A husky western voice called out the girl's name and another tall figure shadowed him. They had broken the silence but they were people she was happy to see so she let it slide. "Mei, how ya doin'?" Jesse was another one of her close friends. They, along with Hanzo, had met at a STEAM summer program. "Not in the best mood to be honest. Lena left me for Lucio, took Angela with her, and even woke me up at such an unreasonable time..." He put out a hand and helped Mei from the bench, Snowball hovering beside her. "I'll gladly give her a piece of my mind if you know what I mean," and of course she did. Jesse was quick to resort to violence if his friends were unhappy, especially someone as kind-hearted as Mei. No matter how much she wanted to slap them for abandoning her she refrained from giving him the go ahead.
"No Jesse, I don't want to involve you in this." "She isn't usually one to resort to violence anyways," Hanzo chimed in, throwing his arm around her shoulder. The weight of his muscles caught her off guard causing her to yelp in response to the sudden change.
The men chuckled at her adorable noise and started walking down the rest of the silent path. "Did you eat anything or did they rush you out on an empty stomach?" Hanzo concerningly asked. Even though she had eaten some of what Angela had baked for breakfast, she wished she had grabbed more off the plate. "We were headed to the cafe, wanna tag along?" Jesse added. There couldn't have been a better situation to be in. Her face lit up as she excitedly responded to the offer.
"I was on my way there anyways!"
"Well, how was I supposed to know?! You were sitting on the bench like you had nothing better to do..."
Jesse punched her in the side accidentally hitting one of the lumps on her chest. She squealed in reply to the gesture while her face turned a tomato red. "Christ, sorry Mei...I didn't mean to…" She cut him off as quickly as possible not wanting to bring up what just happened. She acknowledged his apology and continued to walk. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweatpants and continued the trip in silence. She wasn't upset with Jesse. Her height might have thrown off his aim, rather she was upset with herself. The punch made her realize that she forgot to put on a bra before she left the house. The more the realization brewed in her head the more self-conscious she became. Her face became even more tinted and she politely asked Hanzo to remove his hand due to its close proximity with her chest. A wave of silence washed over the group. Once again, the only noises heard were the faint chirps of birds, the café bell and the steps of small animals as well as their own. Jesse was still embarrassed and apologetic while Mei continued to walk with her head down in shame. She couldn't believe how oblivious she was.
The tension between them was thick until Snowball decided to cut through it. He sprayed the three with a mist of cool water, giving them something to avert their attention from. Mei had completely forgotten that she powered Snowball back up and tried to catch him to prevent any other mischievous actions. Her fruitless attempts to tame it caused the group to chuckle. They soon started to talk about Snowball and how it came about, extinguishing the silence further. It was one of the group projects from the STEAM program, but since Mei originally had the idea and came up with the design, she kept it. "That thing really is like a child," Hanzo said to Mei as it hovered over his shoulder. "Wonder where it got it from", Jesse teased. The two stared at Mei once again. "Why are you looking at me?!" She glared at Hanzo who in response, intensified his stare. Her blush was evident but tried her hardest to not break eye contact. It was really hard to not break out into a completely red face again and she was very close to doing so, but before she embarrassed herself for the second time Jesse did it for her and interrupted their staring contest. "If you guys are gonna flirt, can ya leave me and Snowball out of it?" Jesse knew that Mei liked Hanzo and Hanzo did too, she just wasn't ready to admit it. The blush deepened its color when Hanzo decided to poke fun at her too. "Maybe we should leave them and allow more time for ourselves." She was speechless. Her face went from a soft blush to a beet red. "āi yā! Stop Hanzo!" She was mildly angry but knew they were joking…or at least she thought so. They clowned around some more as they approached the café. Mei could make out a familiar figure through the window. Angela sat at a table alone, drawing out shapes with her finger on the wooden table.
The bell for the café doors chimed as Mei walked in and took a seat in front of Angela. Hanzo followed while Jesse got on line to order drinks and something for Mei to munch on. "So, love doctor, what did you prescribe the couple?" Mei said jokingly. Angela sighed, exhaustion present on her face and in her response as she tried to match Mei's energy. "30 CCs of 'for the love of god end this', but Lena still has hope for their relationship so she declined my suggestion. I'm so sorry I left you, Mei. I hope you can forgive me." Mei felt guilty for being angry after hearing her apologize and obviously accepted. Hanzo tried to lighten up the mood by asking for advice of his own. "So 'love doctor', what would you prescribe a patient who's too afraid to share their feelings?" Angela giggled. She knew he was talking about Mei so she played along. "I'd have to run some tests to make sure she feels that way first." She stared at Mei while giving her "expert" advice and received a slap on the shoulder. Jesse returned with four drinks and a toasted Danish pastry for Mei as he found a seat and sat with the group. "Want me to deal with the hostile patient?" Jesse whispered soft enough to not be heard by the rest of the café but loud enough for Mei and Hanzo to get a kick out of. "It would be greatly appreciated!" Angela said, continuing to wring the gag dry. They grabbed their drinks and continued to talk cracking jokes every now and then, while Mei gazed at Hanzo every so often. There was something she couldn't resist about him and she couldn't put her finger on it. She didn't know if it was the way his updo showed off his jawline, or if it was the way he was able to switch between Japanese and English so fluently, or if it was the way his deep voice sent chills down her spine, but she knew there was something so special about him that made her go crazy. She contemplated as she caressed Snowball despite the fact that they continued their conversation.
She snapped out of her trance, however, when she heard the first bell ring signaling that classes were about to begin. It also was a reminder that for the next five hours they'd rarely see each other. "Well, I'll see ya around," Jesse exclaimed as he got up and prepared leave, but not before getting a peck on the cheek from Angela, brightening his day a little more. Angela soon followed leaving Hanzo and Mei to walk to their classes. Hanzo gathered his things and left the café as Mei powered down Snowball and got ready to leave as well. There was one ring of the café bell, then another. Mei ran after her friend trying her best to catch up to him and eventually hugged him from behind. He froze. The feeling of her arms wrapped around him made Hanzo want to kiss her right there, but unlike Lena, he decided to take Angela's advice and wait for Mei to be certain that she liked him before he made any moves on her. All he could do was enjoy moments like this until she was ready. She ran off while waving good-bye completely forgetting about her missing bra…
(CHAPTER 2 is done! Two nights in a row of writing. Hopefully, I'll finish this before summer is over, or it'll never get done. THANKS FOR READING UWU)