Disclaimer: The Wallflower does not belong to me. I wish I own Kyohei, though… *drools*
LOVE IS A SCHEME
--Chapter 01--
Operation Matchmaking
But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit.
--William Shakespeare
"Argh!" A loud, un-lady like shriek was heard from the kitchen of the palatial Nakahara estate.
With a shining-shimmering Hiroshi-kun tucked under one arm, a supremely angry Nakahara Sunako suddenly bursted inside the living room, completely shattering the tranquil atmosphere that Yuki and Ranmaru had been enjoying until a few seconds ago.
"Where? Where is that dazzling creature?!" Sunako furiously demanded, her wild, purple eyes darting into slits as she scanned the spacious living room for her prey.
"What seems to be the problem, Sunako-chan?" Yuki inquired good-naturedly, flashing Sunako his bright, boyish smile. He winced and regretted that he opened his mouth as Sunako threw him an evil stare.
Finally, her gaze fell on the tall and pretty half-naked blond man that was Kyohei, who was, at that moment, blissfully sleeping in one of Oba-chan's designer sofas.
Sunako laid Hiroshi-kun on the floor and in one blink was already in Kyohei's side, pressing a pillow hard against his face.
"I swear, I'm gonna kill you, you dazzling thief!" Yuki had heard her say and so he immediately tried to stop her from suffocating Kyohei. Ranmaru, upon seeing the danger of the situation, abruptly ended a telephone conversation with one of his prospective kittens, and proceeded to help Yuki.
"Sunako-chan, please, don't…" Ranmaru pleaded while he and Yuki struggled to restrain her.
"What's this about, Sunako? You're too noisy!" Kyohei complained through half-opened eyes.
"Grrrr!" She growled while Yuki and Ranmaru tried with all their might to keep her from touching Kyohei.
"What's happening?" a concerned Takenaga, who just came from a study date with Noi, opened the living room door and walked inside.
"He! Stole! My green tea ice-cream! Again! And I've been saving that for Hiroshi-kun!" Sunako accused darkly.
"Oh, right." Kyohei yawned non-chalantly. "Sorry about that. I was hungry."
Sunako was heaving. She wanted so badly to teach the dazzling creature a lesson. "SORRY?!? That's it?"
"As if he's actually going to eat anything!" Kyohei lashed at her, his irritation at being abruptly awakened mingling with the anger that he has at the stupidity of this argument. "Why are you so hell-bent on taking care of Hiroshi-kun, anyway? Heck, that creepy doll of yours can't even keep you warm at night! And besides, it's your fault since you haven't made some snacks first before waxing that damned doll!"
"Take that back or I'm gonna slit your throat!" Sunako fiercely ordered, ready to beat all the living daylights out of him.
"Do it if you can! Who cares?" Kyohei taunted her, knowing full well that her words were nothing but empty threats.
"That's enough already!" Takenaga, exasperated, shouted at the two of them.
"Kyohei, apologize to Sunako-chan now!" Noi scolded the indifferent blond.
"I've done that already!" Kyohei spat while proceeding to get up from where he was lying. "Don't worry, I promise I'd get your dear Hiroshi all the ice cream that he can eat after I earn enough money." he added sarcastically.
Sunako pouted. She jerked her arms away from Yuki and Ranmaru. "Never mind. I'd do it myself," she fired back, realizing that she can't do anything about the dazzling creature's stubbornness.
Five pairs of eyes simply watched her as she picked up Hiroshi-kun and slipped out of the room, sulking. They held their breaths for another moment until they all felt that the tension had completely ebbed away.
Noi was the first to break the silence. "What are you still doing here, Kyohei?! Go after her and say you didn't mean to hurt her or Hiroshi-kun."
"And just why would I do that?" Kyohei snapped.
"Because that's what a good boyfriend should do!" Yuki reasoned.
"Yeah. And no matter how you look at it, you've only got yourself to blame," Ranmaru added as a matter-of-factly.
"Hey, all of you! Stop ganging on me! I almost got killed, remember?" Kyohei reminded them.
"How could you be so rude and insensitive Takano Kyohei? Yours and Sunako's life would've been much, much easier if you would only reveal your true feelings," Noi quipped, while pointing an accusing finger at the pretty blond's face.
"What true feelings are you saying?" Kyohei asked, his nostrils flaring up again in anger.
"That you actually love Sunako-chan! That she's the only woman you cared about and the only woman who has captured your ice-cold heart!" Ranmaru declared, recalling some heartfelt lines from his romantic conquests. "You better heed our advice before somebody else waters her wilting heart!" he warned.
"I don't!" Kyohei vehemently denied.
"You're obviously lying," Yuki observed.
"I'm not! And stop all of your romantic delusions because they're impossible!" He glared at them all.
"What's so impossible if you haven't even tried?" Noi attempted again to encourage Kyohei.
He looked at his friends in revulsion and realized one thing: he's dying to scream his lungs out and one more word from them would trigger him to do just that and more. He exhaled sharply without answering back, gritted his teeth, stood up and went for the door.
"So, are you finally going to confess to Sunako-chan?" Yuki asked, hoping against all hopes that his friend has finally seen the light.
Kyohei scoffed and told them, "In your dreams," before closing the door behind him.
Kyohei's exit was shortly followed by three audible sighings from Noi, Yuki and Ranmaru.
"How utterly hopeless!" Yuki complained as he let himself fall on the couch, completely exhausted. "Will they forever live like this?"
"But we shouldn't give up! I think they're almost there!" Noi balled her fists in determination.
"You really think so, Noi? I think we should just let them be. I had enough of their childishness," Ranmaru shook his head.
"They're both cautious about their feelings," Takenaga, who had been generally silent during this whole ordeal, finally concluded. "To get them together, one of them had to make the first move,"
"Isn't that what we've been trying to work on?" the other three asked Takenaga in unison, a little disappointed at the latter's conclusion.
The dark-haired bishounen cleared his throat. "I can understand Sunako. She has her heart broken before. What I don't get is Kyohei. Something's keeping him back and pride is the only barrier I'm looking at,"
"But no matter what, I think the first move must come from Kyohei!" Noi told the others passionately. "Sunako has gone through a lot of heartaches already and she deserves a declaration of love from the heart of a sincere man!"
"Then we'll make Kyohei confess first," Takenaga agreed.
"Wait a minute, we've done that countless of times before but to no avail." Yuki interrupted. "We've locked them up, tied them together, resorted to blackmails, etcetera. And you've seen how stubborn he is a while ago. How are we supposed to force him to confess?"
"We wouldn't force him," Takenaga's eyes sparkled while picturing an elaborate plan in his head. "There's one scheme that we haven't tried up to now…"
"What are you suggesting, Takenaga-kun?" Noi inquired, her curiosity mounting by the moment.
"We will provoke Kyohei's jealousy," came his answer. "With this, we'll know for sure if he likes her or not,"
Ranmaru smiled as he ran a hand through his flowing red mane. "Hmm. I think that might just work," he has now understood what Takenaga was driving at. "There's nothing better than a little competition to pump up a man's ego!"
"That's brilliant, Takenaga-kun! If somebody goes after Sunako-chan's heart, it would put pressure on Kyohei and he'd surely confess!" Noi clapped her hands together in so much excitement that her eyes literally shone.
"B-but how could that be?! Sunako-chan has never had any suitors!" Yuki worried. He felt so totally alone in the sidelines of this conversation.
Takenaga put a hand on his shoulder. "We have the means, Yuki," He reassured him with an almost devious smile.
And so they huddled together to quietly discuss their scheme.
+ o + o + o + o +
The doorbell rang early the next morning while Takenaga, Kyohei, Yuki and Ranmaru were having coffee and while Sunako was making them breakfast.
"I'll get it," Yuki ran towards the front door. He came bouncing back moments later carrying a big bouquet of red roses in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other.
"Guys, these are such wonderful gifts on such a wonderful morning!" Yuki announced, his voice full of excitement. "Can anyone guess who these are for?"
Takenaga averted his gaze from the morning paper he was reading. "Surely, that can't be yours, Yuki, so I'm placing 15,000 Yen on Ranmaru. The girls knew he's most tolerant with gifts,"
"No way! 20,000 yen on Kyohei, he's got more fan girls than the rest of us!" Ranmaru said.
"If it's for me, you know what to do," Kyohei murmured without any hint of interest. He continued sipping his hot cup of coffee.
"You're all wrong, folks!" Yuki laughed, as he drew closer to his friends. "These gifts are actually for…"
"…Sunako-chan!"
Takenaga dropped the newspaper in surprise. Ranmaru simply smiled. Kyohei accidentally spilled coffee on himself.
"F-for me?" Sunako, who has always believed that she has greater chances of receiving death threats than gifts, couldn't believe her ears.
"Uh-huh! Just for you, Sunako-chan!" Yuki beamed happily. "Here, let me read the card: To my dear Sunako. I've always wanted to tell you that you mean the world to me. Please accept these gifts. Love, your Secret Admirer." He handed her the flowers and the box of chocolates.
"Sunako-chan has a secret admirer. Wow." Takenaga commended, while studying Sunako's bemused expression.
"T-this… Is this a joke?" Sunako asked the four men meekly. When she confirmed that it's not from any of them, she gingerly untied the shiny ribbon from the chocolate box (she doesn't give a damn about the roses), slowly peered inside and gasped. Her eyes shone in much delight that she couldn't help but drool upon seeing that the chocolates were shaped like tiny skulls.
"Woah! So cute!" Yuki admired the contents of the box. " The guy sure knows what you like,"
"I'm happy for you, Sunako-chan. You're on your way to finding true love," Takenaga patted her back.
"What true love are you talking about? For all we know, those chocolates are poisoned!" Kyohei commented. "Really, I'm having a bad feeling about this,"
Takenaga laughed. "You're just jealous, Kyohei! But wait, are you sure you're not Sunako-chan's secret admirer?"
"No!" Kyohei's reply was immediate.
"Of course not. It's not his style," the handsome red-head remarked from the other side of the table. "Those gifts came from a man who knows how to make you happy, Sunako-chan."
Sunako wasn't listening to their conversation. She even forgot about breakfast. Her eyes and her thoughts were completely riveted on the skull-shaped chocolates before her.
"Lemme have some," Kyohei tried to grab a piece but Sunako slapped his hand.
"No! These are mine!" Sunako hissed at him then she finished the chocolates in one sitting.
…To be continued.
Author's Notesy-notes:
If you have any reviews lying around, please do me a favour and press the review button! (I'm actually begging,haha). Any feedbacks, comments and/or violent reactions with regards to my writing are welcome. I want to be better at this so help me improve! Much thanks and til next update. (I'm actually promising that updates will be soon and regular since I'm done with the whole thing and is just into the final touches… ^__^