Part 2: I'll be honest with you.
"I moved the cereal to the other cupboard," Yasuhara said.
Mai sleepily walked to the 'other' cupboard and reached for her favorite flakes and a bowl.
"Spoon's on the second drawer," he called again.
After she prepared her bowl of cereal, she sat on the coach next to Yasuhara and buried her toes under his legs.
"How's it going?" She asked him, mouth full of cereal.
He adjusted his glasses on his nose, "Not so good. I still can't find the data I'm looking for, I swear I saw it last week. If only they had these on the computer, my life would be so much easier."
"Or if Naru actually hired new employees to work, then you'd be less stressed." Mai nudged him and he tickled her toes before letting her leave them there and returning to his pile of papers. "I'll help you."
Yasuhara looked at her, gave her a once over (she pulled a funny face), before shaking his head. He let go of his pen and turned his body to fully face her.
"Mai, I'll be honest with you." He said.
She dropped her funny face and tilted her head, "Yeah?"
"You look like you were forced to eat Ayako's cooking," Yasuhara said, "And that's impossible because we
all know Houshou-san banned her from using the kitchen after their honeymoon."
"Mean!" Mai pouted, "I don't look like that."
Yasuhara patted her cheeks, "You do, sweetie, and you don't need me to spell out why."
He took his mug and placed them on the sink, "I'm going to take a shower then we can go to the office together."
Mai nodded before it dawned to her, "We promised no pet names!"
He just laughed at her.
He was right. Yasuhara was always right, that was why Naru depended on him for research. Although she never forgets to smile, she knew she'd been forcing herself to for the past few weeks.
It's never been as serious as it was now. There were signs, of course. She just chose to ignore them, because that was the path she had chosen for herself.
Before the Takigawa's got married, they'd already taken the role of babying Mai as if she was their kid. After their marriage and their honeymoon, they told Mai to move in their apartment since it was closer to her university.
She had taken their offer until Yuuto told her she could move in with him.
Everyone told her no. Even Naru told her it wasn't a wise idea, but ultimately "the choice is up to you," he said. At that time, Yuuto's offer sounded like heaven because Mai really didn't want to disturb the newlyweds with her problems.
Sharing an apartment with Yuuto was fun and, although there were times when Mai got wary of Yuuto, it was just like sleeping over to an old friend's house. To her, that just finalized Mai's thought to concrete: her boyfriend was perfect.
They've been known each other for 3 years, dated, and practically cohabited with him for 2 years. He was someone Mai grew to love and accept, but it was getting hard to see now that everyone she knew voiced how they are so against him.
Mai washed her empty bowl and Yasu's mug before changing her clothes. She didn't bring any, but that didn't stop her from rummaging through Yasu's clothes and wearing his shirt.
"I like that on you," Yasuhara commented after he stepped out of the shower fully dressed.
"I know, it's like you knew I would keep it," Mai teased.
He raised an eyebrow at her, "Keeping it is a bit… we don't want Naru to suspect us."
She laughed with him, ignoring the fact that he said Naru instead of Yuuto. Her boyfriend, Yuuto, not her boss.
Mai looked down at the floor, what was she doing, really?
"Hey," Yasuhara said. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder as if he was scared she would start crying, "Come here, it's okay."
Mai welcomed his hug, letting a lone tear drop. "Thank you, Yasu."
"That's what soulmates do for each other," Yasuhara said. Mai pinched him on his waist, "Platonic! Geez, you know I can't see you as anything more than a little sister. Maybe a monkey but— ow, I'm kidding, Mai."
She smiled, she was thankful for Yasuhara.
"I'm home," The front door opened and a man's voice called out, "Osamu, is the little monkey here today too?"
Mai stomped over to Yasuhara's boyfriend with the full intention of stepping on his foot and asking him who exactly he meant by 'little monkey'.
The police officer only laughed at her and patted her head, "Feisty. Don't dwell on your problems too much, little monkey. You're still young."
"Eww, you sound old," Mai said.
"I am old," he said. "I'm 6 years older than you, so I'm calling you whatever I want."
"Yasu! Your boyfriend is acting like a kid!" Mai whined, slipping on her shoes. "He's bullying me."
Yasuhara gave his boyfriend a quick peck, "Don't bully your daughter too much, she's going through puberty."
His boyfriend looked at them in amusement, "You and your friends are a quirky bunch."
"You love me and my friends," Yasuhara said.
"That, I do," his boyfriend said.
