He sat with his back to the white washed wall. His eyes were downcast. Glued to the book. He read the same sentence again for the fifteenth time. But he still did not read it.
'Hi!' he heard a shrill, high pitched voice from somewhere vaguely above him, 'You've been sitting here for sooo long! Why don't you come join us for lunch!' A bout of giggles and her legs did a slight nervous, but never the less flirty tap.
He didn't look up, 'No, Mimi.'
'Aww, come ooon!' she bent down to tug at his arm. This time he looked up and spared her one eyebrow quirk. 'I said no.' And went on ignoring her, adding 'Sorry.' almost as an afterthought. She bit her lip and looked daggers around them. No one had noticed, but she wasn't pleased. 'Yamato...' she began saccharinely.
'Hey guys!' She was interrupted. She whirled around to give the intruder her worst glare but he didn't even notice. He breezed straight past her and flopped down by Yamato's side, 'Phew, it's hawt today!' He drawled, loosening his tie and collar.
Yamato grunted inaudibly, stood up and dusted off his pants. He started walking off. A couple of feet away from them he remembered etiquette and mumbled, 'See you around.' Taichi turned to Mimi cluelessly, 'What was that about?' She glared at him, stomped at a clutch of blooming wildflowers and stalked away, leaving a highly bewildered and sweaty Taichi lying on the grass, staring after his two friends.
Yamato did not see their exchange. His eyes had returned to the same sentence again. He read it again, for what he felt was the millionth time. There was a wide tree a couple of feet away and he ambled over to it. Solitude, like what he always wanted, sometimes.
'Hah. I knew I'd find you here.' A girl's voice again. Except this time it was deeper, sonorous, more beautiful, and made him smile. He turned to find her already smiling at him. He wanted to reach out to her, touch her, crush her tiny frame into him and hug her; he wanted to muss her hair and kiss her nose. He wanted to tell her he loved her.
He did no such thing.
She skipped across to him and sat at his feet, 'What are you reading? Is it any good?' They were both smiling like content little kids. He sat down too and handed the book over to her. They didn't break eye contact for a few moments till she finally looked away and read the cover. It made her giggle. She looked back up at him and he was chuckling too. Eye contact. For even longer. Till she asked: 'How To Say I Love You?' He gave a helpless shrug. 'Who is it for?' He looked at her face, not just her eyes, she was still smiling; and he did not know how to feel. Why was she still smiling?
He shrugged again. Took the plunge. 'You.'
He hadn't been looking at her, was he scared? He didn't know. Taking a deep breath and calming his errant thoughts, he stole a glance. She was still smiling.
Slowly, very slowly, almost too painfully slow for him, she closed the book and laid it aside. Then thinking a little, plucked one small, dainty flower from the grass. 'You don't need it.' She said softly, even though they were sitting close, he had to bend forward to catch it. She looked away shyly. He did the same.
They were still smiling.
'I'll teach you.' She said evenly. He turned to her with an amused grin, she giggled and held the flower out to him, 'First, you get a small present, hand it over.' She gave him the stalk, 'And then you lean in. . .' They both tilted their heads closer, 'And you say -'
Nothing. They said nothing but touched their lips to each others' lightly. For a few lingering seconds, and then pulled away. They weren't alone, and they both knew that. They smiled at each other. Yamato completed her unfinished sentence for her: 'And then you say, very slowly, very softly . . .' He held her hand and the flower between them, 'I love you.'
She rubbed her nose against his, 'I love you, too.'