's obvious you just saved me from a huge mess."

"A huge mess." Kaito repeated and shook his head disappointedly. "Damn. I should've just stood back and watched. I was a good show for everybody last time and I want to see how it was like for that to happen on someone else instead."

"I'm not interested in being part of the show either." Aoko announced aggressively.

It always seemed like her anger was the fuel to his happiness or something close to that sort of emotion. His pursed lips was now replaced with a set of shiny white teeth. "Anyway, where's your friend?"

"She couldn't make it today."

"Then you shouldn't be here." Kaito pushed his beer closer, silently claiming his territory of space before propping up onto the chair next to hers. "It isn't exactly safe."

"Thank you for your concern." Aoko said sincerely and a slow, sweet smile spread across her face like honey when she recapped the scene that happened just now. "Don't touch what's not yours. Is that the line you use on other women?"

"Are you supposed to be insulting your savior?" Kaito squinted his eyes, a muscle twitching near his cheek. It promptly reminded Aoko of the nice V-shaped jaw that she was staring a few minutes ago and she inwardly thanked all Gods for not providing the ability for humans to read each other minds.

"Seriously, thank you." Aoko clanged her glass against his and lifted it to drink to show her gratitude, but instead, Kaito moved his body back. She paused, her lips hovered over the rim of her glass before putting it back on the table with an offensive frown. "What's with you?"

"A reflex." He deadpanned.

Aoko's lips curled down, not bothering to hide about how she was further affected with his words. It wasn't like she didn't have those similar images flashing across her mind occasionally (whenever she thought of him). "At most if that scene repeats, I'll pay for another shirt. Not like it will happen either." She retorted and took her sip.

"This shirt is irreplaceable." Kaito warned, caressing his neatly folded sleeves. "My favorite."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes and sparing the shirt one last glance, only for her to catch another glance, and then the third, and then the forth. As Kaito indifferently ignored her curious gazes over his shirt and drank his beer, Aoko finally couldn't control the urge to tally the answer she was starting to speculate with his.

"Um, is this the shirt I gave you that time as repayment?" She kept her voice low and soft. The light made her unable to tell whether the colour was the same, but she recognized the brand and the way the shirt was tailored. It was shameless for her to think that, but still... it just looked so familiar.

Instead of mocking her mistake, he nodded. "Yeap. This is the shirt you gave to me."

Her jaws dropped. She was already bracing for the impact of the truth. "You aren't serious, right? I thought you weren't interested in it."

Kaito smirked across the glass. "How could I not when the giver wants me to wear it and whip her hard that night with it? It had been a fantastic memory."

"Stop talking about that card." Aoko stuck out her tongue in disgust and covered her eyes with a hand. "I could never un-see those words."

He snickered, a half-suppressed smile, but his twinkling eyes did most of the job to brighten his features. "Besides that, this shirt is of good quality. If I have to admit, the one you ruined wasn't even half as good as this. You've overestimated the worth of it."

"It's not really about the worth of your ruined shirt." Aoko dragged her hand down her face and glanced away bashfully. "It's more than that."

She wasn't sure if he got her meaning but he simply nodded without a word. They sat in a comfortable silence, letting the background music to fill in the space between them. When she was almost immersed into the song while tapping her flats against the side of her chair, a phone suddenly waved in front of her, breaking her concentration. She blinked, her eyes soon trailed along the slender fingers, long arm, rolled up sleeves and Kaito's face.

"I wouldn't say you'd owed my anything since I was the one who volunteered my service, but I thought the idea was useful for both of us." He waved his phone again. "Let's exchanged numbers. In case you get into the same trouble again. And likewise for me."

Aoko scorned and pluck his phone from his fingers. "Too much ladies to handle?"

"Life's hard."

She typed in her number, along with her name when Kaito abruptly took his phone away from her grasp.

"Nuh-uh." He deleted Nakamori Aoko from the name column and tapped in the words Drunk Terminator as replacement. Aoko had no idea how many times her brows had been furrowed that night.

"Asshole." She sneered and fished out her phone to create a new contact. Before she asked for his number, she recorded his name as Mustard before handing it to him in a deliberate manner.

"Do you hate mustard?" He asked as he tapped down his number and passed it to her when he was done.

"Oh," Aoko kept her phone and ran her fingers through her hair. "Aren't you smart?"

"I bet you're one of those good kids who would say fried chicken as the curse word when you bummed your toe or something."

There was a short pause. Aoko robotically turned her head and googled at Kaito in brief amazement. "You're actually right. I mean, I do say fried chicken when I bummed my toe against something."

Kaito let out a sharp breath that resembled a laugh. "Are you seriously treating food as your enemies?"

"Fried chicken starts with the letter F." Aoko inputted sardonically.

"You're really naive."

"I tell myself that sometimes too." She remarked in a manner that sounded nearly melancholy, even to herself. Hoping to dispel that redundant moment, she raised her glass as a distraction. the tactic he once taught her about. "Cheers, mustard."

"Cheers, drunk terminator."

.o.

In most of Aoko's life, embarrassment always plagued her like a sickening disease she could never cure.

There were many weird incidents that occurred throughout Aoko's life, but there was a particular one that happened around two years ago, back when she just started a new beginning and her tutoring job in town. Her life had always been either boring or unlucky, so when she agreed to meet up with her high school mates to reminisce about the past, she knew that somehow, this anticipated meet-up would eventually end up a disaster for her, be it for feeling like a loser in life compared to all the successful business stories, or that everyone had been off the I'm single shelf except for her (Darn Keiko. All the pretentious supermarket visits were all to find the cashier hunk, who had been wooing her since ages).

Or maybe not just a disaster. Something much worse. Maybe

"I'm getting married."

"Wow congratulations, Saguru!"

"That's amazing! Why didn't you bring your lady here?"

"When and where is the wedding? Is it at Britain? You got to hold one in Japan too!"

"You're going to invite us all, right?"

Heartbreaks. That's all.

Her first crush in high school, the smart, handsome and pretty blonde detective, Hakuba Saguru. The gentleman Aoko couldn't help but fell in love with, but ended up falling into a heap of emotion-mess after she realized there wasn't any chance for her to ever be in his spot light, at least not when she was just a messy brown-haired girl who did math more than make-up. She thought this reunion might finally give her the possible chance to change everything, but how wrong and naive she was. Not to forget that it sucked when almost half of her first month salary was spent on a dress that wasn't even glanced upon by any man twice, at least not from the one she wanted. A little one-sided crush. A big, crushed heart.

Instead of explaining to Keiko that she had lied and hadn't actually got over Hakuba, she told her best friend she wanted to go home first due to a headache, which was partially true if she was going to stay at this suffocated scene any longer. She managed to stumble out of the nice, get-together bar and slipped into a much populated club, where everyone were truly focusing on the drinking rather than the talking.

She ordered one large something, not too sure what, but she requested it to be able to knock her out good and forget the pain. It seemed the bartender took his job too seriously and gave the exact thing Aoko wanted and got herself indeed dead drunk. She remembered colliding into many men and women on the dance floor, screaming a bunch of sad lyrics songs and mingled with the crowd. It was a good party. A party she couldn't remember 95 percent of it.

It seemed Keiko knew better than to trust Aoko to go home alone. She called Aoko after the reunion party was over, just in time on Aoko's side as well when the club she was in was closing. Aoko picked up the phone and told Keiko in great details about where she was and the undesirable state she was in before Keiko immediately flew to the scene. But Aoko didn't remember speaking on her phone, or when her best friend dragged her across a dozen of blocks to reach their apartment. She certainly didn't remember crying profusely about her heartbreak or how she almost threw up twice on her precious bed. But she eventually knew all of them the next day after Keiko scolded the life out of her and banned her from drinking anything alcoholic for the time being. Aoko was too guilty and embarrassed by the truth to argue.

Even though missing pictures and pieces somehow managed to link itself together, Keiko couldn't explain the same recurring dreams Aoko had for the next several nights.

Aoko dreamt about bumping into this man while she was vigorously jumping wildly on the floor, his height was half a head taller, perhaps. She dreamt how she shamelessly began clinging onto him the whole night, even with her crazy hair and messy make up on her tear-stained face, just because he had the same cologne fragrance as what Hakuba had worn during the reunion. She dreamt that the beautiful scent was all gone, at least temporarily, when she felt her stomach squeezed and the back of her mouth turning sour and painful as the vomit climbed up her throat.

She dreamt the way the man tugged her arm roughly and towards one of the stall at the back of the club. It wasn't clear if it was from the man or woman's restroom, but it was nonetheless useful for its purpose as Aoko vomited all of her content into the toilet bowl. She dreamt the warm and delicate fingers pulling her brown hair away from her face and combing it behind her ear thoughtfully. She dreamt how his breath tickled her bare shoulder and skin.

"Don't drink when you can't handle it."

Blue eyes. Everything was foggy. But there were blue eyes.

"Your cologne smells just like him." Aoko giggled playfully and slumped her back against the side wall after she was sure she was done with her puking. "Just. Like. Him. But his eyes are amber! Amber!"

Blue eyes. Foggy. Bright blue eyes.

He squatted next to her and spoke, his voice was dry and scornful. "If this cologne is going to attract people like you, I'm not wearing it anymore."

She fisted his shirt, shocking him not just mentally and also physically as his balance broke and he almost fell forward. He only managed to not squash or touch her body by slamming an arm against the wall right beside Aoko's face to support his position. Oblivious and unaware of the predicament she almost caused, Aoko began her speech. "You are right! Don't wear his cologne anymore! Stop attracting me! Stop playing with my senses! Why must you wear his cologne?! You don't have the rights to break my heart! You don't! You don't!"

After Aoko finished her loud screaming and her voice had turned too hoarse to continue, she pushed him away and gave a pout that represented the need of comfort and love. It would have been cute and convince-worthy, at least in her opinion, if her face wasn't wrecked and almost unrecognizable with the rainy mascara, smudged eyeliner and lips as red and horrifying as a clown. It was a wonder why this man was still entertaining her. It was a wonder why he even helped her. It was a wonder. It must be a dream.

A dream...? Yet so strangely real. She could faintly remember (in her dream) the way the blue eyes sparkled, and maybe the little upward tug on the side of his perfect lips.

"You're one hell of a drunk terminator."

.o.

"I've heard you've met Kaito a couple of times." Ran scooped a plate of egg sushi from the conveyor belt and set in in front of her. The small tower of colorful pates would have toppled right there and then if Ran asked the question a second earlier when Aoko was in the midst of setting her plate on the top.

"Um, yeah. Yeah we did. All of them were a coincidence." Aoko chugged down her cup of warm green tea to dispel the awkwardness.

Ran cast an accusing look, which conveyed the clear message of why didn't you tell me beforehand? but her calm smile erased that brief scary moment, as though it didn't appear at all. Aoko knew all too well to know this dinner wasn't going to be smooth trailing with happy conversations of many raked up funny pasts.

"So how do you find him?" Ran leaned over to Aoko's side and slightly jabbed her elbow into her ribs. "He's not that bad, eh?"

"No comment." Aoko answered heavily, in a tone she knew Ran could easily know she was lying. Aoko chided herself inwardly for the stupid mistake and took the opportunity to scoot her seat a little further away from Ran when she stood up to take another plate of sushi.

"Really?" Ran looked at her sushi in pity. "I thought you two would make a good couple."

All Aoko wanted was just a good meal, but she decided to ruin it all rather than letting Ran go with the thought that she could be helping in ways that Aoko might not appreciate. It was best to say it now than later. "I'm not trying to be a spoil-sport here but helping Kazuha-chan and Hattori-kun to get together doesn't mean your method will work on me too." Aoko showed a weak smile that she thought she shouldn't have bothered showing at all. "They are childhood friends since young, same for you and Shinichi. I have none."

"Come on," Ran took Aoko's elbow gently with specific care. "It took us many heartbreaks to be together too."

Aoko looked away and let her chopsticks leaned against the plate of soy sauce. She had grown full all of the sudden. Was she filled of sushi or some dumb feeling churning negatively in her stomach? Aoko didn't bother to know.

"Don't you wonder how I even know you've met him as of late if your mouth is sealed?" Ran continued to push through the conversation and make it last.

That indeed caught Aoko's attention by a bit. "I guess Chieko ratted on me about that night?"

Ran blinked in mild confusion. "What night?"

Great. She just dug her own grave even deeper. Aoko quickly waved her off. "Oh nothing, nothing at all."

She knew there was no way Ran was going to drop that matter so easily, but it seemed the answer she was trying to get into Aoko's head was a much important priority than anything else. Even when two plates of Ran's favorite sushi had passed them by, she didn't bother to even glance at the conveyor's belt.

"Kaito talked to me about you. That's why." Ran broke into a grin, like she had just announced the first winner of the lottery.

Aoko's lips slightly parted and her skepticism automatically shot her eyebrows up her forehead. "Um, what?"

"Don't you want to know what he'd said?" Ran's excited smile grew even brighter, if that was possible.

It wasn't hallucination when Aoko could hear her heart pounding in her ears as her toes unconsciously curled on her sandals in anticipation. She squirmed in her seat, not really knowing if the uneasiness was because she'd sat for too long or because there was this growing fear towards the answer Ran was basically waving at her at, like a carrot towards a rabbit. So tempting to want it, yet you'd never know if the carrot was poisonous or not. The higher the expectation, the more disappointment to come. But Aoko had grew tired of the saying. It would be better if she didn't hear the answer at all.

Ran sniggered playfully and whipped out a paper from her bag, flapping it across Aoko's face. "He wanted me to give this to you before his flight last night." Ran glanced into the distance, clearly reflecting back on the memory. "Of course I didn't let him go after that. That's when we started to talk about you."

Aoko shuddered. She didn't want to imagine the terrible night Kaito must have been through. The way Ran emphasized the go was greatly suspicious. "So it wasn't a two-way conversation?" Aoko wearily confirmed as she plucked the firm paper from Ran's fingers and caressed the sharp ends. "It was more like an interrogation?"

"It had been a pleasant exchange." Ran stated and cleared her throat, taking a long, deliberate sip of her green tea to create some kind of suspense. "He mentioned things like how you're one of a kind. One of a kind. And it had been weird encounters one after another though he didn't mind. Didn't mind."

"Are you sure you didn't sugarcoat the words? One of a kind?" Aoko scoffed. "More like weird drunk terminator. And then you changed it to a whole new, nice meaning; One of a kind."

"Don't depress yourself like that." Ran chided. "Even if you don't believe my words, at least believe in the ticket!"

Aoko's mind had been too busy that she had completely ignored the existence of the so called paper in her hand. She straightened her posture and stared down at the ticket in her hand, to only realize it was indeed a ticket.

It was a ticket for a standup comedian show Aoko had once so, so casually mentioned when she spotted the advertisement while passing by the subway station on their way home that night from the bar. She only talked about her brief interest for two seconds, out of the thousands of nonsensical exchanges they had to and fro for the couple of hours, and here it was in her hand, the ticket to the very performance. She kept a note at the back of her head to ask a doctor in the future about the meaning of this indescribable fluttering feeling in her chest, like caged up butterflies trying to get out.

"Why did he buy you this?" Ran questioned, gesturing her head at the ticket.

"I've told him about it randomly." Aoko murmured sheepishly. "I always wanted to see a comedy show, but I feel awkward if I were to watch and laugh alone." It was weird, definitely weird to feel a questionable sting in her eyes then, but she continued to speak out her thoughts. "I really didn't expect this."

Even with all those blabbers and different topics, he remembered.

"Neither did I expect it." Ran set her chopsticks down and gave a thoughtful look. "You know, he's actually supporting his competitors, in a way."

"Wait, what?" Aoko blinked. "He's a standup comedian?"

"What have you two been conversing about all these while?" A wave of confusion flooded Ran's features and Aoko would've copied hers if she wasn't busy trying to think about the question too.

Ended up, Aoko didn't know the answer. "Uh, we spoke whatever that came up in mind. Mostly about random things. Just like that."

"He's a magician," Ran simply explained about Kaito's life in three words. "An entertainer, basically. That's why."

Realization finally dawned upon her as her memories began to brighten up like the sun coming out from behind the dark clouds and an image of a striking red rose appeared in her vision. Ran's words finally matched the distracting stuff Kaito had mentioned about outside the bakery store that evening. It suddenly all made sense. Aoko stared down at the ticket. Except for this. It didn't make sense. Why? Why did he give her this ticket? She could afford it herself, definitely-

"7pm, outside the hall. See you there. Was his message to you." Ran clasped her hands together and swooned before her face fell and her shoulders started to shake in an uncontrollable manner. Even the table was slightly moving due to her strength. "And by the way, the reason why he didn't text you about it was because you gave him your wrong phone number. All along, he had been conversing with a ten year old child who only knew how to send emojis back as replies."

"Oh my- NO." Aoko slammed her head onto the table before looking up at Ran tearfully. "Please tell me it's a joke."

"I wish I could but it isn't. He showed me the texts and it was all there." Ran chortled out loud and continued to explain through snorts and giggles. "I've corrected your number on his phone but he's on his way to Las Vegas for his magic performance so there really wasn't a point for that, as of now. He's always terribly busy and uncontactable when he's on tour, like always."

Aoko slapped her face into the palm of her hands. "You have one job, Nakamori Aoko. One job. To type in your phone number and you screwed it all up."

Ran took in one deep breath to sooth her laughing cells and wiped a tear from her eye. "It's alright. I guess he's used to it, in some way or another." She added unnecessarily, even though it was true.

"I don't know how to face him anymore." Aoko stared at the ticket in her hand and sighed heavily. "I just want to melt myself into the abyss." And all these while I'd thought he was just adding my phone number to his trophy list for the number of girls he'd knew... I was the one being idiotic and stupid! Aoko groaned in her head and wondered how many sushi she should shove into her mouth to knock herself out and get amnesia. She needed to forget all of the piled up embarrassment she had with him already.

"Cheer up." Ran patted comfortingly on Aoko's back and pointed a finger at the ticket with her other hand. "Amend the mistake on that night. Make it right."

Aoko closed her eyes.

She could imagine everything going wrong already.

.o.

"Sorry."

For the past half an hour, Aoko had been staring at the text on her phone, her thumb hovering over the send button. She flipped around on the bed and laid on her stomach, to continue to stare at the message in her fifth position she had changed into all these while.

Was she stupid or naive? Hadn't Ran said Kaito was too busy to tend to his phone? Would he even receive the message in Las Vegas? Aoko plopped her phone aside and muffled her exasperated shout into her sheets (Still, she wanted to apologize to him).

Suddenly gaining some kind of light or wisdom, she quickly picked up her phone and deleted her message and typed in the new one.

"Sorry about all the misunderstandings."

No. No. It sounded so worthless and empty.

"Please forgive my stupid mistake! I'm glad you didn't give up on me even though you'd thought I'm an emoji fanatic."

What the hell? No. Deleted.

"Hello! How are you? I hope you are having fun at Las Vegas."

That seemed so irresponsible and she was completely off the main topic of her text. Bad. Nuh-uh.

Aoko changed to her sixth position, turning her body to let her feet lean against the wall and her hands stayed in the air while she held her precious phone. She squinted her eyes at the blank message box and pathetically typed again.

"Sorry that I've given you the wrong number. It's because I'm pre(tty tipsy that night.)"

For some reason or another, her hands decided to fail and her phone plopped onto her face before she could type finished the important factor. Aoko winced at the sharp pain on her nose and grumpily looked back at her phone screen to continue-

Her eyes widened at the new chat bubble that had appeared on the originally blank, white space.

"Sorry that I've given you the wrong number. It's because I'm pregnant."

OH MY GOD.

No.

NO.

If someone had managed to film the way Aoko had jumped out of the bed, she might have the chance to score into a talent show. Her hysteric screams echoed in her room, nearly shattering the windows until the door flung open and Keiko appeared with a broom readied in her hand.

"Is it that spider that we've failed to catch yesterday?! Where is it?" Keiko screamed as well as she began swinging the broom in the air. The two of them started running in circles until Keiko stopped when she realized there wasn't any spider for her to catch, at least not anymore when Aoko had mostly likely stepped it to death already with all her stomping and jumping on the floor.

"What the hell Aoko!" Keiko dropped the broom and shook Aoko's shoulders. "What is wrong with you?!"

It took her an ounce of energy to breathe properly. She was on the verge of bursting into tears. "I'm screwed, Keiko." Aoko showed her the phone. "Why am I always like this?!"

Keiko stared at the screen for a long while before looking straight into Aoko's eyes. "You're pregnant?"

"No!" Aoko wailed and dragged her fingers down her face. "It's my phone's auto spelling function- I'm so-!"

On the exact cue, her phone vibrated.

Keiko was here. The tuition centre was closed early today. Ran should be busy with preparing dinner for the family at this timing.

There should be absolutely no reason why her phone vibrated. There was no way...

Aoko glanced down at the phone in her hand and her knuckles turned white.

A new chat bubble appeared.

"Congratulations."

It was supposed to be 2am in Las Vegas. He should be asleep. She thought she would have time to calm down and think of her next step. But what now? Congratulations?

"Oh my god, Keiko." Aoko slumped back on her bed, her eyes as hollow as it could ever be. "I've messed up."

Keiko sat heavily next to her and nudged Aoko's shoulder. "Text- No. You should call him. Call that mustard of yours. You always mess up, but you cleared them up in the end too. You got to do it this time." Keiko prompted strongly and grabbed Aoko's hand that was clinging weakly onto her phone. "Do it. I'm even willing to pay half of your phone bill if you make that international call."

"It's 2am in Las Vegas," Aoko pinched the bridge of her nose. "2am."

"But he replied you! It means he's awake!" Keiko urged. "Don't be a girl!"

Aoko stared at her blank phone screen. A knot had formed in a her throat and it didn't want to go away without a fight. Flat-chested girl, ditzy girl, nerdy girl, she'd heard it all and she never thought of wanting to really prove them wrong. How could she not be a girl now? What else could she be?

"You're one hell of a drunk terminator."

She frowned.

"One hell of a..."

Where did I hear that before?

Back in the real state, Keiko furrowed her brows worriedly. "...Hey?"

Aoko was snapped back to Earth. She unlocked her phone and went to her contact list to dial his number. Yes. She was a terminator, a Drunk Terminator, was she not? Why would she be afraid of this silly misunderstanding? Their interactions were all basically built on these misunderstandings anyway. That was it.

Keiko clapped her hands excitedly and watched in anticipation. Although it would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous, Aoko still put on a brave face as a cover, and also to convince herself she was indeed brave to make this move. Brave was a nice word. Desperate was the underlying term that fitted her better. She couldn't bear to see this friendship- this relationship- this everything that she thought was perfect despite all the faults and flaws was slipping from her grasp.

"Congratulations." Her heart ached at the thought of the message.

The foreign ringing tone had been going on forever and just when Aoko was so afraid the call would be directed to the voicemail, there was a cutting sound and-

"Hello."

Yes. Yes. YES.

"Hello." She perked up at the voice she never thought she wanted to hear so badly until now. "This is Aoko."

There was a brief silence. "Please don't tell me you're calling to ask me for my hotel address because you can't wait to send me your wedding invitation." It should be a joke, Aoko knew it had to be. But Kaito sounded so dead serious that she didn't find any chance to laugh about it.

Her back slouched a little and she bit her lips. Keiko began making gestures as an encouragement and for that, and herself, Aoko decided to go with it. She cleared her mind once and let the words go once she fully thought it through her head. No auto-correct, no auto-spelling. It was all her words from her very mouth.

"Will you believe me if I say the text was all a misunderstanding?" Aoko cringed at the awkwardness in her voice but she regained back her composure. "Like maybe... an auto-spelling function on my phone ruined the whole text that I had been spending the entire evening trying to send to you?"

When there wasn't a reply, Aoko leaned her cheek closer to the phone, wondering if the signal had went bad. But then there was a shuffling sound-

A muffled snort. A muffled laugh. And then all of a sudden, a loud, clear laughter enveloped Aoko's ear with its beauty and grace. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I am." She rubbed a tired eye and glanced over at Keiko, who returned a relief grin as the latter pointed out at the door. Aoko nodded silently, watching Keiko pick up the broom from the floor and leave the room, giving Aoko the chance to enjoy the precious, invisible bridge that connect both her and Kaito across the Earth. Something so simple, yet so unique and heart-warming at the same time.

"With you and only you, it all make sense."

This was the moment when the weight on her shoulders rolled away and down her sleeves and she thought she could finally fly. "Honestly, my luck had been screwing me around that I don't even know which part I should apologize first." She still find the need to say even after the guilt had been mostly washed away.

"There isn't a need to apologize, seriously." Kaito affirmed.

"Of course I should." Aoko argued and softly continued. "Your reply; Congratulations. It sounded so sad. I don't know. I thought maybe I've hurt your feelings or somewhat."

Another silence, though this time it was longer than the one before. "In that case, your apology is accepted."

Does that mean... "Anyway, the original words were supposed to be I'm pretty tipsy that night, definitely not pregnant."

"That explained a lot; About many things." There was a rocking sound, as if he was shaking his head with the phone. "Should have known. Can't believe that was our first text. Another worthy memory to remember of."

Aoko slapped a hand over her forehead and let out a sigh, but a smile reached her lips as well. "I shouldn't have called, but I thought another text was too much of a risk again." Aoko managed a dry laugh, which was supposed to direct at her own self. "You should go and have your sleep." She glanced at her bed-side clock. It must be close to 3 in the morning over there. "It's late and I assume you have a performance tomorrow?"

"I guess so."

"Well, good night over there." Aoko chirped, ironically. "I'm have to prepare to head out to have dinner with Keiko soon."

"See you, then." Kaito hummed lightly behind the phone, a hint of contemplation playing in his voice. Aoko decided to finish the sentence for him.

"The comedy show. 7pm, outside the hall."

Was it even possible to hear a smile? Aoko did when Kaito spoke.

"Yeah."


A/N: Hello. I'm (kinda) not dead, neither is my undying love for KaiAo.
Here's another trashy KaiAo fic. Oh God, the monster-length... I don't know whether to cry or be proud.
One more chapter to go. Please be patient because school sucks. Hope you enjoyed.
Reviews make me happy.