Disclaimer: Do I own Tekken? Doesn't look like it does it.
Authors Note: This is a Forrest and Xiaoyu pairing. Poor girl needs to be paired up with a guy who is both easy-going and yet is very naughty and has a lot of cheek. As for Forrest, I feel he's the best guy for Xiao. Why? Because he can bring out her playful side without and be serious at the same time. He's also only in one game and that's why I'm totally interested in developing his character and Xiao's a perfect character for him to grow with IME..
With that said, I hope you guys enjoy reading this one-shot.
Wiltered Flowers
He doesn't want to understand why she insists.
The persistent little bugger.
Always bringing in a bouquet of flowers.
This time she brings in wild orange ones, decked with white roses and it reminds him of her dress- the orange one that really looked good on her. She struggles to keep hold of the massive thing, almost on the verge of being swallowed up by it.
A grin cracks his silence as he goes out of his way to help her.
"Who stood you up this time?"
He watches, peeking through the tips of leaves. Her face is flushed with anger and he knows he hit on a nerve.
"Sop pestering me." She tries to keep her voice calm and stoic but it cracks him up.
If Hwoarang was here, he'd have a field day with this one. Since the past couple of weeks, Ling believed that by acting tough and calm made her an adult. For days, he had to put up with her changed dialogue and mannerisms.
But she always remained the same.
"Darlin', of course I'll stop but if you need a blind date tonight I'm sure someone will eventually turn up."
He helps her put her prized flowers down; he loved it behind the counter, away from the customers.
She bares her teeth at him, muttering about her wonder why he changed from the sweet guy to a mean bully.
He wonders over her words but when the news comes on, he knows the answer. She shuffles and attends to the customers who are drenched from outside's acid rain.
She looks cute in her pink uniform. He likes the way she scrunches up her nose when she smells spicy food and her constant chit chat with customers. It's like she's a different person from them all.
When he gets the chance, he tosses a grape at her.
It hits her right between the eyes.
Bulls-eye.
She reacts quick, a string of tabasco sauce comes flying at him and before anyone of them knew it, utensils, napkins and anything else came to hand was being thrown around the restaurant.
He watches her grab a handful of Singaporean noodles which rain down on him. Customers fled and food covered everything in its disgrace. The room wept with mushroom sauce and egg fried rice.
Her uniform was soaking with sweet and sour chicken, a piece of it stuck on her pigtail.
He thought it made a nice accessory.
Both of them stood heaving in the emptied room, panting and breathing heavily. His hand grabbed a plate, hers grips a fork.
"Scared, Ling?"
Ling.
It was a name he had used for her when she applied to work here. Before, Xiao rolled of his tongue quite nicely but since he met up with her again, he hated her optimism and blamed her for her meddling ways. She wormed her way into his heart and made her presence a sweet one in his uncertain life.
Now she was standing before him, vulnerable, raw and exposed.
Everything she had learnt in those past two weeks meant nothing.
He has to push her patience, just to make sure he really has got the old Xiao back.
"C'mon Ling, bring it."
"Why?" She hiccups, breaking into a reluctant sob. "Why are you like this to me, Forrest!"
Yes, play the victim. Don't understand his heart, a strange voice flows from these thoughts of his; selfish ones. A part of him enjoys the pain in her eyes but the rest of him feels like embracing her.
In that moment, he takes baby steps towards her.
He takes her in his arms and she beats his chest with her fists.
When he does not let go, she relents.
Those hours went by painfully slowly. Both had to clear up the mess before his parents arrived. Both had to make an apology to both staff and customers.
He smiles at her drown rat look when she spills water over herself. She takes off those pigtails and squeezes the water off her hair.
When she caught him staring, she threatens to throw the mop water at him.
"You know, you really look beautiful with your hair down." He has to say it, just to get it off his chest.
To make her know what he thinks.
"Because of you, I need to shampoo and condition my hair ten times!"
She scrubs the floor harder and he finds her hands turning red. He tries to focus on wiping the tables and replacing his mother's prized vases.
He hears her gasp in pain, finds her hand bleeding and a piece of vase sitting right by her knees.
He grabs the first aid box, flipping his way there, despite the wet floors.
"Sit on the chair."
"Leave me alone!" She cries, nursing her bleeding hand away from him;sheilding away from him as if he was the salt to her wound.
He swallowed, buried his hurt and called her.
"Xiao!"
Her name brings her to look at him, so many weeks of distancing collapses and she recognises his concern when he bandages her hand. Forcibly yet tenderly.
"So I'm not Ling, anymore?" Her voice is softer even more with her hiccups.
Those hostile words, hatred masked over love and her defensive mechanisms were nothing but distant memories.
But it scares him, because he hadn't called her Xiao for years.
He had a record.
Had.
As in past tense.
She defeats him with her stupid impulsiveness, her irritating innocence bewilders him and he can press his lips to hers.
Stupid, stupid, stupid Forrest who fell for a girl who could possibly in love with someone else.
Possibly because now she was kissing him back.
Confusion achieved.
He can't think of Hwoarang's accusations of her nor Miharu's playful teasing. All he could feel were those small curvy lips on his, the warmth of her kiss and her slender fingers digging through his unkempt hair.
He kept her tiny frame from falling backwards as he deepened their kiss and she sighed in his embrace.
They part slowly and she has a fine blush on her cheeks.
"That was my first kiss."
A grin spread across his lips. "No way!"
Her smile drops for a second and then picks up in realisation of his words. "Yes way, it is."
"But you kissed me so good that I…"
She blushes and shies away, turning around she repeats her words carefully.
I hope you know how lucky you are.
He gets the message loud and clear.
"Love is not like wilted flowers." It was an old saying, from someone at school.
"Huh?" Xiao turns to him and he liked that look of confusion on her face.
"Come here." He tugs her and kisses her yet again.
"I love you, silly."
He's happy he's kept her flowers behind the counter, because everything else was a mess.