Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Ms. Meyer owns Twilight and all of its characters, no copyright violation is intended. References to real places and groups are used fictitiously. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without my express written authorization.
WARNING:
This story contains strong language and very strong sexual themes that some readers may find offensive. Please do not read this if you are sensitive to such material or if you are under 18. Thank you.
A big, sloppy, hot, wet kiss to my beta Eifeltwr, for her help with the little juicy moment ahead. And to my other beta LaMomo, I give you a big, tight hug for all your compliments and for fixing my tenses; I screwed up with those a lot. This chapter is dedicated to Domwards Playgirl. All Japanese and eastern cuisine knowledge comes from her. Thank you, Annie, for your help!
THANK YOU LADIES! LOVE YA TO BITS!
Hope you like this chapter! Meet ya at the end!
CHAPTER 1: Pilgrim
"Sorry, son, but we just missed the train."
"Yeah, that's fine, mom."
Great! Another day I'd have to spend completely alone in a foreign city.
Like that was any different from the norm, I thought bitterly.
I hadn't seen my parents in eight months, so when they sent me the tickets to meet them across the world and spend my spring break with them, I thought it was going to be amazing. Little did I know, that work and meetings were scheduled for both of them, and now they had missed their last train back to the city from wherever it was that they were filming.
My parents, Elizabeth and Edward Masen Sr., were the most famous and respected Hollywood couple in the world. My dad's work as film director earned him the praises of some of the toughest critics in the business. He was always being contacted by major production companies to direct or produce the next big blockbuster or the next best film. My mother, Liz, was a world acclaimed actress. With two Oscars at her early age of 38, she had become one of the most sought out actresses, and her face was plastered on every single magazine, from tabloids to fashion editorials. Forbes named them that year's most powerful and influential couple in the world.
And then there was little, normal, boring me. I was eighteen, going-on-nineteen, and the paparazzi kept following me everywhere, just because of who my parents were. They kept pestering me and my friends, waiting to catch me drinking and doing drugs, and if they didn't, they simply airbrushed the pictures with the material they had gotten! One time there was a family barbecue at my godfather's house. I had a half full glass of iced tea in my hand, I tripped a little coming down the back porch steps, laughed at my own clumsiness and then went back to talk to my friends. Next day, pictures of me on those steps were plastered on the covers of tabloids with headlines like: "MASEN'S SON DISCOVERED TRASHED BY HIS PARENTS" or "EDWARD Jr. GOES TO DETOX AGAIN!"
Ridiculous!
And then there was the press and their constant line of questioning: "Junior, will you become a director like your father or an actor like your mother?", "Eddie! There is a casting for that new teen movie coming up, would you be competing for the role?" and so on, and on, and on.
GAH! When were these people finally going to understand that I didn't want anything to do with Hollywood? Was it so hard to comprehend that I wanted something else besides being famous or having my face in every single magazine?
My thoughts were interrupted by my mother's sweet voice coming from the other end of the line.
"We are really sorry, honey. Why don't you go take a look around? You are in Tokyo after all!"
"That's a good idea, mom. I guess I'll see you both tonight at the hotel?"
I looked around the parking lot of the restaurant where we were supposed to meet for lunch. Zipangu was a stylish restaurant that belonged to Nadaman, one of the most revered traditional Japanese restaurants in the country. Their approach was to combine Western influences with Nadaman's cuisine to create contemporary Japanese food that paired with wine.
I was so excited to come here.
Food was my passion. Ever since I could remember, I loved to cook.
Every time my parents needed to travel during my school year because of their work, I was left in the care of Nana Marie, Bella's grandmother. Bella was my best friend since elementary school, so we always had a blast with Nana Marie. She always took Bella and me to the food market in NY during those times to explore and learn all about the food there.
Nana Marie used to be a famous chef and loved to combine different tastes from around the world. She saw, smelled, touched, inspected and tried every spice, fruit, and vegetable that was within her reach. She included me in her quests to find the perfect set of spices to accompany any meat, fish, or vegetable that was being cooked for dinner. She never used cooking books, not even her own, and was always creating or reinventing dishes.
She passed away last summer.
One of the things that she never had the chance to do was to learn how to make sushi. So, in honor of her memory, Bella and I enrolled in a class. Bella had inherited her grandmother's gift for food; it was almost like watching a painter creating a masterpiece whenever she was in the kitchen, even if it was something so mundane as spaghetti and meatballs. We had so much fun in that class that when my parents told me I could spend spring break in Japan with them, Bella made me swear over my favorite set of knives that I'd at least walk outside of Zipangu.
I had become obsessed with eastern cuisine since that sushi class. Bella and I had our hearts set into opening our own restaurant after we went to The Culinary Institute of America. She would focus on western cuisine, and I would learn about eastern cuisine. We even had the name of the restaurant, Marie's. It was simple and to the point. We didn't need a fancy and complicated name. It was a tribute to the woman who taught us the art of cooking and the beauty of creating a dish from scratch.
With a sad sigh, I turned around and walked down the sidewalk, back to the car. I saw my driver, Mao, standing next to it, reading the newspaper. I waved him over and told him there was a change of plans and that I was leaving. He nodded, opened the car and we both got in.
I would first have to talk to the manager and ask her to make another reservation at Zipangu for tomorrow. I'm sure there would be no problem; it was one of the occasional perks of having famous parents. I vowed to not leave Japan without at least drinking a glass of water from that restaurant!
"We'll be back in Tokyo by tomorrow morning. Let Mao give you a ride, he knows the city like the back of his hand," said my mother after hearing me talk to Mao.
Mao started driving back to the hotel, and as I looked out the window, I tried to some up with things I could do this afternoon by myself.
"Well, it's a beautiful day and I wanted to go to the food district," I commented.
When computer geeks came to Japan, they head toward the electronics neighborhood called Akihabara. But when food freaks, like me, visited Tokyo, their destination was Kappabashi-dori, a mile-plus-long street sporting several dozen stores that carried all manner of kitchenware and food.
When I had the chance to travel to other countries, thanks to my parent's choice of career, I always wanted to get as close to real life as possible, which usually meant anything connected with food - groceries and markets, houseware stores and places that sell restaurant goods. Kappabashi was a Mecca for me, the perfect peephole through which I could view the wonderfully evocative details of Tokyo's everyday life.
The closest subway stop to Kappabashi was Tawaramachi Station on the Subway Ginza Line. I was close to Nagatacho Station on the Subway Hanzomon Line. The subway map I carried with me was no help, and apparently I needed to go all the way to Shibuya to get into the Ginza line. Yeah, better get Mao to take me to Kappabashi if I wanted to get there today, and then I could go back to the hotel on my own.
"Well, then, that sounds like a day trip for you," my mom exclaimed over the phone, noticing my excitement over going to a food street. I heard some movement over the line and then I heard my father's voice sounding a little tired, "Just don't buy any food you won't consume during the week, I don't want problems with customs over some illegal cabbage that is supposed to be like a national treasure or some shit."
"TED! Give me back the phone!" I heard my mother yell at my father over the line.
My father laughed. "Be careful, Junior. Take Mao with you, and for God's sake don't drink anything suspicious in a glass if you can help it," he snickered.
I groaned. He would never let that episode go. He still asked me, whenever we were amongst his friends, if the last weekend was my sixth or eighth time I went to rehab just to spite me.
"We will see you tomorrow for breakfast. I want you to meet your uncle," said my father.
"Uncle?"
Last time I checked, both of my parents didn't have any siblings.
"Yeah, Uncle C. Remember, from London? He is here in Japan for… um… some medical conference or something."
Oh yeah… Uncle C. He was that doctor who helped my dad during a shoot in London about five years ago. He told me he was a really cool guy, twelve years younger than him, and that he came to the set, by my father's request, and spent the entire day watching over my mom after she twisted her ankle while filming a stunt scene.
He earned my father's respect and friendship that day.
The most important persons in Ted Masen's life were my mother and I. He always told us that, and if one person was capable to miss a day of work in order to comply with a crazy man's request, then he was more than fine to be part of the Masen Family.
"Right, Uncle C. Then I'll see you both and Uncle C tomorrow at breakfast."
"And no boys!" Exclaimed my father right before my mom snatched the phone from him.
I groaned again. Why did he insist on picking on me? I knew this would happen when I came out to them. I was not scared of being rejected for my sexual preferences like most gay sixteen years old were; I was scared of all the teasing that would come from both my parents and Emmet, Bella's twin.
I was twelve years old when I started noticing boys over girls. And after Bella and Emmett's fourteenth birthday party, where I kissed Kate Brandon in a game of spin the bottle, I knew girls weren't my thing.
I went to Bella to tell her this and asked for advice. She laughed in my face, and told me it was about freaking time I realized it. She had me figured out ever since a beach trip we took when we were thirteen years old. Apparently, I was the only guy who didn't get a woody when her bikini top fell after Jacob, her eternal on-and-off boyfriend, tossed her into the sea.
I was shocked by her explanation and gaped at her during the entire conversation. She just patted my head, kissed my forehead and raised her fist as a sign of support.
My life was a ridiculous event after another.
"Don't listen to your father, Edward. He is in a prissy mood," my mother said, taking a jab at him. "Be careful and call us if you need anything. Love you, Teddy."
"Love you too, mom. Tell Dad I'll try to not throw an orgy in the hotel suit." I chuckled.
"HA! Will do, honey. See you tomorrow!" She said right before she disconnected the call.
And with that, I was left to explore the city's food district with Mao's help.
"Fucking great! This is just fucking perfect!" I spat as I came back to the same damn street I'd been trying to get out of for the last two hours.
Kappabashi was pretty easy to navigate. The majority of the stores were lined along the main street. Some shops catered exclusively to professional restaurants, selling bar stools, restaurant uniforms and industrial-sized equipment. Then, there were those selling kitchen gadgets - from intricate vegetable cutters to wooden molds for Japanese sweets. And of course there was a huge selection of realistic food models such as sushi, yakitori, and bowls of ramen.
One of the shop owners was impressed with my lack of accent while speaking in fluent Japanese (I sent a mental thank you to Miss Annabelle, my Japanese tutor), and he asked me to come to his home to enjoy a traditional Japanese lunch with his family. I thought he was trying to set me up with his fourteen year old daughter. Too bad that his twenty two year old son was smoking hot, and I couldn't keep my eyes off of his lips during the entire lunch.
God bless chopsticks and miso soup!
I sighed.
Takumi-kun (he asked to use 'kun' instead of 'san') was hot, smart and charming. He spoke to me in English, and I was surprised to hear him speak with a slight English accent. He told me most of his English teachers in high school were British, hence his little accent. He asked a bunch of questions about me and my trip to Japan, but I refrained from mentioning my family or even my last name. I didn't want that kind of attention.
As I was leaving, Takumi-kun offered to escort me back to Kappabashi. As we walked he gave me his phone number, and made me promise to meet him for some drinks before I left for America.
I thought for sure that there was no way that he could be gay, until we were almost at the end of the street right before entering Kappabashi, with one hand he cupped my face and whispered in my ear, "Can't wait to see your cheeks flush and your lips wet from drinking warm traditional sake". He kissed the spot behind my ear, winked and walked back to his house leaving me frozen on my spot, completely speechless and hornier than ever.
I guess I need to check my gaydar's batteries, I snickered to myself.
Yeah, that was fun. Until I realized that while my head was in the clouds imagining Takumi's lips all over me, I had taken the wrong turn, and I had no freaking clue where in the hell I was. To make matters worse, my cell phone died on me as I was calling for Mao to pick me up.
"Argh!" I screamed in frustration when, for the fifth time, I came back to the same alley. I was walking in damn circles! This place was like a maze, all I could see were houses after houses and no sight of the main street.
"Meow!"
"FUCK!" I screamed again at a damn cat that scared the shit out of me. When I turned to find it, I yelped again in surprise. The shitty cat was eye level with me and was staring straight at me. I noticed it was sitting on some steps to the right of where I was standing. The cat cocked his head to the side and then I was able to see its eyes.
OH. MY. GOD
Coolest cat I had ever seen. He had a blue eye and a green eye. It was amazing. Its fur was pristine white with brown spots on its head and back, and its tail had a black spot on its tip. It looked well taken care of. Walking closer to it, I noticed he had a name tag dangling from its collar. Slowly, as to not spook him, I reached out and took it in my arms. Thankfully, this cat was pretty docile.
"Are you lost like I am, little buddy?" I asked. I cradled him on my left arm while I reached to read the name tag, Pilgrim.
"Are you a traveler, too?" I asked the cat. He simply looked at me as if to say: 'Why are you talking to me? I'm a cat! I can't speak!'
I sighed. I knew I should have listened to my father and taken Mao with me. I would have been back at the hotel by now, enjoying a pizza and watching samurai movies. Or probably I would have called Takumi and went out with him.
I sure liked that last idea...
But here I was, lost, hungry and fucking tired, with a lost cat to boot. I looked at the cat in my arms and scratched his little head. He purred in appreciation, but then started squirming and jumped from me and went up the steps from where I had grabbed him.
"Hey! Wait up! I need to see your tag for your address." I ran up the stairs after him, at the top of the steps there was a small, open gate. I went through it to a narrow and dark corridor. I saw Pilgrim walk ahead of me. I crept towards him, trying to be sneaky so I could grab him quickly, but the fucker saw me coming and sprinted into a run. I ran after him, again, through another gate and entered a small traditional Japanese garden.
Pilgrim jumped over a concrete bench and climbed the cherry tree that was off to the side across a small pond. I was scared that someone might see me, so I crouched down and hastily went to the tree. The fucker was on a branch looking down on me and was frozen on the spot. Of course, he'd climbed the fucking tree and now he had no clue how to get down.
"Fucker," I whisper-hissed at him.
I climbed the tree, not so gracefully might I add, and when I was one branch beneath him, the little shit jumped.
"PILGRIM!" I heard someone yell.
I froze.
Shit! I'm gonna be in so much trouble!
"You scared me, my dear friend. I guess I fell asleep on you," said a man with thick English accent, and then a beautiful rich baritone laugh rang out from the other side of the tree. I looked down, to get a better look at the source of that rich voice, and saw a man standing up with Pilgrim, the fucker, on his shoulder. In that same moment I slipped from the branch and cut my hand. I yelped in pain and landed on my ass on the ground.
"Shit!" I hissed. My hand was on fire! I saw a small gash of blood pooling on my palm and tried not to get sick at the sight of it. I was feeling a little faint when I heard the same warm voice speak again.
"Are you alright?"
I lifted my eyes from the palm of my hand to see who asked me that question, and I found myself frozen in place and completely speechless for the second time today.
There, in front of me, was the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my short eighteen years of life. He was crouched down balancing his weight on the balls of his feet, his elbows rested gracefully on his thighs, with his hands clasped together loosely and his head cocked to the side.
I stared at his face; because that was the only thing I could do at the moment, and saw him smirking. His plump pink lips were stretched showing a small dimple to the side. His jaw was squared and chiseled, though I was pretty sure he was in his mid-twenties, the five o'clock shadow made him look older.
He was very tall, at least half a foot taller than me, and well built without looking bulky. His skin was pale white, but his cheeks appeared to be kissed by the sun giving a peach tint to them. Peaches and cream was the best way I could think of how to describe his skin tone. His straight nose reminded me of those Greek statues I saw on a trip to the Met a few years ago. His hair was a golden brown that suited him perfectly, but against the sun it looked more blond than brown. He had a pair of dark Ray Bans that made him look like movie star complimenting his casual attire of a stripped button-down shirt, washed-out jeans and black-and-white Nikes. He finished his look with a long black cashmere coat that seemed to be costume fitted.
In other words, this man was fuck-hot gorgeous.
As I took inventory of his face, he removed his sunglasses, and what was behind them made my breath hitch in my throat, my pulse quicken and my jeans strain to maintain the massive erection, I was suddenly sporting. I drowned in the depths of his large blue-grey eyes; they were shining with amusement and a kind of intensity I had never seen in my life. I couldn't look away; I was rooted on my spot, lost myself in the depths of his eyes. I was falling, with no desire to be caught, but by the man right in front of me.
"Um…," was my brilliant answer to his question, but the sight of his eyes had pretty much melted my brain, leaving all capacity of articulating a response out of the equation.
He chuckled, and the sound made my chest warm, and my nether regions even harder.
I couldn't fucking believe that the sound of his voice alone would get this kind of reaction out of me. This had never happened to me before, not even with my ex-boyfriend who'd dumped me for a foreign exchange student.
He smirked. "Would you mind telling me, what were you doing climbing a tree on private property?" he asked, and I couldn't help but notice how hot his accent was.
"Umm… the shi-, um, c-c-cat was s-s-stuck. I-I helped?" I stammered. I mentally face palmed myself.
Twelve years of private education with the best teachers in the country, plus two foreign language tutors and one piano teacher, and I answered a question with another question.
My IQ just dropped fifty points.
God, could I be any lamer?
What was this man doing to me?
He chuckled. "Well, thank you for helping Pilgrim," he said and then looked back at the tree where Pilgrim, the fucker, was now sleeping comfortably on the ground. "I'm sure he appreciates your valiant effort," he said sarcastically.
"Uh huh," was my brilliant comeback. I tried to stand, but I forgot about my injured hand and tried to support my weight on it, making me hiss from the burn and pain.
The blond hottie, as I cleverly named him, noticed my discomfort and reached out and grabbed my wrist to inspect the wound. "This is a very nasty cut you got here. Did you cut yourself with the tree branch?" He asked while he took out a white handkerchief from him coat pocket and started dabbing at the wound.
I simply nodded because I was mesmerized by his look of concentration while he was cleaning my wound. His touch was soft but secure. He didn't even inflict me any pain.
He noticed my staring and smiled tenderly. "I don't see any splinters in the wound, but you should get it cleaned and put on a bandage to avoid an infection."
"Ok." I couldn't stop staring at him. He was just so unreal, like a dream.
"Ok," he copied.
Sometime during this whole exchange, I didn't know how, but I had managed to sit with my legs crossed and he was now with his knees on the ground resting on his heels. We were pretty close to each other, so close that I could smell his scent: sandalwood, orange blossoms and freshly cut grass. His hand was still holding my wrist, not too tightly but not too loosely. I didn't dare move, because my eyes were locked with his and neither of us could look away.
He took a deep breath, and with his free hand reached out to my head and ran his fingers through my hair. "You've got cherry flowers there," he whispered.
"Sakura," was my natural answer.
"Pardon?" he asked with a confused look, his fingers still on my hair.
"Sakura, that's cherry blossoms, in Japanese," I explained also whispering.
"Sakura," he repeated and smiled. His fingers were no longer on top of my head, but softly touching the side, then slowly down behind my ear, to my jaw and down to my chin. He kept my chin between his index finger and his thumb, the latter rubbing soothing circles on the skin below my lower lip.
I felt the heat warm up my cheeks and my breath hitched.
I was fucking blushing now!
He looked at my lips, which made me lick the top one. When he returned to look at my eyes, his had darkened and were now sapphire blue. The atmosphere changed and was now charged with electricity. I looked at his lips, which were parted, and I noticed that he was breathing slowly, taking measured breaths.
His hand moved from my chin to cup my face, his thumb caressing the apple of my cheeks where I felt the blood rushing to, causing my blush to become more noticeable.
"Beautiful…," he breathed.
Without taking his eyes from mine, he slowly closed the distance between us and brushed his lips softly against mine, almost like a whisper. I released a breath I hadn't noticed I had been holding and shuddered at the feel of his lips.
My eyes were open like his as he slightly pulled away.
He searched my eyes, and I guess he was happy with what he found because he leaned in for a second kiss, pressing his lips more firmly against mine. When he pulled back again, he moved his hand to the back of my head and tangled his fingers in my hair as he claimed a third kiss.
I closed my eyes and hummed at his taste. I cautiously reached out with my uninjured hand to grab him by one of the lapels of his coat to bring him closer.
I moaned against his lips and almost whimpered when he pulled back again. I tugged him closer by his coat and then our lips crashed together with a powerful passion; they danced together from one side to the other. The atmosphere around us grew in intensity as he took my lower lip between his and I ran my tongue along his upper lip. My heart was racing, my breathing uneven, labored, panting.
The kiss became even more intense when he tentatively touched my lips with his tongue, without hesitation I opened my mouth to him. He angled my head and plunged his tongue into the deep recesses of my mouth. The feel of his tongue inside my mouth made me feel light headed and my heart thundered within my chest.
His taste was amazing!
I rose from the ground to my knees bringing us chest to chest, with his head a little higher than mine. I ignored the pain that shot through my palm as I fisted his other lapel with my injured hand and pulled him to me, bringing his body closer to mine. He had one hand still buried in the hair at the nape of my neck, and he used it to angle my head to the side so he could deepen the kiss, his other hand ran soothing circles under my t-shirt along the small of my back. Jolts of electricity shot through my body making my already hard cock even harder. I couldn't seem to get enough of him... his scent, his taste, and his warmth.
This was, hands down, the hottest kiss of my life.
Our tongues battled for dominance. I moaned when I felt his hand slide down and grab my ass. He growled as his lips left mine to plant open-mouthed kisses along my jaw. I licked and nibbled along his earlobe and then bit down, hard, earning me a hot as hell moan from him. Just as I was about to grind my aching cock against him, the sound of Coldplay's Clocks rang out from his coat pocket.
'Lights go out and I can't be saved. Tides that I tried to swim against brought me down upon my knees. Oh I beg, I beg and plead….'
I jolted from my bed and landed on my ass on the carpeted floor of the suite. I was panting and sweating like I had just ran a fucking marathon. My morning wood was painfully stretching my boxer briefs. I heard my phone ring again, and I scrambled off the floor to the other side of the bed to grab my phone from the nightstand.
I answered without checking the ID. "Hello?" My voice was hoarse from sleep and I was still breathing hard.
I heard my mother's voice on the other side of the line. "Ohayou gozaimasu. This is your wake up call. It is eight ten in the morning. The day is Tuesday, March sixteenth, Year two thousand and ten. And you were supposed to be having breakfast with your father and me ten minutes ago," she giggled.
Nothing like your own mother's voice to kill a hard on... Thanks, Mom!
"Oh shit! Sorry, mom. I guess I fell asleep." I ran my hand through my hair, flinching as I felt the cut on the palm of my hand.
"That's ok, son. I assumed that you would oversleep due to a possible night out," she snickered.
Oh Mother, you have no idea… I smirked to myself.
"Sorry, I'll be down in twenty minutes. Where are we eating, again?" I stood up, making a bee line for the bathroom.
"Répertoire, the main dining room," my mother answered, "and don't worry, Junior, your dad is talking on the phone with our publicist, and your Uncle hasn't arrived yet. Take your time honey."
"Ok, I'll see you in a bit." I ended the call and gathered my clothes for the day.
I turned on the shower and got in. As I let the warm water relax the muscles of my back, I tried to shake off the last remnants of my dream. I could still feel his lips on mine, his hands on my body, his breath on my neck...
DAMN! I was hard again.
I had been dreaming about that kiss all night and I couldn't seem to let it go.
You have no time to reminisce, Edward. Get your shit together.
I switched the water to cold, killing my hard on, since I had no time to rub one out.
You didn't leave Lizzie Masen waiting, EVER!
The consequences could be catastrophic, and I was already late. I managed to shave and get dressed in less than twenty minutes. I exited the suite, checking first if I had everything I needed, and quickly went down the hall and waited for the elevator. As the elevator took me to the second floor to the main dining room, I couldn't help but remember yesterday's events.
~oOo~
After the hottest kiss in history was interrupted by his phone, the air between us shifted dramatically, bringing us back to reality. We'd stared at each other for a few minutes without saying anything.
He finally sighed and stood up, and I did the same.
He checked his phone quickly, but seemed like he wanted to call back to whoever it was.
He ran his hands through his hair and saw a little hesitation across his face. "I need to get back," he said in a calm voice, "I wish I could stay, but…," he sighed again and rubbed his face with the palms of his hands.
I didn't want him to leave either; I wanted to continue where we left off, but his change of demeanor told me that he really needed to go. I lowered my head feeling a little insecure and confused with this situation, but I managed to ask him, in a small voice that showed my uncertainty, if I could see him again.
"I'm afraid not. I'm leaving the country in two days." He told me in a sad voice. "Although, now I wish I didn't have to."
His last statement made me smile. "It's okay. I guess this is goodbye?" I lifted my head to look into his blue-gray eyes. If this was the last time I would see him, then I wanted to memorize every single detail of his face. He was looking at me like he was trying to do the same thing.
In a sad voice he said, "I guess it is."
He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and kissed me one more time. The kiss was filled with tenderness and a kind of sadness I had never experienced before. I guessed this was how goodbye kisses felt.
"Take care, sakura boy," he whispered against my lips.
With a final chaste kiss on my forehead, we pulled apart. We didn't exchange any more words as we went on our separate ways.
When I walked out of the garden, I saw a subway station across the street and sighed in relief. At the station, I asked at the ticket counter which line would take me near the Hotel Seiyo Ginza. The man pointed the number of the line on my subway map, and I tipped him for his help.
During the ride back at the hotel, all I could think about was that kiss. The way his body molded against mine, the feel of his hands against my skin, the taste of his tongue in my mouth and his scent, that seemed to be impregnated on my clothes now. I instinctively licked my lips and sniffed the collar of my leather jacket. Yep, I could still smell him on my jacket alright.
With a heavy sigh, I leaned down and rested my elbows on my knees. GOD! What was I thinking? I made out with a stranger in the middle of a garden where we could have been found at any moment by the owners of the property. And I let him walk away, why? I had no clue, but the look on his face told me he really needed to go.
Maybe a relative had got lost or in an accident and he needed to take care of the situation. Or… oh God… could have been his boyfriend on the phone, or worse, his wife? My hands shook as they moved to cover my face as a sharp pain shot through my chest.
Why was I feeling like this? He was just a fling! A onetime occurrence! A fucking stolen kiss! A hot-smoking-swoon-worthy stolen kiss…
~oOo~
The ding of the elevator brought me back to the present. I walked out towards the dining room. I saw my mother at the back of the room next to a table for four. She was standing talking to a Japanese couple and signing some autographs for them.
I smiled at the sight. She was always so considerate with her fans. It hurt her when, due to security issues, she couldn't walk closer to them on the red carpet.
'If it wasn't for the fans I wouldn't have a job, Teddy. I respect their devotion as much as they respect my work,' she'd said to me when I asked her about her feelings towards them.
I rubbed my chest absentmindedly as I walked to the table. That pain I had felt on the subway, as I pondered the kiss, was something I had never experienced before. Not even when Riley told me that we were over, nor when I found out that he had been going out behind my back with Demetri, the foreign exchange student from Russia.
What I experienced at that garden was more than just that kiss, but I was afraid to face what it was. I couldn't deal with it if it was just a fling. I had fought against the feelings he had evoked in me all night, going over and over, analyzing every single piece of what happened after the phone call.
"Sweetheart, are you ok? Are you in pain?"
I looked into my mother's green eyes and saw her concern for me. "I'm fine, why do you ask?"
She looks straight into my eyes. "Well, you've been rubbing your chest every now and then since you sat down. Are you sure you're alright?" she asked me with a raised eyebrow.
I internally flinched at her last question. God, I could even hear the sound of his voice as he asked me that same question. And before I knew it, I felt tears gathering in my eyes. I couldn't deny the reality, anymore.
I missed him. He took a part of me with him when he left that garden, a part of me I'd never be able to get back, a part that I didn't want him to return. All within one surreal moment, I had lost myself in him. My heart ached without him, as if there was a huge hole missing in his absence. I couldn't get him out of my head, nor did I want to.
I needed to find him, hold him tight in my arms and finish where we'd left off in the garden. I simply couldn't go back to my life without knowing at least his name. I needed to know that what happened wasn't a dream, that I hadn't imagined the whole thing, that what I was feeling was real… that he was real. I didn't know if I believed in destiny or karma, or any of that shit, but I did believe with complete certainty that we were meant to find each other, and thanks to our little furry friend, we had finally crossed paths. We were two parts of a whole that had finally come together.
It felt right.
We felt right.
I could only hope that he felt the same way.
I know Tokyo's subway line is confusing, and I know that some of the readers might know better about the routes, but Edward has never been in Tokyo before, and it's a rookie's mistake to go from one main station to the other in order to change lines. So, that part was written on purpose like that.
WE GOT A BANNER! Thanks to Doc Annie! The banner along with outfits, pictures and more are on my blog, the link is on my profile.
Now, tell me what you think! Like it? Hate it? Leave a word or two, even a smiley would be fine! xoxo ~ Mina
REC's TIME!
My two AWESOME betas write two of my "drop everything to read the update" fics. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU TO GO READ THEM.
RIGHT NOW!
BUSINESS CLASS GIRL By LaMomo: Edward is a young Brit actor on the rise. His problem? He's absolutely clueless, about everything. Bella is a kick-ass legal assistant at a glamourous London law firm. They hop on and off planes all the time. Will their paths ever cross?
Link: www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/6166947/
CLUELESSWARD OWNS ME!
SECOND CHANCES NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD By eifeltwr: Bella and Edward met their senior year of high school, both liked each other but neither did anything about it. Nine years later Edward requests to be Bella's friend on Facebook. Can they get the second chance they both are craving?
Link: www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/5526736/
A ROLL IN THE HAY WITH COWBOYWARD? YES, PLEASE!
