Chapter THREE: In-between Losing and Winning

Andou-Sono Technologies, Inc.
Development Branch Building;
Saturday, 6:51 PM.

Ugh. My body feels so stiff; it's so hard sleeping on this sofa! I was here in the office since ten o'clock in the morning, and you know what I've been doing? Nothing. What do you think is the problem of a successful, handsome young man like me? You don't know? I'll tell you – women. Ugh. I can't believe I'm stuck here inside my office because of that girl! I forgot Kusami took a day-off! Now I've no one to talk to – even Kaname's not at the Distribution Branch! I am such a loser. I can't believe I got scared of her! At least, I think that's what I felt. Ugh!

After looking around the outside of the Haradas' manor, mom and I were asked by a house helper to proceed to the den. When we got there, the first thing I noticed was how untidy the room was. Boxes of different sizes were all over the place. Sheets of white cloth were draping from what seemed like portraits. Vases with withered flowers were covered with a thin sheet of dust… Mom was right – the Haradas do need help with the place.

"Bonjour, Yume-san," Mom greeted as she entered.

"Nadeshiko-san! Tsubasa-kun! I am so glad you're here already. I am so sorry, this place is so messy!" From the look on her face and tone of her voice, you could tell that Aunt Yume was really embarrassed.

"It's okay, Yume-san," Mom said, as she started picking up clutter, "here, let me and my Tsubasa-kun help you out. My parents taught me and Subaru (my cousin Hotaru's dad) to be self-reliant at all times. I'm used to cleaning up, don't worry."

"Oh no, Nadeshiko-san, Tsubasa-kun, you're my visitors, please leave the work to me. Anyway, I've already found what I've been looking for." She said, holding up a little notebook-like thing for mom and me to see. "I was looking for Mimi's address book. I'll clean up later, but in the mean time; come, let's proceed to the dining room and have a snack."

"Sure, but, what are you going to do with that? And are Ada-san and Kaname-kun here already? They're supposed to be here, too, right?" Mom asked, looking as innocent as ever. She can be so deceiving.

"Well, she said she'll be late since they had to drop off Kanuichi-kun somewhere. And she also told me to tell you this: 'congratulations'." Aunt Yume replied, confusion etched in her face; "what did she mean?"

I gave her my you-are-busted-mom look, and she coolly told Aunt Yume about the bet. I was surprised when she found the idea kind. "Oh, so that's what she meant by that! Oh, this is wonderful, Tsubasa-kun! My Mimi would be delighted if you'll fetch her from the airport!" Aunt Yume exclaimed.

"Uhm," was all I could ever say.

"I told him it will be a great idea, but he won't believe me. I told him it'll be great if he shows her around town. You know, keep her busy while we prepare for the dinner." Mom explained, catching Aunt Yume's attention.

"Hey everyone" a voice came from the hallway, and the three of us turned to look. "Good morning!" It was Aunt Ada's voice and with her was Kaname. The moment they entered, I stood up and kissed Aunt Ada's cheek, then punched Kaname's shoulder. Mom and Aunt Yume stood up after me and the three of them exchanged kisses on the cheeks and hugs. Women… why can't they be satisfied with a tap on the shoulder, or a nod or, in our case, a manly hug?

After their mushy greetings, Mom and I sat at Aunt Yume's right while Aunt Ada and Kaname faced us. They talked for a while and eventually, their topic became Aunt Yume's daughter – Mi-something – and me, fetching her.

"Ha-ha, I am so glad that you girls decided to help Mirayuno and me with the workload. We can actually fetch her, but there's so much to do! The boxes in the den were Mimi's things. We brought them home for her to lessen her load," explained Aunt Yume.

"Oh, so that's what the mess in the den was all about. Were you looking for something, Yume-san?" Aunt Ada asked.

"I was. I was looking for this – her Address Book – because Mimi asked me to call her friends for her. She wants to have a night out with them after she arrives."

"but, what about our dinner this Monday night?" Mom asked.

"Oh don't worry, well be there. She'll arrive between the twilight of Saturday and the dawn of Sunday, so, Monday night is safe."

"And since Nadeshiko-san won our little bet, it looks like Tsubasa-kun will have a lot of things on his plate this week, right, Tsubasa-kun?" Aunt Ada turned to face me, and so did the others. Ugh.

"Uhm… About that…"

"Is anything the matter, son?" Mom asked; worry etched on her face.

"I am… I'm really sorry, Mom, Aunt Yume."

"What ever is the matter, dear?"

"I don't think I can fetch her… I have… I still have some things to do in the office…" Kaname then turned to look at me questioningly; because whenever I've a project, Kaname will automatically have his share.

"What? Your dad told me you've no work today and tomorrow! Kaname-kun, is that true?!"

He was still looking at me doubtfully so I kicked his leg to bring him back to Earth. "Uh… Yeah, Aunt Nadeshiko, Tsubasa needs to revise his part of our project, so, he needs to finish it before tomorrow." Kaname always has my back, so I've no worries.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I really want to but I can't…" I apologized.

" Tsubasa Andou! I have never been so disap-…" Sigh. That was Mom, can't help it, I did disappoint her. She wanted this for me.

"Hey, Nadeshiko-san. It's okay. If Tsubasa-kun has things to do, then let him finish his work. You helping us out is a big favor already, thank you," Aunt Yume said, saving me from Mom's wrath. I kicked Kaname's leg again.

"Hey, uh, I'd be glad to fetch Aunt Yume's daughter in his place, Aunt Nadeshiko." Kaname said, yes, another savior!

"But, are you okay with that?" Aunt Yume asked, while Mom still had her glaring eyes on me.

"Of course, I've always wanted to." I was so shocked with his reply so I immediately turned to him. He gave me a disguised wink.

"It's settled then!" Aunt Ada said. "Hey, the food is getting cold. Let's eat!"

Mom never said a word to me again after my refusal, that's why I was surprised when she took the wheel when we were about to go home. Instead of the usual way home, Mom took the road going to the office. When we reached the front door, Mom unlocked my door through the automatic buttons beside her. Then she spoke, to my utter surprise – and disappointment - "Out."

So that's what happened. That's why I'm here, stuck inside my office boring myself to death. I tried to watch some random movie in DVD, but eventually, I ended up turning it off – I wasn't really watching it, I was just staring at it. I've no car with me and I'M HUNGRY! Am I having a déjà vu? This situation – no money, no car, and no food – first happened to me when I was in my last year in pre-school at an all-boys' school, Sylvester's Academy.

School was already over that day, and my ride home wasn't there to pick me up yet so I decided to wait under the shade of a Sakura tree. This was where Kaname and I usually hung out, but today, I was alone. He didn't show up for class because he had a sprained ankle from our soccer game yesterday. Later on, I felt dizzy because I was so hungry. I didn't have any food with me then, and I also didn't have any money to buy myself food – I left my money at home.

Then it started to rain. First it was a drizzle, but when I felt it was about to pour, I ran towards the waiting shed outside the Academy's main gate. My intuition was right, it did rain. So that day, I had no money, I was hungry, and I was cold. My day was next to disastrous until this kid came running towards the shed after a few minutes. The kid was about my age, and was wearing the red uniform of the school in-front of ours, an all-girls' school called Alice Academy.

"Ugh, it's so cold." She said as she turned around to sit on the bench I was sitting in. "Oh, is this seat taken?" she was talking to me, and what was I doing? Looking at her like she's the most beautiful girl I have ever seen (Well, she is!). I haven't seen her hair color because she was wearing the jacket with its zipper zipped till her chin, revealing only her face. She must've felt really cold to have covered herself up like that.

"Uh… Hello?" she waved her tiny hands in front of my face and brought me back to reality.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I asked.

"Hi, was asking if this seat" – she patted the bench – "was taken."

"Oh, no, it's not." I answered, as I watched her sit down beside me.

"Are you waiting for someone to fetch you, too?" she asked after a few minutes of silence, obviously trying to start a conversation.

"Yes, I am. I bet I'll be here for a while. We were dismissed earlier than usual, so, I need to stay here. How about you, are you waiting for someone, too?"

"Oh, yes. Mom was supposed to pick me up, but today she's not available so she's sending one of our house helpers to fetch me."

"I see. Mom was supposed to pick me up, too, but she's not feeling well. So dad's going to pick me up today. I just don't know where he is now." Wow, we're already talking!

"Oh? You're mom's sick? That's too bad. I hope she gets well soon!"

"Thanks, I hope so, too."

Our little chat was over so I raked my head for something to talk about. I was thinking; maybe, cars, or robots, or action figures, or computer games; but she's a girl, and the stuff I know are boy-stuff. I was arguing with myself until the thunder struck. The girl must've been so shocked that she hugged me on impulse. I wrapped my right arm around her, and said, "Don't be scared. My daddy once told me that we experience thunder and lightning because they are looking for each other. Dad said they were once brothers who got separated. The sky's so big that's why Brother Thunder calls out to his brother with his loud voice while Brother Lightning directs his brother to his location with the lamp he was carrying."

"Is that true?" she asked, as she wiped the tears away from her eyes.

"Of course! That's why we shouldn't be scared, because they're only looking for each other,"

She smiled again, and released me from her embrace, "Thank you, I'm not scared anymore," she said.

We talked about other stories but after a few minutes, I heard a grumble. Puzzled, she looked at me as I looked at her. Then we heard it again, this time, louder. I realized it was my stomach, and before I could disguise the sound, she started laughing.

"Oh! Ha-ha, that was you?!" she said, in between laughing and talking.

"Shut up…" I said.

"Oh come on, if you were hungry, why didn't you tell me? Ha-ha!" I was embarrassed, so I looked away from her. The last thing I saw was her figure bent down towards her bag. From the looks of it, she was looking for something. The next thing I knew was she was tapping my shoulder with my hand.

"Here, take it. It's food." She said, giving me a brown paper bag.

"No, thanks, I'm not hungry."

"Liar! Mom said it's bad to lie, so don't try to deny it, ha-ha! I heard your stomach; it said 'take the food!'Ha-ha!"

"No."

"If you take it, I'm not going to tease you anymore, I promise." I turned to look at her again. She was serious, so I took the triple-decked sandwich and asked, "What's in it?"

"It's got ham, tuna, bacon and cheese. I asked mom to prepare that for me because it's my favorite."

I unwrapped the sandwich and I took my first bite. She had an expectant look on her face as she asked, "So, did you like it? Was it good? My mommy helped me prepare that."

My mouth was still full but she had to know, so I nodded and gave her a smile. "I told you it was good! Hi-hi, I'm glad you like it!"

After a few minutes, the sandwich was gone. "Hey, thank you. I'm sorry I finished all of it, though."

"You're welcome, and its okay, I'm glad you finished the sandwich. I already ate one a while ago. "

"So you always bring with you two sandwiches?"

"No, not really, but this morning, I felt like bringing another one. I was thinking, maybe I could eat them both. But the moment I finished the first one, I was already full. I tried to share them with some of my classmates but like me, they were also full, so I kept the other one in my bag. I was praying that I'd be able to eat it or give it to someone else who wants to eat it. I wouldn't want it to go to waste… Mom said we shouldn't throw food away, because not everybody can always eat the food that we do. So, I guess…"

"Oh, so you guess what?"

She smiled at me and said, "I guess you're my answered prayer." She said this in such a serious and convincing tone that I wasn't able to prevent myself from smiling back.

After a few seconds, we heard a tire screeching against the wet pavement."I bet my ride comes first before yours," I said.

"Oh, really? What if mine comes first?" she challenged.

"Hmm, then, I'll have to make you lots of sandwiches and you have to eat them with me." I grinned.

"Hey, that's not fair," she pouted.

"And why is it not fair?" I asked again, having fun at our little argument.

"Because I always eat them, and I'll get sick of it if I eat lots of them for a day, and I wouldn't want that."

"Okay, how about I treat you to dinner if you win?" Before I realized what I just said, it already came out. If it wasn't for the droplets of water the wind brought to my face, it would've been obvious that I'm sweating. I was looking at her, then she said, "Okay, but if you win, you have to I'll treat you to dinner, too. Once we're older, of course."

She smiled at me, raised her right hand and asked, "Pinky swears?"

Smiling back, I intertwined my own pinky finger with hers as I said, "Pinky swears."

"Oh, by the way, my name is Tsubasa, how about you?"

Before she can even answer, the car we heard some minutes ago arrived. She was right, it was her ride. I lost the bet, but I still had my prize.

"I told you it's mine!" She said, jumping up.

"I guess you won the bet, huh?"

"Yes, so you have to marry me once we're older, okay?"

"Sure, I promise."

"Oh, and give this to your mom. Mommy says candies make you feel better when you're sick because it has sugar and it's sweet," she said as she placed two pieces of strawberry flavored candies in my hand.

"Hey, thanks! That's nice-" I was cut when she suddenly kissed my lips.

"Thank you, it's a pleasure waiting for my ride home with someone like you. Bye!"

I was still shocked with what she did so it took me a few seconds to notice that she was already on her way to their silver Volvo C30. I dropped my bag on the bench and ran towards their car, which was already slowly starting to accelerate. When she saw me, the car stopped and she lowered her window.

"Thank you very much!" I shouted for her to hear. I was still standing under the rain on the sidewalk and she was still at the back of their car. As I said, it was still raining mad so I was shocked when she ducked out the window and shouted back, "You're welcome, but you have to look for me, okay!"

"I promise! What's your name?"

"My name's Mi-…" I didn't get to hear her name because the thunder ruined it all. The thunder hit the skies with such loudness that I stumbled backwards as she shrank back to their car. I saw their house helper raise the window again, and she waved me a goodbye. I did the same until I could no longer see their shiny, silver Volvo.

After that, I ran back to the waiting shed. My dad arrived after ten minutes, and he was very apologetic for being late due to traffic. I told him it was okay and deep down, I thanked the traffic because if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have known her.

I caught a fever and colds that night due to the rain. Remembering her "medicine", I took out a candy and ate it. First, the sandwich was good; second, her ride came first before mine; and, for the third time that night, she was right: Candies do make you feel better.

Yup, at the age of five, I was already kissed and scored a date. Too bad I didn't have money back then. I wonder if she still remembers our pre-school engagement. More importantly, I wonder if she's already married.

I was brought out off my reverie when my phone rang. It was Kaname. Sigh. I know he's my best friend, but he's also my worst enemy when he knows I'm keeping things from him.

"Hello," I greeted, as I plopped myself to lie down at the sofa.

"What was that about, Tsubasa!" he hissed, "You know, your kicks a while ago gave me a bruise. Do you have something against me, man?"

"Hey, I didn't mean that. Sorry Kan."

"Well, where've you been a while ago? I've been calling you for ages, you know!"

"About that, I'm sorry, too. I just woke up. I'm still here in the office."

"I know, I know. So, tell me, what was that about?!"

"What was what about?"

"Don't play dumb, Tsubasa. Why did you back out? They were disappointed, you know."

"I know. It's just that, well, you said she was pretty, right?"

"Right, she's just like your Helen of Troy. So?"

"That! That's my problem!"

"You're suddenly caligynephobic?"

"No, idiot, it's not that I fear beautiful women. I just don't want to fall in love with her." I explained.

"So, you're philophobic?"

"I'm not afraid of falling in love, Smarty-pants; will you stop doing that!"

"Ha-ha, okay I'll stop now. If you're neither of the two, then what's the matter?"

"I just… I just don't want to ruin our families' generations-long friendship…"

"You lost me."

"Sigh. I don't want to see her because I don't want to fall for her. I don't want to fall in love with her because I might end up breaking up with her, just like what I did with the others. And if I break up with her, she'll be hurt. If she's hurt, the Haradas will get mad at me and probably my whole clan. If they see you with me, they might get mad at you for hanging out with me, too!"

"Oh, so this was what it's all about?"

"Uh-huh."

"Ha, ha, ha!"

"Why are you laughing?"

"Nothing. Haha! "

"Damn you."

"You are one distorted young man, Tsubasa. Hahaha!"

"Shut up! It's not funny, man."

"Who said it was? I'm actually amused, Tsubasa. You haven't seen her yet and you already like her!"

"What! No I don't! Kaname, how can you say that?"

"Well, you wouldn't be thinking about those things if you didn't like her, right?"

"I already told you, I just want to save mine and my family's faces – maybe even yours – in front of the Haradas."

"Right…"

"You're not going to believe me, are you?"

"Yes. Haha! Tell you what – let's go out to the usual club uptown."

"Sure! But, you have to fetch me here in the office. Mom dropped me off in here a while ago."

"Haha! Well, you were pretty convincing a while ago! Dang, I thought we still had unfinished matters!"

"Speaking of which, thanks for having my back a while ago, brother. I'm really glad you were there."

"No prob. I know you'd do the same for me. Anyway, I just got in the car, so I need to hang up now."

"Oh, right. Okay, bye kusogaki. Haha!"

"Look who's talking – haha!."

As soon as I heard Kaname's line shut, I hung up the phone, turned off the DVD player and TV and went downstairs.

After ten minutes, I saw Kaname's red Bugatti Veyron Targa. I have one, too. Only, it's blue. It's a high school graduation gift for us by our parents, that's why those Bugs really have sentimental values for us. And since it's our first ones, they eventually became our comfort cars.

I walked towards the car and got inside before he even had the chance to hit the breaks – we always did that, and it drove our moms mad. "Hey, so. Where are we going?" I asked, after some greetings.

"That newly re-opened bar uptown. Oh, that reminds me, Tsubasa. Our cousins are coming, too."

"Ruka and Hotaru? Why?"

"Well, after you left for work, we stayed for a little longer and Aunt Yume's niece came down from her room. She was sleeping earlier so nobody called for her to eat. This niece turns out to be mine's and your cousin's classmate during their high school days. She wanted to come and see them,"

"Oh, is that so? I guess it is okay, I mean, the more the merrier, right?!"

"Yeah, and don't worry, they're old enough to enter."

We laughed, as we went down the road leading us to the club.